Thanks to Paul for an enjoyable and nostalgic puzzle, with some familiar names in the clues…
… and in some of the answers. It’s a tribute to A A Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, which was first published 100 years ago today.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | RUMINANT | Piglet grabbing time with a sheep, say (8) MIN[ute] (time) + A in RUNT (piglet) |
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| 6 | WORTHY | Solver’s after scrap, then seeking reflection – admirable (6) Reverse of ROW (argument, scrap) + THY (solver’s) |
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| 9 | LOVAGE | Silver honey pots for something fragrant to eat (6) AG (silver) in LOVE (honey, as an endearment) |
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| 10 | GLOATING | Rubbing it in, first of ointment absorbed by tongue in horse (8) O[intment] in LATIN (tongue) in GG (horse) |
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| 11 | INHERITED | I had cakes in there, fancy was left (9) (IN THERE)* in (“caked by”) I’D |
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| 13 | SCORN | Pooh-pooh s-schmaltz (5) S + CORN |
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| 15 | WOMBAT | Antipodean native in flap, cut after tripping over (6) Reverse of TAB (flap) + MOW (cut) |
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| 17 | UNCLAD | Notice alongside short relative bear being picked up? (6) UNCL[e] + AD (notice) – the definition indicates a homophone of “bare” |
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| 18 | ECLAIR | Something sweet in hideaway found by bare neck (6) [n]EC[k] + LAIR |
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| 19 | RUBRIC | Instructions Kanga’s house builder read out? (6) Sounds like “roo brick”, which might be used to build Kanga’s house |
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| 21 | CRESTFALLEN | Top loose, feeling like one’s balloon has burst? (11) CREST (top) + FALLEN (loose, as in a “fallen woman”, perhaps) |
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| 22 | LADIES MEN | Studs made lines all over the place (6,3) (MADE LINES)* |
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| 25 | ESPOUSAL | Unruly lass, nameless one, up for adoption (8) Anagram of LASS O[n]E UP |
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| 26 | HEIFER | Cow with lump of Pooh, might he say? (6) Sounds like “heffa”, as in Pooh’s “heffalump” |
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| 28 | EXCEED | Run over pip that’s been dropped, by the sound of it? (6) The dropped pip is an “ex-seed” |
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| 29 | NED KELLY | Notorious Australian journalist, hack ultimately spearing elephant (3,5) ED (journalist) + [hac]K in NELLY (elephant in the song, although it seems the name should be spelt as “Nellie”) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 2 | UFO | Three of four proving cryptic, observed puzzler? (3) Anagram of FOU[r]. A UFO is a puzzling observed thing |
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| 3 | INANE | Very little brain, an eejit – so? (5) Hidden in braIN AN Eejit |
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| 4 | ACETIC ACID | One on prickly cacti I found on surface of desert – that’s sharp! (6,4) ACE (one) + CACTI + I + D[esert] |
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| 5 | TIGGER | Right from start, wonderful thing? (6) TRIGGER (start) less the first R; a reference to the song from the Disney film |
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| 7 | RETICULAR | A curler swerved around it upwards, netted (9) Reverse of IT in (A CURLER)* |
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| 8 | HUNDRED ACRE WOOD | Criminal minds and rude criminal gang in cuddly characters’ manor? (7,4,4) This took a bit of working out: it’s (AND RUDE)* CREW (gang) in HOOD (criminal). The Hundred Acre Wood (based on part of Ashdown Forest in Sussex) is the setting of the Pooh stories |
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| 12 | NOW WE ARE SIX | Nothing about don that’s boring is in the red poetry book (3,2,3,3) And another: WEAR (put on, don) in OWES (is in the red), all in NIX (nothing). Now We Are Six is a book of poems by A A Milne, some of them vaguely related to the Pooh stories |
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| 14 | UNPUNISHED | Without ramifications, joke locked in redbrick outhouse? (10) PUN (joke) in UNI (redbrick describes some universities) + SHED (outhouse) |
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| 16 | MILLSTONE | Author’s written about lost wandering albatross (9) LOST* in MILNE (the thematic author) |
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| 23 | SWINE | Small drink for Piglet, say (5) S + WINE |
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| 24 | USED | Old doghouse, draughty kennels (4) Hidden (“kennelled by”) doghoUSE Draughty |
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| 27 | EEL | Fish eagle’s wings above lake (3) E[agl]E + L[ake] |
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Somewhat easier than the average Paul, I felt, and after struggling on Monday and Tuesday, that was very welcome. Despite the obvious theme, I convinced myself that there was an unaccounted-for L in MILLSTONE, having parsed it as MINE around LOST*. Mea culpa, and no other quibbles here — not that I would expect to have any on a Paul puzzle!
