Enigmatic Variations

A somewhat unusual set-up: across clues are given in pairs, and the method of entry for four across rows is thematic (whatever that might turn out to mean), with no definition given.  Another row is unclued, and must be filled with ‘the reason for the WARNING’.  The down clues, meanwhile, are not idle – extra letters from their solutions give ‘the subject of the WARNING’.

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I have a soft spot for puzzles such as this that have clues presented in alphabetical order of their answers.  Goodness knows why, when I might end up staring at a blank grid!  Perhaps its just that the ‘sort and slot’ technique appeals to the same desire for order as jigsaws.

At any rate, ‘Lucas’ could be a number of things.  Isn’t George still flogging the dead horse of Star Wars?  Maybe it’s related to that.

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I’m fond of these perimeter-quotation puzzles, although they can make things a little tricky if you can’t get a toe-hold in the centre of the puzzle.  However, it’s not clear how much if any of the quotation will survive the dramatic cull proposed in the preamble (we are to delete almost three quarters of the grid once it’s been filled in). 

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Oxymoron gives some hints about the possible construction of the puzzle here, by calling it REDUCTIONS, and telling us in the preamble of “a shortage of space” and “clashes”, and warning us that the number of cells given in grid entries may not be the number of letters in answers to clues.

All well and good.  That still leaves a lot of questions.

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