Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle November 2022

 Big Bang Theory by Poat

PDF copy

Twelve clues contain a misprint of one letter in the definition, the corrections spelling out an experimental mission. The immediate outcome is shown by removals, read in normal grid order, from eight across answers. The name of the delivery agent appears in a cluster of four cells, and must be highlighted along with symbolic representations of two further items which became apparent in the aftermath.

ACROSS

    1    Silver treasure absorbing haul, with volume up 100-fold (10)

    10    Community gets into Gold Blend on great terms (7, 2 words)

    11    Outer protection from geological stage and mountain, taking turns (6)

    12    New Caledonia abolishing national community of believers (8)

    13    GM may stack this valuation periodically (4)

    14    Vital source of water one swallows, if in retreat  (8)

    17    Green team in confusion? C'est çà (9)

    18    Endless debate and untruth giving problems for Brits? (6)

    20    Right wage of builder knocking out walls (5)

    21    Descriptive of some jolly boys (5)

    23    Long time to import article from the east (6)

    24    Oddly, I care a lot for any variety of cabbage? (9)

    27    Weird last rites - I must leave wee *** (8)

    28    Pick up present for auditor (4)

    29    Milk product: good one in melted gelato (8)

    31    Decorated soldiers with endless booty, more formally (6)

    32    Wasting time, sail around border by one former kingdom (7)

    33    Sort of dark matter getting hot for Tesla’s anti-fogging device (10, 2 words)

DOWN

    1    So-called hare may hint at this race (12)

    2    In Fulham or thereabouts, find old sod (5)

    3    Show of half-finished cryptic puzzle (3)

    4    Charm old flame with demand for rights (7)

    5    Tuareg workers must leave windy deserts (4)

    6    Carrying beer, the German who’ll give a hand at table (6)

    7    Prude abandoned date? (5)

    8    Got protection for dad under canvas (8)

    9    Toper’s after tipsy person to deter visitors in Axbridge (12, 3 words)

    13    With this, you’ll determine I am joined with monarch (7)

    15    Big rigg as found in ebbing surf’s roar of Miami (7)

    16    I hesitate to follow old lines in dull comedy (8)

    19    Safari target rampaging like a shot, not quiet (7)

    22    Longer length of Caesar’s journey (6)

    25    Scholar taking top off in precious moment (5)

    26    Take a stab at Enigma: it breaks into productive parts (5)

    27    Lad away in the van soon, and very early (4)

    30    Admirable fellow depleting microbe’s resistance (3)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format giving the shaded cells,  to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8^th December 2022. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.

Crossword News October 2022

 Crossword News October 2022

The September Prize Puzzle was Postcard by Hedge-sparrow. This was a complicated puzzle which, in the end, gave a map of his holiday. Hedge-sparrow’s holiday venue is THE BROADS in Norfolk where he is ON A CRUISE (as confirmed by appropriate unscrambling of letters involved in clashes).  He is following a section of the RIVER BURE from WROXHAM / HOVETON via HORNING to RANWORTH (place names derived by unscrambling extra letter sequences in 4 clues), passing nine broads on the way: WROXHAM (W), HOVETON GREAT (H), SALHOUSE (S), DECOY (D), BLACK HORSE (B), BURNT FEN (B), COCKSHOOT (C), RANWORTH (R) and MALTHOUSE (M), confirmed by reference to a map of The Broads.  On the way, he spots three well-known local residents - a MARSH HARRIER, a SWALLOWTAIL, and a BITTERN.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Wow, what an ambitious, ingenious puzzle!  An astonishing feat to construct something like this.  I gulped when I saw the preamble, and almost gave up before even starting, but realised that if I could devise a methodical game plan, it just might be solvable.  And it was.  Filling the grid was a major (engrossing) challenge, with all the clashes and all the extra this and that.  Then came the hard part!  But with a bit of research, everything gradually fell into place - so satisfying.  Many thanks, Hedge-Sparrow!