Thank you Andrew and Paul.
Well, it all went in, but never having read the bear, not without a fair bit of Googling.
Thought CRESTFALLEN a bit of a stretch.
Thanks, both.
Lovely. Thanks both
I usually give Paul a wide berth, and did so today, as I know it may end in tears. But when I discovered the FT’s setter was Io, I hurried back. I’m glad I did so. Many smiles were elicited from some great clues as it took me back to my childhood. I’m pleased to report I’ve taken Paul off my “Don’t attempt” list!
I didn’t know why TIGGER is a wonderful thing and hadn’t heard of Nellie the elephant. The wordplay for HUNDRED ACRE WOOD was beyond me, and I had difficulty equating loose with fallen. (Good try, Andrew!)
The theme is so much part of British culture that most of the answers went in despite never having read the books – but the Roo Brick gave me trouble.
Thought this was delightful tribute to A A Milne and I really enjoyed this. Have always been a great admirer of this multi talented man. Last one in after rather too much head scratching was actually the fairly straightforward SWINE. RUBRIC my favourite clue, somehow in the best Paul tradition…
My knowledge of the topic is based on my mum introducing the books 50 years ago, rather than the films. In the books, Tiggers were not “wonderful things” and heffalumps were hunted but not visualised…and that’s my excuse for not parsing HEIFER and for TIGGER being my last one in, not that it took me long.
A theme that rather jumped out and helped a great deal with HUNDRED ACRE WOOD, MILLSTONE and NOW WE ARE SIX.
I could understand a questioning of UNCLAD, although I won’t go there.
I expect someone will go for WORTHY too, and even RUMINANT, where the Venn diagram doesn’t quite stack up.
I liked it though, with some favourites being RUBRIC, INHERITED and UNPUNISHED.
Thanks Paul and Andrew.
Is anyone going to cite the Chambers entry for ECLAIR, I wonder?
I did a recent crossword elsewhere commemorating the same anniversary, so the topic came to mind quickly — which helped a lot with MILLSTONE and NHO NOW WE ARE SIX.
Not the smoothest of surfaces today, I thought. Oh, bother (someone had to). I’m proud of mostly finishing it, but redbrick=uni and heffalump were beyond me. And what’s “then” doing in 6ac?
Thank you Paul and Andrew!
Very nicely put together. Like Tom@1 I had MILLSTONE as mine around an anagram of lost, but unlike him failed to spot the extra l.
Calabar Bean@9
WORTHY
Agree that ‘then’ seems redundant.
does it work if ‘then’ means ‘at that time’?
THY after ROW reversing at that time………not very convincing…eh?!
Enjoyed the puzzle and theme, but failed on the parsing of several
In particular Hundred Acre Wood. Obvious from the theme, but other than RUDE being in there I had no idea, so thank you kindly Andrew
And I got Now We Are Six from knowing/having the Steeleye Span album, though it did ring a slight bell regarding a book
Thanks for the reminiscing Paul
This could only have been set by Paul: the split entries and all those bizarre surfaces. I found this rather tricky, and very few of the answers came from the construction rather than the definition and a few crossers, which I always find a bit dissatisfying. (One of the few solutions which I got from the wordplay was UNPUNISHED – to be pedantic, a ‘redbrick’ is a definition of UNI by example, so ought to be marked as such!).
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the exercise.
There’s a notable variety of unusual containment indicators here, which I liked. Favourites – ACETIC ACID, MILLSTONE and RUBRIC.
Thanks to Paul and Andrew
William@8 it did enter my mind as soon as I wrote that one in!
Well I have to say I thought this was absolutely joyous. So many funny and super clever clues. I think the only gimme was EEL! I couldn’t parse HEIFER (so thanks to the blog) but now I love it so much. What was wonderful was how the theme was so subtly woven in. For instance the ‘very’ in the clue for 3d was bothering me. Can it really be a hidden with a redundant ‘very’ at the beginning? And then I remembered that Pooh is ‘a bear of very little brain’! So not redundant at all! Vital in fact. Oh so lovely. Brings tears to my eyes (almost). Very happy morning:)
Found this quite difficult, not knowing anything about Winnie the Pooh!
