Inquisitor 1343

[Indy-trier]

Where is everybody??
Having completed the last few Inquisitors quite quickly I logged on here to see if anyone needed help. Clearly everyone had done the same as there wasn't a single entry! However, I'm finding this one tough and now wonder if I've misled myself with 29a. I have a 4 letter answer stating with I and ending with A. Some help would be much appreciated.

[boreas]

I have EGO for 20A.
The redundant letter has to be the O in GOOD ( because the first word spelled out by redundant letters needs it.)
So I parse the answer as:
'Initially like' = EG (initial abbreviation of the Latin expression).
'mine'= O ( an egg shaped letter. Egg is slang for any kind of bomb, including a mine).
But, I can't see GOD as a definition of EGO.
???????

[Calibax]

^Hi boreas, I thought the redundant O came from the previous clue.
Catch sailor's attention (4) [O]S+ear
I could be wrong though :)

[boreas]

Hi Calibax,

You might well be right, I will have to look at this again.

I parsed it as:

S=sailor.
EAR= attention.

But Chambers doesn't give S as an abbreviation for Sailor, so your (O)S looks better.

Definition 'catch', which I originally thought meant 'catch fire' = SEAR.
But, I have just looked up SEAR in Chambers.
Second definition of SEAR is:
"the catch that holds a gun at cock or half cock".

So, maybe there is no redundant letter in 20A?
Which would mean GOOD is the definition for EGO????

[Calibax]

I still have EGG (definition:mine)

[boreas]

So, EGG could be:

G=good.
EG=like
Initially= put EG at the beginning.
Giving EGG.

Bit convoluted, but so are a quite a few of the clues.

[Indy-trier]

Thanks everyone for all of these tips. I have NODE for 30d with H as my spare letter but I could be wrong as I misled myself for ages by entering badly thought through PIT at 20a!

[Indy-trier]

Oops! I now have 1d so ignore my idea about 30d! Sorry!

[Tiger38]

Fascinating to read the debate between Boreas and Calibax following my egg/ego query. I think "egg" wins it"! Thanks too to Calibax for explaining "Liam". Inquisitor is certainly getting tougher. We used to regularly polish it off over the weekend, but we seem to be spending much of the following week on it these days, leaving less time to spend on the Listener.

[Gregsdad]

Hi all

Bit late to the debate on EGG vs. EGO but for what it's worth I had EGG. Still not quite dotted the 'i' s and crossed the 't's on this one. I initially had, for the extra characters, Orsino, Alonso and Edgar but will have to revise that as I have at least two Es as spare letters. Need to look again at character lists I think....

[boreas]

Gregsdad,
Those are the characters I have. Couldn't quite get all the letters for EDGAR, but there is only one other 5 letter character in that play - CURAN.
I have an R from 28across, an A from 34across, and an E from 2down.

[Gregsdad]

Thanks Boreas, I have the same letters. Can't quite make Edgar out of the remaining ones though. Not sure about 18A A?

[Indy-trier]

Thanks to all of you I have now nearly finished this one. I had already found the theme, the groups, the location, and the person (with cryptic answer) but I'm still stuck on the bottom left corner. I'd love some help with 26d, 35d, 37and 39a as this would mean I could tidy this away!

[Tiger38]

Indy-Trier, the entry for 39a is a very appropriate word.

[boondoggle]

Hi Indy-trier,

Left this on Monday, returned today.

I am sure it is Alonso, Edgar and Orsino.

Edgar is derived from 27a liG+am, 28a gReed, 34a Aspi(r)e, 39a enD+try, 2d liE+on.

26d lasS + er
35d pl(a)y
37a lose + l

Hope this helps.