An interesting preamble. Nine entries to thematically treat and 9 clues also. The treatments lead to a description of what has been done and an occupation. This should allow a person to be located in teh final grid (oh and that person has been thematically treated as well.
I realised fairly early in the solve the theme was removal of the first letter of a word. Some were much easier to spot than others but all came out in the end.
The grid entries missing a letter in the clue spelt out the following:
16ac I
24ac G
33ac H
2dn W
4dn A
9dn Y
14dn M
23dn A
28dn N
or Highwayman (untreated)
The entries with first letter removed:
10ac U
11ac I
18ac L
29ac L
34ac O
6dn T
17dn I
26dn N
32dn E
or GUIILOTINE thematically treated
A little aid from Google yielded the following information:
Nicolas Jacques Pelletier (c. 1756 – April 25, 1792) was a French highwayman who was the first person to be executed by guillotine.
ELLETIER is visible in the NW to SE diagonal – he lost his head!
Many thanks VISMUT – a novel and fun puzzle.
Across
1 News writer from Telegraph primarily following a plot inside capital (12)
Paris (capital) around a graph (a plot) + t (Telegraph primarily) = PARAGRAPHIST
10 Turn over stupid dupe protecting name (4)
(dupe)* around n (name) = UPEND = PEND
11 First pairs of ignorant animal assistants snaring fifth of colourful lizards (6)
ig an as (first pairs of …) around u (fifth of colourful) = IGUANAS = GUANAS
12 Full of praise and guile, stoic’s unpredictable (10)
(guile stoic)* = EULOGISTIC
13 Conspire with one replacing first of understudies in hit (7)
Collude (conspire with) swapping i for u (first of understudies) = COLLIDE
16 Rate new cut from refashioned tailored antique (3)
16 Irate new cut from refashioned tailored antique (3)
(tailored – irate)* = OLD
18 Several take out bananas and foliage (5)
(several – r(take))* = LEAVES = EAVES
19 Case of terrible sword in traditional home (6)
te (case of terrible) + epee (sword) = TEEPEE
20 Saves with no money for share certificates (6)
crimps(saves) – m (money) = SCRIPS
22 Portrayed sorcerer in papers (6)
mage(sorcerer) in ID (papers) = IMAGED
24 Old removed from centre subsequent to the note from those premises (6)
24 Gold removed from centre subsequent to the note from those premises (6)
The + n(note) + core (centre) – or (gold) = THENCE
25 Lecture covering accepted form of divorce in Iran maybe (5)
talk(lecture) around a (accepted) = TALAK
29 Starts to load everything from the port (3)
Load Everything From The = LEFT = EFT
31 Street in Marseilles brings in fair income (7)
Rue (street in Marseille) around even (fair) = REVENUE
33 Eight deserting frail human confused about independence and not friendly (10)
33 Height deserting frail human confused about independence and not friendly (10)
(frail human – h + i)* = UNFAMILIAR
34 Member of farmhouse with wings replaced with split Old Style colours (6)
granger (member of farmhouse) swapping out gr for o s = ORANGES = RANGES
35 Nutty family member squabbles without sting (4)
Rhubarbs (squabbles) – barb (sting) = RHUS
36 Model son dresses at classified collection of varieties (12)
(son dresses at)* = ASSORTEDNESS
DOWN
2 Omen taken from wonder run out as a fighter? (4)
2 Women taken from wonder run out as a fighter? (4)
(wonder – w (women) – r (run))* = AERO
3 Mature eardrum let odd bits in? Quite the opposite (5)
eArDrUm LeT (no odds) = ADULT
4 Miss Leila eg in church area for dealing with women (7)
Amiss Leila eg in church area for dealing with women (7)
(Leila eg)* = GALILEE
5 Turned over beetle that is consuming top of herbaceous shrub (6)
Rev. Dor (beetle) + ie (that is) around h (top of herbaceous) = RHODIE
6 Cap’s taken off pitch marker (5)
stagger(pitch) – s (top) = TAGGER = AGGER
7 Ian’s reduced religious instruction at college in recess (4)
Rev. RI (religuous instruction) + up (at college) = PUIR
8 SA catfish and last pair of bass hidden by local sea mist (6)
haar (sea mist) around ss (last pair of bass) = HASSAR
9 Owl flying away from cow and easily shaking Indian groom (5)
9 Yowl flying away from cow and easily shaking Indian groom (5)
(cow easily – yowl)* = SAICE
10 Dark spinel firm’s found in mine on Italian base (8)
co (firm) in pit (mine) + it (italian) + e (base) = PICOTITE
14 Ass cut from film about last of women relating to hogs maybe (5)
14 Mass cut from film about last of women relating to hogs maybe (5)
movie – m (mass) around n (last of women) = OVINE
15 Half-hearted Vismut’s aboard old ship to get some large fish (8)
setter (Vismut) – t (half-hearted) in o (old) + ss (ship) = OSSETERS
17 One delivers dreams (5)
i + deals(delivers) = IDEALS = DEALS
21 Chased dice thrown across Manx home for queen? (7)
(dice)* around hive (home for queen) – e (Manx as in no tail) = CHIVIED
23 Go lower than contracted rent payment for primate (6)
23 Ago lower than contracted rent payment for primate (6)
gale(rent payment) – e + ago = GALAGO
24 Wavelet at sea missing a teen? Not quite! (6)
(wavelet -a)* = TWELVE
26 Girl entertained by partners and affectionate grandmothers (5)
Anna (girl) in NS (partners) = NANNAS = ANNAS
27 Joint worries occasionally over time (5)
WoRrIeS + t (time) = WRIST
28 Early in assembly, lecturer not there long (5)
28 Nearly in assembly, lecturer not there long (5)
(nearly – l)* = YEARN
30 Hebrew’s measure right from first to last in capital (4)
Rome (capital) moving r to end = OMER
32 Posh feeding fast brought up wind (4)
Rev. sure(fast) around u (posh) = EURUS = URUS
Lovely puzzle by Vismut, following her previous brilliant EV. A nice final touch that the highwayman’s head is offset by one cell in the final grid. Thanks to Vismut and Twencelas.
A very enjoyable puzzle from Vismut on a theme that was new to me. The ‘headless’ method of entry became quite obvious early on which did speed up the solving process and it was nice to see real words left in the grid. Seeing highwayman emerging my initial response was ‘oh it must be Dick Turpin’ so it was good to learn about something new. Thanks Vismut & Twencelas.
Great puzzle. I too was pleased to spot that the deletions were all first letters, as this meant none of the fiddliness you get when letters can be removed from anywhere in a word. Neat touch with the title too. It’s fair to say that this was a splendid execution of the theme – in both senses!
I agree with all of the above (but am disappointed that my planned “well-executed” has been preempted!). I’d just add that it would have been easier for Vismut to settle for the removal of any first letter in a clue; going the extra mile to place it in the first word is the sort of touch that I particularly appreciate.
Although, living where we do, it should have leapt out at us, we had, as usual, an almost full grid and UILLOTINE and were still searching for the theme. (P)ELLETIER. was new to us and it is good to learn from a crossword. Many thans to Vismut and Twencelas.
This puzzle was great fun. I got an idea of the theme from ‘iguanas’ soon supported by getting ‘uillotine’. After more solving I was searching for ‘ick turpin’ without success before realising their must be French connection. Thank you Vismut and twencelas.