Ev 1233

[Neveracrossword]

3 D. Check gate no. 99 periodically for trucks (6) chor??

20 A. Surgeon without backing covers last of slime mould (7) h?e???el

NB. The wordplay in some clues leads to the entry minus one letter. I don't know if the clues above are involved.

[hankir]

sorry. Towards = at and Ridge = as.

[Neveracrossword]

Thanks very much.

[saladdodger]

still don't see 23a ... where does "skipping" come into the wordplay
and how does 24d parse please?

Hankir - i have a vague idea of the theme.... i saw the instigator in the grid near the top, also the "starting place" nearby and using the 13 missing letters (I don't have them all.... missing 2.... but do have the second word of 6) I can see the 6 letters to be moved.... then I am stuck...

[saladdodger]

...and in 21a (answer must be SKIN)...why is S=bishop?

[qwerty99]

Saladdodger, S does not stand for bishop. "Man next to King" =bishop (chess). It is short (kin). The S is the letter missing from the wordplay.

[qwerty99]

High priest = Aaron. On (towards) is skipped. S is missing from wordplay.

[hankir]

Thanks qwerty99 for setting me straight.
As = Asar = ridge.
so 24D is Sensor. No parsing yet.
I was wrong about bishop.

I do not see the instigator yet, but will try later.
9 out of 13 missing letters so far.

[saladdodger]

querty99 - thank you for those informative explanations

[saladdodger]

sorry qWerty99!

[qwerty99]

Re 24d: without = sen; service (tree) = sorb. Minus b (bit-rates at first.

[saladdodger]

I have all 13 letters now ... my initial ideas confirmed... but not sure how to proceed now...?

[qwerty99]

Find the Red Sea and PART it! Then do what Moses did....

[saladdodger]

Thanks qwerty99 - seen all that already but not sure what to do after I've removed the red sea.... will have another look later.

[saladdodger]

Ah - yes - i see it now - i was only looking at I????L not the rest of the word too.Sorted!

[hankir]

SD:
I can see moving the water part but then I am at a loss on what to do.
Elaborate on your last post please.

[Neveracrossword]

Hankir, the water was parted for a reason - to let the (contiguous block) get to.... You move the block so that it/they are safely on the other side.

[professorplum13]

I have the 16 removed letters - where do they go? .... 6 adj letters are moved to the side?? the other 10 ? Just remove them or place them somewhere else?

[professorplum13]

possibly put the red on top of the u and the sea on top of the n ?

[Neveracrossword]

Professorplum, the letters all stay in the grid - in new locations. The finished result represents what happened. You mentioned the 6 adj letters going to 'the side' - it's 'sides' as in the preamble.(Doing this helped me see things more clearly).

[professorplum13]

Thanks Neveracrossword ... I see what you mean now....didn't realise that the 16 had to replace, but it makes sense now and I do have real words in the transformed grid.