Didn’t know Piglet is a RUNT, could maybe have guessed that Kanga = ROO I suppose?
No clue on TIGGER or MILLSTONE (how is an albatross related?)
HUNDRED ACRE WOOD was impassable for me, and NOW WE ARE SIX and HEFFALUMP – well, I have never heard of either.
Sorry Paul, did not click with this at all.
Golly, Andrew! Congratulations for working out the parsing of HUNDRED ACRE WOOD. It had to be the answer, but after several minutes of staring at the clue I was none the wiser.
Geoff Down Under @4 I thought of a loose/ fallen bra strap maybe? Or hair I guess?
Sadly, no Pooh on the bookshelf chez the young ginf. Not sure why, everything else from Blyton to Biggles was. But he’s such a phenomenon that one has absorbed him by cultural osmosis, so no probs filling the grid. Very nice job Paul, and thanks Andrew.
Comment #20
Imaginary Cerebellum @16 ‘a milestone/ albatross around his neck’? Thought this was another peach of a clue btw for its anagram misdirection. No it’s not something complicated involving taking ‘l-o-s-t’ out of ‘albatross’ or what have you. No, albatross is the definition not the word play. Great stuff. I’ll shut up now.
What an absolute pleasure it was to solve this puzzle. I still have the A.A. Milne books that I was given 60 years ago, and I must now go and read them yet again!
An odd coincidence is that one of the answers (not exactly an everyday word) also occurs in today’s Independent cryptic. Many thanks, Paul and Andrew.
@Protase 13, agreed re redbrick needing the usual ‘e.g.’ or ‘say’. And as others have pointed out, ‘then’ in 6A is a hindrance to solving. The other one I wrinkled my nose at was UNCLAD – which had a wordplay for ‘bare’ in place of a definition (something I think should be avoided). Otherwise thought nearly all of this was fantastic.
Like some diseases, you have to be exposed to Winnie the Pooh as a child to be able to tolerate it later in life. I wasn’t, and can’t, so I’m generally with Dorothy Parker on this (“Tonstant Weader Fwowed up”). But it’s pervasive in the culture, and so the references weren’t too difficult. Thanks, Paul and Andrew.
Mostly enjoyable, though the RUBRIC clue really doesn’t make any sense if you think about it.
I initially thought that 2d would be an anagram of the third letter in each of ‘four proving cryptic’, i.e. YOU (the puzzler), but it doesn’t completely work.
Couldn’t parse HEIFER and the hormophorne didn’t help. This being Paul, I was expecting a more scatalogical derivation.
…and never too late to mention this – one of the very best and most entertaining autobiographies I have ever read is A A Milne’s “It’s Too Late Now”, written in 1939 and describing the first 50 years of his life…
I’m in the Tonstant Weader camp when it comes to Milne, but a slight acquaintance with his work did help me to get HUNDRED ACRE WOOD (which I couldn’t parse – thanks, Andrew) and NOW WE ARE SIX. HEIFER last in as a guess, because I’d forgotten about “heffalumps” and also because I’d forgotten to switch into RP mode.
All in all I enjoyed the puzzle, though I did raise an eyebrow at “studs” for LADIES’ MEN. A bit too 1972 Leslie Phillips sitcom for me.
Whether you like it or not, it’s genuinely baffling to me that you can be an adult in the English speaking world and be unfamiliar with Pooh and the characters
Lovely tribute to the 100 year old Aker Wood and its denizens (although I had thought only Owl lived there).
I had to “think, think, think” about a few but I liked ‘honey pots’ and ‘very little brain’.
Thanks to Paul and Andrew
After months of silent lurking I have to break cover in order to put a question. Why, in 14 down, does UNPUNISHED mean ‘without ramifications’? What am I missing? Could somebody explain it to me please?
@wynsum #29
From Wikipedia: “In A. A. Milne’s books, the term “Hundred Acre Wood” is actually used for a specific part of the larger Forest, centred on Owl’s house … However, in most of the adaptations, and in general conversation with most Pooh fans, “The Hundred Acre Wood” is used for the entire world of Winnie-the-Pooh, the Forest and all the places it contains.”