What a puzzle! Looks like Hedge-sparrow must have had a lot of free time on his holiday to come up with this masterpiece!  Thankfully I was not on holiday (when I never have enough time) so could patiently unravel the mysteries contained herein and do some vicarious travelling.  Terrific clues and novel ways of presenting the game in this challenge.  However did need a lot of patience and time.  Many thanks.

Wow. That pretty much sums it up. I thought when reading the preamble, that it was going to be a busy solve. It absolutely was, but not in a bad way.  Extra letters, extra words, extra letter sequences, clashes, and anagrams all leading to a geographically accurate, coded map of the broads, including 4 of the cities, 9 of the broads and the river that runs through it all.

And sure, why not hide three of the native birds in there too.  Nothing was obvious before the grid was complete, and even then, there was still work to be done.  A superb effort, and one of my favourite reveals in a long time.  Many thanks for the challenge, and hats off for the execution of a challenging theme.

I stand in awe of anyone who can conceive, let alone execute, such a concept for a puzzle. A tour de force!

There were 40 entries, of which 5 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Julian Stradling, who will be receiving his prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary which is donated by Chambers.

There is a solution to Postcard at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2022/10/solution-to-postcard-by-hedge-sparrow.html

You still have lots of time to complete the October puzzle, Nemesis by Chalicea.

The November Prize Puzzle will be Big Bang Theory by Poat. Andrew Fisher (aka Poat, or aphis99 at the Times Crossword Club) is originally from Cheshire, but has been resident in Melbourne, Australia for the last twenty years. His published puzzles have been inspired by topics such as Tallis's Spem in Alium, Yeats and Achebe, the Christmas truce, Wodehouse and duck hunting, golden hares, Fawlty Towers, the 2002 Winter Olympics and the Penrose triangle. He is also a highly-ranked international Scrabble competitor, and was runner-up in the 2011 World Championship.

***
Tom Stevenson had just finished his GCSEs when he started watching Countdown “to pass the time”. He was suffering from agoraphobia and spent most of the post-exams summer indoors.

Five years later, he has broken the record for the show’s highest score with 154 points, two more than the previous highest score on the Channel 4 quiz, which was the first show broadcast on the channel when it launched in 1982.

It is a remarkable turnaround for Stevenson, who struggled during his A-levels, getting three Ds. In his GCSEs he scored a B in English and a C in Maths. He said part of the reason he wanted to go on the show was to “prove to myself I shouldn’t let the grades define my ability”. Describing the record-breaking moment, Stevenson said: “I’m genuinely not sure how I was able to stay so relaxed. I think the most nervous I got was when I felt my heart pounding before the conundrum.”

Here are the four nine-letter ones that Tom got right. BTEIMSORN, IAMRENLIN, TGOIRVSEH, and UNLETOVER the conundrum that he solved in 3 seconds.)

In the next show, Tom went on to win another record.

Tom Stevenson, 21, broke more records for the Channel 4 quiz show last night, after already taking the title for highest score in a single episode last week. He is now an “octochamp”, the show’s term for a contestant who wins all of their heat games, and one of only a handful of players to have obtained 1,000 points in the process.

After he hit the buzzer with the correct answer in the final conundrum, the host Colin Murray cheered. “One thousand points exactly and the first Countdown contestant ever to not lose a single round — Tom Stevenson, absolutely sensational,” Murray said. “And the coolest customer the whole way through, amazing.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/countdown-prodigy-hits-record-eight-wins-without-losing-a-round-gr6z8vlss
***
Once again, John Henderson is organising the legendary York S & B on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 October. He needs to know who is going so that he can order the meals. You can get more information and check in at this link.
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2022/10/04/sb-york-2022-friday-28th-saturday-29th-october-2022-important-update/
***
The Azed Slip continues to be published on the Crossword Centre. The latest one is for the clues to RIBALD. Richard Heald was the winner with this reference to the news of the month.

Queen in Balmoral departs, a symbol of history gone, leaving us blue (R i’ Bal(moral) d).

http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html
***
In the Sunday Times it was announced that Don Manley will be publishing his final Mephisto crossword at the end of the year. It will be his 200^th Mephisto since he began 11 years ago. Solvers will get a taste of the setters who will be taking over, Robert Teuton, a regular winner of clue-writing competitions and manager of our own, and John Grimshaw, former Listener setter and, as far as I know, the brains behind the Ninas in the Times concise crosswords. They will join the team of Tim Moorey and Paul McKenna.
***
On our clue-writing competition the results for CURIOSITY are in. Don Manley won with this beautiful &lit clue.

