A nice twist in a crossword with conventional clues (no misprints, extra words etc. to muddy the waters). The puzzle was made more difficult by the fact that I found the clues in the top half easier to solve than those in the bottom half, so the author only appeared late in my labours on the bottom line.
As soon as EUGENE O’NEILL had made an appearance, MOURNING rang the “Mourning Becomes Electra” bell, and it dawned on me that we were supposed to metamorphose MOURNING into ELECTRA. Amazingly this metamorphosed all the crossing down words into other valid words, which must have taken some time for Dysart to compile!
O’Neill was indebted for his plot to AESCHYLUS, who appeared in the right hand column, minus his H, which had to be inserted after ELECTRA. The character hiding was ORESTES who appeared diagonally down starting at the O below the 14 square.
Solving time : A very on-and-off effort. 2.5 hours altogether?
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DRY – John D(O)RY |
| 4 | DATE – double meaning. |
| 7 | SA SA – fencing cry, AS reversed twice. |
| 10 | SABLES – ABLE in SS. |
| 12 | TOT+E |
| 13 | CHINAMPAS – SAP MANIC reversed containing H. |
| 14 | MIA-MIA – an aboriginal dwelling. AIM reversed twice. |
| 15 | PERSIC – REP reversed + SIC, to hound or chase. |
| 16 | MOURNING sounds like MORNING. |
| 17 | DR + ESSE + R |
| 19 | BLEY is a fish – L in BEY. |
| 21 | AKEE – hidden. |
| 24 | SAVE-ALL – VEAL in SAL(T). |
| 27 | SYSSITHIA – well known Spartan eating custom, NOT! [SAY IS]* round SIT. |
| 30 | JUDITH – JU(G) + H(ospital) round DIT (said). |
| 31 | STEINS – SNITS reversed round E(arl). |
| 32 | STREWMENT – REW replaces ATE in statement. |
| 33 | PHOH – H replaces O(scar) in POOH. |
| 34 | SEMEIA – [semeia natty]* = any estimate. |
| 35 | EUGE – E replaces H in HUGE. |
| 36 | NEON – NE (not) + ON (connected). |
| 37 | (W)ILL. |
| Down | |
| 1 | DSOMO – another ZHO (cross) variant – the female this time! S in MOOD* |
| 2 | RACIER – RR round [AC(count) + I.E.] |
| 3 | GLIMPSE – GE round LIMP S(on). |
| 4 | DENIMS – MINED reversed + S(quare). Becomes DENIES after metamorphosis. |
| 5 | TEMPURA – [tempura + K]* = upmarket. Becomes TEMPERA after metamorphosis. |
| 6 | EXPERT – (L)EX + PER (by) +T(ribunal). Becomes EXPECT after metamorphosis. |
| 7 | STARN – N(avy) + RATS reversed, meaning same as STERN. Becomes START after metamorphosis. |
| 8 | STRINE – Australian. S for LA in LATRINE. Becomes STRIAE after metamorphosis. |
| 9 | AESC – a rune. AE (for aetatis, age) + SC(ulpted). |
| 11 | BHAJEE – Busy BEE round HA(M) J(oint). |
| 18 | ESTHETE – American spelling. HE for A in STATE. |
| 19 | BETEEME – Shakespearian for grant, BÊTE + EME. |
| 20 | LARINE – LA(D) + (T)RINE. |
| 22 | KYUSHU – southernmost of the four islands of Japan. Anagram of alternate letters in “Lucky host you“. |
| 23 | CITRON – CRONE minus E(spalier) round IT. |
| 25 | VATMEN – VEN(T) round ATM. |
| 26 | LENTIL – a seed, NEL(L) Gwynne reversed + TIL. |
| 28 | SITHE – alternative to SIGH. SI (an old alternative for TI/TE in sol-fa) + THE. |
| 29 | USUAL – One for the queen is the royal “we” – accusative form is US + LAU(D) reversed. |
| 30 | JAPE – JAP or JAUP is splash in Scotland + E(ngland). |
I found this fairly easy for an IQ puzzle – had not noticed that real words formed – that is impressive. I probably did not look as there was no real doubt once you found the theme.