I figured out the HUNDRED ACRE WOOD after my only reveal of WORTHY, and even then couldn’t remember where it came from.
It is curious that cuddly children’s stories were themed on an animal that was driven to extinction, and then only imported for blood sport…
Squealer@30 – Footballers seem to spend a lot of time throwing themselves to the ground , usually this is UNPUNISHED/ without ramifications .
Thanks for the blog , HUNDRED ACRE WOOD and NOW WE ARE SIX are very good constructions but a theme like this just ruins them , we do not need to think .
One good thing about these books was that they were an excellent warning sign for potential boyfriends , along with Tolkien , Pratchett etc .
Not sure it’s quite cricket to have a definition shrouded in a homophone as in the case of UNCLAD, but I guess I’ll have to expand my creaking brain to accommodate that possibiliy in future.
I usually recommend IO Wednesday once a month in the FT but not today .
It tickled me that Piglet is referred to as a swine and a runt. I hope Paul didn’t suffer some childhood trauma with a piglet toy.
Geoff Down Under #4: The song from the Disney movie of Pooh begins “The wonderful thing about Tigger / Is Tigger’s a wonderful thing”.
When I was about six or so, the soundtrack album was on constant replay for as long as my parents would tolerate it.
DavidT@35
UNCLAD
Agree with you and others who say there should be a definition.
The def could be cryptic, but what we have here is another wordplay.
Ladies Men as Studs.
Fallen Women as Loose…
As someone else says, it’s a bit 1970s in parts isn’t it…
Roz@34 – in (highly) respectful disagreement.. I get that a theme makes solving less reliant on wordplay but for us second division solvers a theme is a bonus, it makes a difficult crossword a bit easier and – most pleasingly – turns the crossword into a composition rather than a list of clues. I share the joy so beautifully expressed by Fuddleduddy@15. Ronald@26 many thanks for the recommendation, am onto it…
I don’t think anyone’s yet mentioned that the burst balloon in 21A was Piglet’s birthday present to Eeyore; poor Piglet was exceedingly crestfallen by having to give him a damp rag instead of a bright red balloon, though Eeyore was last seen happily taking it in and out of the empty honey jar Pooh gave to him, having eaten its contents en route.
Thanks to Paul for happy memories of my own and my children’s childhoods, and to Andrew for parsings; I had no idea why Tigger was a wonderful thing. We should perhaps, in all the nostalgia, remember that Milne’s son absolutely detested being Christopher Robin.
Protase @13 and Menander @23: the question mark could indicate the definition by example if you take the last two words together, “redbrick outhouse?” giving you UNI SHED, which I thought was quite good. Though the surface had me scratching my head a bit — why should punishment even be considered for someone locking a joke in a university shed? 🙂
Started last night and finished this morning. Eventually worked my way around to the NE. Some took longer than they should have (19a RUBRIC), some took a while to parse (14d UNPUNISHED — nho “redbrick” = UNI), and some went in unparsed (26a HEIFER). Excellent puzzle, with a lovely theme that was clear to see
Top favourite 12d NOW WE ARE SIX, for the tricky Matryoshka construction, and a good misdirecting surface. Others, 9a LOVAGE (“Silver honey pots”), 25a ESPOUSAL (tricky definition), 5d TIGGER (invoking the delightful song by the incomparable Sherman Brothers), 8d HUNDRED ACRE WOOD (“Criminal minds”), 24d USED (surprisingly well hidden), and several others
Thank you both
Thanks, Sarah @42, for mentioning Eeyore as I searched in vain for him to appear in this delightful (if highly idiosyncratic) Paul puzzle. Same for Wol (Owl) as deliberately misspelt on his house sign. As for MILLSTONE, Imaginary Cerebellum @16, the albatross reference is to Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, who shot one and was forced to wear it as punishment for putting his mates into the doldrums “as idle as a painted ship upon a painted sea,” like a millstone around his neck, as it were.
Complex surfaces and parsings made this one tough a bit tougher for me to finish cleanly (i.e., without lookups to confirm otherwise bungs-in), and I agree with those puzzled by ECLAIR, GLOATING and RUMINANT…but the Pooh revista was a delight, and the long clues mostly helped. Thanks to P & especially A for doggedly decoding “hidden” meanings.
