A Puzzle by Radler
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
This week’s NTSPP from Radler came with instructions:
Down clues are normal, but 5 down is unclued
Across clues are of two types:
(i) Clues for the eight entries that cross or meet with 5 down (such as 4A and 12A) are normal cryptic clues, but lead to answers that are one letter shorter than is available in the grid, and the (shaded) checking cell with 5 down should be left blank.
(ii) The other seven across clues (those that don’t intersect 5 down, such as 1A), have a normal definition, but the wordplay generates an extra letter.
To complete the puzzle, determine the value of 5 down. The letters to go into its 8 checked cells must result in real words in the corresponding across entries. The extra letters from the wordplay of the other across clues, (in clue order), provide the 7 unchecked letters. The extra letters are highlighted in red in the solutions
Apart from having to lie down after reading the instructions, I found this to be Radler at his most difficult. Even if you start by trying to solve the 'normal' Down clues, I think you still need to have a vague idea of what 5d must be in order to work out what the extra letters in the Across solutions have to be. I will be interested to learn what others think, if they managed to make it to a full grid
Across
1a /26a  Liberal Prime Minister formerly actor (4,4)
BROAD PITT Having a liberal mind or outlook and the name of a Prime Minister, often followed with ‘The Younger – the letter to be used in 5d is the O in the first word
4a Gent, I hear, cooked using microwave? (9)
RECHEATING: An anagram (cooked) of GENT I HEAR
9a Officer charged with mass dishonesty follows instruction (8)
COMPLINES: An informal police officer ‘charged’ with the symbol for Mass and some dishonesty
10a Oscar admitted lying about weight (4)
OGNUS: The letter represented by Oscar in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and a reversal (about) of lying in the sense of telling lies about
11a Clairvoyant claiming is at game (6)
FEISATY: Foreseeing the future (clairvoyant) ‘claiming’ IS AT from the clue
12a Released bird repelled bear (7)
REMITTED: A prison sentence (bird) reversed followed by an informal name for a toy bear
13a Twin European states defending The States (4)
ESAU: The Biblical twin who was ‘a hairy man’ – the abbreviation for the group of European states goes round (defending) the abbreviation for the United States of America.
14a Adjective - without name - used by unknown interminably shy person? (9)
ANTONYMOUS:  Something with no author’s name, a mathematical unknown and almost all of a shy person
16a Stand-in retiring go on Sunday rate? (6,3)
DOUBLE PLAY: A stand-in and a reversed (retiring) speak constantly in a foolish manner (go on) -
18a Reverse turn and duck (4)
UANDO: A U turn AND from the clue and the cricket score of a duck
20a Rebels fiddle relative, ignoring graduates (7)
CONTRAST: Â Another name for the double bass (fiddle relative) without some abbreviated graduates
22a Censors gut issue featuring strip viewed from behind
IBLEEPS: An abbreviated gastrointestinal disorder (gut issue) into which is inserted a reversed (viewed from behind) strip
23a Empty farm building, far side of village (4)
BARNE: A farm building and the letter at the far side of villagE
24a US time of abstinence provokes stud's ire (8)
DIOESTRUS: An anagram (provokes) of STUDS IRE
25a Politicians joining clubs after nothing works (9)
FACTORISES: Â A slang abbreviation meaning nothing at all followed by the letter representing nothing and an informal name for a political party
26a See 1a
Down
2d Topless sports revealing boobs (and getting complaints (7)
RICKETS: A game (sports) without the first letter – mistakes or blunders; a disease of children caused by Vitamin D deficiency
3d Question probes angry pubmaid's disappointment (4,5)
DAMP SQUIB: An abbreviated question ‘probes’ an anagram (angry) of PUBMAIDS – my mother-in-law, who never got something right if she could get it wrong, used to say the second word as a type of cephalopod!
