Preamble: Crossing answers make 18 down appear a non-word – it must be replaced by the acronym given by the longer down answers (five words in total), while retaining real words in the grid. The fictional character in the acronym also lent his name to a form of joke exemplified by italicised across clues, although for pragmatic reasons a different part of speech has been used in most of the associated entries. Four symmetrically placed down entries are entered unconventionally; single-letter corrections to misprinted definitions in eleven other clues explain what has happened.
Wow, what a long preamble and none of it makes any sense – isn’t that why we love these things? 😉
First thoughts were that the title, The Man with a Gun, probably refers to James Bond and I know next to nothing about Mr. Bond but as we’ll see later it refers to a completely different man with a completely different kind of gun.
The grid fill was steady, south-east corner was last to fill. 30a (PLASTIC) was quite tricky as I was convinced that we were looking for a proper name having discounted plastic several times. Turns out that PLASTIC is an obsolete word for sculptor – who would have thought it?
Having completed the grid, I did have to wonder why we had to have four jumbled answers, they didn’t seem to lend anything to the puzzle. Anyway, that takes care of part of the preamble. It was good that the thematic clues were made so obvious as I think things may have been too confusing otherwise.
As 18 down began to fill, and crossed with 23a (ROBIN) I began to wonder if Robin (perhaps Robin Hood) was our fictional character – another read through the preamble soon dispelled that idea.
I had answers for most (if not all) thematic answers before understanding the theme, in fact I think the grid was full. At that point I realised that I could work out what 18d should really be. As I see it, the only options were:
| Original | Replacement |
| C |
T |
| E |
A/S |
| B |
D/N/S |
| P |
E/C |
| D |
R |
And the only option was TASER. This allowed me to make sense of the left and right columns and finally I could discount ELECTRIC FENCE! Thus the two columns spelt out THOMAS A SWIFT’S ELECTRIC RIFLE, which is, apparently, what its inventor, Jack Cover, called his invention – after his childhood hero. I’d never really given any thought to what TASER meant but if pressed, I would probably have said something similar to LASER.
At this point, with a full grid, I still had no idea about the joke and I wasn’t really able to justify the thematic entries. Another visit to Wikipedia revealed that Tom Swift lent his name to a strange kind of pun where a relevant adverb is used to describe how a statement was made. So we have:
| Clue | Entry | Usage |
| “I work at a bank” | TELLING | “I work at a bank”, said Tom tellingly |
| “This boat is leaking” | BALEFUL | “This boat is leaking”, said Tom balefully |
| “It’s half a score” | OFTEN | “It’s half a score”, said Tom often |
| “The radio reception is much better now” | ECSTATIC | “The radio reception is much better now”, said Tom ecstatically |
| “I’m sailing near the Isle of Wight” | INSOLENT | “I’m sailing near the Isle of Wight”, said Tom insolently |
| “I presented my case to the judge” | BRIEF | “I presented my case to the judge”, said Tom briefly |
| “I always pray to St Ignatius” | LOYAL | “I always pray to St Ignatius”, said Tom loyally |
| “This fowl has been stuffed” | SAGE | “This fowl has been stuffed”, said Tom sagely |
The final piece of the puzzle, is the misprinted definitions which give the phrase GIVEN A SHOCK which, I believe, is how you’d feel if you were tasered.
There was a lot going on in this puzzle and I enjoyed it immensely many thanks to Phi whose puzzles are usually very entertaining – keep ’em coming. As I write this, I’m sure that there was more that I was going to say but can’t for the life of me remember – I certainly look forward to readers’ comments.
