Excellent puzzle based on James Bond villains on the centenary of the birth of Ian Fleming, with some inventive and amusing clues.
Once I’d twigged that we were looking at SCARAMANGA (which led me to the Bond theme), not SCARAMOUCH, the outside ring fell out quite easily (after a bit of Wiki-ing), the villains in clockwise sequence being:
SCARAMANGA, HUGO DRAX, BLOFELD, MR. BIG, LE CHIFFRE and ROSA KLEBB.
The misprinted letters in across clues 11, 24, 38, 40 spell BOND; misprints in down clues 8, 19, 20,28,32,33,34,35 spell VILLAINS
I spent a long time trying to spell something like “Ian Fleming Centenary” with the letters unclued in the wordplay, before realising that it was WHERE they were not WHAT they were that mattered. Inevitably they were 007 when highlighted.
Solving time : Lots and lots!
BOLD letters are letters with no wordplay, misprints are indicated by BOLD and italic in the definition.
Sory about the lack of colour, the software removes it all when I save the draft!
| Villain clues | |
|---|---|
| BLOFELD | B(ran)D round LO-F(i) (shoddy) + EL |
| HUGO DRAX | (Victor) HUGO + DR. AX (American axe) |
| LE CHIFFRE | LECH (in Austria) + IF (provided) + FRE(D) – man with no end of fooD |
| MR BIG | MIG (fighter) round RB |
| ROSA KLEBB | REBB(i) round [OSAK(a) + L] all reversed |
| SCARAMANGA | SCAR + (l)A MANGA |
| Across | |
| 9 | BORED – uninspired, sounds like board |
| 10 | ESAU – (a hairy man!), hidden |
| 11 | LEGO – Simply Built, G(luttony) in LEO |
| 12 | BOSWORTH FIELD, [HOLDS BERT]* WO and FI are unclued |
| 14 | ARCED – flashed, A (one) + RE (about), C and D are unclued |
| 15 | LYNNE – woman, LYE + N(ew), first N is unclued |
| 18 | PITA – bread, PTA is school body, I is unclued |
| 20 | GABON – country, GAN(g), BO are unclued |
| 23 | KORAN – religious work, KON(fyt), RA are unclued |
| 24 | AULA – roOm of old, (P)AULA |
| 25 | FACIA – part of car, F + AC + AI reversed |
| 26 | LAMB – double meaning |
| 28 | STARE – peer, S(ucceeded) + TA (thank you), RE are unclued |
| 29 | STALE – tainted, ALE, ST are unclued |
| 30 | OPAH – the kingfish, OP(r)AH Winfrey |
| 32 | SOLDO – coin once in Rome, SO (very good) round OLD |
| 36 | PENAL – very severe, [PLAN]*, E is unclued |
| 37 | EAU DE TOILETTE – perfume, E(nglish) + AUDE(n) + O (love) + LETTE(r), T is unclued |
| 38 | RAKE – leaN, double meaning |
| 39 | RAUN – fish roe (small fry!), R(oyal) A(cademy) + U.N. |
| 40 | MIAUL – Din, AIM reversed + U(niversity) L(ecturer) |
| Down | |
| 1 | COOLY – labourer, COOL + (sh)Y |
| 2 | ARSENAL – team, Brian LARA reversed round S(econd), EN are unclued |
| 3 | ADORE – love, A(n)DRE (nameless Parisian), O is unclued |
| 4 | MERCENARY – paid army and men (excellent deifinition!), [ARMY + (m)EN]*, CE and second R are unclued |
| 5 | ASTER – plant, (E)ASTER |
| 6 | GUFF – nonsense, FUG (hot air) reversed, first F is unclued |
| 7 | HEEL-IN – to cover roots, HE + EN, LI are unclued |
| 8 | UGLY – Vile, [GU(i)L(t)Y]* – I liked “suspect” as an anagram indicator! |
| 13 | IMPALA – animal, ALP (pasture) + M(aintain) all reversed – northerly! I and first A are unclued |
| 16 | POISONING – a type of murder, (c)OINING is invention, P and SO are unclued |
| 17 | BRAT – badly behaved young figure, BA (graduate), R and T are unclued |
| 19 | TIME – bird (time in prison), [I MET]* |
| 20 | GULP – boLt, PLUG reversed |
| 21 | BATHED – took a dip, the A might be “took a” used twice, TD is Irish politico round HE (ambasador) , B is unclued |
| 22 | OFAY – a white person, FAY means to unite or fit, O is unclued |
| 27 | ALL-STAR – full of lions, ALTAR round LS |
| 28 | SALUKI – dog controlled by lead (excellent!), SALK (of the vaccine) round U(niversity) + I |
| 31 | SEOUL – Eastern capital, SOUL music, E is unclued |
| 32 | SALMI – mixed fAre (a ragout in Chambers), SAL + MI |
| 33 | DATUM – a bIt on computers, DA (lawyer) + TUM (corporation) |
| 34 | WAAF – serving women linked to plaNes, WA’ (wall in Glasgow) + A + F(oot) |
| 35 | MERC – faSt car, most or CRE(a)M reversed |
Yes, a very enjoyable puzzle. With a number of other puzzles around the centenary, I did guess the theme fairly early on and was looking for 007 from the start.
It was only at the very end tho that I got VILLAINS in the message. In 35 dn, I read it as CREM(e), taking off the last letter.