Variety Cryptic 15: Three Visits

Three visits

By Elgel

I'm working on something big, but here's something else in the meantime. I should warn you that there might be some light spoilers - if you're not familiar with the theme I highly recommend experiencing it yourself before getting spoiled further than this grid.

There are three visitors to this place.
1. The first visitor simply appears in the grid, in its own trajectory of ten letters.
2. The second visitor is only visible when directly looking at them; in each of 11 themed entries, the wordplay includes an extra letter that does not appear in the grid. In clue order, these name the visitor.
3. The third visitor appears through eight letters that do not appear in the wordplay of their clues. You can read their name by following these letters round as they appear in the grid.
Finally, the host has vanished; they appear in the wordplay and definition of their clue, but do not appear in the grid, as one of the visitors is hiding them.
All enumerations are for entries as they appear in the grid.

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Exolve Print Notes Webifi

Crossword ID: xet-3visits

Exolve v1.47 December 19, 2022 Report Bug Exolve on GitHub

Control keys:

• Tab/Shift-Tab: Jump to the next/previous clue in the current direction.
• Enter, Click/Tap: Toggle current direction.
• Arrow keys: Move to the nearest light square in that direction.
• Ctrl-q: Clear this, Ctrl-Q: Clear All!, Ctrl-B: Print crossword, Ctrl-/: Jump to notes, Ctrl-*: Mark clue as fave in notes, adding a * prefix.
• Spacebar: Place/clear block in the current square if it's diagramless.

Overwritten letters will briefly be coloured like this (before fading back to this) just to draw your attention so that you can fix any accidental typing errors.

Scratch pad: (click here to shuffle)

Print or create a PDF:

Font size: Normal Large Extra Large Small Other

Page size: Letter: 8.5in x 11in A4: 210mm x 297mm A3: 297mm x 420mm A5: 148mm x 210mm B4: 250mm x 353mm B5: 176mm x 250mm Legal: 8.5in x 14in Ledger: 11in x 17in

Margin (inches):

Show clue-solving sequence:

Show entered solutions:

Show clue-solving times:

• Ctrl-/ takes you to the current clue's notes (or overall notes).
• Ctrl-* adds a * prefix to the current clue's notes.
• Hovering over a clue's notes shows the clue as a tooltip.

Across

1.

5.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

15.

18.

20.

22.

25.

27.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

Down

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

14.

16.

17.

19.

21.

23.

24.

26.

27.

28.

30.

Notepad:

This is an Outer Wilds themed grid; theme entries are ASH + EMBER TWIN, BRITTLE HOLLOW, TIMBER HEARTH, GIANTS DEEP and DARK BRAMBLE.
The first visitor is the INTERLOPER, appearing diagonally.
The second visitor is the QUANTUM MOON, appearing in the above theme entries.
The third visitor is the STRANGER, from the DLC. This appears in the centre, obscuring the SUN.

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Down & Up

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Across

1	At risk of breaking up, bard quintet evenly rejected lucrative tips (7) BRITTLE. Q extra, BaRd QuInTeT + LucrativE
5	Empty case, with nothing inside; hiding nothing (6) HOLLOW. U extra, HULL + W w/ O inside w/ O inside
9	Present day rescue vessel, for, like, space (4) DARK. A extra, AD + ARK
10	Iron-on tattoo brought about wound (5) KNIFE. INK< + FE
11	Nakedly tangle with partner (4) TWIN. N extra, eNTWINe
12	General idea; imprisoning worker for big guys (6) GIANTS. T extra, ANT in GIST
13	Crust related cure, digesting spread etc (8) TECTONIC. TONIC w/ ETC* in
15	Harry, see my sycophants (3,3) YESMEN. N missing, (SEEMY)*
18	Maybe Robin is secure; held back by alien (7) RELIANT. R missing, NAIL< in ET
20	Managed rag, bid for contract (7) ABRIDGE. E missing, (RAGBID)*
22	Princess left argument, sent back to make arrangements (6) SETUPS. first S missing, diSPUTE<
25	Inherited Action Men; no longer new and fresh (4,4) CAMEINTO. (ACTIONMEn)*
27	Wood painted brown by artist, essentially (6) TIMBER. U extra, arTIst + UMBER
29	First month in Judea Bible? (4) ABIB. judeA BIBle (ABIB is the first month in the ancient Hebrew calendar)
30	Join nine after a loud fellow (5) AFFIX. A + F + F + IX
31	Intense humidity drove one out for Eastern Spain (4) DEEP. M extra, DAMP w/ A->E+E
32	The arm that controls fire station (6) HEARTH. M extra, tHE ARM THat
33	Study articles by gathered tales (7) ANALYSE. AN + A + hom. of LIES

