Inquisitor #65 CLASSIFIED by Ploy

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Bit of a mix-up, so an emergency late blog. Please forgive any mistakes!

Wonderful puzzle from Ploy, but you would have to be a REAL anorak (as in trainspotter) to solve it without the use of Mr Google!

I beavered away at the middle letters of extra words until I had Mogul, Prairie, Atlantic and, by implication and guesswork, Pacific. After a number of false starts, (all four seemed to have some connection with oysters, but oyster Googles went nowhere) I eventually put all four words into Google as a last resort. It came up with the classification of American Steam Locomotives by wheel layout!!!

I couldn’t really believe this, but after a few more letters appeared, all the various words that appeared were locomotive types. Each had a wheel layout stated as three figures: [leading wheels]-[driving wheels]-[trailing wheels]. The central part of the puzzle (the white squares) appeared to have a zero rather than a letter O, so I counted the rows and columns and there were 8 three digit combinations. So it was a “numberword” in the middle of a crossword.

Mogul 2-6-0
Prairie 2-6-2
Adriatic 2-6-4
Mikado 2-8-2
American 4-4-0
Atlantic 4-4-2
Pacific 4-6-2
Mountain 4-8-2

The “numberword” was defined by the given zero which had to be in both 260 and 440. After one false start, I fitted them all in as follows:

2
4 6 2
4 4 0
2 8 2
2 6 2
4

Solving time: I dread to think!!

Across
1 MO locomotive EMMA (wartime phonetic alphabet – Ack Emma was a.m.) = MM in EA(ch) 
4 G Largely EPINASTY = (T)EPI(D) + NASTY
10 U but MORTCLOTHS = M(ike) + CLOT in ORTS
12 L  P Alps LAIGH = omit odd letters from clearing height
13 R waterbuck OGRE = [GRO(V)E]*
15 AI main SHTETEL = [SHELTE(R)]*
18 R observing POAS = PO + AS
19 I specified ZED = BRAZED without BRA
20 E  A recreating ARTSY is hidden in part symbolism
22 D wider METER = M(y) +(P)ETER (safe)
23 R recurring NOY = N(o) + (PL)OY
25 I Revisit TATTS is a double meaning, Tattersalls and old rags
26 AT beater AFAR = (S)AFAR(I)
28 I lit MAE WEST = M.A. + EW (we reversed) + [SET]*
31 C elected CARTWHEEL = WHE(N) in CARTEL
33 MI admits EARPHONE = [(C)HAPERONE]*
34 K Yikes EROS – [EROS + I’D A T(hing)]* = asteroid  
35 AD Gladys EYE TO EYE = EYE (brood of pheasants) + TO + movE – theY livE
36 O employees DUET = DIET (assembly) with I replaced by U
Down
1 AM Rosamund EMYS – [EMYS + OR I NET]* = Romney site
2 ER interior MOTHPROOFS = [FROM SHOP TO]*
3 I icing AT LEAST = [A LATTE S(ugar)]*
5 CA Escape PLIER = P(olice) + LIER
6 N  A binary NTH = N(o)T + H (Planck’s constant)
7 T After AHOY = A + HOY
8 L Warlike TERCELET = [RE-ELECT T(he)]*
9 AN many YIELDERS = WIELDERS with W(hiskey) replaced by Y(en)
11 TI Multiple CATS – initial letters of Coal And Timber Ships are coal and timeber ships!
14 C blocked GAZETTEER = GAZER round (l)ETTE(r)
16 PA Nepali TOTTY = T(he) T(ime) in TOY
17 CI social WANNABEE = ANNE in [WEB]* + E
21 F Norfolk SEAWEED = EA in SW + DEE reversed
24 IC Ridicule TAWNEY = TOWNY (fellow inhabitant)  with O replaced by A
25 M Seeming TEHEE = HET reversed + (b)EE(n)
27 OU should ACRE – not sure about the wordplay of this one!
29 NT Fintan SLOE (black) sounds like SLOW
30 A Hungarian TEST double meaning
32 IN Find RHO = letter looking like a p 

7 comments on “Inquisitor #65 CLASSIFIED by Ploy”

  1. And there were also three thematic words to highlight, weren’t there? I think I found them in the end, but couldn’t quite bring myself to work out the three-digit combinations – I plead guilty to crossword obsession and a bit of bad birdwatching, but my anorak doesn’t have room in it for locomotive wheel combinations!

  2. Don’t think there was anything to highlight other Whyte Notation. Anyone got a solution to the wordplay for 27D?

  4. “The French who must leave get a measure of land.” – ACRE is the measure of land, but can you explain the rest?

  7. Great puzzle – I see Ray Parry-Morris is keeping up his winning streak. The new Eddie Looby ?

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