Inquisitor 84 — ‘Twas ever thus? by Phi
Posted by Colin Blackburn on August 15th, 2008
This was an oddly coincidental puzzle for me. I bought the paper on my way to Nottingham for an Open University residential school. I spent the week studying mathematical modelling and, in particular, I opted for an assignment looking at the design of louvres for shading windows. I didn’t, though, do the puzzle until after the week of study.
One I got around to solving it was, luckily, a fairly easy puzzle from Phi, very similar in structure to my last blogged puzzle by Quixote. Extra letters in the wordplay of otherwise normal clues spelt out most of a quotation. The quotation suggested a way of completing the three unclued down lights. So, the quotation was:
(‘TIS THE) TIME’S PLAGUE WHEN MADMEN LEAD THE BLIND
This Shakespearean quote led to three entries where a word for madmen preceded a word for blind. In this instance blind referred to a window blind, a louvre!
For the clues I have given the wordplay including the extra letter is given below. I’ve not provided much commentary but I’ll respond to any comments if further explanation is needed.
| Theme words | |
|---|---|
| 1 | COOTS JALOUSIE |
| 5 | LOONIES ROLLER |
| 8 | CUPCAKES SHADE |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CROTALA | ROT in CAT + LA | |
| 6 | EPIC | IE + PIC | |
| 9 | OUT OF ORDER | (MORE OF TUDOR)* | |
| 11 | SET-UP | SEE + PUT< | |
| 13 | TENSON | TENS(e)+SON | |
| 15 | SETT | (p)ET in ST | |
| 16 | OSTIA | LOST+I+A | A from ‘admit’. |
| 17 | JOINDER | JO+IN+DEAR | |
| 18 | LENK | LEG+NK | NK = not known. See the comments below. PENK PEG+NK |
| 19 | RECASTING | (URGE ACTS IN)* | |
| 21 | LION | LIE+ON | |
| 23 | BRAVOES | BRAW+VOES | |
| 24 | OFFAL | OFF+HALE | |
| 25 | DUOS | SOU(r)ED< | the ‘r’ is a ‘hint of reluctance’ |
| 28 | LAUNCH | AN(y) in LUNCH | |
| 30 | SECAM | ACES< + MM | a broadcasting system similar to PAL or NTSC. |
| 31 | OUTWEIGHED | (THE WAGE I)* in DUO< | |
| 32 | EATH | (d)EATH | |
| 33 | ORNETTE | NETT in MORE | Ornette Coleman is a jazz musician. |
| Down | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | RUPEE | RUE+PEE | |
| 3 | TOSS | TONS+S | |
| 4 | AFFORDABLE | LORD in AFFABLE | |
| 6 | EDEN | NEEDE(d)< | |
| 7 | PETITE | AIT in PETE | AIT is an island |
| 10 | UNTIE | IT< in DUNE | |
| 12 | USING | (r)USTING | I think this is right though I got the answer from the definition and checking letters. |
| 14 | PORTAKABIN | PORT+A+HK+A BIN | brand name for a temporary portable building system. Often used for temporary extensions or building site offices. |
| 19 | RIFLE | R+I FLEE | |
| 20 | NOUNY | O in BUNNY* | |
| 22 | OFFCUT | O+FF+CULT | |
| 26 | OCTET | beriOCITETroubles | |
| 29 | MATH | MAN+TH(e) | US spelling indicated. |
| 29 | URGE | RG in DUE | Really Gross. |
August 15th, 2008 at 11:09 am
I had PENK for 18 across, from PEG for LEG as I couldn’t find LENK in any dictionary (Chambers, SOED or Collins). PENK is in Chambers as equivalent to the 8th meaning of PINK (a minnow or samlet).
August 15th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Duncan, thanks for the correction. It’s lucky I don’t submit these things! I did know that LENK was wrong and PENK was right but I left the L in the grid from an initial bad guess. That got penned in when I tidied up the grid and then as it fitted the wordplay I managed to write it up with no problems!
August 26th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Did this on the plane to Delhi, and managed all except PENK.
OSTIA is plural of OSTIUM but as the clue was singular I assume that the reference is to the old Roman port.
August 28th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Sorry, I can’t help any further with OSTIA as I no longer have the hard copy and I don’t recall the clue.