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Down

2	Poor liar, yet it's the truth (7) REALITY. (LIARYET)*
3	Sign X about fine (5) TOKEN. TEN around OK
4	Enjoys cored citruses with potassium in the middle (5) LIKES. LImES w/ K in
5	Tone cut over the radio (3) HUE. Hom. of HEW
6	Completely out of it, losing head for countrywide game (5) LOTTO. bLOTTO
7	View of thread creator supersedes subordinate's leader (7) OPINION. OP (original poster) + mINION
8	Bread is mine - back off, mutt (5) PITTA. A missing, PIT + mutT
14	Greek island tribe (5) CRETE. T missing, d.d. of CREE
16	Runner takes snakebite regularly (3) SKI. SnaKebIte
17	Encourage one's sense of self satisfaction at last (3,2) EGGON. First G missing, EGO + satisfactioN
19	Jupiter's follower sat on union's note (3, abbr) IOU. IO + U
21	Support phone one lost in bush (7) BRAMBLE. O extra, BRA + MOBiLE
23	Clairvoyant sisters kept river in triple point (7) SEERESS. R in EEE in SSS
24	Fun so and so broke car features (5) ROOFS. SUN hidden, R missing, (FUN SO SO)*
26	Leftover part and unrefined stuff bishop and I turned up (5) EMBER. O extra, (ORE + B + ME)<
27	Danger of canned cow? (5) TOXIN. OX in TIN
28	Standard practice covering key imitation (5) MODEL. MO + DEL
30	Remains of game theorist John (3) ASH. N extra, d.d. of NASH

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Printable version available here

Variety Cryptic 14: Surgery

Surgery

By Elgel

The doctor is in, but is criminally insane.

This crossword has had some surgery applied to it; the doctor has been transplanting words from some clues to other answers, and adding bits to hold them in place.

Exactly half of the clues (the donors) have had one or two consecutive words swapped out for an entirely different (but related) one or two words. You will need to find the original word(s) and put it back in before solving.
These original words have then been anagrammed with an extra letter, becoming the answers for the other half of the clues (the recipients).
The recipient clues have also all had an extra letter added into the clue itself; you will need to remove the extra letter (always creating a new word) before solving.

When the grid is complete, you may read off these extra letters from the recipient clues in order (each time, taking the one added to the clue followed by the one added to the answer anagram).
This way, you'll find out what the doctor was thinking, or maybe where they are, or maybe hear roughly why they should be in jail.

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Squares filled: 0/140

Your entries are auto-saved in the browser's local storage. You can share the state using this link: URL

Exolve Print Notes Webifi

Crossword ID: xet-surg

Exolve v1.47 December 19, 2022 Report Bug Exolve on GitHub

Control keys:

• Tab/Shift-Tab: Jump to the next/previous clue in the current direction.
• Enter, Click/Tap: Toggle current direction.
• Arrow keys: Move to the nearest light square in that direction.
• Ctrl-q: Clear this, Ctrl-Q: Clear All!, Ctrl-B: Print crossword, Ctrl-/: Jump to notes, Ctrl-*: Mark clue as fave in notes, adding a * prefix.
• Spacebar: Place/clear block in the current square if it's diagramless.

Overwritten letters will briefly be coloured like this (before fading back to this) just to draw your attention so that you can fix any accidental typing errors.

Scratch pad: (click here to shuffle)

Print or create a PDF:

Font size: Normal Large Extra Large Small Other

Page size: Letter: 8.5in x 11in A4: 210mm x 297mm A3: 297mm x 420mm A5: 148mm x 210mm B4: 250mm x 353mm B5: 176mm x 250mm Legal: 8.5in x 14in Ledger: 11in x 17in

Margin (inches):

Show clue-solving sequence:

Show entered solutions:

Show clue-solving times:

• Ctrl-/ takes you to the current clue's notes (or overall notes).
• Ctrl-* adds a * prefix to the current clue's notes.
• Hovering over a clue's notes shows the clue as a tooltip.

Across

6.

8.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

16.

19.

21.

24.

25.

26.

27.

Down

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

7.

9.