Is it your cat’s principal undoing?

The October competition is for a clue to HOOVER.
http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php
***
When the Cracking the Cryptic team of Mark Goodliffe and Simon Anthony published a book of Sudoku puzzles in 2020, it was a huge success, selling over 10,000 copies. Now they are back with a second book, Greatest Hits volume 2, and you can order a copy by funding its publication.
***
John Tozer is now in a rehab hospital and is in very good hands. This is great news although John still has a long road to recovery and it is going to be some time before he can get back to running his wonderful andlit website. Both John and his wife Jane are concerned about the future of the andlit website and Jane is wondering whether anyone with time available and the necessary skills could take over the running of the site for the (hopefully shortish) time that John remains out of action.  If you have any suggestions as to a way forward please get back to me.
http://www.andlit.org.uk/azed/slip_search.php
***
And finally, when Daniel Larson was 13 he became the youngest setter of a New York Times crossword. A few years later he went on to solve a complex number theory. Read about it here - https://www.quantamagazine.org/teenager-solves-stubborn-riddle-about-prime-number-look-alikes-20221013/

Best wishes
Derek

 

Solution to Postcard by Hedge-sparrow

 Postcard - Solution

                    Location  THE BROADS            Activity  ON A CRUISE

Hedge-sparrow’s holiday venue is THE BROADS in Norfolk where he is ON A CRUISE (as confirmed by appropriate unscrambling of letters involved in clashes).  He is following a section of the RIVER BURE from WROXHAM / HOVETON via HORNING to RANWORTH (place names derived by unscrambling extra letter sequences in 4 clues), passing nine broads on the way: WROXHAM (W), HOVETON GREAT (H), SALHOUSE (S), DECOY (D), BLACK HORSE (B), BURNT FEN (B), COCKSHOOT (C), RANWORTH (R) and MALTHOUSE (M), confirmed by reference to a map of The Broads.  On the way, he spots three well-known local residents - a MARSH HARRIER, a SWALLOWTAIL, and a BITTERN.

Four clues include extra letter jumbles, each of which can be arranged to give the name of a town: MAX WHO R = WROXHAM; R NIGH ON = HORNING; HOT OVEN = HOVETON; WAR HORN T = RANWORTH.  Solvers are required to ring each town’s initial in the corresponding entry to indicate their positions on the postcard map.

Extra letters removed from 35 clues (all those clues not yielding either town names or clashing entries) give the message SHUFFLE EXTRAS FROM CLUE PAIRS THAT CLASH: the nine pairs of across and down clues leading to clashes contain extra words which must be “shuffled” to form the name of a feature – a broad.  For each of these, solvers are required to enter the first initial of the name in the clash cell in each case.

Also shown in the postcard are the course of the River Bure (23 contiguous cells appearing as RIVER BURE RIVER BURE RIVER), and the names of the three local residents.  Hedge-sparrow hopes that at least a few solvers took the opportunity to emulate the beauty of The Broads through appropriate colouring of their postcard.

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle October 2022

 Nemesis by Chalicea

PDF version

A rather cocky little fellow who appears in the first row of the grid speaks the words that circle the remainder of the perimeter. He tempts a number of characters who appear as entries in the grid. Solvers must highlight his nemesis.

