Enigmatic Variations 744

[lector]

1a) American relative's unaltered (4 letters divided into two words, starts with letter 'A') 12a) Boy accepts pound for tool (6) starts letter 'P' 18a) + 32a) Earl's thrown steel trap in river (6 letters in total - answer is hyphenated, most likely 3 hyphen 3 - first letter is 'E')

[lector]

recap ....

36a) Long book by American writer (5) ? ROT ?

36d) Good time fpor a break (6) ? ? N ? ? ?

40a) Just missing Australian cap (3) F I ? (fir?)

43d) Speaker-s failed to see tree (4)

44a) According to Milton, that's Park's first poplar (3) (asp?)

45d) harshly criticizes over record (4) (starts with with second letter of 44a)

46d) Spray to make small hole in earth (4) (starts with third letter of 44a)

48a) Mac essentially wrong backing Americam fliers (4)
A ? ? ?

50a) Hard stuff originally drunk by Evan - for a month (6)

52a) get money from Eastern stock (4)

[lector]

my previous attempt to draw a grid has come out wrongly when posted ... so ignore it

[crofter]

36D I've been mooching about - could this be BONAIR or similar? Clue Good time for a break?

[lector]

so the 'B' gives BROT? for 'Long book by American writer'

Broth?

[lector]

and the letter -a- in Bonair would mean that 48a) would be

A A ? ?

[lector]

could -broth- be a scottish word for long?

[lector]

or could 'wroth' be a scottish word for long?

[lector]

in 48a)

do you think the answer is 'fliers' eg auks or aces!

[lector]

its midnight //// so close now for me

you have all the clues and all the letters

thanks very much .... its been fun

[kettledrum]

48a. I had thought of aces - it's a hidden word - mAC ESsentially. & from Chambers: a person of distinguished achievement, an expert (orig. an airman), but I can't see the rest of it.

[kettledrum]

Good night lector. I can't help feeling it would be easier if I could actually see the grid. But it's been fun.

And goodnight to you too crofter, if you're still around.

[lector]

kettledrum / can scan and send it to you another time?

need an email address

[crofter]

44a is definitely ASP. Milton used AS to mean THAT and of course P = Parking

[lector]

what about 'acme' mac wrong equals acm+e (essentially backing)

[lector]

go with asp so not raps/

goodnight crofter //// another time I can scan and email the grid to you!

[kettledrum]

Does this mean that 45d could be snap ?

[ulysses100]

crofter and kettledrum --- I see that you have given lector so much help and information last night. It would have helped if he had given the preamble for this puzzle as you will find that there are many definitions that are swapped and make the crossword that much harder to solve. Once you have the "key" all of these answers fall into place. Once the grid is completed there is another task to complete which took me hours to find. There are so many other types of puzzle to complete lector without trying these really difficult ones which have so many obscure words for which Chambers is essential. I know from experience about these types of crossword and E.V. is one of the ones that I find hard to complete. Even The Spectator is easier to complete (although I must admit that I had to ask for help to complete last week's one !). Sorry to go on so, but, as has been suggested to other users get used to other cryptic crosswords first before attempting ones like this.

[ulysses100]

.........however,
once you have completed the grid look for seven answers that can be connected ( again, Chambers will help you here as they are all listed ). Then re-read the preamble and take a very close look throughout the grid to find the areas that you need to highlight -- it is a bit devious, but think about your location and how to get there (literally).

[kayakamina]

I quite agree Ulysses and that is why I didn't jump in last night even when invited.
I really think people should master the regular crosswords before moving on to the advanced ones.I wonder how much Lector actually learned from getting help with all 52 clues in the puzzle.
Good luck to him for trying but I know from experience that you cannot graduate from stage 1 to stage 4 without the intervening steps.

[lector]

well, thanks for the considered comments -

kettledrum / crofter / lector came together and had some fun 'battling away' with hard cryptic clues ---- the first stage was to get some answers .... personally, I didnt even understand all the preamble about clues that had changed definitions etc., nor its relevance to what we were doing.

as far as I know, questions and aswers were within the spirit and rules --- a couple of Abers had some fun solving many clues ---- the winning is not what matters, the taking part is the fun.

if our 'attempts' were watched by others, so be it ---- I hope that you enjoyed.