If you managed to solve this — and I know some did — then congratulations! If you didn’t, then the solution and full explanation is below.

Theme

The corrected letters spell F PREFECT, indicating Ford Prefect, Arthur Dent’s Betelgeusian friend in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Ford’s dialect notably includes the words ‘Hoopy’ (meaning a really together guy) and ‘Frood’ (a really amazingly together guy). These explain the entries for 1a and 9, as well as the puzzle’s title.

Clue Explanations

• 1. HOOPY
  

  See Theme section above

• 5. DRUB
  

  Definition: Flog (corrected letter = F).

  Wordplay: Dealer’s beginning = D; to chafe = RUB

• 7. LOFTY
  

  Definition: Like pine tree (corrected letter = P). Lofty is typically applied to pines, as in the Horace quote: “The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds…”.

  Wordplay: Softly ‘topped’ (beheaded) = OFTLY; ‘waving’ suggests an anagram = LOFTY

• 8. SUET
  

  Definition: Pastry sometimes has this (corrected letter = R), a reference to suet pastry.

  Wordplay: ‘isSUE Typing’ brackets (ie encloses) the answer: SUET

• 9. FROOD
  

  See Theme section above

• 1. HALS
  

  Definition: Dutchman handy with easel (corrected letter = E). Frans Hals (1580-1666) famously painted The Laughing Cavalier, among other things.

  Wordplay: 2001 computer = HAL (Arthur C Clarke novel/movie); society = S (common abbreviation, e.g. RS = Royal Society).

• 2. ODOUR
  

  Definition: Whiff (corrected letter = F).

  Wordplay: Nothing = O (looks like a zero); stern = DOUR

• 3. ORFEO
  

  Definition: Monteverdi’s poet (corrected letter = E). Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo told the story of the Greek poet, also known as Orpheus.

  Wordplay: fine = F (common abbreviation, e.g. fine pencils denoted by F). This is inside OREO (a brand of cookie).

• 4. PUTTO
  

  Definition: Cute child (corrected letter = C). A putto is another word for a cupid.

  Wordplay: To PUT (something) TO someone is a phrase used in court by a lawyer when they address an accusation at the person they are cross-examining.

• 6 BYRD
  

  Definition: Old organist (corrected letter = T). William Byrd (1543-1623) was a celebrated organist and composer of the English Renaissance.

  Wordplay: BYRD sounds like (ie is ’spoken’) bird, a slang term for prison.

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