(7,8,6) by Phi
Clues are of five types, seven of each, except for one type
Normal cryptic
Printer’s Devilry – each clue is a passage from which the printer has removed the answer, closing the gap, taking liberties sometimes with punctuation and spacing, but not disturbing the order of the remaining letters. Thus, in the sentence Now that it’s so much warmer, can’t I let the boiler go out? MERCANTILE is hidden. The printer might offer as a clue: Now that it’s so much wart, the boil, ergo out! Each passage when complete makes some sort of sense.
Definition and Letter Mixture Plus – each clue contains a definition of the answer and a mixture of the letters in that answer plus an additional letter. Each mixture begins at the beginning or ends at the end of a word in the clue; the additional letters in clue order spell the first component of the phrase to be discovered.
Playfair – clues, which are italicised, are entered according to a Playfair cipher. The Playfair codeword is the second component of the phrase to be discovered. The DLM+ and Letters Latent clues will assist in identifying candidates for this component.
Letters Latent – the definition in the clue relates the complete answer; wordplay and length refer to the residue when every instance of a particular letter is removed, which is what is entered in the grid. The removed letters, in clue order, spell the final component of the phrase to be discovered.
The phrase to be discovered, though familiar enough, is in ODE not Chambers.
To even things up, competitors were requested to write a seventh Letters Latent clue to the Playfair codeword, choosing to omit any one of its eight different letters.
Across
1 Insecticide represented in riddle (8)
7 Character in drab led idly on to the stage (4)
11 Fellow with a lot of pearly grains (9)
12 Alms mirroring religious belief (5)
13 Source of snakebite antidote, nothing less, filled with excellent green resin (6)
14 Team harassing the opposition? (4)
15 Carried by plane into historic place with flights available (7)
16 Beautiful place linked to a Mantel novel full of emotions (12)
18 Here’s the hill shown to reach her stables at the bottom (6)
23 Pull out gun, having missed first food (6)
24 Sources of disorder: soccer topic ending in disagreement, unfortunately (12)
26 Movement in Hackney faxed California (7)
28 John seen around front of Rocky Mountain landmark (4)
29 Volume and register from well-established publisher (6)
30 School punt kept at home to help uncle with the farm (5)
31 Feature of uniform better trimmed on both sides around uniform in white (9)
32 Man subjecting himself to rigorous regimen is one’s parent (4)
33 Experimental container in international transport system (8, 2 words)
DOWN
2 Pitied Irish cut off from poetry (8)
3 Auction attracting millions in historic US town (5)
4 Wind makes me nauseous (7)
5 A component of explosive, sire (4)
6 Regarding interbreeding: a lot upset about source of genes, I see (7)
7 Climbing Scottish mountain in orderly manner, heading off with waves of arms (6)
8 Something from Massenet? Core of matter involves almost nothing from Massenet (7)
9 Ailing badly, covered in snot, sticky (11)
10 Effete, but writes expressing mixed feelings (11)
17 Curve a great many used around one plane (8)
19 A pod an old crone turned out to produce sickly lambs (7, two words)
20 Computer file a test made (7, two words)
21 The wrong ideas will have one going after planting mushroom in bed (7)
22 Norwegian painter seen around Institute in German city (6)
25 Minimising your pet’s time in its carrier implies a lot (5)
27 European capital that is against supporting King (4)
Apex 2020 (pdf)
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