I have been working on when to stop trying with a Paul puzzle and find out the answers. I have been making a point of persisting longer than I used to but there comes a point when struggling with the last handful is not a good use of time. Today I was disappointed not to have got “gloating” but I take issue with “unclad” where there is no definition. I think a clue should make some reference to the meaning of a word. I had to look up how many acres the wood was in the books but was pleased to eventually work out how the clue worked.
Nice crossword! Straightforward enough if you grew up reading Milne (as I did).
As a dedicated Poohist, this was a delightful, most unpaulian puzzle.
I haven’t read all the thread carefully, but if I remember correctly Now We Are Six was originally published with a red cover, while When We Were Very Young had a blue cover – which, in my opinion, makes 12 down an even more admirable clue.
Dorothy Parker was no fan of A A Milne’s treacly prose. Her ‘Constant Reader’ column, reviewing “The House at Pooh Corner” contains the immortal comment “.., (this was) the first place where Tonstant Weader fwowed up”. I know how she felt. Nevertheless, a lovely crossword with a cleverly woven theme. Thanks Paul and Andrew.
Thanks Paul – My favourite compiler. Even I spotted the theme pretty early today – and no real groans! Thanks Andrew for the genius parse of HUNDRED ACRE WOOD – I gave up, but the solution was obvious once the theme was clear. HEIFER also escaped me – duh!
I thought this was delightful. I don’t know if the theme made it easier – most of the thematic elements were in the clues rather than the solutions, after all -, but it certainly made it satisfying.
Sarah @42: I was hoping somebody would mention the burst balloon episode. A very subtle use of the theme, I thought.
Oofyprosser @50: I wouldn’t describe Milne’s prose as “treacly”, more as, I don’t know, “gay” in the now obsolete sense of the word. He does go in for a sort of overblown sentimentality at times, but I think this is in the ironic / mock-heroic tradition of Charles Lamb & Jerome K. Jerome. It isn’t perhaps to modern taste, but it I don’t object to it in a children’s book.
In fact there’s an underlying, implied ironic criticism of the characters in much of Milne, which is one of the delightful things about him if you are reading him to your children: there are different aspects for reader & listener to enjoy.
I loved Winnie the Pooh when young, but I am afraid the only thing I remember now are the characters’ names.
This puzzle was a mixed bag for me. I liked the theme, while ECLAIR and SCORN earned garlands. But I had so many quibbles – helpfully all have been covered already, and there is no need to go into them again.
Thanks Paul and Andrew
Thanks Paul and Andrew
A theme that not only did I spot (would have been difficult not to) but also knew a lot about.
Oofyprosser @50
Milne achieves the really neat trick of writing stories that children like to have read to them, and that parents also enjoy reading!
I only read Winnie The Pooh for the first time when I was about 35 and I will happily list it in my top ten books of all time (alongside Moby Dick, some hard sci-fi, and a couple of very brutal fantasy works), because it is an absolute delight to read at any age, IMO. So I loved it as a theme, and really enjoyed the crossword.
One quibble, in relation to the centenary, is that Tigger didn’t appear until two years later in ‘The House at Pooh Corner’. And I wasn’t familiar with the Disney song either, so that clue made no sense to me.
[btw “acetic acid” hasn’t been the “correct” name for ethanoic acid for over 50 years! (though even publications such as New Scientist still get this wrong)]
Like others, I thank Sarah @42 for describing the Eeyore reference so neatly. In a similar vein, I might have added the words “a little” before the word “something” in the clue for LOVAGE. Unnecessary, but more like Pooh, I think.
However, I can’t seem to find the reference to Owl, or any reference to Rabbit. Are they staring me in the face?
I came upon the Pooh books as a child – the right age – and definitely would not regard Milne as a “red flag” author alongside Tolkien or Pratchett. But then, we all have different tastes, thank goodness.
Thanks to Andrew for a great blog and to Paul for a lovely puzzle.
Rebecca Linton @46
“I take issue with “unclad” where there is no definition”
There is a definition – BARE. Granted you do have to unpackage it from “bear being picked up?” but it does exist. It’s not the first time this hidden definition trick has been used in recent weeks.
I really liked EXCEED.
WTP is currently on 4 Extra, narration by Alan Bennett.
Not a theme that really grabs me but I enjoyed the challenge.
Thanks both.
