Indication of Height by Mr E

Puzzle explanation

Answers not entered normally were Across: 13 incubating 15 parpend 16 scape 19 Hudson 22 refitting 26 jewel-house 40 bail out; Down: 3 matte 4 aldrin 6 Medea 7 alto 8 Ophelia 9 nail files 10 snoozled 14 paillette 18 inset 20 piolet 27 loo roll. The numerical section was the scorecard of a 9-hole golf match between YOU and MR E (see key to the left). The two special cells contained large and small circles for HO/LE and BA/LL. The clue to “seven” (33ac) indicated that the solver’s situation is “you lie seven” before their final effort, ie, on the 9th hole (see below). The ball had to be moved within the hole, with an arrow through PUTT, the “eighth shot” (the title also suggests H (= 8) & eight), thus enabling the solver’s score on hole 9 to be reduced from 9 (the setter having assumed that YOU would require two putts) to 8, and the total reduced to 63, beating MR E.

The clue to 33ac is the special one referred to in the preamble, in that the definition is thematic and does not correspond to the entry for seven in The Chambers Dictionary. The definition part is “Before final play, what you lie”, which refers to the current score for the solver (“you”) prior to making the successful putt. The wordplay is “next to is flat”, which places EVEN (= flat) next to ’S (= is).

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer Explanation
Across
1 TSAMBA (firs)T + SAMBA
5 AMAZONS A + MAN’S about OZ <
11 ROCAILLE A COLLIER *
12 SPAN S + PAN
13 INCUBATING IN + CUBA + TING
15 PARPEND PARD about PEN
16 SCAPE ’S + CAPE
19 HUDSON HUN(t) about DSO
22 REFITTING IF < in RETTING
23 AGHAST AGHA’S + T(orture)
25 MORALE ORAL in ME
26 JEWEL-HOUSE JEWEL (boss) + HOUSE; reference room in Tower of London
29 ANATTA (AT + TANA) <
33 SEVEN ’S + EVEN; thematic clue, relating to situation at final golf hole
35 TORTILE TORTE about (I + L)
36 SUPER-DUPER RUDE SUPPER *
37 ALEW A + LEW; Spenserian (Edmund) word
38 LOOP-LINE LOO + P(aul) + LINE (part of verse)
39 RESOLED RESOLVED – V; reference cobbler
40 BAIL OUT AIL in BOUT
Down
1 TRIPY STRIPY – (Aristophane)S
2 ACCRUE RUE after ACC
3 MATTE MATTE(r)
4 ALDRIN DR(ip) in A LIN
6 MEDEA ME + DEA(r)
7 ALTO A + LOT *; see all-to
8 OPHELIA Composite anagram of A WHOLE PIE, using WE; “help” is the meaning of the name
9 NAIL FILES (FALLEN + I + IS) *
10 SNOOZLED ZOONS < + LED
14 PAILLETTE (I + L) in PALETTE
17 ORGANELLE O’ + ALLERGEN *
18 INSET IT about (N + S + E)
20 PIOLET (POLE + IT) *
21 MACASSAR MAC + AS + SAR
24 HEAVIES (HEAVE + S) about I (the speaker)
27 LOO ROLL Cryptic definition
28 SCIPIO SCORPIO, OR replaced by I
30 AMPLE EXAMPLE – EX
31 STULL STILL, if I were to replace U
32 BERET E(rnie) in BERT; reference Sesame Street
34 NULL NULL(a)
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