“Each clue gives an answer of nine letters to be entered clockwise or anticlockwise around the numbered square, starting anywhere and with one letter of the word placed in the central square. The 24 unchecked perimeter/corner letters might give PAN A LATE SOLUTION OF BLOCKS. Several of these can be deduced from entries and the remaining few ambiguities can be resolved by consideration of the familiar pattern of BLOCK LETTERS revealed in the numbered squares.
Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”Sorry it’s late!
This was a tricky one. It’s not unusual to have to cold solve quite a few clues before any safe entries can be made in the grid, and there were a number of gimmes (e.g. 3, 8, 19).
The problem was that even with a bunch of solutions under one’s belt one was stymied by the number of possible entry combinations. Take INTERMENT and TERENTIAN. Once you’ve said that M can’t be in any of the shared cells you’ve said it all! Any three of the remaining letters of INTERMENT could be shared!
Anyway, one struggled onwards. The puzzle recreates the SATOR SQUARE, which dates from… ages ago. Now, I was unaware of the square, but I have heard of Sator Resartus. I’ve even written a clue about it: Author is clearly retailored (7).
So when I saw that appear in the grid I was able to look up the thematic material online. Since that identified the remaining letters to be isolated, it also speeded up the last bit of the grid fill.
It’s worth noting that once I had the answers there was no doubt about the parsing – none of my clues were marked by baffled question marks. So the cluing was fair, but undoubtedly tough.
Thanks to Nudd!
| Notation | |
|---|---|
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
As always, please let me know if anything isn’t clear.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
[Damaged] {MINER’S HAT}* from up north – that’s hard luck
|
MISHANTER |
| 2 | Plants, ANES (Scottish ones), [contain] CHIME (an arrangement of bells) | ACHIMENES |
| 3 | RESIDENTS* [beat up] nonconformist | DISSENTER |
| 4 | [Wasting] M (money), [liberally] { |
SKID ROADS |
| 5 | Sandpipers’ relatives <{DRIB (drop) [by] FR (frequently) [in] S (southern) US (States)} [when flying back] | SURFBIRDS |
| 6 | Charges PERE (French dad) [eating] MEAT (flesh) [on] S (Sabbath) | PERMEATES |
| 7 | Burying INTER MEN (players from Milan) [before] [end of] tournamenT | INTERMENT |
| 8 | ENTERTAIN* [flailing] of Roman comic | TERENTIAN |
| 9 | PART (Constituent) [and] NERD (feeble chap) [touring] E (Spain) got together | PARTNERED |
| 10 | ROI (French king) [leading] STEED (horse) [having crossed] R (river) caroused | ROISTERED |
| 11 | [Needing both hands], |
ANISETTES |
| 12 | {MEN SIT [and] EAT}* [uncomfortably] in small cafe | ESTAMINET |
| 13 | ANI (Cuckoo) A (active) [from] |
ANIMATION |
| 14 | [Leaving first], |
PIONEERED |
| 15 | SNED (Cut) [around] OTTER (paravane) and blubbered | SNOTTERED |
| 16 | Wearing down EROS (asteroid) L (left) [behind] IONA (Scottish island) | EROSIONAL |
| 17 | PROST (F1 champ) ATE (chomped) [portion of] Sautéed glands | PROSTATES |
| 18 | TSETSE* [flies] [biting] [unlimited] |
ETATISTES |
| 19 | {SPOON DIRT}* [around] engine part (2 words) | PISTON ROD |
| 20 | Goods gifted from NATION (great number) [caught by] DOS (swindles) | DONATIONS |
| 21 | Offensive weapons ILL (unfavourably) [penetrating] ARTERY (main communications channel) | ARTILLERY |
| 22 | Commission ROYAL TIES (fees paid for King Charles’ neckwear?) | ROYALTIES |
| 23 | Most uneven SPOT (situation) [with] TIE (cup match) [on] ST (street) | SPOTTIEST |
| 24 | French chalk [absorbing] O (oxygen) SAPS (drains) TONE (depth of colour) | SOAPSTONE |
| 25 | Guards SEN (senator) [near] TINE (point) [on] [outskirts of] L |
SENTINELS |
| N | A | H | C | S | S | I | K | S | U | F |
| T | S | I | A | E | T | D | O | S | R | B |
| E | R | M | E | N | E | R | A | D | R | I |
| P | A | E | R | T | E | T | P | E | O | S |
| S | E | T | N | I | A | N | E | R | E | T |
| A | T | E | E | M | N | O | E | E | T | O |
| N | I | S | T | A | T | I | P | D | S | N |
| A | O | O | P | T | E | S | R | O | A | O |
| L | E | R | S | E | S | T | O | N | T | I |
| L | R | Y | O | I | T | S | A | E | S | N |
| I | T | A | L | T | O | P | O | S | L | E |