I am rather pleased with this puzzle from 1991 – it could easily appear without much criticism today. I did restore one clue from my copy after reading the published version and thinking (obviously correctly): “I would never have written that”. One day when I’m feeling daring I’ll write an article about editorial interventions.
In twelve cases, the clued word could be augmented by an extra letter to form a new word; each ‘new’ letter was always cross-checked by an identical ‘new’ letter. The six ‘sleepers’ thus obtained could be arranged to spell SPYING.
ACROSS
1 SUPERNATURAL; r in anag.
9 (P)LANNER; an in LNER
10 RHINO; I in anag. & lit.
12 ENDOGEN; end + g in anag. & lit.
13 ECAD; E cad
14 WARFARIN(G); f + anag. in warn
16 DRAIN; hidden & lit.
19 ATONE; at one
20 EIGNE; I in e.g. né
21 FL(Y)INGS; 2 mngs.
24 RAMCATS; m ca. in rats
26 ESSE(N); palindrome
29 STARE; hidden rev.
31 PETRA; pet RA
32 NERVINES(S); n + anag.
35 ER(I)E; cf. here
36 UPSPEAK; U (M)Ps peak
37 EGEST; hidden
38 TOLUENE; comp. anag.
39 DISCONSENTED; S for t in discontented
DOWN
1 S(P)ENDER; rednes(s) (rev.)
2 ULNARIA; (ha)ul + a Iran (rev.)
3 PAD-NAG; a D(0)n in pag€
4 ENOW; one (rev.) + w
5 NE’ER; ‘nare’
6 TREAT(Y); re in tat
7 RICIN; r I c in
8 LOD(G)E; ‘load’
11 HEROISE; her o is e
15 FALSE; anag.
17 INCAVES; I + c in naves
18 OFTEN; net FO (all rev.)
22 GERMANE; r man in gee
23 S(N)ACKED; 2 mngs.
25 ARISTO; a + sir (rev.) + to & lit.
27 STREET; 2 mngs.
28 KNEED; K need
30 TR(I)ES; tres(s)
33 EPOS; comp. anag.
34 (S)PUN; p(oke f)un
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