15.

17.

18.

20.

21.

22.

23.

Notepad:

The extra letters can be read off as THEY ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE OR.
This refers to how words have been swapped (e.g. HEADS changed to TAILS, from 'HEADS or TAILS'), but OR also refers to the operating room, and the whole phrase sounds roughly like "on the wrong side of the law". Like an out of season cracker pun.

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Down & Up

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Across

6	Thot to change dress piece (6) HALTER. Thot->hot, H+ALTER (HALTER->LATER+H) TH
8	Convert less, so it's extremely spacious (8) ROOMIEST. LESS->MORE, (MORESOIT)*
10	26 place ceases to kindle revelry post-degree (6) BAKERY. cEases->cases, BA + KindlE RevelrY (BAKERY->BREAK+Y) EY
11	Tuning equipment make, quietly installed in success (5,3) WRESTPIN. MAKE->BREAK, REST+P in WIN
12	Dad, perhaps always in averse manner, gets key returned (8) RELATIVE. Averse->verse, (VITAL in EER)< (RELATIVE->LEAVE IT+R) AR
13	Put to flight with European travel plane (5) OUTER. planE->plan, ROUT+E (OUTER->TRUE+O) EO
14	Bugs' heads in crude tea strainer; ew! I beg forgiveness (7) EARWIGS. TAILS->HEADS, crudE teA straineR eW I beG forgivenesS
16	Hen trips over fashionista (7) HIPSTER. heN->he, (HETRIPS)* (HIPSTER->PERISH+T) NT
19	Matches held by Elvish emissary (5) SEMIS. elvisH->elvis, elviS EMISsary (SEMIS->MISS+E) HE
21	Resistance in Part One covers Wales initially (8) FRICTION. Wales->ales, FRACTION w/ I->Ales (FRICTION->FICTION+R), WR
24	See red; I'm changing what's used to trick (8) REMEDIES. TRICK->TREAT, (SEEREDIM)*
25	Insert altos in Brahms and Lizst (6, var) INSTAL. altOs->alts, (ALTSIN)* (INSTAL->TAILS+N) ON
26	Parisian bread club welcomes visitor with son and poodle at heel (8) BAGUETTE. WITH->WITHOUT, GUEsT in BAT + poodlE
27	Preview model ghosted by stunner (6) TASTER. Ghosted->hosted, T in TASER (TASTER->TREAT+S) GS

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Down

1	Dance custom; to take it by climbing stadium (8) HABANERA. TAKE IT->LEAVE IT, HABit + ARENA<
2	Evil gar relating a fact, with lowered head, for another fish (8) GRAYLING. FACT->FICTION, (GAR)* + LYING w/ L lowered
3	English sabre irises seem ready for bed (6) DROWSE. Irises->rises, (E+SWORD)< (DROWSE->WORSE+D) ID
4	Lover from city beside Nile (5) ROMEO. nilE->nil, ROME+O (ROMEO->MORE+O) EO
5	Good pathogen turned out as you and I swim (8) VIRTUOUS. SWIM->SINK, VIRUS+OUT< w/ US lowered
7	Letter found false in articles (5) THETA. FALSE->TRUE, T in THE+A
9	Broke family sifts in street (5) SKINT. siFts->sits, KIN in ST (SKINT->SINK+T) FT
15	He, with cryptic construction, produces blizzard? (5,3) WHITEOUT. witH->wit, HEWIT = (WHITE)* (WHITEOUT->WITHOUT+E) HE
17	Start in it; one had famine, perhaps (8) INITIATE. FAMINE->FEAST, IN IT + I + ATE
18	Insurgent started sooner, grabbing drink and sign about environmental impact (3-5) ECOLABEL. SOONER->LATER, COLA in rEBEL
20	Swelling condition, ultimately, for better card game to master (5) EDEMA. FOR BETTER->WORSE, worsE carD gamE + MA
21	One on hunger strike loudly (and poorly) orates (6) FASTER. Orates->rates, F + (RATES)* (FASTER->FEAST+R) OR
22	Witnesses to hit at trials (5) TESTS. HIT->MISS, atTESTS
23	Publish empty threats; get emptier with these? (5) DIETS. PUBLISH->PERISH, DIE + ThreatS

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Printable version available here

Variety Cryptic 13: New Puzzle Mischief

New Puzzle Mischief

By Elgel

It's been a while since the last crossword; things have been busy, but the pace should pick up again now.

