Guardian Genius 261

[Unicorn5]

Preamble: Ten clues contain neither wordplay nor definition; each has a sequence of letters that can be arranged to form its entry, a thematic item. Wordplay in eight further clues each omits a different letter; these can be aranged to give the recipients of the items. The remaining clues are normal.

I have worked out all the thematic items (I think) and the recipients, but I can't fathom the following.

15A A country without university - it looks like PERU without the U, ie. PER but I don't understand why!

21A Greek character had to retreat - BETA? or HERA?, but, again, why?

Also 1D and 20D appeared to be one of the "eight further clues omitting a letter", but I have "T" and "R" respectively and these don't work with the "recipients". Also, I don't know which clue contains the extra "E".

Any help appreciated. Thank you.

[JJ109]

21 Beta - The B is an extra letter, leaving eta which is ate (had,reversed)

[roslyn251254]

15a per .... synonym for each / a

[roslyn251254]

3d has the extra "e"....by (times)

[JJ109]

per ("a" is the definition) = The country Peru without U 

[JJ109]

1 & 20d don't have extra letters - Roslyn hasgiven you 3d = E, which other letter are you short of?

[roslyn251254]

1d and 20d are normal clues....

No T or R in the "8" letters....

[Unicorn5]

Thanks everyone. JJ109, it was only the E that I was short of. The extra letters I now have are as follows:

9A - M

21A - B (thanks to JJ109)

25A - L

28A - U

1D - T?

3D - E (thanks to Roslyn)

5D - I

12D - J

20D - R?

23D - B

29D - S.

But that makes eleven and there should only be eight! And now I have two Bs and the R and the T are wrong, I think.

Thank you all.

[JJ109]

23d doesn't have an extra B - it is an anagram of habit and k(ing)

20d Gr = greece, reversed = rg, so no extra letter

1d doesn't have an extra letter,but I don't like the way I have parsed it as it uses "lot" twice!

So you should be left with MBLUEIJS

[Unicorn5]

Thanks both. All done now. My lost question crossed with your answers, I think.

[Unicorn5]

Thanks both. All done now. My lost question crossed with your answers, I think.

[JJ109]

You're most welcome, Unicorn5!

[Unicorn5]

Just noticed that if 23D is SHABTI (I had SHAKTI, which is why I had the B as an extra letter), then 27A MONKEY must be wrong as it would have to be MONBEY which doesn't make sense. I AM pretty tired - what am I missing?

[JJ109]

Bhakti

BHAKTI definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

[Unicorn5]

Thank you so much. I went completely off-course on that one. Now I've finished!

[JJ109]

Sorry the link did not work

bhakti in British English

(ˈbʌktɪ )

noun Hinduism

loving devotion to God, expressed through songs and other forms of worship, leading to salvation