Across

9 Will's equally conforming to law with Latin dropped at the start (6)

10 Drink beer regularly - excellent! (5)

11 Turned over germ cell, beginning of meal for bee-eater genus (6)

12 In Reunion, white ordinary soldier primarily treats military uniform (7)

13 Draught animal to weed round edges of rows (5)

14 Ingredient of varnish that is put back around spacecraft (5)

15 King accepted wine essentially: tribute in the past (4)

17 Conclusion of hostilities' constant peace following rage (9)

19 In Holyrood push Ethiopia's money (4)

22 Registers US resorts (not Cuba) (6)

24 Is my halo slipping ignoring start of your jokey way of describing addiction? (7)

25 Dilapidated almond shrub of wormwood genus (6, two words)

27 Subdue spirit of Perth's rather objectionable person (3)

28 Talk of queen, say, going round hospital (4)

29 Pale greenish part of shrubbery leaves (5)

30 Provide with equipment, also almost completely draw back (6, two words)

33 Nice friends to be objected to endlessly (4)

34 Some cynic advertised a rechargeable battery (5)

36 In Perth strips from time to time at library - ultimately shameless! (5)

37 Maybe sow potatoes in garden for starters (3)

38 Persistently follow mean scoundrel (3)

39 Wellington's soup of shellfish, cooked hare too (7)

Down

1 Brand of clingfilm used up wrapping Rand fruit (6)

2 Superficial appearance of German defeat (5)

3 Records elevated church tower losing time (6)

4 Binomial ABC I sorted out for book-lover (12)

5 Sovereign found in child's schoolbag? (5)

6 Critical study of former associate workers (6)

7 Briefly submerge amphibious vehicle (4)

8 Deities arise in tumult (5)

10 Curiously listen absorbing essentially merry snicker in Glamis (7)

16 Get discussion going about elevated river valley (3)

18 Angle to strengthen with an iron plate (4)

20 Shoe, we're told, fashionable sure-winner in Kentucky Derby (6))

21 Wife, might be one who swallowed a fly (7, two words)

22 Wrong pursuing former partner to obtain by coercion (6)

23 Salt coating in good, oddly edible Chinese tuber (7)

26 Covers spread around (6)

29 In Glasgow we polish up local job centre (5)

31 Japanese food you'd only sample (4)

32 Pale when hot and extremely dry (4)

35 Not completely acceptable to speak fondly (3)

To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format giving the shaded nemesis,  to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8^th November 2022. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.

Crossword News September 2022

Crossword News September 2022

The August Prize Puzzle was Side by Side by eXternal. This was published at the time that the last episode of the Australian soap, Neighbours, was aired.

Letters omitted in wordplay give KYLIE MINOGUE (leftmost letters) and JASON DONOVAN (rightmost letters) reading down the grid; letter pairs deleted from clues give ESPECIALLY FOR YOU, a song by the pair; AUSTRALIAN is changed to NEIGHBOURS, the programme in which the pair starred.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Being a regular Listener Crossword solver, I’ve learned not to panic when faced with a somewhat impenetrable preamble. Indeed, the theme unexpectedly fell after just ten clues solved in the top left of the grid, as the names were recognisable from the first few letters. After this disappointment, however, there was so much more to winkle out of this puzzle. I guessed the first title from a single pair, then was able to weed this out of the down clues to accelerate the finish.  I’m left with awe at the quality of eXternal’s clues. Despite all the complex treatments, every one was not only scrupulously fair, but had an excellent surface reading. A great achievement - many thanks!

Another illusion bites the dust.  I have always thought crossword setters to be a little on the high-brow side and certainly not watchers of Australian soap operas.  This was a good puzzle with some unusual words and at first, I had little idea of the theme.  However, AUSTRALIAN, in the only row without letters missing from the wordplay, was a generous and welcome hint.  It was very clever how the substitution of NEIGHBOURS made new words. It was most enjoyable, as the offerings from eXternal always are.  Thank you.

I consider myself to be a big fan of low-brow themes, and they don't get much lower than this! I'm sure Kylie and Jason would be delighted by the puzzle, and how thoughtful of them to have names of the same length.  Solving was a pleasure - nothing was absurdly difficult, and all the surfaces made good sense, which is always a big plus (I enjoyed 'Tory place above joint oddly overlooked by tax officer' and 'Rancid ragged undies not completely destroyed' in particular, both cleverly hiding their double letters). Thanks eXternal.

There were 49 entries, of which only 2 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat, was Geoff Telfer from Shipley. Geoff will soon receive his prize of Chambers Crossword Dictionary donated by the publishers.

