Tears by Oxymoron

Puzzle explanation

In clashing cells, the segments from both answers were concatenated to form an item (in the singular form) from The Dilly Song (often known as Green Grow the Rushes, O). The items in grid order were: APOST/LE, HEA/VEN, GOSP/EL, ST/AR, SYMBO/L, SHIN/ER, RANG/ER, RI/VAL, O/NE, BO/Y, WAL/KER, COMMAND/MENT. The letters shared by clues’ extra words and their answers spelt “number”; the thematic items were replaced by their numbers in the folk song. The puzzle’s title is a synonym of “rushes”.

Oxymoron was an alias used by Schadenfreude in other outlets. He originally submitted this puzzle to the Sunday Telegraph for its Enigmatic Variations crossword series. When that series was threatened with cancellation in mid-2020, the crossword editor passed this puzzle on to us. Happily, the EV was given a reprieve in June, but we had already progressed with editing Tears, so we kept it. We published it under his alternative pseudonym because the last Listener crossword by Schadenfreude had already appeared in 2019.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Extra word Answer (clash) Explanation
Across
1   (LE)MUR (RUM + EL) <
4   (VEN)IAL SINS (SLAVES IN + NI) *
9   ANG(EL)US U in ANGELS’
11   CHA(ST)E T in CHASE
13   TELOMERE OMER in TELE
14   (L)ICENSE ENS in (L + ICE)
15   COLAS C + ALSO *
16   (SHIN)INESS S after (SH + IN + INES)
17 Layma(N) ENERGISES GREENIES * + S
23   SOCIETIES SO + CITIES around E
24 Famo(U)s RELUCT CLUE * in TR <
27   (RANG)IEST TANGIERS *
29   A(VA)LANCHE A + VALANCE around H
32   DOVETAIL (VET + AIL) after DO
33   COR(NE)R CORN + RE <
34   OS(BO)RNE OS + BORNÉ
35   (WAL)L STREET (W + ALL + ST) around TREE
36   CLE(MENT) L in CEMENT
Down
1   (APOST)ATIC PO in (A + STATIC)
2 (M)ilitary MNEMONS MEN * + MON’S
3   UGLY homophone of UGLI
4   (HEA)UMES HERMES with AU for (superio)R
5   AIRI(ER) (R + IE) in (A1 + R)
6   SHEEN SEEN around H; ref. 16ac
7   N(AR)CS SCRAN <
8   SECESH SEC + SHE *
10   GOSPODARS GO + SP + ODA + R(estles)S
12   AGNESI I after AGNES; ref. 11ac
14   (SYMBO)LIC (SLIM COY + B) *
18   ÉCLAIR ALE < around C + IR
19   SIDE IDE(a) after S
20   STINT(Y) (fore)ST IN TY(rone)
21 wood(B)lock BESHINE SHIN in BEE
22   VRAIC(KER) VICAR * + KER(f)
25   UNG(O)T GUN * + OT
26 un(E)nding THOLE T + HOLE
27   (ER)NEST ERNES + (targe)T
28   TELE(COMMAND) (L + A + COMMENTED) *
30   (RI)GOL RIG + O + L
31 bothe(R)ed JARL JAR + L
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