Listener Crossword 4888: Solution Notes
What Are You Like? by Apt
Puzzle explanation
The extra letters in wordplay spelt out “It was six men of Indostan; John Saxe”. John Godfrey Saxe wrote a poem called The Blind Men and the Elephant, which began:
It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind.
Each blind man in turn felt part of an elephant and concluded that the elephant “is very like …!”, where the conclusions were, in turn, {a wall, a spear, a snake, a tree, a fan, a rope}, as shown in the initial grid fill here. These were corrected in the grid to {side, tusk, trunk, knee, ear, tail} respectively, revealing ELEPHANT to be highlighted diagonally down to cell 36.
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| No | Answer | Explanation [extra letter] |
|---|---|---|
| Across | ||
| 1 | INARTISTICALLY | R(estauran)T in (SICILY ITAL[I]AN) * |
| 11 | WALL | W + [T]ALL |
| 13 | UKULELE | ([W]EEK + LULU) * |
| 14 | LEPROSE | EEL < around PROS |
| 15 | OLIVET | (spo)OL I’VE [A]T(tached) |
| 16 | ASP | (gr)AS[S] P(roverbially) |
| 17 | TREE | [S]TREE(t) |
| 20 | METRED | ME + TR[I]ED |
| 22 | ASPORTS | O[X] in STRAPS * |
| 23 | GLOTTAL | G(rave)L O(bstruct)T T(he)[M] A(l)L |
| 26 | TUFFET | TU + (e)FFET[E] |
| 31 | FAND | FA[N] + N(ewlywe)D |
| 32 | LEI | LE[O] I |
| 33 | AVATAR | VAT in (A + [F]AR) |
| 34 | SNEAKED | S + E in NAKED |
| 35 | NOMINEE | NO + MINE + [I]E |
| 36 | SPEAR | (ARE S[N]P) * |
| 37 | DISTRESSED AREA | (DESSERT + SID) < + [D]ARE + A |
| Down | ||
| 1 | WILMA | MA after WIL(l); ref. the Flintstones |
| 2 | PLOAT | PLOT around A |
| 3 | TEETERS | TETRAMETERS − TRAM |
| 4 | IDLED | ID[O]L + ED |
| 5 | SMEE | [S]EEMS < |
| 6 | TUSSAH | THA[T]’S * around US |
| 7 | IKONS | (S + NOKI[A]) < |
| 8 | ALIT | LATI[N] * |
| 9 | LEVER | [J]R after (LEAVE − A) |
| 10 | YETI | (m)Y (h)[O](n)E(s)T(y) I(s) |
| 12 | FLARES | L(acoste) in FARES |
| 18 | SPUNKED | [H]UNK in SPED |
| 19 | SEDATE | SHE − H + DATE |
| 21 | LAPSES | LES around SPA < |
| 24 | OGAMS | GAM in [N]OS |
| 25 | AGREE | GREA[S]E with A moved up |
| 26 | ABATE | A + homophone of BAIT |
| 27 | FLEER | (kerfuf)FLE E[A]R(lier) |
| 28 | KRAIT | (R(eptile) A(ntivenom)) in KIT |
| 29 | LAND | [X]L + AND |
| 30 | AT IT | [E]AT + IT |
| 31 | FONS | 2 meanings |