There is a solution and notes available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2022/09/solution-to-side-by-side-by-external.html 

There is still time to solve our September challenge, Postcard from Hedge-sparrow.

The October Prize Puzzle will be Nemesis by Chalicea.

***
I was saddened to learn of the death of Peter Cargill. He was a long-standing crossword solver, a regular in our monthly puzzles and a clue-writer in the Azed competitions. He was my friend on FaceBook and I always enjoyed his photos of family gatherings, his latest on the recent Father’s Day. Peter passed away after a short bout of pneumonia at the age of 86. He will be sadly missed.

***
Five years ago, Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe started making an occasional sudoku video on Cracking The Cryptic.  At the end of August, they ticked over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. This is a remarkable success. You can view the amazing statistics here - https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/crackingthecryptic

***
The Azed Slip continues to be published on the Crossword Centre. The latest one is for the clues to HECATOMB. Tim Moorey won with this lovely clue.

Bach motet endlessly remixed is what pleased the gods but emptied the stalls? (anag. less t).

You can also see the Annual Honours list for 2021 – 22. Don Manley is the winner, closely followed by Richard Heald. http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html

***
On FaceBook, Roger Phillips explained why the publication of Mira’s Listener crossword, Bleak Expectations, was delayed.

“The Listener crossword scheduled for the week when Sean Connery died ,was based on Connery's Goldfinger laser scene and included the line "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die". I had to edit a replacement puzzle very quickly.

I decided to reschedule the Goldfinger one to coincide with the release of No Time to Die, which turned out to be difficult because they kept changing the date (because of Covid).”

***
In the Times Puzzles newsletter, Mick Hodgkin considered the relationship between jokes and puzzles, rewriting five of the top ten jokes of the Fringe as cryptic clues:

1. Italian nosh got by that woman, some might say (5)

2. Amazon's promise of an imminent end to child labour? (4-3, 8)

3. Effect of nitrous oxide with Oxo cubes the object of mockery (8,5)

7. Courier brought meal for former partner (3-2)

8. Parlous lifestyle of those lacking cutlery? (4-2-5)

I thought these were brilliant clues. If you didn’t see the top ten jokes from Edinburgh, you can check them here. https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/edinburgh-festivals/the-top-ten-funniest-jokes-of-the-edinburgh-fringe-2022-3814340

***
Paul Pridmore has written to tell me about these early crossword books.

“This summer the world's first three Simon & Schuster crossword books from 1924 have silently appeared on Project Gutenberg.

My usual search for "crossword", always fruitless, now shows:
The cross word puzzle book
The cross word puzzle book: Second series
The cross word puzzle book: Third series

The third includes a summary of sales figures by the happy publishers for their publications of the series - all in 1924:
Total Third Series To-date     65,000 copies
Total Second Series To-date  135,000 copies
Total First Series To-date       148,200 copies
TOTAL TO-DATE     348,200 copies”

***
Anyone looking for a useful list of abbreviations to use in writing clues or solving them could take a look at this section of the Unscramblerer site.

https://www.unscramblerer.com/crossword-abbreviations/

***
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth, crossword editors are checking to make sure that ER referring to the Queen does not appear in the clues. Setters who have a puzzle in our pipe-line should also check.

Best wishes
Derek

SOLUTION to Side by Side by eXternal

 Side by Side by eXternal - SOLUTION

Letters omitted in wordplay give KYLIE MINOGUE (leftmost letters) and JASON DONOVAN (rightmost letters) reading down the grid; letter pairs deleted from clues give ESPECIALLY FOR YOU, a song by the pair; AUSTRALIAN is changed to NEIGHBOURS, the programme in which the pair starred and which will have its final episode aired in August.

Letters are highlighted for reference.

