Dream Match by Aver

Puzzle explanation

The extra letters in wordplay spelt out “Titania; AMND two one; mud; add letter values; sixteen lines”. The first parts were a reference to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, act 2, scene 1, where Titania says “The nine men’s morris is fill’d up with mud”. Alphabetically adding the two letters in each clashing cell produced O in each case; with the other Os in the grid, they formed the playing positions for the game, and the board was completed by adding 16 lines. The entry in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is illustrated with a board that has extra diagonal lines in the corners; this is the board for twelve men’s morris and involves adding 20 lines, so entries showing the diagonals were marked wrong.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer Explanation [extra letter]
Across
1 MERIL MERI[T] + L
5 VOCATIVE VO[I](d) + ACTIVE with C moving to the left
10 LAERTES LA[T]ER + T(reachery) E(xposed) S(cheme)
11 EXHALE HALE after [A]XE <
12 ETAERIO (EAT ROE I[N]) *
13 BIZET T[I]E < after BIZ
16 STARLIT R[A]T’S-TAIL *
17 KLEIN (LIKE [A]N) *
18 TRIO TRI[M] + O’
22 NEELD NEED around [N]L
23 T-BAR BAR[D] after (Zermat)T
25 VIOL VI[T]AL with O for A
28 SOFT T after SO[W]F
29 TIRE (th)E RI[O] T(into)
30 ARRAU [O]RRA in AU
35 OAKY OK around A + [N]Y
36 WEEDY WEE + D[E]Y
37 UNEARTH [M]ANURE * + T(renc)H
40 ACUTE (s)A[U]C(y) (a)U(k) (s)TE(w)
41 OPHELIA O + AILE[D] < after (P + H(amlet))
42 FADEUR (c)ADE[A]U in (F(lannel) R(evealing))
43 PINDARI NIP < + D + ARI[D]
44 IN PERSON (PON[D]ER SIN) *
45 REBEC C after REBE[L]
Down
1 BLEAKEST B(yr)[E] + LEA + K + EST
2 EATHLY S[T]EALTHY * − S
3 RENT [T]ENT around (campe)R
4 IRENIC IRE + NIC[E]
5 VEIL VE[R]IL(y)
6 CENTILE CENT + [V]ILE
7 THIRSTS (ST[A]RT HIS) *
8 VLEIS VS around (I + E[L]L) <
9 JETTY (YET J[U]T) *
14 OLD BOY YOLO < around D[E]B
15 MANOAO MO around ANOA[S]
19 WEIRD WEID around R[S]
20 ODOURS (O + [I] DOS) around UR
21 CORNET COR + NE[X]T
24 RUBY-TAIL ([T]RULY A BIT) *
26 LEGATEE (LEG + TEE) around [E]A
27 CRATERS (explo)R(ative) in CR[E]ATES
31 SECEDE SECO[N]DE with E for O
32 ADMIRE ADMIRA[L] with (fre)E for A
33 QUAFF QU[I]FF around A
34 INCAN (Ci)NCIN[N]A(ti) *
38 SPIN SPIN[E]
39 SCAB S(hocked) + CA + BALL[S] − ALL
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