The unclued lights are of a kind. Across 1 Remains close to the co-founder of the Townswomen’s Guilds (5) 10 Willing to help prepare musical backing (11, hyphened) 15 Girl in a race to immerse boy with fragrant oil right away (8) 18 Wrung a confession out of us
The unclued lights, when paired 12/20, 16/33, 25/29, 31/6, 42/2, are RICOCHET or reduplicated words. First prize Mrs Rhiannon Hales, Ilfracombe, Devon Runners-up Roger Sherman, Richmond, Surrey; D.V. Jones, Llanfair Caereinion, Powys
The unclued Across lights, when correctly paired with the unclued Down ones, are of a kind, verifiable in Brewer. Across 4 Deer and setters disturbed fire-arm supports (11, hyphened) 11 Bits of lava surround unfortunate one (7) 13 Valentino edited modern work (9, hyphened) 14 Wader’s support (5) 19 African Moslems’ bad sinuses (7)
The unclued lights (1A, 1D/36, 4/31D, 5/27, 15/16A, 16D, 25A/40, 42 are each the PSEUDONYM (anagram of ‘Dumpynose’) of a famous celebrity. See Brewer 17th edition revised, page 1112 et seq. First prize Mike Underwood, Auvillar, France Runners-up Anthony H. Harker, Oxford; Gillian Ollerenshaw, Bowdon, Altrincham
The unclued lights, individually (each of two words), or paired, are of a specific kind, verifiable in Brewer 17th Edition revised. Ignore a diacritic in the solution at 6 Down. Across 10 Make an impression as a sculptor? (10, three words) 12 Grim death of a harvester (6) 13 Wise men deck out, when
The chain of anagrams is as follows: 40, 8, 18, 25, 22, 23, 21D, 19, 1A First prize Robert Hirst, Twineham, West Sussex Runners-up Philip Berridge, Spalding, Lincolnshire; R.B. Briercliffe, Isle of Man
The unclued lights can be arranged into a chain of anagrams of 3 to 11 letters in length, with the addition of one letter step by step. Across 7 Towboat capsized in channel (3) 11 Contain grease once (6) 13 Against work — was perplexed (7) 15 Bender on river (5) 16 Two flowers
The unclued lights are characters from The Goon Show. The paired solutions are 22/20, 32/35 and 37/9. First prize Phillip Wickens, Penrith, Cumbria Runners-up Richard Snailham, Windsor; Roger King, Twickenham, Middlesex
The unclued lights, (one individually, one of two words and three pairs), are of a kind. Across 4 Popular executive having brush with copper can’t be condoned (11) 12 Left back’s round, round body (5) 13 Artless pastor immersed in revenue probe (11) 14 It’s steady to be unsteady
The unclued lights are foreign cities, as known in their own countries. First prize Vicky Thomas, Apokoronas, Crete Runners-up Mrs F. Brimacombe, Bideford, Devon; Gerry Fairweather, Layer Marney, Essex
The unclued lights (one of two words) are of a specific kind. Ignore all accents. Across 1 H-E-X? (5) 4 Series of numbers causing confab about 1 and 101 (9) 10 In an alienating way, first disproving 4 = 4. See? (10) 11 Shaver heard to be one on the way up? (6) 14
The twenty-two lochs which did not fit into the grid are, in order of their appearance in the story: Ainort, Awe, Eynort, Katrine, Eck, Nevis, Sunart, Cluanie, Eil, Hourn, Assynt, Maree, Melfort, Affric, Long, Tummel, Frisa, Treig, Tuath, Striven, Ericht, Alsh. First prize Charles Hastings, Upper Woolhampton, Berks Runners-up David Carpenter, Sutton Coldfield; Roderick
The solutions to numbered lights are the words missing from the story. The unclued lights are the names of twenty-two Scottish lochs. However, forty-four names of lochs appear in the story, all of which are hidden or appear in jumbled form in the story. Solvers are not required to list the ‘discarded’ lochs. I
The unclued lights are headwords in Brewer under the SEVEN heading. The title indicates the sum ‘2114 divided by 302 = 7’ and so solvers had to include ‘7’ or ‘seven’ alongside their submitted solution. First prize Frank Maslen, London SW1 Runners-up Andrew James, Winchester; Dolf Mootham, Aldeburgh, Suffolk
The unclued lights (two of three and one of two words), when preceded by the same word which solvers must include along with their completed grid, can be verified in Brewer. Across 9 Small cafe spoken of in ski-lift (4, hyphened) 11 Computer functions ’til a server crashes (10) 16
The unclued lights are the four members of ABBA (which means ‘father’), at 11/21, 12/40, 16/7 and 39/10. First prize Jason James, Cambridge Runners-up Mark Rowntree, London SE10; David Lumley, London SW5
When paired, the unclued lights (one hyphened) are of a kind. Ignore two accents. (The solution at 15D is not listed in Chambers and that at 36D only at its definition.) Across 3 Global popularity of a lecturer in Keele, say (12) 13 Covered pathways badly made inside, unfortunately (8) 18
The unclued lights are the surnames of the London WORTHIES, which had to be highlighted along the top row. First prize Eleanor Parker, Broadstairs, Kent Runners-up Roger Baresel, London SW7; D.G. Page, Orpington, Kent
The unclued lights are of a kind, verifiable in an entry in Brewer. Solvers are required to highlight an eight-letter headword from this entry in the completed grid. Elsewhere, ignore all accents. Across 8 Tax break (4) 12 Clamour of duchy near to collapse (9, three words) 14 Name-board of excellent eatery cut back
Monty Python’s Flying Circus (38/12/5) gave rise to 1D, 19 and 36/28 which starred 7 and 34 and Eric IDLE (puzzle’s title). First prize Mrs M.C. Conway, Sale, Manchester Runners-up Chris Edwards, Pudsey, Leeds; Margaret Lusk, Preston, Lancs