| Across |
|||
| No. | Clue | Entry | Wordplay |
| 1 | “I work at a bank” | TELLING | (see above) |
| 8 | Get drug in deal | COPE | COP (get)+E (drug) |
| 11 | Boisterous expression no longer a jinx, Director having left | HOO-OO | HOOdOO (jinx; minus Director) |
| 12 | “This boat is leaking” | BALEFUL | (see above) |
| 13 | “It’s half a score” | OFTEN | (see above) |
| 14 | Italian leader’s party, say, facing setback | DOGE | DO (party)+EG (say; rev: facing setback) |
| 16 | “The radio reception is much better now” | ECSTATIC | (see above) |
| 17 | Teas? It swallows a large quantity, on reflection | ASSAMS | SA (sex appeal; it) containing MASS rev: on reflection |
| 18 | Pancake: investigator recalled eating rear | CRUMPET/TRUMPET | TEC (investigator; rev: recalled) containing RUMP (rear) |
| 19 | Hide view containing most of island | SECRETE/SECRETA | SEE (view) containing CRETe (island; most of) |
| 21 | One using gun, carrying article that’s not as loaded | FAIRER | FIRER (one using gun) containing A (article) |
| 22 | A state of bewilderment, having lost a tool | ADZE | A DaZE (state of bewilderment) minus A |
| 23 | Commit crime in front of fashionable crimefighter | ROBIN/ROSIN (from Batman and Robin) |
ROB (commit crime)+IN (fashionable) |
| 26 | Judge’s account backed by detective | CADI | ACcount (rev: backed)+DI (detective [inspector]) |
| 28 | End of day events ultimately not firmed up | SUNSET | eventS (ultimately)+UNSET (not firmed up) |
| 30 | Shot capturing final historic sculptor | PLASTIC/ELASTIC | PIC (shot: photograph) containing LAST (final) |
| 31 | Pattered after women in thick clothing | WRAPPED/WRAPPER | Women+RAPPED (pattered) |
| 32 | One beating fellow’s succeeded, coming first | SMITER | MISTER (fellow) Succeeded moving to the front. |
| 34 | “I’m sailing near the Isle of Wight” | INSOLENT | (see above) |
| 38 | Top weapon knocking man’s head back | ACME | MACE (weapon) Man’s head moves backwards |
| 39 | “I presented my case to the judge” | BRIEF | (see above) |
| 40 | Wagner role: tenor’s star in broadcast | TRISTAN | Tenor+STAR IN (anag: broadcast) |
| 41 | “I always pray to St Ignatius” | LOYAL | (see above) |
| 42 | “This fowl has been stuffed” | SAGE | (see above) |
| 43 | What purification will do inclines to occupy church | CLEANSE | LEANS (inclines) inside CE (church) |
| Down |
|||||
| No. | Clue | Entry | Misprint |
Corrected letter |
Wordplay |
| 2 | Drunk mostly clutching to upturned ornament | LOTUS | LUSh (drunk; mostly)containing TO (rev: upturned) | ||
| 3 | Reduction in deposit Aberdonian rewards with benevolence | LOES | reWards->reGards | G |
LOESs (deposit; reduced) |
| 4 | Current broadcast no more – product of sonic bonding | IONOMER | Sonic->Ionic | I |
I (current)+NO MORE (anag: broadcast) |
| 5 | People without coder? Pushes cancelling programming, ultimately | NUDES | coDer->coVer | V |
NUDgES (pushes; minus programminG [ultimately]) |
| 6 | Fir fashioned into spare pike | GARFISH/HAGSRFI | GASH (spare) containing FIR (anag: fashioned) | ||
| 7 | Hidden decay to strike (core’s turned) | BLET | BELT (core: middle two letters turned) | ||
| 8 | Warm whipped cream is surrounding top of cake | CERAMICS | warM->warE | E |
CREAM IS (anag: whipped) containing Cake (top of) |
| 9 | Paid player suitable to display boot | PROFIT/OFITPR | PROfessional (paid player)+FIT (suitable) | ||
| 10 | Coils in Kabul I left in excited state, with switch | PULI | coiLs->coiNs | N |
I Left+UP (in excited state) (rev: with switch) |
| 15 | American electronic data’s opening with post application | USED | pOst->pAst | A |
US (American)+Electronic+Data (opening) |
| 20 | Person at sea not quite ready to make return | RESPONSE | PERSON (anag: at sea)+SEt (ready; not quite) | ||
| 24 | Inflammable liquid ending in blaze during early part of play? | ACETONE/OTEECAN | ACT ONE (early part of play) containing blazE (ending) | ||
| 25 | Napoleon in later days turning up worthy of title | NAMABLE | ELBA MAN (Napoloeon in later days) rev: turning up | ||
| 27 | Glim: term for eye in old poem | DIET | Glim->Slim | S |
DIT (old poem) containing eyE (term: an end) (I didn’t actually justify this one until I came to do the blog) |
| 29 | Examining lack of time in movie process | CASING/NASCIG | CAStING (movie process) minus Time | ||
