Listener Crossword 4863: Solution Notes
The Green Grass Don by Smudge
Puzzle explanation
The answer replacements were based on Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem The Mad Gardener’s Song, which begins with:
He thought he saw an Elephant, That practised on a fife: He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife. “At length I realise,” he said, “The bitterness of Life!”
Each thematic answer was one of the things the gardener “thought he saw” and the grid entry was a representation of what he saw when he “looked again”. The one not clued was from the final stanza:
He thought he saw an Argument That proved he was the Pope He looked again, and found it was A Bar of Mottled Soap. “A fact so dread,” he faintly said, “Extinguishes all hope!”
This was represented by erasing the letters of HOPE in a 2×2 square from cell 25. The final one or two letters from the extra words that weren’t linked to theme entries spelt out “Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, Lewis Carroll”, referring to the two books that contain the poem (with stanzas in separate chapters), Sylvie and Bruno and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. The puzzle’s title was a cryptic representation of the name of the poem: THE + an anagram (mad) of GARDENER’S SONG.
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| No | Extra word | Answer [entry] | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Across | |||
| 1 | Tip(SY) | BLIPS | BLIMPS − M’ |
| 6 | We’l(L) | BAJADA | BAD around JA + A |
| 10 | satna(V) | LAROID | RO(-ro) in DIAL < |
| 11 | D(IE) | LIRAS | LIAS around (bake)R |
| 13 | m(AN) | AIA | AI + A |
| 15 | gilt-edge(D) | HAIRCUT | (AIR + C) in HUT |
| 17 | her(B) | CREAKED | EAK in CRED |
| 18 | mourne(R) | DIRGE | DIRE around G |
| 20 | yo(U) | STAR-PAV’D | RATS < + PD around AV |
| 21 | COACH-AND-FOUR [ALOO = “A Bear without a Head”, ie (b)ALOO] | CO + AC + HAND + FOR around U | |
| 22 | gu(N) | VENDETTA | (VETTURA − UR) around END |
| 25 | studi(O) | HOPPED-UP | HUP around (O + DEPP <) |
| 27 | dis(C) | RHEA | EARTH * − ’T |
| 28 | GARDEN-DOOR [HEXARCHY = “A Double Rule of Three”] | (GOOD * + R) around ARDEN | |
| 31 | divorcee [26dn EX] | ASSET | TESSA < |
| 32 | aut(O) | CAROMEL | LEMO(n) < after CAR |
| 34 | waterway [16dn RIVER] | THALWEG | (WHAT + LEGALIST − (A + LIST)) * |
| 36 | peo(N) | ETA | E + TA(sk) |
| 37 | ELEPHANT [SOUSE = “A letter from his wife”, ie SPOUSE − P] | (PALE THEN) * | |
| 38 | Olympi(C) | HUSKER | (US + K(arate)) in HER |
| 39 | fossi(L) | SPINEL | PINE in S(hel)L |
| 40 | PENNY | PENNYROYAL − ROYAL | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | ALBATROSS [(PENNY) BLACK = “A Penny-Postage-Stamp”] | A + BRAT * in LOSS | |
| 2 | defra(UD) | LAIR | 2 meanings |
| 3 | KANGAROO [POTATO PEEL = “A Vegetable-Pill”] | O,O after (KANG + AR) | |
| 4 | damn(ED) | SITKA | SIT + KA |
| 5 | girl [9dn DAUGHTER] | ADHERED | REDHEAD * |
| 6 | alliance [28ac HEXARCHY] | BEAD | BAD around E |
| 7 | midd(LE) | ALIDAD | |
| 8 | vo(W) | ARC | ARC(ane); ref. arcsin as inverse of sin |
| 9 | BUFFALO [DAUGHTER = “His Sister’s Husband’s Niece”] | LO after BUFFA | |
| 12 | Precious [26dn TWEE] | STELA | ST + E-LA |
| 14 | pickle [37ac SOUSE] | AESOP | AE + SOP |
| 16 | BANKER’S CLERK [RIVER HORSE = “A Hippopotamus”] | (KERNELS + C) * in BARK | |
| 19 | Sooty [1dn BLACK] | SLOP-SHOP | SWEEP with ((SOO + HELP − E) * for WEE |
| 23 | h(IS) | NURAGHE | RUN < + AGHA − A + E |
| 24 | garli(C) | THYME | MY < in THE |
| 25 | spe(AR) | HEATS | HEARTS − R |
| 26 | RATTLESNAKE [EX TWEE = “The Middle of Next Week”] | RATTLES + NAKE(d) | |
| 29 | fa(R) | CROUP | R in COUP |
| 30 | Sanch(O) | ALARY | (s)ALARY |
| 32 | charger [16dn HORSE] | CELL | CELLO − O |
| 33 | blade [3dn PEEL] | ETEN | (mach)ETE N(ew) |
| 35 | ca(LL) | AUI | A(co)U(st)I(c) |