Life by Hawk

Puzzle explanation

The grid represented a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day. In the 1994 film Forrest Gump, the title character says “My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates … you never know what you’re gonna get” (in the Film Lines section of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations). The latter part of the quotation was traced by the shape of a heart; the grid’s circled letters formed “cardioid” (heart-shaped). Corrections to misprints in clues gave “centres differ; third letters”. The 25 extra words in clues represented chocolates selected from the box, all having different central letters. Their third letters spelt “mystic carnival, queen caught” a cryptic clue to FAQIR [FAIR around Q] (a spelling of “fakir” that is in Collins English Dictionary), providing the last “chocolate” with Q completing the set of 26 different centres.

Clue explanations

Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal

No Extra word/misprint Answer Explanation
1 (C)ar SCOPELUS SUS around (C + OPEL)
48 bombs SAND FLEA FANDANGLES * − NG
7 s(E)ams LARKS LIRKS with A for I
47 waymarked MEREL MERE + L
13 (N)ut VENUS EN in SUV <
46 visionary TAIRA TAIGA with R for G
45 Mi(T)e ITEM MITE *
14 actor GAEL homophone of GALE
15 elect(R)on REAVE RAVE around E
44 criticism VOCAB V(oice) O(f) C(olloquialisms) A(fter) B(rowsing)
16 Se(E)d MOIT M + O’ + IT
43 uncovered WADY WAY around D
18 lo(S)t ’ARRY (c)ARRY
42 decitizenised LIRA RAIL *
19 stalwarts MYLODONT DON in (MY + LOT)
38 wor(D) WORTHIER WORT + HIER
20 sw(I)ng SKYWAYS (SWAY + S) around KY
34 cargoes BASUTOS (BUT SO AS) *
32 handbooks FLOWED LOW in (F + ED)
22 li(F)t TABOOS (A + BOOST) with letters cycled
24 Buildings ENCAMP ENC + AMP
31 pel(F)’s SUCRES CURSES *
30 cavaliers OLWYNE O + NEWLY *
27 dr(E)ad ORANGS OR + ANGS(t)
17 readjusts OYSTER-BED DEBRET(t) < after OYS
29 cho(R)e COHERENCIES (CHORE NIECES) *
2 colonials CLERK CL + ER + K
37 (T)alk ORATE QUORATE − QU
36 Ba(H)t’s TICAL TI + CAL
3 acquisition OVARY VARY after O’
4 d(I)ve ENEW (vol)E NEW(t)
41 mouse OVID (b)OVID
35 (R)ug ARYAN RYA in AN
5 overexcited LUMMY RUMMY with L for R
6 (D)airy STILTONS ON in STILTS
26 cream PREDIALS P + REDIALS
7 o(L)d LETO LET + O
40 bencher HWYL (Y after W) in HL
39 past(E) TEME (pas)TE ME(n)
8 packers AGED AG + ED
25 ma(T)e CO-WORKER COW + (p)ORKER
9 slaughterer RATOONER R(e)A(c)T (t)O (g)O(w)N (t)E(a)R(s)
10 cover(T) KEN-NO KEN + NO
33 coupons LOS’TE (TO + SEL(l)) *
38 high-flier WHIM W + HIM
11 op(E)ning SLOT TOILS < − I
28 dehydrators SASSABY SAY around BASS <
12 (R)ook BRASERO BRAS + E + R + O
21 anticyclone AMENE AM + ENE
23 use(S) ARCUS (he)A(vy) R(es)C(ue) U(se)S
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