Crossword Help Forum
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1A Definition is first word, a genus of deep-water fishes. German car manufacturer [war contains misprint]; four letters [no, the other one].

31A - Pele has the fourth letter changed to make an obscure word for money; aggrieved is the anagrind for the preceding word to give the Ecuadorian currency until 2000. Layers of obscurity.

Thanks hotelwhiskey7, I had 31ac but only googled it, must get in the habit of checking in Chambers. 1 ac I had the wrong definition for 5dn and needed a change of direction. Now to find the missing 5 letter word

I'm in the frustrating position of having completed the grid, fully parsed all of the clues, cracked the theme, drawn the curve, and now I've been staring at the hidden clue for the "extra" word to complete the set for three days and have drawn a complete blank. What am I missing? This is totally infuriating!

Goodness me, posting really does work, doesn't it? All done now and frustration has suddenly abated to be replaced by blissful calm. Perhaps tonight I can finally sleep!

Your'e lucky kitsune. I woke early and suddenly thought of the elusive answer to the five letter word. I would never have completed without the hint from Malone, which made me see the mistake I'd made. An excellent puzzle and many thanks again to all those who contribute. This thread really works (for me at least).

What's faqir got to do with anything? BTW, Chambers doesn't support this spelling!

DSC, there's earlier discussion of the Faqir, Chambers etc - from around post 49/40 onwards.

Thanks, Malone, but am none the wiser. What was the "set"?

Hi Dsc,

The "set" is the set of letters in the alphabet which is got from the "centres" of the misprinted words - all except Q which is got from the clue spelt out by the "third letters" - Mystic carnival queen caught - thus completing the "set".

It might be the "centres" of the extra words.