Dah-di-dah-di-dah by Harribobs

Puzzle explanation

The extra letters from wordplay spelt out “black out letters in MORSE CODE and erase the rest”. After applying those changes to the filled grid (shown here), the rows of the resulting grid consist of single black cells (dots) and groups of three consecutive black cells (dashes), with three blank cells between successive letters and seven blank cells between words. It represents the Morse code sequence for “What hath God wrought”, which was the first message transmitted by Samuel Morse, to open the Baltimore-Washington telegraph line on 24 May 1844. The puzzle’s title is a spoken representation of “— · — · —”, the Morse code prosign (procedural signal) for “commencing transmission”.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer Explanation [extra letter]
Across
1 CARDCASE D in CARCASE
6 SATARA SAT + ARA[B]
12 FINENESS FI[L]S around (NENE + S)
13 ULES (sex)U[A]L ES(capades)
14 E-FIT E + FIT[C](h)
15 LABARA LA + BARAC[K] − C
16 WIENERS [O]WNERS around EI <
17 ANOREXY (O[U]R + EX) in ANY
18 SAMUEL (ALE MUS[T]) *
19 DAVY DAVY JONES − JONES
21 YODELED YEL[L]ED around (O + D(enali))
24 TEXAN (AXE in N[E]T) <
25 DEMUREST MU[T]TERED * around S
27 REMITTED MITTE(n) in RED
30 ETENS E[T] + TENS
33 WAYLAID (A LADY + I W[E]) *
35 SUER SU[R]ER
36 OBLAST [S]O + BLAST
39 MOHEGAN GA[I]N after HOME *
41 COXCOMB COX + COMB
42 ENDURE RENÉ * around DU[N]
43 OBIA COLO[M]BIA − COL
44 MEOW (WOE + M[O]) <
45 MOVEABLE (LEAVE MOB) *
46 SINGES SINGE[R] + S
47 SALINITY ANALYSI[S] * with IT for A
Down
1 CRUSADER R in (USED CAR) *
2 APLANAT (A + PLAN[E]T) around A
3 DYSURY DY + TREASURY − RATE *
4 AFFIX [C]A + F + FIX
5 ENTITY (N[O]T YET) * around I
6 SELES L(eft-hander) in SEE[D]S
7 ANANA A + NAN + [E]A
8 AS A RULE (U + LE[A]) after ÅSAR
9 AFAWLD ALD around FAW[N]
10 REMOVE RE[D] + MOVIE − I(nvestment)
11 SERENATA EASTERN * + A
16 WYND (a)W(a)Y (i)N (L)[E](e)D(s)
20 ANTI I after [R]ANT
22 OMER O in [A]MER
23 DUTCHMAN ref. “I’m a DUTCHMAN”
26 TURN AWAY URN in TAW + [S]AY
28 MYLODON MY + LO + DON[E]
29 DUMB B[T] after MUD <
31 NUGGET GUN < + GET
32 SEAPORT SORT around [H]EAP
33 WOOERS WOO(l) + ERS[E]
34 DEMOBS (SE[R]B MOD) *
35 SERMON ((astro)NOM[E]R ES(chews)) <
37 SCREE SCREEN[S] − N
38 TOEAS TOAS[T] around E
40 ORIEL 2 meanings
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