Solving time: ages!
This was a classic example of the kind of themed puzzle for which solver A can spot the theme instantly and have the whole thing done in an hour or two, and solver B can grind away for hours before the penny drops. This time, I was definitely solver B! I should have read the title and preamble carefully, and then considered anniversaries. This might have helped me to remember that the first CND march to Aldermaston took place in 1958 (which I knew within a year or two). I would then have seen that Aldermaston was a destination with the right number of letters.
Instead, I concentrated on solving clues and finding possible locations for the blank squares. This got me nowhere fast, as I just had a set of answers near the top of the grid, and very little else for a long time. To make progress, I resorted to a couple of Chambers CD-Rom full-text searches, which means I lost the battle. This got me as far as seeing a good chunk of the outline of the CND roundel symbol, though I wasn’t yet sure whether it was a letter C or a circle – or an octagon, come to that.
Something (possibly the ‘first’ in the extra letters phrase) eventually made me think of 1908 and then 1958 as possible dates, and at last the penny dropped. Then all was pretty plain sailing, except that in “First march by CND”, I’m not yet sure where the H in march and D in CND come from – maybe writing this will help?
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | F | ALTERCATION – E in (a lot in craft)* |
| 10 | TI(R.A.)DE | |
| 12 | I | OVERSEE – Erse in (O,vie) |
| 14 | R | NENE – N,erne – British setters have the luxury of cluing Nene as ‘river’ rather than the giveaway ‘Hawaiian goose’ |
| 15 | MOSS – 2 defs | |
| 16 | ETNA – an old-fashioned name for some kind of boiler, = ante rev. | |
| 18 | KA(T)Y – new barred-grid solvers note that letter names like kay count as words in Chambers | |
| 19 | S | ERINITE – Erin in site |
| 20 | SO(u)L, ref. the footballing Mr. Campbell | |
| 22 | A,C.(IN)I. – pl. of acinus – the bits of a raspberry or similar fruit. | |
| 23 | TERRACOTTA – (carrot*,T) in tea | |
| 26 | A,B.S.(e.) | |
| 27 | T | ERG – TERG(um) |
| 28 | S.A.(LA)D. | |
| 30 | M | AITS – A,M.I.T.,S |
| 32 | A | RICH – AR(I)CH |
| 33 | MENU – reverse hidden word | |
| 34 | (b)RACH | |
| 35 | RE,ACTOR | |
| 36 | R | AENEID – A(René)ID |
| 37 | ALDERMASTON – the destination | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | S(TREE,T.T.,HE)AT(i)RE – actor = Tree (Sir Herbert Beerbohm T) lives on still … | |
| 2 | C | AINTREE – A1,N.T.,Cree – a cheeky hint at another possible theme for a puzzle printed on the day of the Grand National! |
| 3 | T(A NAG)RA – a bird genus – same thing a tanager, the word I remembered and looked up | |
| 4 | (s)EDEN(t) – P.M. until a couple of years before the theme, if I’m right in thinking that he resigned in 1956, just after Suez. | |
| 5 | CORM(orant) – only just spotted the fiendish wordplay for this – an orant is a worshipping figure in Greek and early Christian art, and we can take it for granted that cormorant = gannet = glutton. | |
| 6 | TE(MEN)OS – TEOS must be a the Gk. place | |
| 7 | O.S.,S.A – another Greek place! | |
| 8 | H | NESTOR – nesh,tor – Here’s the H! – nesh = lacking energy |
| 9 | JEKYLL,AND,HYDE=”hide” – I must assume that there was a famous gardener called Jekyll. | |
| 11 | B | RENIG – (b)REN,(G.I. rev) |
| 13 | VATIC = inspired,A,N | |
| 17 | P.(I.C.A.)S.,SO | |
| 20 | Y | ITERANT – (train yet)* |
| 21 | C | S(CL)ICE – remember ‘Ceylon’ when trying to think of the IVR for Sri Lanka. |
| 22 | N | ARBUTE – A,nr.,Bute |
| 24 | TE(A CHI)N | |
| 25 | CRIMEA – I can see R = revolutionary leader but the rest of the wordplay is a mystery to me. Strong candidate for the extra D then! IN fact, no. | |
| 29 | RES – half of rested? | |
| 31 | D | TEAL – D(T)EAL – foxed until just now by wood = deal. Aaargh! |
Lovely puzzle, I thought — and not so very hard once I saw the circle coming. Can’t explain the clues though because the paper’s just gone out for recycling (much as I’d love to keep everyone else’s fine puzzles!)
9D Miss Gertrude Jekyll was “one of the most admired and accomplished English Landscape Architects of the Twentieth Century”.
25D The ‘revolutionary leader’ is EMIR upwards – can’t remember the rest of the wordplay.
29D I satisfied myself that RES = half of ‘at rest’, but who knows.
This was a very enjoyable puzzle. I may have been lucky but I solved it fairly fast. It seemed clear that the gaps were (fairly) symmetrical and the clues around the perimeter seemed easier. The penny dropped with A………N and the use of ‘destination’.
It may have helped that I remember it… There was also some publicity around the anniversary. The only clue I did not understand was RES – I think your suggestion of ‘rested’ is probably right.