A Change of Clothing by Elgin
Puzzle explanation
The unused entries are places giving their name to cheese:
22dn Limburg, 20dn Emmental, 13ac Gouda, 23ac Stilton,
whose initial letters confirm that the item of clothing is trousers.
Three of the special entries are villainous opponents of Batman and Robin: Joker, Penguin, Riddler.
Using “trousers” for the fourth special entry does not retain all intersecting entries as real words,
but changing it to the anagram “rousters” does.
The grid then contains Wallace (a cheese fanatic) and Gromit, who capture a Penguin diamond thief
in the Oscar-winning animated film The Wrong Trousers (1993) by Nick Park.
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| No |
Answer |
Explanation |
| ACROSS |
| 1 | GRAITH | (RIGHT A) * |
| 6 | SEASON | SEA + S + ON |
| 11 | ONCE | ON + CE |
| 12 | OTARY | NOTARY − N |
| 13 | GOUDA | GO + DU < + A |
| 14 | ERNEST | (h)ER + NEST |
| 15 | ROULEAU | O’ in RULE + AU |
| 16 | ASIA | A + SA about I |
| 18 | SETH | THE * after S |
| 19 | BAGMAN | BA(n) + G-MAN |
| 21 | TRADE | TRACE with D (diamonds) for C (clubs) |
| 22 | REPAINT | REP + AIN’T |
| 23 | STILTON | SON about TILT |
| 25 | RABIN | RA(b)BI + N |
| 27 | ATTEND | (D + NETTA) < |
| 28 | GAMP | DAMP with G for D |
| 30 | SOLD | SOLID − I |
| 32 | DENIALS | (LIES AND) * |
| 33 | ENWALL | EN(gagement) + W + ALL |
| 34 | CURES | 2 meanings |
| 35 | TRUER | RETURN * − N |
| 36 | EYES | E + YES |
| 37 | REUTER | RE + UTE + R(eporting) |
| 38 | ESLOIN | (reserv)E + LIONS * |
| DOWN |
| 1 | GUJRAT | (TAR + JUG) < |
| 2 | ANKUS | AN (ante) + SUK < |
| 3 | ICE-LEDGE | homophone of I SLEDGE |
| 4 | TERETE | TEETER with R above middle E |
| 5 | HORAH | (c)HORA(l) + H, ref. Beethoven’s “Choral” Symphony |
| 6 | STEUBEN | (SEEN BUT) *, ref. Friedrich von Steuben in American Revolutionary War |
| 7 | EARLAP | EARL(y) + AP |
| 8 | ARNA | ARENA − (st)E(el) |
| 9 | OSSIANIC | SO < + SIAN + I/C |
| 10 | NATANT | N + A(rithmetic) + TAN + (Interne)T |
| 17 | CRETONNE | (ON + N) in CRETE |
| 20 | EMMENTAL | MEN in METAL * |
| 22 | LIMBURG | L + I + MB + URGE − E- |
| 23 | PASEAR | APPEARS * − P |
| 24 | UNGLUE | L in UNGUES − S(ome) |
| 25 | RANCES | RAN + SEC < |
| 26 | NISSEN | NIS + SENA − A |
| 28 | GEARE | E in GARE |
| 29 | PAREO | PARE + O |
| 31 | DART | 3 (or 4) meanings |
|
