Crossword

We welcome the duo called Madrigal to the compiling team this week. The unclued lights (including four of two words) can be arranged to provide a quotation (in ODQ) and its author. Across 10    Learn of American through grammar school covers (6,4) 12    African country’s note covering one rule (6) 13    First-rate head polled children (3-5) 16    Song featured in Top of the Pops, almost every week  (5) 17    Instrument Luke played on the railway with energy (7) 18    Newcomer, one that yearns in Scotland?

The title wrote three unclued lights (one of two words) with the letter-count (3,8,6,4), whose members are the other unclued lights (two pairs, another of two words and a singleton). Solvers must highlight the singleton’s missing moniker hidden in the completed grid. Across 11    Half the beans initially seem superfluous accompanying hot paste with chillis (7) 12    Seashore grass blowing back and forth (6) 14    Just a moment for A.

A quotation (in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations) runs clockwise around the perimeter of the grid, beginning with the last letter of 20. The apostrophe has to be included where it appears. Five unclued lights are of a kind; one is directly linked to the quotation, the others indirectly. Across 9 Dangerous atmosphere in outskirts of Hackney (5) 10    Criticise extremely burdensome tariff (6) 11    Careless ironworker losing wok by mistake (2,5) 13    Auntie putting end of thumb on buzzer (4) 15    Idiot and old spies regularly billed as ‘potentially connected’ (10) 16    Reportedly joined model, 33, in bath?

Eight unclued lights (two of two words) advise solvers ‘3D 38A is 9D, 32D 32D-17A, when 6A 44A 31D’. Across 1 Don’t at first knock small amount of liquid (Scotch) (4) 12   Last, as do picture capture and future exposure (6) 13   What’s in deadly new compound (8) 14   Burn short jacket (5) 15   Judge almost misrepresents village’s case (7) 18   Off-and-on, His self-ease dwells in Man, say (5) 19   Camp male holds note (6) 20   Yeats is beginning to study complex sort of writer (8) 21   Anxious, sons taking lead in cushy job (8) 25   Legally levied estate, half of which in red?

The unclued four-letter solutions can be paired in a particular way to form the four remaining eight-letter unclued lights. Across 1 Burns searches thoroughly around Union Street (8) 5 Developed green, variable power (6) 10    Labour man’s entertaining turn (5,5) 12    Irish backing chorister on Venetian bridge (6) 13    New tune outside? (5,3) 16    Account of help sent back to railway (5) 17    US cocktail that’s pungent (7) 18    Sporting cry in match – touch and go, finally (5-2) 20    Sunday crossword for Tom, Dick and Harry (8) 25    Stiff paper, way-out neckwear?

The unclued lights are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. Across 7 Recurring tea dance (3-3) 12    Following sound of artillery, I curtail call to official (9) 13    Steer clear of a hole (5) 15    Make the most of session in recruitment event (4,5) 16    Effect of high dose (6) 20    One stood up and pointed (7) 21    Support that man, ’e’s a bit of a giggle (3-3)  22   Catch chickens circling round yours truly (6) 24    Returning to minister’s house, discovered cat hiding in furniture (8) 26    Ghanaian capital’s a bit overpriced, IMHO!

Clockwise round the grid from 1 run the final words (3,6,4,3,6,3,8,4,3,4,2,6) of a poem. Two unclued lights (one of two words) are also taken from the poem, whose author’s surname appears as a clued light which must be shaded. Across 9 Canon meeting King and Queen?

The unclued lights (including a pair) are of a kind. Across 3              No manual required for addict at pre-season match (4-8) 10            Old store attendants operating on different levels (4-3) 11            Extra name in article about garden feature (7) 13            Room spray distributed to armies (8) 16            Newspaper aunt’s torment (5) 19            Mum, almost for ever, in ward (9) 22            Cast is enormous, but not good (3) 24            Unemployable boffin regularly by river (2,2,3) 25            Have some sense – charge pounds!

Five three-word phrases (in both Brewer and Chambers) have something in common. The unclued lights, correctly paired, form the second and third words of these. The first five words are hidden in the grid (across or down) and should be shaded.

Down clues and entries are normal. Across clues have normal definitions but wordplays that omit a single letter from each answer, whose enumeration is given, and whose reduced form must be entered in the grid. Read in clue order, omitted letters spell out an Organic Message. Download a printable version here.

Around the perimeter clockwise from square 1 goes a quotation in ODQ minus its last word. This last word suggests the remaining unclued lights, a final example of which (6) must be highlighted in the completed grid.

The unclued lights (including a pair, one word of which has to be read in reverse) are each somehow related to one other. Two grid entries are of two words and one (jocular) entry has four words and includes an apostrophe. Across 10            Where lines meet new lines (4) 12            Payment to landlord as the Earth moved?

Eight unclued lights are of a kind.

Two works, 1A/8 (four words in total) and 27/36, are by authors born in 25 and 17 respectively. Two other unclued lights give their forenames: a further relevant name will appear in the completed grid and must be shaded. Ignore an apostrophe.

The unclued lights (two of two words) are of a kind. Across 1              Awards for very large Cadillacs, say (6) 11            Dave, Keith and I reviewed viceroy’s territory (10) 14            Basque cap with pillowcase on end of cot (5) 15            During performance, steal a jumper (7) 18            Healthy food on the golf course (6) 22            Scottish 37 destroyed sledge (6) 25            Heart of the justification for isle (5) 26            Suave young socialite is lost, commentating on TMS?

Four unclued lights are of a kind and the remaining four can be arranged to indicate what unites them.

Unchecked and mutually cross-checking letters in 14 unclued lights spell out PEEP – THE SPECTATOR CHARACTERS RECREATE REST. One such light is hyphened and another comprises two words.

The unclued lights become phrases, verifiable in Brewer, when their first (or, in one case, last) undefined word is added. One normal solution (also thematic in a way) includes the red and yellow names. Ignore all accents.

The unclued lights give various things which two lovers took or used on their journey. These include two of three words (one split over two lights) and one of two. The name of one lover is hidden in the grid and should be highlighted. Ignore two accents.

7D (two words), performed by 40A (two words), suggests the other unclued lights, which are all similarly amended forms of words of a kind. A final ‘7D’, itself a thematically appropriate word, must be highlighted in the final grid. Across 1               Actor, you said, departed with a hook (8) 8               Young bird from e.g.