Guardian Genius 230

[AMartinP]

Completely stuck on the three unclued "clues": 1, 5 and 28 across. Any assistance gratefully received. Thank you (in advance).

[JJ109]

The 6 clues with an extra word are 12a 22a, 3d, 14d,16d,and 20d - Look at the middle letters of the answers to these clues and you will see they are an anagram of a 5 letter word. The surplus words middle two letters should make it obvious. The three clues you refer to follow the same pattern

[JJ109]

If you require further assistance, please let me know

[AMartinP]

Thank you, JJ9, very much. I'll set to work on that......no promises, though!!

[LeenaH]

This was a great help. But shouldn't the middle letters of 6 clues give a six letter word?
Am confused

[JJ109]

No - the 5 middle letters spell "heart" or at least a combination of those 5 letters in a different order.

Therefore the 5 letters in the middle of 1a 5a and 28a are all a combination of a,r,t,h,and e

The middle 2 letters of the 6 extra words spell "?????? hearts"

That is why you mix up the letters of heart for the middle letters of the 9 themed answers

[JJ109]

^^ the 5 middle letters of each of the 9 themed answers are a combination of the letters "h,e,a,r and t"

[1ozzy]

//If you require further assistance, please let me know//

Said he who asked for help parsing

[JJ109]

I don't think I was very good at explaining!!!

[JJ109]

Yes - I did ask for help parsing, and thank you Ozzy. BUT --- I had solved the crossword completely, sussed the theme and parsed all but one answer!

[1ozzy]

Well done JJ

[LeenaH]

Thank you JJ. At last I got it.