What’s Missing? by Artix

Puzzle explanation

The theme was the song There Is Nothin’ Like a Dame, from the musical South Pacific. Dames missing in blank cells were Joan Bakewell (clambake, wells), Judi Dench (paged, enchant), Kiri Te Kanawa (karateka, nawab), Sybil Thorndike (inert, horn, dikes), Shirley Bassey (rumbas, seyen), Muriel Spark (calcspar, kula), Diana Rigg (brig, glades), Penelope Lively (alive, lye), Eileen Atkins (scat, Kinsale). There were several thematic hints in the clues referring to musicals, the South Pacific, islands, servicemen and absent women.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

Answer Explanation
Across
CLAMBAKE CAKE around LAMB
WELLS WELLES − E
SAILOR  
BWANAS WAN in BAS
JAMJAR JAM + JAR
PAGED GED after PA
ENCHANT (w)ENCH + ANT
IRE IRE(nic)
CUCULLATE CU + CULL + ATE
KARATEKA KAKA around RATE
NAWAB NAB around WA
INERT T after (IN + ER)
HORN (s)HORN
DIKES DI + KES
EDEN SWEDEN − (S + W)
SALAMI SALAMIS − S
RUMBAS (B + A) in RUMS
SEYEN SEEN around (Harr)Y
TIBIAL (L + I + A BIT) *
LASSI homophone of LASSIE
SEABEE  
CALCSPAR SP in CALCAR
KULA (AL(l) + UK) <
TORS TORS(k)
CHELSEA WARE (ATHLETE − T − T + A SCREW) *
Down
LANT 2 meanings
MARINE  
BRIG R in BIG
SIRENIA (h)AIRINES(s) *
JEER JEEP with last letter shifted two places alphabetically
GUAM A in GUM
GLADES G + LADIES − I
SCAT 2 meanings
ALIVE LI in AVE
LYE 2 meanings
BETULA (ABSOLUTE − SO) *
KINSALE (S + ALE) after KIN
AULA ’AUL + A
DISA (orchi)D + IS + A(frican)
SABRES (BARONESSES − ONES) *
MALE 2 meanings; ref. Malé, capital of Maldives
NIUE IN < + (t)U(n)E
BETA BEAT with last letter moved up
CLORE LORE after C; ref. maiden name of Dame Vivien Duffield
SA SA SA + SA (do = ditto)
CAMPUS CAMP + US
HIJACK HI + JACK
WANT W + ANT
Back to 2015 menu