4d Shift closer to door and lock up (5)
RELAY: The letter that is the ‘closer’ to dooR and a reversed (up) trademark of a type of cylinder lock
5d See preamble
CONGRATULATIONS
6d Struggling, regularly mad, yes I'm vexed, only no gain without pain? (4,5)
EASY MONEY: An anagram (struggling) of the regular letters of mAd YeS iM vExEd oNlY nO
7d Fish trader filleted in the shops (5)
TROUT: The outside letters (filleted) of TradeR and available in the shops
8d Recently arrived, and tour over, had fun intrinsically (7)
NOUVEAU: The inner letters (intrinsically) of aNd tOUr oVEr hAd fUn
14d Bell maybe a tragic lover ringing ex (9)
ALEXANDER: A (from the clue) and a tragic lover from a Greek tale into which is inserted EX (from the clue)
15d Technique Pasteur developed to produce cheese (9)
MOUSETRAP: Â An abbreviated technique and an anagram (developed) of PASTEUR
17d Order portion of food on a table (7)
ODONATA: The order of dragonflies is hidden in the last four words of the clue
19d Bank returned bribe, shares level (7)
DEPOSIT: A reversed (returned) bribe ‘sharing’ or being inserted into a synonym for level
21d Deal with nozzle, water finally stops (5)
TREAT:  A nozzle through which milk is drunk ‘stopped’ by the final letter of wateR
22d Clipped naughty little girl's bottom (5)
BASIS: A truncated synonym for naughty and an abbreviated (little) female relative’S (girl’s)
Well done to Radler on producing an enjoyable tour-de-force.
I don’t really like puzzles with ‘special instructions’ so my first reaction here was to give the puzzle a miss. But seeing that the down clues were normal I started with them and made solid progress which eventually allowed me to finish the puzzle.
I can’t account for the ‘regularly’ bit of 6d towards the end which doesn’t seem to quite work.
I have lots of ticks including 12a, 22a (gut issue – LOL), 8d, 14d and 15d.
The 2Kiwis in a comment earlier in the year, wrote about their nostalgic memories of the (discontinued) prize puzzles. I’d originally intended this as a prize puzzle, and rather than discard it, I revised it a little and re-submitted it as an ntspp. I know the harder puzzles are not to everyone’s taste, but equally there are others who enjoy an occasional (but not too frequent) challenge.
We did return but sadly could not make any significant progress and threw in the towel.
You totally beat us with this one Radler.
Thanks to you and CS.
We’ve printed the puzzle and made a tentative foray that made us realise this is going to take a bit more time and effort than we have available this morning. “We will return!”
Thanks again to Radler for the brain-mangler and to Sue for the explanations.
I still don’t understand 6d – the last three of the regular letters produce OLN rather than the required NYO.
You’re right Gazza. My mistake. I had a version that worked (using “here” instead of “vexed”), but changed it at a late stage in the setting process without thinking it through properly
Finally got around to this puzzle at bedtime last night and then finished it off whilst still in bed with a mug of tea this morning – the result was I spent far too much time in bed not being asleep!!! It took me a while to get used to the format and make initial progress, but once I tuned in it was great fun as well as a fine challenge. As Gazza aptly commented – a tour-de-force from Radler. I was left with some parsing issues which CS has helped with – for 20a I had taken ‘fiddle’ to be ‘con’ so couldn’t make sense of the ‘tras’. Then for 22a my ‘gut issue’ was ‘bile’ (then losing the ‘i’) so the ‘eps’ was unparsed! Oh well, I was close! When I unravelled 6d I thought there had to be something wrong as, like Gazza, I had a ‘Y’ instead of an ‘L’, so the exchange between Gazza and Radler has resolved that. My LOI was the 24a ‘time of abstinence’, for which I needed e-help as I was blissfully ignorant of either spelling, although the wordplay was clear. Once I had the new found GK, I was able to appreciate the clever surface reading. Other additions to my vocabulary were the 17d ‘order’ and 4a sounding of the hunter’s horn. My 2d ‘boobs’ I took to be a reference to a series of cricketing abbreviations…? Top clues for me were 12a, 8d and 15d, plus the moment I twigged the 5d value – I appreciated the encouraging message from Radler after having reaching that point
My thanks to Radler for engineering a fine puzzle that would have made a great QPP, and to CS for the wise words.
Oh, I didn’t answer CS’ question regarding… I will be interested to learn what others think, if they managed to make it to a full grid.
I did have to read the instructions a couple of times and refer back to them during solving to remind myself of what I was doing, but the instructions were quite clear.
I didn’t need the 5d value to work out the extra letters, but once I had enough crossers and 5 of the extra letters I did twig the 5d word, which not only made me smile but also gave me the last 2 extra letters, which in turn assisted me with 18a and 22a, despite my failure to parse 22a correctly.
Just like the every-other-Friday Elgar Toughie, I think it’s great to have a challenging puzzle like this every so often. Variety is the spice of life, whether it be akin to pimento, jalapeno or habanero!