Crossword

Clues lead to 5-letter solutions. Each set of ten clues is presented in alphabetical order of the solutions. Correct positioning in the grid of each set and the insertion of the appropriate letter in the central square will reveal six 11-letter words not otherwise clued. The 5-letter solutions to the four numbered clues are to be placed where indicated in the grid. Old settler’s fish Copying recording, but missing start Whisper on pop record’s principal song Play with tot – auntie’s first!

Unclued lights form a progressive set, plus the name of the speaker.   Across 1 Talk shortly about present-day veg (7, two words) 6 Secure trim accessory (7, two words) 11 Harp on about poor child (6) 12 Sun already, so?

Nine unclued lights (all real words) are the names of 35A with one letter misprinted. The correct letters match those that will appear in the shaded squares.   Across 13 Plastic strap on spade? (10, two words) 14 Truly no rector is transparent (5) 15 Eucharist united a victim in pieces (8) 17 Polish glossy (5) 18 Clue upset Pat (3) 19 Alloy in metal ring nothing squashes (7) 20 Colette’s husband takes against physicist (7) 21 Save nice moose after injury (9) 24 Last of these goods are mine (3) 29 Bird shuns rook in trouble (3) 37 US city scours Delaware for trendy anthem (7) 38 Sound personal trainer good lord engaged (7) 39 Aunt from Santiago?

The unclued lights are to be resolved into four (unrelated, non-thematic) phrases which share a common format.

Eight unclued lights, arranged symmetrically, comprise two quartets, one of which makes the other go round.   Across 1 How much poor Matthew has aged (14, three words) 11 What’s got blowers regularly engaged?

Six unclued lights (all real words) are the names of 35/26 minus one letter. The missing letters match those that will appear in the shaded squares.   Across 1 Take in fire shoe for small firefighter?

In this pangrammatical puzzle, the unclued lights are of a kind near 21A. Ignore all accents.   Across 7 Fresh out of Pinewood (3) 11 Prisoner’s popular winning move (6) 13 Sympathy strike at the docks? (7) 15 All the monks in class (5) 17 Some reach a téléphérique in Alpine ski resort (6) 18 A harp playing for Restoration playwright Behn (5) 21 Old German graduate going round Qawra’s isle (5) 22 Rice dish with bit of thyme dropped in on one’s knee (7) 27 New investment in gold bonds is for older women (7) 29 Little girl encountered in rubber boots (5) 30 Works Scott composed out East (6) 32 Almost imperceptibly moves the lips (5) 34 Novelist on the shelf?

A 21-word exchange appears (apart from two words) in nine unclued entries. The other unclued entry specifies one of the participants. In ten clues the wordplay ignores one letter. These letters, in grid order, spell out the source of the exchange and of the original inspiration. Ignore three apostrophes in the completed puzzle.

Ten pairs of unclued lights give the names of people whose 89 was ‘50D/2A’ (six words in total). They include one 37, two singers, a prolific 34, a colourful writer, an outré TV star, an expert at ‘16/6/38’ (six words in total), a film producer, a mathematician who also watched ‘128/103/10’ (five words in total) and a 93A/79. Elsewhere, ignore two accents. Thirty-three special clues include a definition and a hidden letter mixture of the light.

Unclued lights are three sets of three words of a kind, along with a name which connects them all (two words). Something that this name should possess (5), which is also a thematic item, must be highlighted in the completed grid.   Across 1 Always bored by job, like rebellion (8) 8 Dancing girls wanting a relief (4) 12 Follow it to leave bathroom (5) 14 Going furtively out of east, moving sinuously (7) 16 A lot of Italian beer for Eva?

The unclued lights, all nouns or verb forms (one is a hyphened plural), include a common feature different in all twelve cases. Solvers are invited to indicate both possible unclued lights at 29 Down. Elsewhere, ignore two accents.   Across 1 Stab with a knife (5) 4 Order a gin around river (9, two words) 9 Potential difficulties from awkward Moscow and far North (10, three words) 11 Sad poem which its middle letters spell out (5) 12 Move forward and notice vehicle by church (7) 14 Corn produced by monarch reigning from 1714 (5) 15 Honda car going back and forth in town?

