Latitude 10 by Puffin

Puzzle explanation

Extra letters in wordplay spelt out “Captain James Clark Ross; opposite poles attract”. Ross led a team that located the North magnetic pole on 1 June 1831 at Cape Adelaide Regina on Canada’s BOOTHIA Peninsula (named after the expedition’s financer Sir Felix Booth). Some years later he commanded an expedition to find the South magnetic pole, discovering many places that bear his name, such as the Ross Sea and Ross Island, whose volcanoes Mount EREBUS and Mount TERROR were named after the expedition’s ships. He discovered and named FRANKLIN Island after fellow polar explorer Sir John Franklin, who at the time was govenor of Van Diemen’s Land. Franklin later made an expedition to the Northwest Passage in the same two ships, which became trapped in ice. In 1848 Ross led an unsuccessful search for that lost expedition.

In each across clue the definition was an “opposite” of the answer. The title similarly represented the “opposite” (complementary angle) of the latitude of the geomagnetic poles (where the poles would be if the Earth were seen as a bar magnet), which are at approximately 80° North and South. The puzzle marked the 160th anniversary of Ross’s death on 3 April 1862.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Answer Explanation [extra letter]
Across
1 GUIMP I’M in [C]UP after G
11 ANDIRON AND + [A]IR + ON
13 AÎNÉ [P]AIN + E
14 LUREX EXUL[T] * around R
15 BERRETS ERR in BE[A]TS
17 SHEERS SHE + S[I]RE <
18 DONNÉ DO[N] + NNE
19 ESSE [J]ESSE
20 SMEEK [A]S + MEEK
21 REINSTALMENTS (LA[M]ENTS TERMS IN) *
28 DONGA DON + AG[E] <
30 PERT PE[S]T around R
31 ORMER [C]ORMEL with R for L
32 INUITS (SUN[L]IT + I) *
34 END-USER (E[A]RNS DUE) *
35 ABREAST BA[R] < + REAST
36 CETYL TY[K]E * in CL
37 NURL N[R] + URL
38 SENECIO (E + I[O]NESCO) *
39 ASSESSES ASSES around SES[S]
40 SEDER DES[S]ER(t) *
Down
1 GAMBLE M[O]B in GALE
2 UNLOOSE UNE around LOO[P]S
3 MIRTH (HM around TRI[P]) <
4 PREHENSORIAL PRE + HENS + [O]ORIAL
5 FOXIEST F + O + X + I[S] + EST
6 A-PER-SE APER + S + [I]E
7 KARAOKE KARA[T] + OKE
8 LIE-INS I in SENIL[E] *
9 INTEND [P]IN + TEN + D(own)
10 NESTED N[O]ES + TED
12 BRIDEMAIDENS (RAMB[L]ED INSIDE) *
16 OSSI (d)OSSI[E](r)
22 NDEBELE (BLEND[S] + EE) *
23 LAUNCES [A]LAS around (d)UNCE
24 NESS NES[T]S
25 TROELIE ([T]REE + TOIL) *
26 TORANA TO[R] + RANA
27 SMIRRS (S[A]R + RIMS) <
29 NISSES (cli)NI[C]’S SES(sion)
33 TUTEE [T]UT in TEE
Back to 2022 menu