This puzzle is a single shape that has been split into six individual pieces. You'll need to put it back into its original shape to solve all the clues.

Numbered clues are entered as normal.
Unnumbered clues can be read once the pieces are joined back together; they may go in any direction. They obey the existing bars, but piece edges may or may not be bars. For instance, 5a may be part of a longer word that extends leftwards, but it could not extend past the bar into 4d, and the longer word must use all of 5a's letters.
The six pieces fit together with overlap; if two pieces touch, then they overlap in at least one square. Overlapping squares have the same symbol on them.
Grey cells aren't checked by numbered clues, and must be found through the unnumbered ones.

25a and 30a are the same clue/answer, but the reconstructed shape has no duplicate words.
I recommend printing this one out; as always, the printable link is underneath the grid.

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Squares filled: 0/183

Your entries are auto-saved in the browser's local storage. You can share the state using this link: URL

Exolve Print Notes Webifi

Crossword ID: xet-mnpr

Exolve v1.47 December 19, 2022 Report Bug Exolve on GitHub

Control keys:

• Tab/Shift-Tab: Jump to the next/previous clue in the current direction.
• Enter, Click/Tap: Toggle current direction.
• Arrow keys: Move to the nearest light square in that direction.
• Ctrl-q: Clear this, Ctrl-Q: Clear All!, Ctrl-B: Print crossword, Ctrl-/: Jump to notes, Ctrl-*: Mark clue as fave in notes, adding a * prefix.
• Spacebar: Place/clear block in the current square if it's diagramless.

Overwritten letters will briefly be coloured like this (before fading back to this) just to draw your attention so that you can fix any accidental typing errors.

Scratch pad: (click here to shuffle)

Print or create a PDF:

Font size: Normal Large Extra Large Small Other

Page size: Letter: 8.5in x 11in A4: 210mm x 297mm A3: 297mm x 420mm A5: 148mm x 210mm B4: 250mm x 353mm B5: 176mm x 250mm Legal: 8.5in x 14in Ledger: 11in x 17in

Margin (inches):

Show clue-solving sequence:

Show entered solutions:

Show clue-solving times:

• Ctrl-/ takes you to the current clue's notes (or overall notes).
• Ctrl-* adds a * prefix to the current clue's notes.
• Hovering over a clue's notes shows the clue as a tooltip.

Across

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

12.

13.

14.

16.

17.

19.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

28.

31.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

43.

44.

Down

1.

2.

3.

4.

10.

11.

15.

18.

20.

21.

27.

29.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

42.

Other

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

F.

G.

H.

I.

J.

K.

L.

M.

N.

O.

P.

Q.

R.

S.

T.

U.

V.

W.

X.

Y.

Z.

AA.

AB.

AC.

The pieces fit together to form a cube; when reading the unnumbered clues, you may need to rotate to read the letters correctly. CIRCUMLOCUTE, for instance, starts at the U in RUNON, moves right across piece 5 and ends at the E in WRENCHES on piece 4 (note that letters can rotate; the letter I appears as a H when rotated 90 degrees; or W->E->M.)

All symbols are consistent with the way they're written; it's easiest to see this in the printed version.

Further, the cube is actually a die, with O's as the pips. The pieces correspond to faces and are in order of their number.

Note that revealed letters may be in the wrong orientation; for instance, what the reveal button gives as 'R' may be an R on its side.

Title: This contains the letters C,E,H,I,M,N,U,W and Z, which are 'special' letters. In the printable version, they've been drawn out in a way such that e.g. the E's are the same as rotated M's and W's.

