Listener Crossword 4886: Solution Notes
Using Better Words by Paddock
Puzzle explanation
Many of the bars needed to prevent two-letter grid entries could be deduced immediately, helping in the placement of some of the clue answers. The rest could be deduced by the requirement to form a normal symmetrical grid of real words. In the resulting completed grid, the four-letter entries were TAIT, LASH, TOIL, SAIL, BANE and DEED, differing by one letter from the respective G clue answers TART, BASH, TOOL, NAIL, BANG and WEED. The differing letters formed BOWDLERISING, defined by the puzzle’s title in allusion to the Cole Porter song Anything Goes, whose lyrics include “Good authors too, who once knew better words, now only use four-letter words writing prose.”
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| No | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| A | BAIT | BIT around A |
| ANON | CANON − C | |
| LAMA | LAM + A | |
| TOLA | (A + LOT) < | |
| IBIS | I(ncluding) + SIB < | |
| USED | ((outsi)DE SU(bmerged)) < | |
| B | TAIL | T(equil)A + I + L |
| BALE | ABLE * | |
| OSSA | (AS + SO) < | |
| CEIL | C + LIE < | |
| SAGE | SAG + (packag)E | |
| OBIA | OB + I(de)A | |
| C | DATA | TAD < + A |
| ROTI | RIOT(s) * | |
| LARI | (simi)LAR I(ncidents) | |
| OMIT | (O + T) around MI | |
| LING | RING with L for R | |
| RICE | (dest)R(oyed) + ICE | |
| D | OLID | I in OLD |
| FLAB | AB after (F + L(owestoft)) | |
| ALBE | ABLE * | |
| VELA | (cara)VEL A(ttempting) | |
| STIR | ((three-maste)R IT’S) < | |
| SHOD | SHOREWARD − (RE + WAR) | |
| E | DALE | LAD < + (hug)E |
| DITA | DIA around T | |
| DENE | (roote)D (ther)E (i)N (puddl)E | |
| URIC | AURIC − A | |
| AMEN | A + MEN | |
| DUDE | DUD + E | |
| F | DEMO | (bri)DE MO(aner) |
| AHED | A + HE’D | |
| DENY | DEN + (sanctuar)Y | |
| PREM | PR + E(gotheis)M | |
| MONA | MOAN * | |
| ARAR | ARR around A | |
| G | TART | START − S |
| WEED | W + HEED − H | |
| BASH | (shru)B + HAS * | |
| TOOL | TOO + L(oop) | |
| NAIL | LIAN(a) < | |
| BANG | (subur)BAN G(arden) |