This fine puzzle from Guy from back in April should not pass by without a write-up. It is well worth your time.
The puzzle provides special instructions:
Starting at 15 Across, 13 intersecting answers make a route through the grid, top to bottom. Their clues are undefined. A fourteenth completes the set of ‘1 Across 11 Across’
“1 Across 11 Across” spells out STATIONS OF THE CROSS WORD.” The misdirection/allusion is to the 14-stage Stations of the Cross procession recounting the Crucifixion, thus relating to Easter. However, the “stations” “crossing” in the grid are actually London Underground stations. As near as I can tell, tracing this route in real life would involve quite a bit of doubling back.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | STATIONS OF THE CROSS |
Set of 14 for Easter put gentle fellow in a bad mood (8,2,3,5)
|
| STATION (put) + SOFT (gentle) + HE (fellow) + CROSS (in a bad mood) | ||
| 11 | WORD |
Message: heading west, finish on underground line (4)
|
| {Last letter of (finish on) [UNDERGROUN]D + ROW (line)} all reversed (heading west) | ||
| 13 | IMPEND |
Threaten little monkey with tail (6)
|
| IMP (little monkey) + END (tail) | ||
| 14 | BRAIDED |
Sally fills plot with hairy twists (7)
|
| RAID (sally) inside (fills) BED (plot) | ||
| 15 | BURNT OAK |
Charred remains of Robin Hood’s home? (5,3)
|
| Undefined, thematic, cryptic definition | ||
| 16 | CONTENDER |
Potential winner sore if cheat comes first (9)
|
| CON (cheat) + TENDER (sore) | ||
| 17 | MAGIC MUSHROOM |
Wonderful snowy trek — study perhaps the reason for trip? (5,8)
|
| MAGIC (wonderful) + MUSH (snowy trek) + ROOM (study, perhaps) | ||
| 20 | WARREN STREET |
Eg Watership Down’s beech beginning to turn (6,6)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and WARREN’S (e.g. Watership Down’s) + TREE (beech) + first letter of (beginning to) T[URN] | ||
| 22 | MANOR HOUSE |
Norma played bingo (5,5)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and anagram of (played) NORMA + HOUSE (bingo) | ||
| 24 | CHUCKER-OUT |
Security man cycling route behind Charles (7-3)
|
| CHUCK (Charles) + ROUTE with last letter “cycling” to the front | ||
| 26 | TO MY MIND |
British soldier with heart in the east — India, I’d say (2,2,4)
|
| TO[M]MY (British soldier) with middle letter (heart) M moved to the end (in the east) + IND. (India) | ||
| 30 | GRIMSBY |
Seaside town shocking my big sister on vacation (7)
|
| Anagram of (shocking) {MY BIG + outside letters of (on vacation) S[ISTE]R} | ||
| 32 | BARBICAN |
Except for cheap pen, what’s inside hand? (8)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and BAR (except for) + BIC (cheap pen) + inside letters of (what’s inside) [H]AN[D] | ||
| 33 | WHOOPS |
Wide alternatively shaped spaghetti that was a mistake (6)
|
| W (wide) + HOOPS (alternatively shaped spaghetti) | ||
| 35 | PINNER |
Pub with parking in front and even selection of beer (6)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and P (parking) + INN (pub) + even letters of (even selection of) [B]E[E]R | ||
| 36 | AVIATION |
One twice caught by a tax on flying (8)
|
| I (one) twice inside (caught by) {A + VAT (tax) + ON} | ||
| 37 | PLENARY |
Full power nearly restored (7)
|
| Anagram of (restored) {P (power) + NEARLY} | ||
| 39 | HIRED GUN |
Mercenary WWI soldier captures blasted ridge (5,3)
|
| HUN (WWI soldier) around (captures) anagram of (blasted) RIDGE | ||
| 40 | CHINCHILLA |
Andean creature shivers in Himalayan country (10)
|
| CHILL (shivers) inside (in) CHINA (Himalayan country) | ||
| 44 | ARNOS GROVE |
Second small wood to right of Florence’s river (5,5)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and ARNO (Florence’s river) + S (second) + GROVE (small wood) | ||
| 46 | POP ONE’S CLOGS |
Dad, your shoes croak (3,4,5)
|
| POP (dad) + ONE’S (your) + CLOGS (shoes) | ||
| 48 | STEREOTYPICAL |
Conventional potteries worked with clay (13)
|
| Anagram of (worked) {POTTERIES + CLAY} | ||
| 50 | SMALL TALK |
Trail around shopping centre chatting (5,4)
|
| STALK (trail) around MALL (shopping centre) | ||
| 53 | ORGANIST |
Wind instrumentalist surprisingly good on sitar (8)
|
| Anagram of (surprisingly) {G (good) + ON + SITAR} | ||
| 55 | ALIGHTS |
Lands equally divided by day (7)
|
| I think this parses as: AS (equally) around (divided by) LIGHT (day) | ||
| 56 | VENEER |
Facing wood, swerve around centre of bend (6)
|
| VEER (swerve) around middle letters of (centre of) [B]EN[D] | ||
| 57 | BANK |
Seconds from absolute catastrophe, unclip skis (4)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and second letters of (seconds from) [A]B[SOLUTE] [C]A[TASTROPHE] [U]N[CLIP] [S]K[IS] | ||
| 58 | MORNINGTON CRESCENT |
Stop when the sun rises, facing northern moon? (10,8)
|
| MORNING (when the sun rises) + TO (facing) + N (northern) + CRESCENT (moon?) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | TOMBOLA |