Eight unclued lights (four of two words) are of a kind.   Across 1 False prophet faces interjection, perhaps (12, three words) 10 Old soldier heartily opposes Prohibition (4) 12 Women perorate furiously about Welsh sustainable energy source (10, two words) 14 Spell first half of ‘exhume’ wrong (3) 15 Person rebuking extremely restive demonstrator (8) 19 Porky pianist regularly stays in bed (6, hyphened) 22 Such fish are briefly making comeback in channels (6) 24 Onions’ relative originally eaten on knife (5) 27 Playing reggae on street, daughter moved unsteadily (9) 29 Chauvinist dictator’s spirit and energy (5) 31 Mother of singer Grace Jones finally entering Assam?

A nine-word phrase (in five unclued lights, two used twice) opens a work for 1A (three words) by 8 (two words). The work inspired the other two unclued lights.   Across 9 A horse’s bridle eventually just as old (7, three words) 11 Outrageous, a chimney turning half black (7) 12 Army team endlessly tense in unofficial lodging (5) 14 US herb and Pacific salmon: can it (6) 16 Rich American left in terminal (5) 21 Are struggling with debt?

The unclued lights (one of two words) can be arranged into two associated groups. Across 1 Company accepts blame having mended harpsichord (7) 5 Pieces of cloth left in islands linked with Turks (7) 9 A jolt makes it open a little (4) 11 Mid-June physical is affected (9) 12 Check mutt beginning to bark (4) 14 Shadows and clouds initially moving from isles in the Clyde (6) 16 Carpet the setter after a fiddle (5) 17 Fabulist seen by river and waters ebbing (5) 20 Hot air rising from the room — with a bit of luck!

The unclued lights, two of two words, are of a kind. Across 1 Eastern divine seen in pilgrimage returning to city (6) 7 Artillery piece shooting from side to side (6) 12 With respect to how ‘Looks’ might be clued? (9, two words) 15 Recorded in public register of the stars following bounder (9) 16 Drove off, having found specs in outbuilding (6) 20 Everton lead practice with life events of footballer (7) 21 Not entirely in bad taste but partly (6, three words) 22 Measures wagons surrounding acre (6) 24 Got off with cooked alibi in important accompaniments (8) 26 Perform – quiet, please – for money! (4) 27 Container, small but bottomless (3) 28 Over the hill? Nonsense!

Clockwise round the grid from 2 runs a quotation (5,3,3,5,6,4,3,4,3,3,4,5) followed by the poet’s first name. Her second name is a clued light which shares a letter with her surname which appears diagonally in the completed grid. Two pairs of unclued lights (including one of two words) give the titles of two of her novels. Solvers must shade all three names of the poet. Elsewhere, ignore an accent.

The unclued lights (five of two words which include three apostrophes) can be preceded by the same word, all confirmed in Chambers and/or Brewer. Across 11 A record bill, getting a pack animal (6) 12 Earthling beginning to excavate rock formation (7) 14 What contains oxygen and is able to girdle the Earth?

Unclued entries are words (one hyphened) or phrases (three of four words each, one of three words, two each of two words), sharing a common direction. Elsewhere, ignore one accent.   Across 1 One rep loses a Hebridean (8) 6 Tribute in silver blocks (6) 11 Mediterranean islander getting mercy from another (5) 13 Fairly distribute charge amateur cannot make? (7) 14 Aggressive woman’s cross when a man goes outside (6) 16 Bring up … this? (4) 17 E. coli sat tight – such drugs required? (8) 21 A child getting into musical instrument nearly caught by dance (8) 23 Oceanic winds blow (7) 25 Eight perhaps could be made by this, potting black?

Three unclued lights together form an eight-word question from a well-known song. The song’s protagonist suggests the other five unclued lights (including one hyphened), which are anagrams of words of a kind (including one of two words), all confirmed by Chambers.

The unclued lights (individually or as two pairs), one of three words and three of two words, can be preceded by the same word. All can be confirmed in Brewer and/or Chambers. Elsewhere, ignore one circumflex. Across 1 Day after RAF and army manoeuvres in a rural setting (8) 11 9 comperes going around being always there (12) 14 Train pass daughter lost (7) 16 Nothing odd, sailboats are plenty (4, two words) 17 Way round Germany and coastal French area (5) 18 Broken maypole without a use (6) 22 Councillor points to model on feature of battlement (8) 23 Island garden transformed area (7) 24 Shows with radio critiques?