Dave Hennings’ Crossword Database tells me that this is eXternal’s seventh Listener crossword (he has created lots of IQs too).There is nothing too daunting in the preamble. We are going to be hunting for an extra word in across clues. Their first and last letters will spell a story and its author. In each column we must ‘enter one answer in line with a motif of a compaion story to the first’. I am still somewat puzzled about those words.
It became clear, very quickly, though, that we had to enter one of the down answers reversed. ‘Church dignitary holding mass with German person requesting (8)’ gave us DEAN around M + DER = DEMANDER and that slotted into NOUVELLE, REEDEN, TRANSOM and GRID but only if we reversed it. What’s more, it produced RENAMED if we removed an awkward D so we could see how we were going to find our second story (Which, of course, neatly spelled out LITTLE MERMAID if we are happy to take a T out of reversed WETTER to give us RETEW – that’s some obscure English village, a derelict village in Cornwall I’m told. Hmmm!)
Generous and enjoyable clues gave us our set of extra words, HANDOUT, APPROACH. EMOTION, SOME, CREAM, PATH, RYE, INSTRUCTOR, OMINOUS, TIMBER, INGENIOUS, ARABIAN, NINE, ALLOW, COUSIN, LAND, ONE, RESIST, SPANISH, E-BIKE and NOBS. How nicely some of them were concealed, and they spelled HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN and THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES, so we had our author and the first story.
‘Organ Donor?’ What did the little mermaid have to sacrifice in order to rise to the surface of our grid? (see clue 33, ‘Smitten mermaid leaving confines of sea for prince (4)’ – we removed the Med there and entered RIMA). How cruel those stories can be. She sacrificed her tongue, so we knew we were looking for that to highlight and it appeared as our very last across clue. ‘Ten upper-class [nobs] dog excitedly licked (7)’ {TEN U DOG}* gives TONGUEd.
A thoroughly enjoyable solve, thanks eXternal, and a gently classy puzzle. Yes, of course you retain your Listener setter oenophile ticket with. ‘Wine and beer leads to rows triggering state of readiness for crisis (8, two words)’ (RED + ALE + R T). “Cheers!”