| 32 | Joist’s modified iron, by the sound of it | STEAL | Joist->Hoist | H |
STEEL (modified iron; homophone: by the sound of it) |
| 33 | Exotic money, money involving unknown quantities repeatedly? | TYIYN | TIN (money) containing Y (unknown) repeatedly | ||
| 35 | Campo’s favourite source of nutrition’s golden article | NORA (Nora Batty and Compo are characters in Last of the Summer Wine) |
cAmpo->cOmpo | O |
Nutrition (source of)+OR (golden)+A (article) |
| 36 | Section of sherry maybe seen in pool at harbour | LATH | Sherry->Cherry | C |
pooL AT Harbour (hidden: seen in) |
| 37 | Bard, at sea, favouring introduction of Arden | PROA | barD->barK | K |
PRO (favouring)+Arden (introduction of) |
I got further with this than with any Inquisitor recently, but I had a head start. Unlike our blogger, I saw what was going on with the theme early on. I knew of Tom Swift, knew how he’d given his name to the Taser and knew of the Tom Swiftly jokes. This made a lot of the puzzle easy. Still, I couldn’t quite work out what was going on with the scrambled answers. (Was there any method to how they’d been scrambled?) And there were a couple of answers on the right that I couldn’t get.
Incidentally, did I look in the wrong place or is “taser” not defined in Chambers 12th ed.? (I haven’t got the new edition yet.)
Hi Dormouse – TASER is in our on-line edition of Chambers but we had no knowledge of Tom Swift or his jokes so needed a google search to pull everything together.
We enjoyed the theme and the solve but also were somewhat perplexed about the scrambled answers too.
After a couple of tough puzzles we found this a slightly easier solve!
Thanks to Phi and kenmac for a super blog!
An oasis of relative ease in recent Inquisitors (Tom said drily?) – although it would have been easier still if I weren’t an idiot having early on confidently put in NOTABLE at 25D (remembering the famous palindrome ‘able was I ere I saw Elba’), completely ignoring that it didn’t fit the clue, and then getting annoyed with Phi for seemingly using two words at 30A and 32A that were so obscure they didn’t exist in any dictionaries.
A rather lovely puzzle. It’s always a pleasure to learn something new from a crossword, and the Tom Swifty is definitely worth knowing of.
I was slightly hmmmm about hoooo and I’m guessing the ‘shocked’ words were a necessary feature to make the grid work – it can’t be easy with the left and right columns set in place from the start and TASER appearing in the centre.
I found this an enjoyable change from recent Inquisitors although it was still a struggle to complete as I had no knowledge of the theme. Like kenmac I worked out that TASER was the only realistic option for 18d and then the rest followed quickly (if not “swiftly”). I had reservations about the answer to 23a as all I could think of was Robin Hood – hardly a crimefighter – so thanks to kenmac for reminding me of the Caped Crusader and his assistant. I was also unsure about changing BARD to BARK as my mental picture of the latter vessel is nothing like a PROA. However, I see that Chambers also defines it as a poetic description of any boat or sailing ship. I suspect Phi’s use of Arden in the clue is a hint towards this from Tennyson’s poem “Enoch Arden”.
Thanks to Phi and kenmac. Thanks also kenmac for using the gridlines which I suspect may have ben in response to our exchanges of two weeks ago.
Like others I found this a welcome respite from some recent puzzles although I had the advantage of having been an avid reader of Tom Swift books when I was a nipper and having regularly played a game based on Tom Swifties with a group of friends (I was always rather proud of my own “Would somebody PLEASE pick these babies up from the floor”, said Tom, once again avoiding the issue.) I also could see no pattern to the jumbled words and like OPAtrick@3 assumed that the jumbles were necessitated by the grid. Many thanks to Phi for a hugely enjoyable puzzle (by which I mean ‘one that I managed to complete’) and to kenmac for the blog.
Very enjoyable, this one, and for me at least learning that Tom Swift and TASER were linked was news. The Tom Swifty jokes were an easy find, though, since a very, very recent Magpie was all about ‘Tom Swifties’. BALEFUL(ly) was rather good. I love a pun.