Across

1 Female slave is following old boy around (7) O,LAD<,IS with K omitted

6 Pierre’s article on middle of your work unit (5) OU,LE with J omitted

10 Like thread of fiction involving knight (5) LI(N)E with Y omitted

11 Unknown one returned claw of prehistoric times (7) Z,I,NAIL< with A omitted

12 A love for indigo (4) A,NIL

13 Errant first daughter lives aimlessly (6) (FIRST,D)*

14 Once determined when well directed (8) AS,SO,LED with I omitted

16 River swimmer systematically crosses (6) hidden swimMER Systematically with E omitted

18 Express contempt about vacuous EastEnders retrospective (5) RE,ES< with N omitted

19 Islander at urinal’s a drunk (10) ATURINALSA*

21 Peers in Ayrshire pigpens (6) STIES with M omitted

23 That’s foul, rear of obscene yokel’s itched (6) YUCK,E with D omitted

25 Trump and English rogue not related (10) TRUMPANDE* with I omitted

27 Cockney has confidence and begins (5) ‘OPES with N omitted

28 Revolutionary is turning more malicious (6) RED,IS< with N omitted

31 Opposing another player alone, no netballer 

tackles (8) hidden alONE NO NEtballer with O omitted

33 Forming into circle, soldiers stand in wine cellar (6) OR,BIN with G omitted

34 A guide regularly used for Swiss canton (4) AgUiDe with V omitted

35 Strange item on Canadian rider (7) ITEMON* with U omitted

36 No longer adjudge money not British (5) BREAD-B with A omitted

37 Heartless wombat took apart caterpillar (5) WOAT* with E omitted

38 An earl too diminished becomes tougher (7) AN,E,ALS{o} with N omitted

Down

1 Band of light encircling head of most elevated learned man (6) H(M)ALO< with L omitted

2 Deserted, is swallow to move from perch? (7) D,IS,EAT with S omitted

3 Guests in land wash collections of possessions (4) {l}AN{d} {w}AS{h} with ES extra

4 Transparent material covering over fabrics (5) LEN(O)S

5 Tricky to hide large excursion (5) S(L)LY with A omitted

6 Rodent removing wings of feathered beasts (4) {b}IRD{s} with J omitted

7 Month encasing this mixture would make pillar (4) MONTH around OLI would make MONOLITH with O omitted

8 Behold! Thug’s leaped on layer made of wooden strips (6) LA,T,HEN with PE extra

9 Base carer raising son is guaranteed (7) E,NURSE with S raised with D omitted

13 Long-forgotten disorder in Midlands city that’s had fourth upgrade? (5) DERBY with B becoming A

15 Reached highest point looking sickly (6) double def

17 Rancid ragged undies not completely destroyed (6) R,UNDIE{s}* with CI extra

18 Slight luminance on Alsatian coats (4) S(L)UR

20 Lifted special metal sieve (4) S,MET< with AL extra

21 Costly clumsily crossing old mother’s blind spot (7) COST* around O,MA with LY extra

22 Stretch ancient clasp (5) SPAN with G omitted

24 Study dissecting slow climbing of sloths, maybe (7) DEN in LATE<

25 Mature women supporting forum group (6) GROUP*,W with FO extra

26 Studies mountain nymphs (6) READS with O omitted

28 Number of close encounters (5) hidden cloSE ENcounters with V omitted

29 That is interrupted by upcoming race season (5) I(RUN<)E

30 Lubricant’s cool temperature (4) IN,T with O omitted

31 Tory place above joint oddly overlooked by tax officer (4) jOiNt,TO with RY extra

32 Ancient buildings erode, appearing hideous (4) hidden erODE Appearing with OU extra

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle September 2022

 Postcard from Hedge-sparrow

 Whilst on holiday, Hedge-sparrow has sent a postcard to Crossword Centre solvers showing several features of interest of four different types – A, B, C and D.  Each clue includes either: (i) an extra consecutive letter sequence, always extending over more than one word (4 clues); (ii) an extra single letter (35 clues); (iii) an extra single word (18 clues).  All “extras” must be removed before solving.  In the final grid, no cell contains more than one letter.
A: Unscrambling the extra consecutive letter sequences gives four thematic names.  In the final grid, the initial letter of each of these names must be circled where it occurs in the corresponding entry.
B: These features are located in nine cells where crossing entries clash.  In clue order, extra single letters from 35 clues indicate how to derive these features’ names, whose (first) initial must be inserted as the contents of the corresponding clash cell.
C: A thematic feature, starting at cell 14, comprising 23 contiguous cells (5 words, including repeats).
D: Three further thematic names (30 cells in total).

