Contemporary Still by Filbert

Puzzle explanation

The puzzle was published the day after the 136th anniversary of the birth of Le Corbusier. The extra words in down clues gave his five points of architecture: pilotis (pilot + is), free plan, free façade, horizontal windows, roof garden. These were outlined in his 1923 book Vers une architecture, in which he wrote “Une maison est une machine-à-habiter” (a house is a machine for living in). The extra letters in wordplay spelt out “SW elevation, Villa Savoye”, the building that most clearly embodies Le Corbusier’s five points. The final instructions for solvers corresponded to the five points to produce a diagram of the Villa Savoye as seen from the southwest:

  1. Inserting bars in the bottom two rows for the pilotis
  2. Deleting any other bars that may have been drawn (“freeing the plan”)
  3. Outlining the quotation for the façade
  4. Shading ACROSS LIGHTS for the horizontal windows
  5. Outlining MODERN EVEN SO (ie “contemporary still”) for the roof garden
The clues for ACROSS and LIGHTS had thematic surfaces. “Car’s turning circle fits inside square” referred to the Villa’s ground floor entrance, which has a curved arc determined by the turning circle of a car. “South? Aspect to the west of that” referred to the elevation depicted in the grid.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

Extra word Answer Explanation [extra letter]
Across
  PREGGERS EGGERS after P(y)R(e)[S]
  PLETHORA ((base-jumpe)R + [W]HO LEAPT) *
  UXORICIDE U + X + OR + IC[E] + IDE
  MÊLÉE M + EL[L]E + (Nic)E
  ELEGY LEG in EY[E]
  GRAVE [V]G + RAVE
  MISS MISS[A]
  MODERN (N + RED + [T]OM) <
  PRINCE IN in PR[I]CE
  ELEVENS ÉLÈVES around N[O]
  ORES (instructi)O[N] RES(olves)
  SOUGH HG[V]S < around (y)OU(r)
  NONES [I]N ON + E(ro)S
  TUNE TUN(n)E[L]
  MACHINE (CH + [L]INE) after MA
  ACROSS CAR’S * around O + S
  LIGHTS S after LIGHT
  DIAM IA in D[A]M
  ENURE EN + [S]URE
  BAHAI [A]BASH − S + AI
  ANNAS (N + A) in [V]ANS
  RAT SNAKES ([O]N + A(r)K + E(lephant)S) after RATS
  YGDRASIL (S(moker) + GIRLY DA[Y]]) *
  SUGGESTS (EGG + US[E]) < + (Ea)ST(er) + S
Down
  PRESENT-DAY (PRESENT + AY) around D
  RULE R + ULE
  EXEME X in (s)EEME(d)
  GO-GO GO + GO
plan EIGENTONES EXIGENT + ONE’S − X
free SIGN ON NON-GIS <
  LEA (toi)LE A(nd)
horizontal ENVISAGING (VEGAN IS GIN) *
  HEM HEM(p)
Garden RESIGN DESIGN with R for D
  AESTHETICS SEA < + THETIC + S
windows MENSCH MEANS + CH − (gl)A(ss)
  LIEU LIE + U
  URSUS S in URUS
free DES RES DES + PRES − P
  REMIT (G)RE(y) + MI + T
Pilot LOSING SIN in LOG
façade RELETS RE + LETS
is NAAN AN < + AN
roof ISHES (f)ISHES
  TAKE TEAK with E moved to the end
  EAST (a s)ET around A S(et)
  MAR MAR(e)
  URI (c)URI(ng)
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