Putting the World to Rights by Charybdis

Puzzle explanation

The second letters of the across clues’ extra words spelt out “unjumble all down entries”. Those from down clues gave “rough beast, why no heart?”, leading cryptically to W. B. Yeats [(BEAST + W(h)Y) *], with the phrase “rough beast” taken from his poem The Second Coming. Its beginning and ending are:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, ... And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Restoring the jumbled down entries to their correct form, and rearranging the unclued MERE ANARCHY to ARCANE RHYME, allowed ambiguities from the original jumbled across entries to be resolved so that new across words were created. The isolated middle section of the grid initially contained CENTRE. Changing the C to G allowed the poem’s first line to be traced in an outward spiral from the T in cell IV. Finally, changing the R to L produced GENTLE (a falcon).

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Extra word Answer Explanation
Across
1 h(U)nt ALMAIN ANIMAL *
6 i(N)gredient ANISEED A + IS in NEED
13 e(J)ected WHEAT W + HEAT
14 c(U)rlers GORGONS GORG(e) + ON + S
15 e(M)bryonic UNSOUL (NUCLEOLUS − (mus)CLE) *
16 A(B)bey HERO (t)HE RO(ad)
17 f(L)avourless DAMN (M + AND) *
19 D(E)mocrat ORARIAN LIBRARIAN with O for LIB
21 r(A)ve ENRAPT PARENT *
22 E(L)ephant SPEND SP + END
23 p(L)atter UNHAT (H + TUNA) *
26 i(D)iom EMAIL EMIL(y) around A
29 p(O)rtrait ROPES R + (h)OPES
32 S(W)iss SPIKY 2 meanings
36 I(N)dian NEST HONEST − HO
37 b(E)ating ÉCURIES (I RESCUE) *
40 k(N)obby HORN (s)HORN
41 s(T)ump POPLAR POP(u)LAR
42 k(R)onor TYTHES (Fif)TY THE S(wede’s)
43 g(I)t INSTANT INCONSTANT − CON
44 H(E)ll IMPERIA IMP + I’ in ERA
45 E(S)tate RAISIN RAISIN(g)
Down
2 G(R)eek TSAR (d)RAST(ic) <
3 B(O)ys HORNED H OR NED
4 S(U)ez ÉMIGRÉ MIG in ERE
5 i(G)norant ANNA (B)AN(a)NA
6 c(H)ivvied AGING MANAGING − MAN
7   SYNTH YACHTSMEN = (SYNTH + CAME) *
8 a(B)elia ARGUE A + RUE around G
9 b(E)ery TEA URN CHATEAU − CHA + R + N
10 m(A)rried ENOW (Aberde)EN + (Glasg)OW
11 A(S)ian OLIO FOLIO − F
12 s(T)alls GEDS (a)GED S(mokies)
18   PAAN PA + A(gai)N
20 t(W)enty SOLD SOLD(iers)
24 c(H)urches SHOG S + HOG
25 G(Y)ring EASTERN TERN after EAS
27   EGOISM EG(g) + O + IS + M’
28 i(N)ept TEEPEE TEE-HEE = TEEPEE with H for P
30 c(O)lloquial INSPAN (pla)IN SPAN(ish)
31   WRIER W + RIVER − V
33 s(H)eriff’s INTRA IN-TRA(y)
34 F(E)bruary NONES N + ONE + S
35 v(A)lue GLISK G + SILK *
38 t(R)ies OHMS 2 meanings
39 a(T)titudes ARTY (p)ARTY
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