Now You See Me by The Ace of Hearts
One letter must be deleted from each clue before solving. These letters in clue order spell out a quotation from a film. Six thematic answers are formed in cells where entries clash. With one exception, these clashes are formed by their answers being too long for the given space. After the clashes are formed they then must be treated as per the title of the film given by the quotation. The final grid will then consist of real words (ignoring cells that are generated by thematic treatment). Numbers in brackets after clues refer to grid lengths.
I started with ERRAND, BIRIANI and ILLEST though I can’t remember what order they came.
My first hint at the theme came when I solved 25d having already solved 23a. Putting MAC and BETH together gives us MACBETH. By this stage I had noticed the word POPULAR forming from the extra letters so, without much expectation, I searched for MACBETH POPULAR QUOTE but nothing worthwhile dropped out.
I then took another look at the stubborn 21a, figured out the answer and then found GODIVA in square 21. What do Macbeth and Godiva have in common? They’re both notable ladies.
I then went in search of where I might find other notable ladies – “Madonna”, “Bracknell” or whatever but to no avail. It was time for another internet search. This time I searched for LADY “ABOUT AS POPULAR” QUOTE and came up with a reference to The Lady Vanishes – 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film where Michael Redgrave as Gilbert says “I’m about as popular as a dose of strychnine“. And , sure enough, the extra letters generate I’M ABOUT AS POPULAR AS A DOSE OF STRYCHNINE.
OK, so there we have it. Some squares contain ladies generated by clashes. Hang on though, “one exception” needs answer lengths to be unaffected. This must mean that Lady DI will be hiding somewhere. Now, I’ve been tackling these puzzles for long enough to know that “must” hardly ever means “must” but that never stops me going in search of what must be the answer. Alas, it was yet another fruitless search.
Wait a second, all the ladies and potential spaces I have so far are in numbered squares so are they leading ladies (as in the lead square)? Lady Macbeth is clearly a leading lady but I’m not so sure about Lady Godiva. Ah well, it was a good idea while it lasted.
Eventually, after quite a while, I figured out the six ladies as indicated in the following table:
| Square | Across | Down | Lady |
| 1 | CHATTERBOXES | LEYLINES | Lady CHATTERLEY |
| 7 | HIHATS | MILTONISM | Lady HAMILTON |
| 17 | WIRED | ONEDGE | IRON Lady |
| 21 | GODOT | DIVAGATE | Lady GODIVA |
| 25 | REEDMACE | BETHINKS | Lady MACBETH |
| below 28 | RENASCENT | RAKEDIN | NAKED lady |
Far be it from me to suggest that there might be a link between the sixth lady and 2d. I’ll leave that to the minds of the readers.
The sixth entry is covered by the “one exception” in that only one of the affected answers loses multiple letters.
Now, back to the title, coupled with the phrase, the ladies that we saw in the squares have to “vanish” leaving empty spaces and real words in the affected entries. Hopefully the attached grid demonstrates that.
An excellent puzzle from The Ace of Hearts and now it’s time to go and re-watch The Lady Vanishes for the umpteenth time.
| Across | |||
| Clue | Entry | Extra letter | Wordplay |
| 1 Rural magi confronting funds for prattlers (6) | CHATTERBOXES | I |
CHATTER (mag; rural)+BOXES (funds) |
| 6 Percussion instruments that, apart from top, champ’s fixed (5) | HI-HATS | M |
[t]HAT (minus top) inside HIS (that chap’s) |
| 10 Children, see my face: oaf transmitted disease (10) | CHLAMYDIAL | A |
CHildren+LA (see)+MY+DIAL (face) |
| 11 Bleaker misshapen veteran soldier, say (9) | INFORMANT | B |
INFORM (misshapen; archaic: veteran)+ANT (soldier) |
| 13 Irregularly, take mooly out and then put in (8) | RANDOMLY | O |
R (take)+AND+MOLY (anag: out) |
| 14 Bishop interrupts Duane travelling to an assignment (6) | ERRAND | U |
DANE (anag: travelling) around RR (right reverend: bishop) |
| 16 Create diet with recipe online (4) | WIRED | T |
DIE+With+Recipe (anag: create) |
| 18 Lord Dundreary had these aides indiscriminately beat heiress on a regular basis (12) | SIDE-WHISKERS | A |
DIES (anag: indescriminately)+WHISK (beat)+[h]E[i]R[e]S[s] (alternate letters) |
| 21 Fellow waited for fancy goods before time (4) | GODOT | S |
GOOD (anag: fancy)+Time |
| 23 Improperly precede mother entering plant (6) | REED-MACE | P |
RECEDE (anag) containing MA (mother) |
| 26 Tory rigs duplicated talisman in Africa (8) | GRISGRIS | O |
RIGS (x2; anag: try) |
| 29 Resurgent president Cleveland redeployed and led devil somehow to disappear (9) | RENASCENT | P |
RES[id]ENT C[level]AN[d] minus LED DEVIL (anag: somehow) anag: redeployed |
| 30 Tippler of brew did originally retake ruin under the influence (10, 2 words) | TEA DRINKER | U |