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Down & Up

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Across

5	In bayou, Zelda found old blackbird (5) OUZEL. bayOU ZELda
6	She grunts to spread seed (3) SOW. D.d.
7	Architect regularly awarded point (4) WREN. aWaRdEd + N
8	Objects to initially abandoning nurses (4) ENDS. TENDS - To
9	King consumed by feeble cause (5) WREAK. R in WEAK
12	Witchy candle part cut with tin (6) WICCAN. WICk + CAN
13	Some number in list of ten best myth endings (3) NTH. teN besT mytH
14	Turns back lost fish with warning (4) OMEN. NEMO<
16	Magic man picked up recorder (3) MIC. Hom. of MIKE
17	It's our responsibility! (4) ONUS. ON US &lit.
19	Naked Greek witch's old communication method (3, abbr) IRC. cIRCE
22	Delivered alternative metal source (3) ORE. Hom. of OR
23	Hope is in watch case (4) WISH. IS in WatcH
24	North-west ground and pond creatures (5) NEWTS. N + WEST*
25, 30	25, 30Penguin keeper's last letter before eggs (3) ZOOZOO. Z + OO
26	The majority are hot on the backside in this kind of pit (4) MOSH. MOST w/ H over the end
28	Gasps at hobo who's often ignored (4) OOHS. hObO wHoS
31	Bony Sue mixes with so-and-so (7) OSSEOUS. SUESOSO*
37	My new thing on feet (4) CORN. COR + N
38	Bartender reflected on Horizon's despair (3) WOE. MOE flipped horizontally
39	Lower one of me with no energy; quietly? (3) DIP. DIE - E + P
40	Fresh air recognised (3) NEW. Hom. of KNEW
41	Preparing after student avoided setting these things (6) CUEING. CLUEING - L
43	Foreign agreement to go for dictator (3) OUI. Hom. of WEE
44	Intimidate short hood (3) COW. COWl

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Down

1	Blackpool attraction disheartened musician (4) PIER. PIpER
2	I'm after cover-up acting (7) INTERIM. INTER + IM
3	Tighten chlorine over woman's face (6) CLENCH. CL over WENCH
4	All-purpose insomnia essence (4) OMNI. insOMNIa
10	Issue of face card's accepted number (4) ACNE. N in ACE
11	Possible woman in show 'Family' replaced with male in the end (3) KIM. KIN w/ M over the end
15	Int. organisation's holding revolutionary in single-use cells (6) UNCHES. CHE in UN'S
18	Headless spirit army (4) HOST. gHOST
20	Order or nun going too far (3,2) RUNON.
21	Dog's English; for the last time, they won't yap (4) MUTE. MUTT w/ E over last T
27	Single-track mind's first stripped giver (4) MONO. Mind + dONOr
29	Editor's below working a single line (3-1) ONED. ON above ED
32	Bring up riots, wanting to handle for knight (3) SIR. RIOTS< - TO
33	Delaying, wife hogs son's tissues (6) SINEWS. SWINE w/ W put back + S
34	Mimic pro ice playing (6) COPIER. PROICE*
35	Comes with Pops for cereal companies (4) COCO. CO + CO
36	Latest couple escaping from obscure family man (5) UNCLE. UNCLEar
42	Sticky mess from game with a pip in this puzzle? (3) GOO. GO + O

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Other

A	Overthrow drink troubles (4) SODA<
B	Comic culture developed, say, in a roundabout way (12) COMICCULTURE*
C	Wrapped up mad Doc with love once (8) (DOC O ONCE)*
D	Mickey or Minnie, perhaps, lost at sing-song (5) CARTOON - AT
E	Front half of rodent's living quarters (4) DORMouse
F	Happy feelings when found with the warm furs; knocked right out for snores, that is (7) FURS w/ R -> ZZ IE
G	Continue to get rough help (4) GO ON
H	Extra fogged religious leader loses support and takes map (6) HIERarch round AZ
I	Strong layer to church (5) HEN + CH
J	Spell 'née' wrong, as a result of cracking (6) HEX + NEE*
K	Bows head with suspicions (7) D.d.
L	Dress down form; kick stuck-up odd ones out (6) dOwN fOrM kIcK <
M	First person/alien get together (4) ME + ET
N	Short coffee over old American sponge (5) MOCHa round O
O	Bare-faced cheekery upset 27 (4) MONO*
P	Sort of modern-style whines (6) WHINES*
Q	Five leave study, returning for more bothering (7) REvISION<
R	Fuel distributed at once (6) ATONCE*
S	4's not the first for us (4) fOURS
T	Hear out God-Ruler's mother (4) HEAR*
U	Ship horse con abroad (8) HORSECON*
V	Contempt upset bird owned by Poles (5) ROC< in S + N
W	Chase off Pell for Caesar (4) Caesar shift of PELL
X	Harsh usher maintains quiet (5) harSH USHer
Y	Dirty and hurt; not at all a relaxed state (10) UNCLEaN + aCHED
Z	Clever questions for the audience (4) Hom. of WHYS
AA	Cool down wings by west court (3) W + cOOl
AB	With top off, soaks jerks (8) W + dRENCHES
AC	Alphabet's last company merger for the Brass? (4) Z + INC

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Printable version available here