Clyde @58 all I meant was if you see those authors on the shelves in a student boy’s room then run for the hills , which I did on several occasions .
Radio 4 are also doing some of the stories read by various artists such as Lennie Henry. They also have “Who are you in Winnie the Pooh?” where celebrated children’s writers say which character they would be. Some interesting discussions
Okay, I’ve started reading Winnie-the-Pooh
I understand the ROO BRICK homophone, but not sure that it makes sense since Kanga and Roo shared a treehouse.
Mig @63
Enjoy!
P.G.Wodehouse was incensed by Milne’s criticism of him apparently spouting Hitler propaganda, and included in his Golf stories a rather pointed parody of Milne, featuring a son called “Timothy Bobbin”. I can’t find a link, but I remember one of the “poems” was:
Timothy Bobbin
Goes bobbity-bobbity-bop.
I was baffled by 17 across and feel UNCLAD is a little unsporting. But that’s the sort of thing a defeated solver would say. I had the picture of Christopher Robin going up the stairs with Pooh Bear dangled by one leg. Then I tried subtracting a D (short relative) to get ANGLED and put that in, although there’s no way that can be defined by Notice. Well, it’s been a Busy Day, as Rabbit once had.
I think Dorothy Parker missed the point and the humour. Pooh getting stuck in Rabbit’s burrow and having his legs used as a towel rail whilst he loses weight…. The description of Owl’s tree blowing down and a wall being where the ceiling ought to be… Nothing twee about that.
Like Forest Fan @60, I’ve been listening to the Alan Bennett readings today.
[Tim @66
It’s too far to go and check, but I think that it was Edward Bear that Christopher Robin pulled up the stairs by one leg?]
Always had a soft spot for Pooh Bear so I enjoyed the theme. Needed help with some parsing so thanks for the blog.
Muffin @67. So it was. I always assumed they were the same bear, and Edward certainly looks like Winnie.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/english-literature-history-l13404/lot.377.html
You never see them together !
By the way – The E.H. Shepard illustrations are on commomerative Royal Mail stamps, issued today.
I’m happy to report that they’re the same bear. Start of chapter 2:
“Edward Bear, known to his friends as Winnie-the-Pooh, or Pooh for short, was walking through the forest…”
Tim @69
He became Pooh after the bee incident, as I remember.
The description is baffling – he is clearly going upstairs, not down!
Mig @70: of course, thank you for the reminder.
Muffin @71: there is a down-the-stairs illustration too: https://www.alamy.com/here-is-edward-bear-image501317373.html
I snookered myself by writing in TYKE instead of USED at 24d, but I always knew it was the wrong hidden word. As soon as I changed it, I whizzed through the last few for a very satisfying solve.
It’s a good job that Paul never seems to drop in here – all those complaints about him using ‘bear’ as a soundalike for the definition in UNCLAD. Where else is he going to put ‘bear’?
Thanks to Paul and Andrew.
Far too late – I am in hospital for a procedure – but I need to say I loved Pooh as a kid, loved reading it to my kids and now love reading it to my granddaughter. So I bunged in OWL at 27d without too much thought…
Thanks, Paul and Andrew
Roz, what about potential girlfriends’ bookshelves?
I won’t venture my suggestions here in haste…
Isn’t Marvin the Paranoid Android just Eeyore in a tin suit?
Sheffield Hatter @73
You’re right of course. I was just a bit CRESTFALLEN about not getting UNCLAD and it brought out my inner Eeyore. A simple “Bother !” would have sufficed.
Zoom @76 – Yes !
Jay @64 I don’t think they did, not in the books, anyway.
…but after consideration anything by the Brontës perhaps?
Etu@75 , you should know by now that girlfriends are axiomatically perfect and this includes their choice of books . It is good to see this blog making a big effort to confirm the wisdom of my youthful judgement in the past .
Oofyprosser@50, Brian-with-an-eye@24 beat you to it, but the Dorothy Parker quote is certainly worth repeating.
William@2, (“CRESTFALLEN a bit of a stretch”), isn’t the point of cryptic crosswords to stretch us?
Re 14d, I tried to enter UNHOMOPHONISHED but it just wouldn’t fit.
Thanks P&A for the pleasing puzzle and accurate analysis.
Cellomaniac@81, that’s a terrific word! I hope it shows up one day…