The pairs of letters discarded from clash cells are to be separated (on a clash-by-clash basis) into two groups.  Unscrambling these groups gives (i) the name of Hedge-sparrow’s holiday location (two words), and (ii) what he’s up to (three words), both of which must be written below the grid.
In the entry grid, only cells forming part of the thematic features A, B, C and D are to be filled (63 cells in total), all others being left blank.  Solvers are encouraged to beautify their postcard with colour as they deem appropriate.  A map might prove helpful.   

Location ..........................................   Activity .............................

PDF version

Across

1 Lacking inclination, Sian’s undressed at private hospital (7)

9 Instrument converting bit of sludge into tritium in Brent reservoir (7)

14 Female feeding king his slice of ham hock? (7)

15 Ruing getting caught in informer’s snare (5)

16 I face team checks in plant (4)

17 Unorthodox view for Max who raged “Get a spouse” (4)

18 Flash from flickering light displaying name for hospital block (5)

19 Quiet rambler nigh on made confession (6)

20 Feast for saints in hell to atone for the past (4)

21 Hero’s initial repugnance after lion escapes keepers (6)

22 Tragic overture not finished – use organ (6)

25 How American swimmer emits power in secret rite (4)

27 Owing Ed money, hide rent surreptitiously (8, three words)

29 Turning pale, son dresses for fishing (4)

30 In New Year, gathering breed of dairy cattle together (8)

33 Split entrance to dorms IV and XI (4)

34 Certainty over becoming blued, essentially, in paint (8)

37 Crape cut from stretchy fabric for stars (4)

38 Louse translating an East Ghanaian language (6)

39 Reveal all to impress guards (6)

42 Send gold removed from cutter (4)

44 Fat infused with seasoning rejected in the end (6, two words)

45 Shock demolishes institute in course heading South (5)

46 Single black thorn, nothing further to the left (4)

47 Lacking pedal, Rover and Ford being stripped (4)

48 Cars court has not sequestered from traders (5)

49 Spotted second mouse tucking into ground grain (7)

50 Camp causes injury to scrub wallabies (7)

51 Old-fashioned French stockade cutting off British Celts, originally (7)

 Down
2 Long pipes from hot oven heated hobs quick, no question (8)
3 Feel Victor needs to get into line (4)
4 In Scotland, buy up hotel close to Dunbar? (4)
5 Island estate surrounding loch – it’s in the Hebrides (5)
6 Cursorily purge knife (4)
7 Coy champion losing weight - the bit around the middle (5)
8 Share cycling tour in outskirts of French quarter (6)
9 Sticks used in game: bit of harmless fun from a bygone age, in short (4)
10 Trouble arises over university publisher (6)
11 Island base covered by taxi (5)
12 Introductory parts of discourse initially rejected by radio broadcast (7)
13 In retirement, slowly save money?  Certainly not on Mull (3)
14 Country’s rod of authority captured in mounted art (6)
23 Agreement to doff hat for threepence (4)
24 One revealing war horn tends to unman evil rampaging monarch (8)
25 Groucho Marx ultimately smothered with balsam playing Biblical character (7)
26 Secured by a belt, fool crosses River Avon (4)
28 Halt carouser’s terrible slurring when skinned (6)
31 Last year, ash trees flourished (6)
32 Haunt burning church (6)
35 Take e.g. trifle from one local branch (5)
36 Scot appearing after sun’s half-melted snow (5)
37 One trapped in liner following evacuation, possibly anchorless (5)
39 Contests will and arising settlements to begin with (4)
40 Codeword for opening of slushy e-mail (encrypted without header) (4)
41 Alter ship’s course to pass coot (4)
43 Having power enough, curtail bleak war (4)
44 Inclined, winding path (3)

 To enter this competition, send your entry as an image or in list format giving the final entries, plus the location and activity to ccpuzzles@talktalk.net before 8^th October 2022. The first correct entry drawn from the hat will receive a book from the Chambers range, which has been donated by Chambers.