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A rather square cryptic

· By n0hk · Published 2022-06-24T03:15:43.450Z

There's some good and some bad in this grid. I really like most of the fill and some of the clues / wordplays are cute. The grid has a pretty awkward shape, but the solve is somewhat aided by a gimmick explained below. Thanks to Skaldskaparmal and Liari for test solving this :)

Gimmick:

Twenty-five clues throughout the grid are missing a letter in their wordplay. Each missing letter is unique. The letter which is never omitted needs to be entered into the central square of the grid. All of the definitions in the clues match what's entered in the grid, and all clues which aren't missing a letter are completely normal.

Example:

The letter is only ever missing from the wordplay, so the word "Master" might be clued as "Confused smart overlord" (an anagram of smart together with an unclued 'e'). The 'e' doesn't appear in the anagram fodder but does appear in the definition and in the grid's entry

Advice:

This website does not give you any ability to keep track of what letter is being omitted from each clue. I would recommend downloading the .puz file from the '... More' options menu in the top right, and importing it at https://squares.io/. This will let you keep track of which letters have been used in the gimmick already.
Hopefully you enjoy the solve as much as I enjoyed setting this :)
Checking for previous play data...

Comments

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    1A
    Unamendable road condemned, it might feature in a future collision (9, 6)
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    Across
    1. 1A
      Unamendable road condemned, it might feature in a future collision (9, 6)
    2. 9A
      See 11A
    3. 10A
      See 2D
    4. 11A
      +9A Kitchen utensil mixes sugar and cumin with trace of pepper (9, 3)
    5. 13A
      Synthetic lead's perfect (5)
    6. 14A
      Regret redhead being more faithful (5)
    7. 15A
      Borough where some siblings change their bearing (5)
    8. 17A
      Squadron leader associated with butchering of enemy; they cause breakdowns (7)
    9. 18A
      Trustworthiness empowered Ukrainian leaders, bringing about the greatest spirit (7)
    10. 19A
      Fan of nobleman stopping at nothing to be cuddled by seer (7)
    11. 21A
      Promise to cycle around crash for illusionist (7)
    12. 22A
      The French guy's an old sweetheart (5)
    13. 23A
      Strike small flame (5)
    14. 25A
      A vehicle that's intelligent (5)
    15. 26A
      AI dismisses liberal author penning Lima's lowest point (5, 4)
    16. 27A
      +25D Film entertaining Glen Rice originally referred to as "Battle Stations" (3, 5)
    17. 29A
      See 11D
    18. 30A
      The Internet is one source of wisdom that is held dear by "awoken", enrapt redneck extremists without hint of obscenity (4, 4, 7)
    Down
    1. 1D
      Mistakenly hide cream before ship staff could use it to serve up chocolate fondue (10, 5)
    2. 2D
      +10A Fail to participate in accord I put-down (3, 3)
    3. 3D
      Bay's gusto for chi-chi movie finales (5)
    4. 4D
      They reduce mistakes from oddly ebriated bros regularly (7)
    5. 5D
      Fart on drunk for insult (7)
    6. 6D
      Time to support previously written up business (5)
    7. 7D
      Card game that's regularly up and down (3)
    8. 8D
      Ok music? (11, 4)
    9. 11D
      +29A Unlimited slices of mangos in the past (4, 5, 3)
    10. 12D
      Grain not originally found in permafrost (6, 3)
    11. 15D
      Oblique first lady left (5)
    12. 16D
      Nice rejection has old partner looking up to a tasteless noble (5)
    13. 20D
      One cold-blooded soldier flanks tango amid victoryless evil (7)
    14. 21D
      Initially headstrong amateur redoing practice ducks weapon (7)
    15. 24D
      Unreckonable at heart, in the manner of an animal (5)
    16. 25D
      See 27A
    17. 28D
      Old man's contemporary (3)
    18. 29D
      Haircut causes commotion (3)
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