In this ENDURANCE TEST solvers are looking for a four-letter word, which is to be written below the grid. Of the four unclued across answers, three are linked to the word in one way, the fourth in another. Five down answers are the first words (minus possessives where relevant) of three-word phrases or titles (musical or dramatic) of which the second is the four-letter word, and the third the word actually clued. Unchecked letters in these five entries give RUT UP. The consistent omission of the full form of a cryptic indication will also hint at the word. Lengths in brackets refer to grid entries.
ACROSS
1 Chicken first dished up without one sort of bread (6,5)
10 Drama writer cutting out mirth and humour (4)
12 Heartless men amass at least 200 drachmas (4)
13 Lake circled by tiny Scots bird (7)
14 Heads of Oxford and Cambridge test out eights (6)
16 Hardly any carrying parcel went fast (4)
18 One participates in a round (a form of Indian music) (5)
21 Word for persons in Shakespeare possibly applied to a Bronte character (6)
23 German certainly comes up and splashes Scots (5)
26 Cross word puzzles do seem to (5)
27 Run out in horse-farm with old blanket (6)
29 A great many runners come in very warm (4)
31 Chap scoffing a second fruit (5)
32 Means to turn page, making a harsh sound (4)
35 Bill hiding in sack in cab (6)
38 Target is to capture neutrino (a subatomic particle) (4)
39 Village backing some fun around Sexagesima (5)
40 Wife joining worker in poverty (4)
DOWN
1 An argument with several well-worn points (6)
2 Infection getting into nasty cut in ear with backward-pointing lobes (9)
3 State only a little overthrown? (4)
4 Resistance? Part of rope shows no resistance (6)
5 Rash to drop velocity in races (4)
6 Fabrics padded out by introduction of iron plates (7)
7 Article I ran into when reversing (4)
8 Sea-perch without a sign of hesitation making for top of wave (4)
9 It’s “to copy”? (5)
15 Hearts also seen in collection of playing cards (4)
16 Habitual utterances may be no good in a cry for help (4)
17 Like a tree planted in court yard? (5)
19 What giveth rise to this greeting – doth going out? (9)
22 Stolid Scots grandchild brought up the sound of a sob (4)
24 Superior person rings posh club in expression of disgust (4-3)
25 Shrub needing heat and light, note (4)
28 Rock musical to suffice as product of salon? (6)
30 Tchaikovsky’s gutted about extended score (6)
31 English philosopher in a jam over article (5)
33 Local neighbours – tedious types to listen to (4)
34 Aid to maths one concealed in aid to reading? (4)
35 Slit appearing in marsh plant (4)
36 In odd parts of China ‘Hello’ is an equivalent of ‘Goodbye’ (4)
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