Spectator 2403

[pomona]

there may be a surplus word in the clue:
37a US novelist displays synthetic sheep's head (5) J??ES ........... looks like James ??

3d No place for paddling piscivore (5) ...........otter?

Where is the defn for the unclued 27a and 1d.
Thanks for any help

[scorpiojo]

Potter = paddle (trifle) minus p(lace)

[pomona]

Thanks scorpiojo ... thought it must be that ...but the ending ...paddLING confused me.

[ProfessorMaisie]

27a - in 37a
1d - in 42a

[ProfessorMaisie]

I'm struggling to confirm the wordlay for 37a in Chambers but I think JAM might be 'displays' and 'ES' the 'sheep's head' (as in 'es' = S).

[scorpiojo]

James n same as jemmy1- a baked sheep's head

[ProfessorMaisie]

The wordplay in 3d is pl(ace) taken from (pl)OTTER ('plotter' is a variant spelling of 'plouter', 'paddling or dabbling').

[ProfessorMaisie]

Thanks for the correction scorpiojo - it all makes sense now.

[pomona]

Thank you ProfessorMaisie

[scorpiojo]

And thank you :-)

[saladdodger]

My 6 pairs of 2nd and 4th letters from the 6 unclued with defintions as extra words don't seem to make a word/phrase?

[ProfessorMaisie]

They are complete abbreviations.

[saladdodger]

Thank you. So the other 2 unclued together make new E?????D

Not quite used to Pabulum yet and his way of setting....

[ProfessorMaisie]

Yes saladdodger (and yes, pabulum is tricky - lots of obscure definitions!).

[Helveticus]

Arcane words as lights (e. g. 8D) and extremely subtle cryptic cluing (e. g. 10A) make Pabulum's puzzles *far* tougher than, say, Doc's. After a struggle, I think I have got everything, but I am not sure about 7D. Is "Vatican City" an example of the light, and if so, can anyone say how the first half of the clue works?

[Neveracrossword]

Helveticus, the first part of the answer to 7D is much favoured by setters! It's in Chambers. Yes, the Vatican City is an example of the clue answer.

[saladdodger]

EN is the nut bit + CLAVE archaic stuck ?