In Round Numbers by Colleague

Puzzle explanation

The answer replacements, whose sequences and displacements are given below, were: 1ac Ben Nevis → West Tip, 6 (Saul) Bellow → (Isaac Bashevis) Singer, 11 zeta → alpha, 19 pantaloon → soldier, 32 (George) Canning → Earl Grey, 5 leather → paper, 10 Tango → Romeo, 24 (Andrew) Motion → (Cecil) Day-Lewis, 33 diamond → garnet, 34dn (John) Pond → (Nathaniel) Bliss. The extra words in their clues were all of five letters, with letters 1 to 5, then 5 to 1, spelling out “more or less”, for which the puzzle’s title is a definition in Chambers.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Extra word; change Answer Explanation
Across
1 (M)arch; Grand National winner + 6 BEN NEVIS BENE around N + VIS
6 b(O)mbs; Nobel laureate in literature + 2 BELLOW EL in BLOW
11 fi(R)st; Greek letter − 5 ZETA (I)Z(v)E(s)T(i)A
15   CANTO CANTO(r)
16   EPHEBES HEBE in EPS
17   IMPROVER IMP + ROVER
18   B-SIDE homophone of BESIDE
19 Pip(E)r; Seven Ages of Man − 2 PANTALOON PAN + O in TALON
20   OSLO OS + LO
21   OPUSCLES CLUES * in (O/P + S)
23   EASED LEASED − (jai)L
25   NOSH NOS(e) + H
27   TOWER WROTE *
28   KORA KO(k)RA
30   SOFAR SO FAR
32 Metr(O); British PM − 3 CANNING CANING around N
34   BLOW ref. BLOW-by-BLOW
35   BOBADIL BAD in (B + OIL)
37   LAUDS L(e)A(g)U(e) D(a)S(h)
39   SLEW RATE SLEW + RATE
42   ORATION ORDINATION − DIN
43   SITHE SI + THE
44   LENTI LENT + I’
45   SCHLEP SCH + LEAP − A
46   SPETSES (S + E + STEPS) <
Down
1   WARISONS (I + SON) in WARS
2   ELIM MILE <
3   THIRDS DS after THIR
4   TARO TAR + O
5 choi(R); wedding anniversary + 2 LEATHER LEAR around THE
7   ICE BEER ICE + BEE + R
8   NABS 2 meanings
9   GNEISS SING < around E + S(equester)
10 fai(L)s; radio code word − 2 TANGO T + A + N + G + O
12   PEPLUS P(inafor)E + PLUS
13   NÉVÉ EVEN <
14   PHRASER homophone of FRASER
20   OAK O + AK
22   LOESSIC OSSICLE *
24 en(E)my; Poet Laureate − 3 MOTION (NO I + TOM) <
26   HAW HA’ + W
27   TRUSTEE SET * in TRUE
29   ORDAIN INROAD *
31   FOURTH FOU RIRE − IRE + TH
33 A(S)hes; birthstone − 3 DIAMOND DID around AMON(g)
34 (S)torm; Astronomer Royal − 2 POND P + O + N + D(elaware)
35   BLOCS CLUBS * with O for U
36   OENO- ORVIETO with EN for the internal letters
38   DAHL 2 meanings; ref. Roald Dahl
40   WALE WALE(r)
41   TITE TE around IT
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