Inquisitor 1253

[Indy-trier]

I'm frustratingly close to solving this one. I have the position of the missing person but am still stuck on 31A and 28D! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Neveracrossword]

I've no longer got the paper, but I did get this finished - eventually. Maybe the clues or the letters you have would remind me.

[Ripper]

Hi Indy-trier
You're doing better than me!
But, 31 across is an old word for scratches, when you 'insert' the extra letter (A) it becomes a beetle (Egyptian)
28 down is a river in Spain
Any clues on the position of the missing person would be appreciated!

[Neveracrossword]

Re the position of the missing person - it's diagonally. There's a clue in the wording of your sentence 'Any clues...' and in the first sentence of my reply. Hope this helps.

[Ripper]

Thanks Neveracrossword, I've already got the diagonal except for the middle letter and unless it's completely wrong it's not helping me!
I feel I'm being thick as usual!
Any other help would be very gratefully received!

[Neveracrossword]

The 12 letters in the diagonal definitely spell out a position - and that's what was missing. It took me a while to realise that I wasn't trying to track down a name, an actual person.
Did you collate all the letters from the 14 clues?

[Ripper]

Hi Neveracrossword I've got 12 extra letters in the across clues which I've got in the diagonal, apart from the centre letter which I think is the start to 27 across. Then I've also got 6 extra letters in the down clues, so I seem to have more than the 14, although I've checked and they all appear to be correct.
I'm being very dim I think!

[Neveracrossword]

I think there were two separate things - a 12-letter diagonal which is the 'missing...' referred to in the preamble.Your diagonal should begin with 't' and end with 'r'.
There are also 14 extra letters in some answers - these spell out the name of an author.

[Neveracrossword]

I should have said - the diagonal is formed by extra letters being added to some answers. This wasn't mentioned - I think we were supposed to realise that ourselves.

[Ripper]

Without giving too much away, am I correct that the first five letters of the diagonal are a number?

[Neveracrossword]

Yes - and the second half is a measurement.

[Ripper]

Trouble is I've got it starting with an 'R'
20 across Short robe necessary in Samoa TALA(R)
and I can't get any measurement starting with that and the other letters I've got (or any word for that matter!)

[Neveracrossword]

I think it ended up as Talaq - the 'q' being an extra. I haven't got the paper so I hope I'm remembering this right! If I am, the 'q' should really help you finish off the diagonal.

[Ripper]

Thanks neveracrossword that'll give me something to 'go' at.
Got to go out now but will resume tomorrow!
Thanks again for all your help

[Neveracrossword]

Glad I was of some help - I didn't think you'd want me to just give you the answer, seeing as you'd battled your way through this!

[Indy-trier]

Thanks for your help Ripper. Sorry I couldn't respond with help for you but my WiFi went down! I had solved everything else but had totally misled myself about 31A for some daft reason!
Neveracrossword - those 14 letters don't spell the name of the author but rather a cryptic version of the main character of the series. The title of this series is "elementary" when you read those letters in a certain direction!

[Neveracrossword]

Indy-trier - sorry I boobed with saying the 14 letters were an author, I actually meant 'character'.