Hotfoot by Vismut

Puzzle explanation

The answer letters indicated by positions of extra words in across clues spelt out “planets”. The extra words were the astrological characters assigned by Gustav Holst to five movements of his suite The Planets. The missing two were Mars and Venus, which were changed in the grid to Holst’s descriptions “war” and “peace”. The corrections to misprints in down clues spelt out “title oddly”, indicating “H to T” from the puzzle’s title. In the grid the H of HOLST in the main diagonal was changed to T to reveal TOLSTOY, the author of War and Peace.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Extra word/misprint Answer Explanation
Across
1 winged ECTYPE C(ar) in E-TYPE
5   SNASHES SMASHES with N for M
10   PROVINCIALISE (APRIL INVOICES) *
11   ISSUE (K)I(o)S(k’)S (q)U(i)E(t)
13 messenger SINFUL S(k)INFUL
15   LASH LA(test) SH(oes)
16   PROMO (OP around MOR(e)) <
17 jollity MOUTH ORGAN (Ply)MOUTH ORGAN(isation)
18   GO PUBLIC (GO + PUBLICAN) − AN
21   STORK SK(i) around TOR
24   VENUS V(illag)E + SUN <
26   ECTOSARC A in SECTOR * + C
29   EXPURGATOR EX- + (ROT + A + GR(o)UP) <
32   LEILA (LE + LA) around I
33   YETT YETT with I for T = YETI
35 old NINONS (o)NIONS around N
36 age HORSE HOUSE with R for the middle letter
37 magician ECONOMETRISTS (SENIOR COST MET) *
38   DEMETER (DE(ad) + METEOR) − O
39 Mystic SELECT LE(t) in SECT
Down
1 (T)heater EPILOG I in (EP + LOG)
2   TOSS UP SPROUTS * − R
3 M(I)c PIEZO PIE + ZO
4   ENSOULS ((sh)O(rt) + UNLESS) *
5 (T)est SCINTISCANNER (CHRIST IN CANNES − H) *
6   NINTH (Beethove)N IN TH(e)
7 Coa(L) SLURRIES SLUR + TRIES − T
8   EST (b)E(d)S(i)T(s)
9 du(E)l SECONDS CO(ntrol) in SENDS
12   SAPOTA (A + TOP + AS) <
14   LOG IN ((whe)N I GO L(ooking)) <
16   POT TINPOT − TIN
19 (O)f URSULINE (p)URSU(e) + LINE
20   SURATS (STAR + US) <
21 lea(D) SMELTED ELM’S * + TED
22   ORPIN NIP < after OR
23 (D)eposes ATTESTS ARRESTS with T(rus)T for RR
25   BRA (B)ARB(arian) <
27 (L)oth AVERSE (ER + S) in AVE
28   CUTEST CU(b) + TEST
30   GNOME GNOMON − ON + (stat)E(ment)
31 cla(Y) OCHRE OCH + RE
34   ICE (pol)ICE
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