Enigmatic Variations 1046 Author by Picadilly
Posted by twencelas on December 8th, 2012
An extra letter in each of the subsidiary indications – straight forward enough but then the answers must be jumbled except for the first and last three rows and first and last 2 columns. sounds quite complicated. And 2 quotes and an author to find.
And indeed it was, starting with the unaltered rows to build up enough of a grid to resolve the jumbled entries. The clues were of a medium rating, I would say and you did need to solve quite a few before the jumbled entries could be forced to make sense. But make sense they did – revealing a very elegant final grid.
The additional letters spell out
IT IS THE WORST SOLITUDE TO HAVE NO FRIENDSHIPS – FRANCIS
And the final grid reveals the author’s surname and a second quotation.
| S | H | R | I | L | L | P | A | T | R | O | N | S |
| R | E | M | A | I | N | S | T | E | A | S | E | P |
| M | L | O | R | D | E | R | B | S | E | R | G | E |
| A | L | T | H | E | I | L | L | A | N | D | R | A |
| N | O | U | N | F | I | T | C | H | O | I | U | R |
| E | F | C | E | O | F | W | O | R | D | S | N | E |
| G | A | W | O | N | D | E | R | F | U | L | E | N |
| E | R | L | Y | O | B | S | T | R | U | C | S | O |
| R | E | T | S | T | H | E | U | N | D | E | E | D |
| E | D | R | S | T | A | N | D | I | N | G | M | A |
| B | O | O | R | S | W | W | H | E | E | L | E | L |
| E | S | H | E | B | A | C | O | N | D | O | N | E |
| C | O | N | T | U | S | E | G | R | E | E | D | Y |
“The ill and unfit choice of words wonderfully obstructs the understanding”
author FRANCIS BACON.
A very fitting quote too.
A very pleasing puzzle, I thought, Thanks Piccadilly. I do like it when the end grid shows so much following the clue entry.
Telegraph gremlin of the week 26 across was f letters in length.
Please excuse the brevity of the blog this week – have lots of plates spinning at the moment.
Key:
* Anagram, Underline definition, Rev. reverse, DD Double definition
ACROSS
| I | 1 Mad Irish Lord Lieutenant is keen (6) (Irish)* + ll (Lord Lieutenant) = SHRILL |
| T | 7 Transport arranged with no end of bother, for regular customers(7) (transport – r)* = PATRONS |
| I | 13 A miner is troubled, finding a corpse(7) (a miner is)* = REMAINS |
| S | 14 Make fun ofstupid person in tree, and run away (5) Ass (stupid person) in tree – r = TEASE |
| T | 16 Communist nonsense backed in a fraternity(5) Rev. (red (communist) + rot (nonsense)) = ORDER |
| H | 17 Fabricshe runs to earth (5) She + r (runs) + ge (earth) = SERGE |
| E | 18 Waxy crystalline solidthat’s mostly found in fish (5) Eel (fish) around that – t (that mostly) = ETHAL |
| W | 19 I’ll draw an animated corncrake(8) (ill draw an)* = LANDRAIL |
| O | 21 Solemn serviceof divine grace (8) Of + unction (divine grace) = FUNCTION |
| R | 23 An alluring womanhaving part of a day with king and emperor (5) Hour (part of day) + ri (king and emperor) = HOURI |
| S | 24 Drinkbeer endlessly after food (6) Scoff + ee = COFFEE |
| T | 26 Party seasons I boycotted: they’re depressing(f) Do (party) + winters (seasons) – I = DOWNERS |
| S | 28 Four ends, disintegrating, collapse(7) (four ends)* = FOUNDER |
| O | 32 Boy’s role played sedately(7) (boysrole)* = SOBERLY |
| L | 34 Garments worn by rector for halls of justice(6) Clouts (garments) around r (rector) = COURTS |
| I | 36 Commenceseries of steps on time (5) Stair (series of steps) + t = START |
| T | 38 Ignoredthe foul deed dogging one in Paris (8) Un (one in paris) + (the + deed)* UNHEEDED |
| U | 41 Understand, incorrectly, navy’s lost and driven on shore(8) (Understand – n (navy))* = STRANDED |
| D | 42 Street urchinmaking noise after school (5) Gam (school) + din (noise) = GAMIN |
| E | 43 Former peasants heading from Oxford in untidy robes (5) (o + robes)* = BOORS |
| T | 44 A circular motionwatch reveals regularly (5) WaTcH rEvEaLs = WHEEL |
| O | 45 Ancient Yemeni people giving item of footwear to graduate (5) Shoe (item of footwear) + ba (graduate) = SHEBA |
| H | 46 Excusebit of cattiness on drunken hen do (7) C (bit of cattiness) + on + (hendo)* = CONDONE |
