Spectator 1834

[Aquagility]

Spurred on by K and Cr, I thought I would give this a go. I have solved 20 clues, but I still have not the slightest idea what I am supposed to be doing! Could one of you please translate the instructions (in italics at the top) into words which I can understand?
Or should I creep quietly back to the soothing arms of the DT?

[kayakamina]

Hi AQ glad you are giving it a go.

The unclued ones all contain the letters of a 9 letter word in the grid. There are also three solutions that are clued and are also made up of letters from the same word.

Hope that is a bit clearer

Good luck K

[kayakamina]

Aq a further hint for you. The clued lights without definition that contain common letters from the master word are
5a , 20a and 42a.

As a first timer you would not be aware of the importance of the title given to each week's crossword!

Regards K

[Aquagility]

Thanks, K. A bit clearer. I had the idea that all the unclued words had some association with each other.
Now seen your second post - I had assumed that 1834 was just the serial nomber of this puzzle!
So here we go again.

[kayakamina]

Aq This is the first time that the crossword has been headed with the name of the Magazine. Ignore the number .

[Aquagility]

OK, great. This is as good as a 1 to1 tutorial!

[rabet]

Clue for 41ac. Anyone see something wrong with this?

[Aquagility]

I have used an anagram of 'on the pier', but I need another T. Anyone agree?

[rabet]

Aq, the "t" is a shortened form of "it" (see Chambers).

What I meant was that the definition seems wrong.

[Aquagility]

Yes, I would not have thought of it as bad, in fact rather good! Was that your view?

[sarumite]

That also caused me to question the wording rabet .. as I didn't relate the answer to the description in first part of clue!

[rabet]

I think it's a mistake. Who dares to e-mail Doc and enquire?

[Aquagility]

I think I'm still missing something here. K refers to the importance of the title. The only heading on my (downloaded) copy is 1834: The Spectator crossword.

[kayakamina]

I emailed Doc a few weeks back about him including Irish Whisky in the week's theme of 'Elevenses' and got a very nice amusing reply.

[rabet]

The title here is "The Spectator Crossword". 1834 is simply the number in the series. If you look at the solution at the bottom you will see that it is for no. 1831, i.e. 3 weeks ago, and the title on that occasion was"Qui est-ce".

[rabet]

K, shouldn't that be Irish Whiskey with an "e"? Was that your query?

[kayakamina]

Aq Spectator is the 'magic' word and contains all the components of the unclued lights and the three undefined ones. Most weeks the title (see my post above about one headed Elevenses) is an indicator of the theme.

All will become clear but don't expect future puzzles to be as straightforward as this one.

[Aquagility]

Thanks, rabet. I see that the unclued 'lights' that week were all associated, so I take it that is part of the ploy.

[kayakamina]

Hi rabet. My spelling was incorrect above.

I queried whiskey because all the other theme words were tea ,coffee , latte, espresso, etc etc. but as Tom Johnson (Doc) told me 'to each his own'!

[cruciverbali]

The Spectator always has the same 14x14 barred format, and invariably has a group of unclued entries with a common theme (hence the larger format to allow their inclusion). The theme is usually more interesting that this week's example !

Regarding the 'three-point landing', I'm not sure why it should be particularly 'bad' compared to others - it is apparently easier to learn but not as good in windy conditions. Anyway, here is an example.

C

[rabet]

I have always believed that it was a very good landing, and indeed Chambers defines it as a "perfect landing". Therefore I think the clue is simply wrong.