Draw cat and large snake separated by line (7)
|
| TOM (cat) + {BOA (large snake) around (separated by) L (line)} | ||
| 3 | TREAT |
Jolly little Italian restaurant full of English (5)
|
| TRAT (little Italian restaurant) around (full of) E (English) | ||
| 4 | ORDINANCE |
Gold ball to hold in command (9)
|
| OR (gold) + DANCE (ball) around (to hold) IN | ||
| 5 | SUBSECTION |
Smaller division affected most of city bonuses (10)
|
| Anagram of (affected) {CIT[Y] minus last letter (most of) + BONUSES} | ||
| 6 | FLAT |
Downright heartless lie on the surface (4)
|
| FL[O]AT (lie on the surface) minus central letter (heartless) | ||
| 7 | HYDRANT |
Hardy novel and New Testament’s main connection? (7)
|
| Anagram of (novel) HARDY + NT (New Testament) | ||
| 8 | CADMIUM |
Silence covers island led by rogue element (7)
|
| CAD (rogue) + {MUM (silence) around (covers) I (island)} | ||
| 9 | ORB |
Object clue 4 refers to found aboard motorboat (3)
|
| Hidden in (found aboard) [MOT]ORB[OAT], presumably referring back to “golden ball” | ||
| 10 | SORTS |
Penny quits things like tennis and swimming classes (5)
|
| S[P]ORTS (things like tennis and swimming) minus (quits) P (penny) | ||
| 11 | WATERLOO |
Pants or a towel? (8)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and anagram of (pants) OR A TOWEL | ||
| 12 | REAROUSE |
Raise point about zero interest again (8)
|
| {REAR (raise) + USE (point)} around (about) O (zero) | ||
| 18 | MONUMENT |
Mike first to try sandwiches on unusual menu (8)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and {M (Mike) + first letter of (first to) T[RY]} around (sandwiches) {ON + anagram of (unusual) MENU} | ||
| 19 | WEST EALING |
The FT — theft (4,6)
|
| Undefined, thematic and WE (the FT) + STEALING (theft). Clever clue. From what I understand, West Ealing is technically a National Railway station, not a London Underground station, but it is displayed on the map near Ealing Broadway. | ||
| 21 | RICHMOND |
Well-funded government department hosts head of Nato (8)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and RICH (well-funded) + {MOD (government department, i.e., Ministry of Defence) around (hosts) first letter of (head of) N[ATO]} | ||
| 23 | RENEWAL |
We learn dancing, getting another year’s membership? (7)
|
| Anagram of (dancing) WE LEARN | ||
| 25 | HEROIC |
Brave couples found regularly in the tropics (6)
|
| Alternating pairs of letters of (couples found regularly in) [T]HE [T]RO[P]IC[S] | ||
| 26 | TIBETAN |
Highlander consumed little when climbing north (7)
|
| {ATE (consumed) + BIT (little)} all inverted (when climbing) + N (north) | ||
| 27 | MICROSCOPE |
Crime so perverted involves police officer blowing up equipment (10)
|
| Anagram of (perverted) {CRIME SO} around (involves) COP (police officer) | ||
| 28 | DOWNHILL |
Spooner’s dog poorly, on the decline (8)
|
| Spoonerism of HOUND ILL (dog poorly) | ||
| 29 | SPIRAL |
Whirlpool maybe rotating currents off Venice Beach? (6)
|
| LA RIPS (currents off Venice Beach) inverted (rotating) | ||
| 31 | BARKING |
Local chieftain (7)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and BAR (local) + KING (chieftain) | ||
| 34 | CATEGORY |
Supplying food with 50 per cent off, bloody kind (8)
|
| CATE[RING] (supplying food) minus second half (with 50 per cent off) + GORY (bloody) | ||
| 38 | PIANO MUSIC |
ASCII up on monitor primarily represented keyboard output (5,5)
|
| Anagram of (represented) {ASCII + UP + ON + first letter of (primarily) M[ONITOR]} | ||
| 41 | C’EST LA VIE |
What can you do in France? Clive eats out (4,2,3)
|
| Anagram of (out) CLIVE EATS | ||
| 42 | CRITERIA |
Blubber more blubbery, using sound principles (8)
|
| Homophones of (using sound) CRY (blubber) + TEARIER (more blubbery) | ||
| 43 | MOOR PARK |
Anchor ship full of couples after end of trip (4,4)
|
| Undefined, thematic, and MOOR (anchor) + last letter of (end of) [TRI]P + ARK (ship full of couples), with “after” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 45 | EMIRATI |
Kemi rationalised veils from an Islamic country (7)
|
| Hidden in (veils) [K]EMI RATI[ONALISED] | ||
| 46 | PLAYING |
Deposit money, having netted fifty grand gambling (7)
|
| {PAY IN (deposit money) around (having netted) L (fifty)} + G (grand) | ||
| 47 | GALLEON |
Christmas delay held up ship (7)
|
| {NOEL (Christmas) + LAG (delay)} all inverted (held up) | ||
| 49 | OPIUM |
Surgery regularly mix up my painkiller (5)
|
| OP (surgery) + alternate letters of (regularly) [M]I[X] U[P] M[Y] | ||
| 51 | TONIC |
First note uncontrollable habit, drinking continually (5)
|
| TIC (uncontrollable habit) around (drinking) ON (continually) | ||
| 52 | SHOO |
Leave film that hasn’t finished (4)
|
| SHOO[T] (film) minus last letter (that hasn’t finished) | ||
| 54 | TAR |
Hand at sea beginning to shed skin (3)
|
| [S]TAR[T] (beginning) minus outside letters (to shed skin) |