A crossword with a single clue

Question

In green (1 to 5): Amusing key glues crazy. (5)

Here is also a text version of the table, if anyone needs it:

9   10  3   11  12  9   13  14  11  13      15
13  9       16  11  11      11  13  9   6   7
6   2   13  20  3   10      16      17  9   18
    6           12  20      16  16  9   17  9
19  20  18  4   11  3   12      9           16
    11  16          9   11      1   16  20  21
10  13  20  11  1       7   6   7       3   7
7       1   20  13  9       13  2   17      21
22  11  1   1   11  13  12  7   3       6   
20  19      1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   3
        17  11  19  20  9       9   13  9   11
14  9   11  16      18      10  20  3   20  13
9   10  9   6   23  9           3   9   3   7
14      19  7   11      12  6   11  17      
14  13  7   8   3       9   13      11  15  11
    7   8   11  3       17  9   3   3   11  13
11  3       13  5   11      21  9   6   11  13

Answer 1

First of all, I see the word 16 16 9 17 9 near the top right. Words starting with double letters are rare, and the only English word which fits this is LLAMA. That gives us:

• 9 = A
• 16 = L
• 17 = M

Then in the upper middle we have a 3-letter word 16 11 11, which must be either LEE or LOO. There are no 6-letter words beginning with AO and ending with A, so it must be LEE, giving:

• 11 = E

Now we have 13 9 7 9 near the top right and 9 13 9 11 on the right-hand side, leading me to the conclusion that these are RAMA and ARAE. So:

• 13 = R

The word A R 6 in the top left must be ART or ARC or ARK (since E and M are taken). The relative frequency of 6, as well as the words 12 6 E M and 6 R A 21 in the lower right and E R A 6 7 in the upper right, suggests that:

• 6 = T

Then E R A 6 7 must be ERATO (and 7 6 7 in the middle is OTO), giving:

• 7 = O

And 12 T E M in the lower right must be STEM, giving:

• 12 = S

The combination of S E 3 S E at the top and M A 3 3 E R at the bottom right makes me quite sure that:

• 3 = N

Now the combination of 23 E N N 5 at the bottom and T R O 5 in the middle makes me quite sure that:

• 5 = Y

The words R 2 M in the middle and 10 20 N 20 R on the right tell me that 2 and 20 are both vowels, so they must be I and U in some order. The word T 8 A 20 N on the right, as well as the relative frequencies of 2 and 20, gives:

• 2 = U
• 20 = I

At this stage I finally solved the cryptic clue:

Amusing key glues crazy = FUNKY (FUN+KY ~ crazy), so

• 1 = F
• 4 = K

Mopping up several in quick succession: 22 E F F E R S O N is obviously JEFFERSON, F R E U 19 is obviously FREUD, E I F F E L T O 8 E R is obviously EIFFEL TOWER; 10 R I E F could be either BRIEF or GRIEF, but T U R I N 10 makes clear which one. So:

• 8 = W
• 10 = G
• 19 = D
• 22 = J

Now A G N E S A R 14 E R must be AGNES ARBER and D I 18 K E N S must be DICKENS and F L I 21 must be FLIP and A G A T 23 A must be AGATHA, so:

• 14 = B
• 18 = C
• 21 = P
• 23 = H

Finally, 15 O C A L P O P must be VOCAL POP, so:

• 15 = V

And the final solution is:

A   G   N   E   S   A   R   B   E   R       V
R   A       L   E   E       E   R   A   T   O
T   U   R   I   N   G       L       M   A   C
    T           S   I       L   L   A   M   A
D   I   C   K   E   N   S       A           L 
    E   L           A   E       F   L   I   P
G   R   I   E   F       O   T   O       N   O
O       F   I   R   A       R   U   M       P
J   E   F   F   E   R   S   O   N       T   
I   D       F   U   N   K   Y   T   O   W   N
        M   E   D   I   A       A   R   A   E 
B   A   E   L       C       G   I   N   I   R 
A   G   A   T   H   A           N   A   N   O
B       D   O   E       S   T   E   M       
B   R   O   W   N       A   R       E   V   E 
    O   W   E   N       M   A   N   N   E   R 
E   N       R   Y   E       P   A   T   E   R 

with the letters appearing in the following numerical order:

F U N K Y T O W A G E S R B V L M C D I P J H (with Q, X, Z not present).

