EV 1025 13 Down by Kcit

[dr b]

Fun puzzle. Very clever to find 5 pairs of words that provide the thematic material in such an appropriate way. Huzzah for Kcit!

Heading towards 102 today, so it's cooling off some ;(

Still no rain in sight. Following on from last week's thread, it would take 15 hours in a car to get from St Louis to Colorado, so I think we're pretty safe from the wildfires out west. (Also, there's nothing to burn between here and Kansas's western border.) Is DocHH back this week?

[DocHH]

Hell dr b,
Yes I'm back, arrived home on thursday! Struggled at first with this EV, despite the thematic material, I wondered at first if it was due to missing the last 2 EVs and being out of practice. Quite a few words new to me, but they were fairly clued cryptically.

[novalis]

Glad there's no real threat to you Dr. B. and welcome home Doc HH. Hope you enjoyed your holiday. Have broken the back of this but still haven't got the first and ninth of the alphabetically listed answers and I am still looking for what needs to be highlighted. Going back to it now.

[devadolly]

Welcome back DocHH..good hols?
Not begun yet, fruit, fruit, fruit..........................Christina will know.
Will get on with it forthwith, sounds difficult if you are taking time novalis.

[DocHH]

Hello Novalis and devadolly, the holiday was really relaxing, but then so is the rest of my life! We have a loyalty card for the Hotel chain which again resulted in a room upgrade, which always helps. The Cape Verde catchwords are "No Stress", fine while we were there, but on the return journey it took nearly 3 hours of queuing from arrival at the airport to get through all the multifarious security checks, passport controls, emigration and "extra in-queue" passport checks, before arriving at the departure lounge! It really didn't help that they had 2 body scanners, one of which was broken and had been for 2 months, and they were trying to process 4 plane-loads of travellers, each plane holding over 250 people. The 4 planes were departing within a 2 hour slot!
I found this EV quite difficult, only a few gifts on the first pass through the clues. but once the thematic material is found it will all fall into place.

[novalis]

Now have the grid complete ( I want shooting for puzzling over the last two clues ) but still cannot come close to identifying let alone finding the second group of thematic elements. Any hints would be more than welcome.

[Twit-Who]

I am the same position as Novalis. The grid fill was a challenge but I managed it in good time however after much staring at it the old penny stubbornly refuses to drop. Perhaps I'll have better luck today with a fresh mind. Hard to see the fun as yet.

[kayakamina]

Hi all.

An enjoyable puzzle and very cleverly constructed.
I found that the best advice was to reverse the two elements in 13d, or better still, remove it altogether, before you motor to completion.

[haggis58]

K - reverse the two elements?

[kayakamina]

I didn't explain myself very well.

Not literally reverse the two but LOCK the booze , or even better, 'remove'
it and you can then drive!
I hope this is not too obtuse but I'm anxious not to give too much away.
K

[kayakamina]

Hi again haggis.

I can email you should you wish? I think your address is on the Spectator thread.

K

[novalis]

Hi Kayakamina!
Many thanks for your hint but I am afraid I am still not seeing it at all. I have the five thematic elements removed from the compound non-words and have tried reading in all directions but I am afraid the second group of thematic elements are proving elusive. I think I have more chance of seeing pink elephants.

[kayakamina]

Hi Novalis

Having removed the 5 thematic elements from the non-words take note of the consecutive run of letters in the non-words. They are all 4 letters & of a kind.

K

[Spreadman]

There is another possible thematic word in 13d which although is not the same as the either of the thematic elements, is sort of relevant. Anyone think it should be highlighted?

[devadolly]

I am much more confused than any of you, am finding the grid hard work but as to the thematic elements?????? Should I be concentrating on the word element? Or is that too elementary ........... ?

[Spreadman]

Kayakamina, do yo think that the second element youmentioned could be LACK

[Spreadman]

Hi Devadolly.
Nothing to do with elements.
Think of something we are often warned about.

[devadolly]

Thank you for trying to help spreadman, I fear that there is so much I have been (and am still being) warned about, that does not narrow the field! Indeed, any field!!!

[Spreadman]

Hi Devadolly.
Without giving too much away, the warning tends to be prevalent at Christmas.

[kayakamina]

Spreadman

I think my LOCK is correct as the entire word is a device to stop you - as you said, particularly at Xmas.

[novalis]

Many thanks Kayakamina. Have got it now.