Listener Crossword 3962: Solution Notes
Disappearance by Phi
Puzzle explanation
December 28, 1907 saw the last recorded sighting of the New Zealand huia, and Chambers Dictionary is almost certainly wrong in recording that its extinction is only probable. In clued order, extra words were: Gasps, habitually, ordered, native, exhibiting, Ted, University, our, infant, allowing, men, tricky, ovine, rapturous, originally, Ragamuffins, demanding, angered, outraging, Yarrow, Welsh. Their first letters spelt on the left “huia today”, and on the right “gone tomorrow”, indicating that HUIA was to be highlighted in the half of the grid where “today” was unclued, and erased from that containing “tomorrow”. (Provided that these HUIA elements were correct, any highlighting of TODAY and/or TOMORROW was ignored.) The kakapo and kokako are not quite extinct (the South Island kokako was declared extinct on January 16, 2007; the North Island variety is critically endangered).
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| No | Extra word Left / Right |
Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACROSS | |||
| 1 | WITNESS STAND | ITS NEST’S* in WAND | |
| 6a(R) | Gasps | TEARER | ARE in TER |
| 6a(L) | INWIND | Two definitions (IN WIND) | |
| 7a(L) | habitually | SHORTS | SORTS about H |
| 7b(R) | ordered | ENFREE | EEE about (N + FR) |
| 8a(L) | HAULED | HAD about ULE | |
| 8b(R) | RAFALE | RAF + ALE(e) | |
| 10a(L) | NECTAR | TRANCE* | |
| 10b(R) | native | GIUSTO | I in GUSTO |
| 12a(R) | exhibiting | MIRIAM | MIM about AIR < |
| 12b(L) | GRAPPA | G + RAP + AP < | |
| 16a(L) | ROSACE | ROSE about AC | |
| 16b(R) | Ted | UNMOOR | UN + MOOR |
| 17a(L) | University | EDITOR | (ROTE about ID) < |
| 17b(R) | our | ENAMOR | (AN in ROME) < |
| 18a(L) | KAKAPO | Thematic | |
| 18b(R) | KOKAKO | Thematic | |
| 19a(R) | BYELAW | BY + WALE < | |
| 19b(L) | infant | CYESES | C(hildren) + YESSES |
| DOWN | |||
| 1a(L) | allowing | WISHINGS | WIGS about SHIN |
| 1b(R) | STERIGMA | RIG in STEMA | |
| 2a(R) | men | SENARII | A RISE IN* |
| 2b(L) | tricky | INHALER | IN + HER about (A + L) |
| 3a(L) | TWO-UP | W/O in TUP | |
| 3b(R) | ovine | TAFFY | FAT < + (o)F (Canterbur)Y |
| 4a(R) | rapturous | ARRAHS | AR(e) + RAHS |
| 4b(L) | originally | NIRLIT | N + IRL + IT |
| 5a(R) | Ragamuffins | NEELD | L in NEED |
| 5b(L) | demanding | ENTER | Hidden |
| 9a(L) | BRASEROS | BRAS(h) + SORE < | |
| 9b(R) | TOMORROW | Thematic | |
| 11a(L) | angered | APOCOPE | CO in (A + (Alexander) POPE) |
| 11b(R) | outraging | TALOOKA | (A + LOOK) in TA |
| 13a(L) | Yarrow | ALSIKE | ALIKE about S |
| 13b(R) | REMAKE | RAKE about ME < | |
| 14a(L) | TODAY | Thematic | |
| 14b(R) | ANNOY | ANY about NO | |
| 15a(R) | Welsh | ROMAL | ROMA + L |
| 15b(L) | RATAS | AS after RAT | |