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I enjoyed this puzzle by Wiglaf but, before I put it away, can I get a parsing for ...

25d - Star Wars princess subdued by a reading disorder (6)

The wordplay omits a letter but, in this instance, all the letters of the answer seem to be present in the clue - There's an A followed by the "Star Wars princess" around/ subduing a single letter "by" as in 'times' - obviously that's wrong but, if the "by" letter is not included in the clue, what role does it and "subdued" play?

Is the first A is the unclued letter, with the definition being “a reading disorder”? So the wordplay is just the princess around the letter for “by”. Having the A there does make it awkward if that’s the case.

Hi Jono, no, that's exactly my problem - it's the X that is unclued.

The 'x' isn't clued - ''subdued by a'' means 'a' dominates the name of the princess below and the 'x' is omitted.

Hi Bren,
if you've matched all the other 31 letters omitted from wordplay you'll find the "x" is omitted from wordplay in this clue and "subdued by a" is a placement indicator giving "a" as the first letter then the Star Wars Princess.

Okay, thanks Drxx, thanks again Jono.

It's hard to believe the setter didn't realise that "subdue" as in 'take control of' wouldn't be seen as a containment indicator and "by" for X, which has cropped up frequently.

Thanks Ginge.

Yes, I've solved everything and ticked off all the missing letters against the unclued answers - I just wanted clarity as to why "by" wasn't X and the role of "subdued" in the clue.

I think that's because you couldn't place the 'a' without the 'by', brendan (but I'm sure you're right and the setter purposely set out to confuse us with the usual 'by' = x and 'subdued' typically indicating containment).

Part of my detour (holiday?) from the still-to-be completed Listener, this was fun. Thank you Wiglaf. Along with some elegant misdirection from the setter, I added a layer of my own by convincing myself that “old sailors” was a definition and performing elaborate, and wholly unnecessary, gyrations in the Northeast corner. Mind you, perhaps the actual definition was another of Wiglaf’s subtle traps….

Hi, apologies if this is considered off-topic; I'm new here (and to message boards in general) and don't know the protocol.

I'm writing to see if anyone knows a way to get a copy of this puzzle (Inquisitor 1769) now that the weekend has passed. I wasn't able to get the paper this weekend and can't find a link to the Inquisitor online. It's very possible I'm looking in the wrong place.

If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd be most grateful.

Thank you very much and best wishes,

Pencil