| A | 47 To bruise, not cause suffering (7) (not cause)* = CONTUSE |
| V | 48 Being covetous, verge on heartless depravity (6) (Verge)*+ dy (heartless depravity) = GREEDY |
DOWN
| E | 2 Greetingfrom Michelle Obama (5) Hidden micHELLE Obama = HELLO |
| N | 3 Tops of cabbage unusable: they’re nibbled (work of really massive caterpillar) (7) Start of words = CUTWORM |
| O | 4 Wading bird, one with a rupture(6 ) Heron (wading bird) + I (one) + a = HERNIA |
| T | 5 Confused, I’d left the locality of a battle(5) (id left)* = FIELD |
| R | 6 I converted friend, Liberal one rejecting Christianity(7) (I friend + l)* = INFIDEL |
| U | 8 Metallic element, copper, left in boat, wrecked (6) Cu (Copper) + l in (boat)* = COBALT |
| E | 9 Some parentsorganised her feast (7) (her feast) = FATHERS |
| F | 10 Poemfor a nude composed (7) (for a nude)* = RONDEAU |
| R | 11 Doctor is holding gold for girl(5) Dr (doctor) around or (gold) + is = DORIS |
| I | 12 Praise newfangled weapon(5) (praise)* = SPEAR |
| E | 15 Riding schooltraining Elaine, Megan, but not Lian (6) (elaine + megan – lian)* = MANEGE |
| N | 20 Old lettersfrom nun held in reserve (5) Nun in Res (reserve) = RUNES |
| D | 22 Stewed bananas are pleasing to the taste(5) (stewed)* = SWEET |
| S | 25 Compiling fresh data , ignoring the rising measure of capacitance(5) (fresh data – the)* = FARAD |
| H | 27 One returned by Dahl, having no complications in story (6) Rev(one) + dahl = ENODAL |
| I | 28 DIY stores ordered to dispose of dead shellfish(7) (diy stores – d)* = OYSTERS |
| P | 29 Sheep’s dung— put a large amount under last of rhubarb (7) B (last of rhubarb) + put + tons (a large amount) = BUTTONS |
| S | 30 Ruth’s dog suffered thirst(7) (ruthsdog)* = DROUGHT |
| F | 31 Educational institutionhas withdrawn from hell of a GCSE — swimming! (7) (hell of a GCSE – has)* = COLLEGE |
| R | 33 British war has affected former Turkish officer(6) (b (british) + war has)* = BASHAW |
| A | 35 Take clothes fromundead: fitting end to vampire (6) (undead)* + e (end of vampire) = DENUDE |
| N | 36 Throw beer-can, missing a musical instrument(5) (beer can – a)* = REBEC |
| C | 37 Bridge playergetting tips raised hearts (5) Rev. (Tronc (tips)) + h (hearts) = NORTH |
| I | 39 Hotel that is right next to the Bull(5) Inn (hotel) + i.e. (that is) + r (right) = INNER (as in archery target) |
| S | 40 Send me off to alter and improve text (5) (send me)* = EMENS |
December 8th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
I would have done this more quickly if I hadn’t misinterpreted the instructions. I took “the first and last three rows” to mean the first row and the last three rows. An appropriate theme for such a crossword, though, and it’s been a long time since we’ve had one with this sort of construction.
December 8th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
The center quote is doubly appropriate because as noted above the preamble is badly worded regarding rows and columns, and the actual Bacon quote from the added letters is:
The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship.
So searching on bits of the quote as they appear will cause some confusion as well.
December 10th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
An enjoyable solve with largely straight-forward clues but having to jumble a large proportion of the answers made it quite tough in places.
However, over 50% of the clues involved anagrams and I think that is just too much.
December 17th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Will a blog for EV 1047 appear? Just wondering! Have I missed something? Thanks.
December 17th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Tony – It had a closing date of 20th December and is scheduled to appear on 22nd December – I’m not sure why the Telegraph has extended the time (could be one of their usual gremlins or a change in policy)
December 22nd, 2012 at 10:33 pm
A while now since I did this but so far as I remember all was well and I liked it. It is often pointed out that the ST doesn’t always get things quite right, and the first line of the preamble says ‘lends’ when it should be ‘leads’.