Answer 2

Complete crossword:

 A   G   N   E   S   A   R   B   E   R       V
 R   A       L   E   E       E   R   A   T   O
 T   U   R   I   N   G       L       M   A   C
     T           S   I       L   L   A   M   A
 D   I   C   K   E   N   S       A           L 
     E   L           A   E       F   L   I   P
 G   R   I   E   F       O   T   O       N   O
 O       F   I   R   A       R   U   M       P
 J   E   F   F   E   R   S   O   N       T

 I   D       F   U   N   K   Y   T   O   W   N
         M   E   D   I   A       A   R   A   E 
 B   A   E   L       C       G   I   N   I   R 
 A   G   A   T   H   A           N   A   N   O
 B       D   O   E       S   T   E   M

 B   R   O   W   N       A   R       E   V   E 
     O   W   E   N       M   A   N   N   E   R 
 E   N       R   Y   E       P   A   T   E   R 

In the following, all ? have to be the same letter. Starting with the beginning of Rand's answer:

First of all, I see the word 16 16 9 17 9 near the top right. Words starting with double letters are rare, and the only English word which fits this is LLAMA. That gives us:

• 9 = A
• 16 = L
• 17 = M

Then in the upper middle we have a 3-letter word 16 11 11, which must be either LEE or LOO. There are no 6-letter words beginning with AO and ending with A, so it must be LEE, giving:

• 11 = E

Now we have 13 9 7 9 near the top right and 9 13 9 11 on the right-hand side, leading me to the conclusion that these are RAMA and ARAE. So:

• 13 = R

The word A R 6 in the top left must be ART or ARC or ARK (since E and M are taken). The relative frequency of 6, as well as the words 12 6 E M and 6 R A 21 in the lower right and E R A 6 7 in the upper right, suggests that:

• 6 = T

Then E R A 6 7 must be ERATO (and 7 6 7 in the middle is OTO), giving:

• 7 = O

And 12 T E M in the lower right must be STEM, giving:

• 12 = S

The combination of S E 3 S E at the top and M A 3 3 E R at the bottom right makes me quite sure that:

• 3 = N

Now the combination of 23 E N N 5 at the bottom and T R O 5 in the middle makes me quite sure that:

• 5 = Y

Continuing from there:

MEA?O? looks like MEADOW, so 19=D and 8=W

From there,

MED?A then has to be MEDIA, from where 20=I

This leaves an easy clue in the form of:

This forms EI??ELTOWER, so 1=F to form EIFFELTOWER

Also:

LAFO?NTAINE looks like a misspelling of La Fontaine as La Fountaine, so 2=U (this also fits with the crossing R?M, which makes RUM).

Then:

ARNI?A is easy to fill as ARNICA, so 18=C

From there:

?ROWN crosses ?A??, the most likely letter for 14 is then B (BABB is a surname, and no other letter would fit both).

Continuing:

A?NESARBER can only be Agnes Arber, so 10=G. This also forms TURING and GAUTIER.

Another word:

From DIC?ENS, we have 4=K. This forms FUNK?TOWN in the middle, so 5=Y. This solves the cryptic clue:

Amusing key glues crazy = FUNKY (FUN+KY ~ crazy)

Filling in the last letters:

AGAT?A crosses ?ENNY, so 23=H and we get AGATHA and HENNY.
?EFFERSON looks like it could be nothing but a J, so 22=J.

Delivering the final blow, in the top-right corner we have a word with two different unused letters:

15 OCAL 21 O 21. By elimination of the already used letters, I concluded that this should be VOCALPOP (also forming EVE, TRAP and PATER in the bottom-right corner).