Wonderful puzzle. I learned a lot and had great fun along the way – precisely what an Inquisitor should be
I see we’re back to level 5 with schadenfreude this week, mindJust as a point of order, let’s reserve comments on next week’s puzzle until next week as some people may not have tackled it yet. kenmac
Glad you found it easy-as so often solved a dozen clues and then came to a full stop-struggling almost always to make a breakthrough
Gordon Fisher, I can’t talk for others on here but for me ‘easy’ is very much a relative term. I got just enough to suggest Thomas A Swift was likely and then stuck it into Google – kerching! The rest fell into place.
I’ve had almost as much fun reading the comments as I did doing the puzzle! I especially like BF@5 and bingybong@7, and I can completely understand OPatrick@3 entering ‘notable’. I did the same. But, anyway, definitely a welcome(ish) break from the recent difficulty level, and a thoroughly amusing theme. I’d never heard of Tom Swift, and it took me a few readings to fully understand the Wiki entry, but when I finally got it (or perhaps ‘nailed it’ is a better term), the italicised clues fell into place with a chuckle every time.
Great fun! And an excellent blog!! I chuckled again on seeing the Tom Swifties.
Thanks
ELECTRIC RIFLE appeared quite early for me, immediately leading to THOMAS A SWIFT’s & TASER on the one hand, and the adverbial puns on the other. So it was all over very quickly.
But thanks to kenmac for explaining ROBIN at 23a. (I recall that Phi had a puzzle about a year ago with The Penguin featuring thematically – does he have a Batman ‘thing’?)
PS to Ken (& others): I support the editorial intervention in the comment @7 – it’s really not appropriate to refer to currently active puzzles in such a manner on this site.
There’s a blog up on the puzzle here: http://phionline.net.nz/setters-blogs/the-man-with-a-gun/
It explains why I resorted to jumbles, and suggests that, if you enjoyed Tom Swifties, you might want to revisit the blog later this month.
My breakthrough was when I had “crumpet”, “robin” and “wrapped” which led to few possible 18d options; “taser” sprang instantly to mind. Mr. Bareback confesses to having used Wikipedia for what “taser” meant, and the rest of the crossword fell to pieces at that moment.
It’s all on whether you’re a fan of Tom Swifties or not. (“Call that a knife?” said Dundee, cuttingly. “I’ve installed a bundle of low-level C routines,” he reported, glibly.) They were fun to decode — I particularly liked “insolent” — which gave enough interconnections as for the rest of it to fall easily.
I did have trouble with “acetone”, but the PDM made up for it, and I never did get 6d or 33d (I was fairly sure it had to be “tyiyn” but didn’t believe such a word existed, and as I lend not to look things up I left it blank. And I had completely forgotten “gash” for “spare” from my early days as an electronic engineer.
There were some old favourites: “acme” and “adze” which I filled in practically before having read the clues, and I’m still unhappy with “hoooo” which I deduced from the wordplay. But apart from that, a nice easy crossword which I almost finished.
Oh, and Phi: I read your blog: “I’d always thought you tased in the same way you lased – but no, there was an acronym involved.”
But laser itself is an acronym: “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”, is it not?
Good fun indeed. It’s years since I’ve had the luck to guess what was going on from the preamble and a glance at the special clues … but I knew about Tom Swifties* and once upon a time added “Thomas [A] Swift’s Electric Rifle” to the Stunner entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. So, very grateful to Phi for making me feel briefly clever — Nimrod reliably makes me feel thick.
* Phi, a man of impeccable taste, steered clear of the legendary ‘”I’m into homosexual necrophilia,” said Tom in dead earnest.’
Instead Phi merely implied that we should put the TASER down, quite disarmingly.
I really enjoyed this puzzle, and got the furthest I have ever managed for an IQ (three clues got the better of me). I had never heard of Tom Swift but enjoyed finding out about him and his punning ways!
Many thanks, Phi
I enjoyed this one a lot, managed to finish it and even got round to entering. I wasn’t able to get hold of an Indie this weekend to check the winners though, is there any other way of finding this information please?
For Loumo: #1339 winners as reported under Saturday’s #1341 “Circling the Square”, which I [REDACTED], are Neville Twickel, Nancy Epton and Mrs N Clewes. None of whom, alas, is me.
And I am none of them either. Curses. Thank you!