Listener Crossword 4238: Solution Notes
Typtoing in Grammar’s Footsteps by Jaques
Puzzle explanation
Extra words in clues gave “Quote and speaker, in Brewer, should be highlighted”. The grid contained the quotation from Sigismund I, “Ego sum Imperator Romanorum, et supra grammaticam” (“I am the Roman emperor and am above grammar”), which is given in the entry on grammar in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. This was the excuse for poor English in the preamble and the surface readings of clues. The preamble statement that letters “spell a message [...] out” was not an error but a clumsy way of saying “spell out a message [...]”.
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| No | Extra word | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Across | |||
| 1 | quick | GLADE | LAD in GE |
| 5 | undeservedly | TUND | (bea)T UND(eservedly) |
| 11 | occasionally | ENCLAVE | EVEN * around (CL + A) |
| 12 | Tendulkar | TICED | D after TICE |
| 13 | expenses | FOREGO | EGO after FOR |
| 14 | accredit | SUM | homophone of SOME |
| 16 | novice | PERAEON | PER + AEON |
| 17 | divisions | FACTOR | FACTOR(y) |
| 19 | shuffling | MISE | IS in ME |
| 20 | pleasurable | SOLANO | SOLA + NO |
| 22 | enumerate | UMPTY | NUMPTY − N |
| 23 | acid | EMMET | ’EM + MET |
| 25 | King | UPROAR | UP + (OAR after R) |
| 27 | Ephesus | STOA | SA around TO |
| 29 | Rwandan | AMMANS | AM + MAN’S |
| 31 | insignia | HEPATIC | HEP + AT + I/C |
| 34 | Nuclear | ARM | 2 meanings |
| 35 | bait | IDEATE | IDE + ATE |
| 36 | real | BITTY | BIT + T(emplate) Y(ellow) |
| 37 | Eisenhower’s | ENLARGE | GENERAL * |
| 38 | waltz | GISM | (performin)G IS M(inimalism) |
| 39 | Einstein | UNDID | (I in DD) after UN |
| Down | |||
| 1 | roulette | GAFFE | GAFFER − R |
| 2 | shocking | ONLY | (sp)O(ke)N (ba)L(dl)Y |
| 3 | happy-go-lucky | DETAIL | (ALI + TED) * |
| 4 | orthodoxy | MEGA | EG in MA |
| 5 | university | PROVOST | ROV(e) in POST |
| 6 | Legionnaire | REUSE | REFUSE − F |
| 7 | draining | OUTRUN | OUT + RUN |
| 8 | backstair | PETTICOAT | (PAC(t) + TOTTIE) * |
| 9 | excused | COSECANT | COSE + CANT |
| 10 | however | DRYNESS | DRESS around NY < |
| 15 | indiscreteness | IMPOLITIC | I’M + LIT in OI in PC |
| 18 | gold-mining | AMOSITES | A + MO + SITES |
| 20 | Harmison | ABASHES | A + BASHES |
| 21 | leech’s | CUMARIN | CUM + A + R + IN |
| 24 | infection | GRITTY | GRIT + (Rif)T (Valle)Y |
| 26 | Greek | MERMAN | (Ho)MER MAN(uscript) |
| 28 | hawking | RIEMS | REIMS with I moved to earlier position |
| 30 | teenagers | DENSE | DENS + E |
| 32 | endured | UDAL | UDA + L; ref. Mainland as main island of Orkney or Shetland |
| 33 | delivering | GIFT | (’T + FIG) < |