We find Karla’s compilations in the Magpie and the EV and IQ series. This will be his seventh Listener and they have covered a wide range of subjects. Where is ‘Spy’ going to take us?
Misprints in the wordplay of across clues whose corrected letters will guide us in the endgame, extra words in down clues (seven times two words and seven times one) to be removed and unjumbled to give us 14 thematic items and 14 extra letters spelling a motif from a work. One entry to change according to a line in the work, giving all real new words in the grid, instructions about how to draw ‘a character from the work’ and two forenames of the work’s producers that we must highlight. Quite a treasure box of activity ahead of us! Where to start?
We have a fine set of clues here but some are really tough. ‘Born sly, redhead accepts Latvian funding request (13)’ I finally decide that we have an L for A misprint here and that gives us B ‘say’ = EG then GINGER around LETT so BEGGING LETTER. Brownie points for Karla for managing to construct his answer without resorting to an anagram. Even more so for ‘Data experts mostly remain with institute also probing drugs (13)’. I need the other half of the Dash blogging team to explain that we use a T (alTo) misprint for S (alSo) and put STIC(k) I A into STATINS giving STATISTICIANS.
Fortunately there are some slightly easier gifts and we must confirm Karla’s oenophile membership renewal with ‘Lethargy of type mainly drinking rum in (6)’ Sadly, that ‘rum’ has to become a ‘ram’ or TUP that goes into SOR(t) to give Karla STUPOR. Sobeit, but “Cheers, anyway!”
A message slowly emerges. We have to draw that character which is an INITIAL and with STRAIGHT LINES.
My real enjoyment came from the down clues with that entertaining extraction of twenty-one words that had to be unjumbled to give thematic items, each time with an extra letter. After a couple of them had suggested the names of cities: ‘Tiny tot irked poor lovelorn Elliott (6)’ producing DETROIT and an extra K from ‘TOTIRKED*’ and leaving the answer LITTLE and ‘Local spread cans out right below tent half missing (4)’ producing TUCSON from ‘CANSOUT* with an extra A leaving TEE(pee) + R = TEER, it was an entertaining addition to the solve to find those cities, which all proved to be American, with the extra letters spelling LOOK FOR AMERICA.
‘alongside’ gave us L + SAN DIEGO, ‘old patron’ O + PORTLAND, ‘never do’ O + DENVER, ‘tot irked’ K + DETROIT, ‘faults F + TULSA, ‘so lame’ O + SALEM, ‘Paroles R + EL PASO, ‘laboured’ A + BOULDER, ‘tsunami’ M + AUSTIN, ‘outshone’ E + HOUSTON, ‘Trod some’ R + MODESTO, ‘no fries’ I + FRESNO, ‘telecast’ C + SEATTLE, and ‘cans out’ A + TUCSON.
Yes, this blogger is old enough to have been a great Simon and Garfunkel fan – even had a Magpie crossword ‘Spanner in the Works’ with their magical ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ many years ago. But I wonder whether younger solvers needed our friend Wiki or the burgeoning AI to identify that lovely evocative song and spot the line ‘I said be careful, his bow-tie is really a camera’ Thus the SPY of the title and the word we had to change in our grid. ‘On front of mug perhaps draw item of formal attire (6, two words)‘. That ‘mug’ became a ‘tug’ so we had the BOW and TIE for ‘draw = BOW TIE.
Putting CAMERA almost into the heart of our grid (and, of course, with mastery, producing new real words) put just five As into the grid so that we could see where to draw that significant initial character ‘linking five similar letters’ – the A of America, drawn with three straight lines. All that was left to do was find and highlight PAUL and ART – and to thank Karla for such a fine and moving compilation.