D[id] (originally+RETAKE+RIN (anag: under the influence) |
| 31 Business establishments cover up predecessors of teles (5) | ESSES | L |
[busin]ESS ES[tablishments] hidden: cover up |
| 32 Achilleas tend to pot the worst (6) | ILLEST | A |
[ach]ILLES T[end] hidden: to pot |
| Down | |||
| 1 Pathways darted all over the place, essentially, exiting at south (6, 2 words) | LEY LINES | R |
ES[s]EN[t]I[a]LLY (anag: all over the place; minus AT South) |
| 2 Boss runs after near-death experience primarily with boa (5) | BONER | A |
BO+N[ear-death] E[xperience] (primarily)+Runs
Boner as in “howler”/”blunder” and boss as in “mistake” – both in Chambers. Many thanks to bellow flogger HolyGhost for helping me with my boner! 😉 |
| 3 Foundations of Orthodox Church to pass as South African (5) | XHOSA | S |
[orthodo]X [churc]H [t]O [pas]S (foundations of)+A |
| 4 Short Indian gentleman arrests Adam returning in a state of meditation (7) | SAMADHI | A |
SAHI[b] (Indian gentleman; short) around DAM (rev: returning) |
| 5 Arabian stated hustler recalled killing deadly extremists (4) | OMAN | D |
[dy]NAMO (hustler) minus D[eadl]Y (extremists) |
| 6 Does in the end weigh heavily on going before Edmund’s roe (6) | HYNDES | O |
[weig]H [heavil]Y [o]N (in the end)+DES |
| 7 English poet’s style involving no limits to mass medium eventually (4) | MILTONISM | S |
NO LIMITS [ma]S [mediu]M anag: involving |
| 8 American put one ice slab behind shed (5) | TABLE | E |
TABLE[t] (slab; last letter shed) |
| 9 Angry old boys failing to start woodwork lessons in Sweden (5) | SLOYD | O |
OLD+[b]OYS (failing to start) anag: angry |
| 12 Old road cutting off turning for old ruin (5) | FORDO | F |
OF (rev: turning) containing Old RD (road) |
| 15 Rib is in a free Indian meal (7) | BIRIANI | S |
RIB I IN A (anag: free) |
| 17 Nervous about dent being put in self-confidence (5, 2 words) | ON EDGE | T |
EGO (self confidence) containing DEN rev: about |
| 19 Stakes American inserted into worn tents (6) | WAGERS | R |
Won+American+GERS (tents) |
| 20 Musicians gathering a month before Andy in Paris (6) | SEPTET | Y |
SEPTember (a month)+ET (French for and) |
| 21 Close way of popular female singer to punish students (5) | DIVAGATE | C |
DIVA (popular female singer)+GATE (punish students) |
| 22 Hairs rise on meeting daughter (5) | DRIES | H |
Daughter+RISE (anag: on) |
| 24 In Scotland warn 90 occupying shelter to head North (5) | EXCEL | N |
LEE (shelter; rev: heading north) containing XC (90) |
| 25 Remembers bungled heist in bank (5) | BETHINKS | I |
HEST IN BK (bank) anag: bungled |
| 27 In southern lands you shouldn’t have palms (4) | ITAS | N |
I+TA (you shouldn’t have)+Southern |
| 28 Quickly made degenerate dine (4, 2 words) | RAKED IN | E |
RAKE (degenerate)+DIN |
A great puzzle, and not too tricky. In addition to the hidden and perhaps accidental theme you alluded to regarding the 6th lady and 2d, one may also note 10ac as a possible unwanted consequence. 😉 I also learnt that Googling for the 6th lady perhaps not unexpectedly for those who stopped to think is most definitely not safe for work.
I thought this was a harder than usual gridfill, with a challenging but satisfying endgame. Some of the clueing seemed a little loose: what was “popular” doing as part of the definition of diva in 21 down – there’s nothing in Chambers to justify it? And I don’t like “on” as an anagram indicator (22dn). But the PDMs when they eventually came were very satisfying. I particularly liked “fellow waited for” as the definition of GODOT at 21 ac.
Great stuff-I needed help from a fellow-solver.
I must check the film out. I only saw North by North West the other day.Wow!
Thanks all.
Very nice. I got to the ladies via the quote (having only unearthed Macbeth); I did think then it would be plain sailing, but not so. Ended up with two missing, as I found the top right a challenge too far. Must improve my Swedish.
Thanks to kenmac and the Ace of Hearts.
Enjoyed — thanks all round. Of the ladies, I got GODIVA first followed by MACBETH and CHATTERLEY, which along with the title made me wonder about a nakedness theme (wasn’t there a notorious production of The Scottish Play whose female lead scorned to wear a nightie for the sleepwalking scene?). Despite which, the NAKED lady eluded me until the end. But by then I’d seen the quotation and, as it were, hitched my cock in another direction. No, better rephrase that.
“Many thanks to bellow flogger HolyGhost” made me think HG must have helped very loudly, a la Brian Blessed.
An excellent, rewarding puzzle. Saw Macbeth and Chatterley first, but took ages to see possibility of Iron (and then Naked) preceding Lady rather than following it. Appreciated an endgame without a Wordsearch.
Many thanks to The Ace of Hearts and ken Mac.
Apologies, kenmac.
Not too difficult a puzzle, but didn’t find the NAKED lady unaided, which spoilt my enjoyment.