Kruger is a regular setter of Inquisitor puzzles, with several offerings to his name this year.
Today’s preamble read:
Before entry, answers to eleven clues should be modified to depict ways that would help to address an emergency. The definition in each of thirteen other clues, whose entries each begin in a different column, contains a single letter misprint. The correct letters can be arranged to give another potential aid which must be written below the grid. Numbers in brackets refer to grid entries which are all real words or proper nouns.
The reference at the close to numbers in brackets referring to grid entries was a very strong hint that the answers for the modified entries were going to be either too big or small for the space allocated. As it turned out, we would get a mix of both.
Most of the clues being gimmick-less, as expected I found them to be moderately tough, though always fair with only one I’m left with a question mark beside – 4d, as noted below. The modified entries often offering little in the way of checking letters added another layer of complication, though the misprints were pretty forthcoming, the fact that they started in different columns giving the solver confidence in the other entries.
The modified answers at first seemed to be a strange mix – the first ones I got were ones where we had to add the names of trees to get the grid entry, but I swiftly added to that TIDE. SUN and WIND, which looked suspiciously like being forms of renewable energy.
Crisis Management therefore seemed likely to be referring to the topical, given COP27, Climate Emergency. The forms of renewable energy and, presumably, planting of trees being things that would help. The full list of things added is as follows:
TIDE
SUN
WIND
ATOM (atomic power, presumably)
OAK
ALDER
ELM
ASH
I puzzled over what would turn out to be my last three in, until the penny dropped and I realised that these grid entries were actually shorter than the clued answer. What was lacking were things that should be ditched to help alleviate the emergency:
OIL
COAL
GAS
Finally, we were asked to anagram the correct letters from misprints to give a further aid that should be written under the grid. This was clearly CARBON CAPTURE, confirming the list of misprints.
All of which fell together nicely, the thematic material coming together in a very satisfying manner. I also appreciate a clearly defined endgame, so thanks to Kruger for an interesting, enjoyable offering.
| Clue | Misprint | Answer | Entry (when modified) | Wordplay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Across | |||||
| 1 | Ed’s alarms are mostly safe going off (6) | AFEARS | Anagram of ARE and SAFe without the E | ||
| 6 | Generation keen to leave borders (7) | AGE | WINDAGE | eAGEr without the borders | |
| 12 | Foes endlessly push on, taking Italy in silence (8) | E | PREMIUMS | PRESs about I in MUM (Def: fees) | |
| 13 | Chapter in story about brilliant display (5) | ECLAT | Reversal of TALE about C (chapter, presumably, though I can’t find it in Chambers) | ||
| 14 | Capture American lord (7) | LAND | OAKLAND | Double definition | |
| 16 | Unknown and complex form of genetic material (4) | ZDNA | Z + an anagram of AND | ||
| 17 | The set went back (4) | A | DEEP | Reversal of PEED (Def: sea) | |
| 18 | Sheila’s suitcase containing money from the east found beside electronic part of furnace (6) | TROMPE | A reversal of PORT (in Australia a bag or suitcase) containing M (money) followed by E (electronic) | ||
| 20 | Marauder forgetting about broken part of organ (7) | EARDRUM | An anagram of MARaUDER without one A (about) | ||
| 24 | Timed lab’s latest brief analysis (5) | R | BANAL | B ANAL (analysis) (Def: tired) | |
| 25 | Cut no longer seen dressed (4) | SNEE | An anagram of SEEN | ||
| 26 | Precious metal in US state left abruptly abandoned (6) | ORE | ASHORE | OREgon without GONe (left “abruptly”) | |
| 27 | Only America provides muscle (6) | SOLEUS | SOLE US | ||
| 29 | Authority to take action over debt’s reportedly of little value (4) | LIEN | Sounds like LEAN | ||
| 31 | Gird Earl with jolly clothing (5) | B | VEERY | VE(E)RY (Def: bird) | |
| 34 | One legion doing away with millions (7) | ANY | ANATOMY | mANY | |
| 35 | Tennis player possibly playing reverse cut (6) | SERVER | An anagram of REVERSe | ||
| 38 | Fault in five diamonds (4) | VICE | V ICE | ||
| 42 | Drunk bishop dismissed timorous local (4) | EERY | bEERY | ||
| 43 | Tumour’s discharge in the body (7) | SARCOMA | ARC (discharge) contained by SOMA | ||
| 44 | Riot arranged to enrol one of three involved in it (5) | TROILIST | TRIST | An anagram of RIOT + LIST (enrol) – one involved in sexual activity with two others. | |
| 45 | Former Secretary to the Admiralty ignores variable savings schemes (8) | PEPS | PEPTIDES | PEPyS, who was apparently Secretary to the Admiralty to give an abbreviation for Personal Equity Plans | |
| 46 | Surrounded odd character in close (7) | ENCASED | EN CASE D | ||
| 47 | Leader of expedition set forth properly (6) | T | ESTATE | E (leader of expedition) + STATE (set forth) (Def: property) | |
| Down | |||||
| 2 | Convert from Turkey entering battle (6) | N | FRATRY | TR (Turkey) contained by FRAY (Def: convent) | |
| 3 | Third of fish increased twenty-fold in streams (4) | C | EEKS | EELS -> EEKS, L (50) x 20 (Def: screams) | |
| 4 | Overturning form, perhaps Yemeni’s rash (4) | C | RIAL | LAIR reversed – a form can be a bed for hares, so presumably a LAIR??? (Def: Yemeni’s cash) | |
| 5 | Be familiar with majority of county (6) | KEN | SUNKEN | KENt | |
| 7 | Man, for example, lives life extravagantly from the start (4) | ISLE | IS + the first letters of Life and Extravagantly | ||
| 8 | Root, following on, lost nerve. Not again! (9) | NEVERMORE | MORE (a root) following an anagram (lost) of NERVE | ||
| 9 | Marshal from Japan’s ready for ascent (8) | NEY | ALDERNEY | A reversal of YEN, to give good old Marshal Ney | |
| 10 | Found gunge absent in source of Ure (6) | O | GANGUE | An anagram (found – cast) of GUNGE and A (absent) (Def: ore) | |
| 11 | Elevated gallery in bank (4) | R | ETAT | TATE reversed (Def: rank) | |
| 12 | Loco part made in China (4) | COALPORT | PORT | An anagram of LOCO PART to give the name of a type of patterned porcelain made in, yes, Coalport | |
| 15 | Dance in prison (5) | LIMBO | Double definition | ||
| 17 | Marksman’s horrible deed? Aye (7) | DEADEYE | An anagram of DEED and AYE | ||
| 19 | Stones through walls: standard defence positions (9) | PARPOINTS | PAR POINTS (defence positions in lacrosse) | ||
| 21 | Refuse very large vessel entry to Europort (4) | MEGASSE | MESE | MEGA SS (vessel) E – dry refuse in sugar making | |
| 22 | Local girl acting in festival (4) | GALA | GAL A (acting) | ||
| 23 | In command after bogus threat exaggerated (8) | THEATRIC | An anagram of THREAT + IC | ||
| 28 | Tyne’s extremely rich in part (5) | U | LYRIC | Hidden in extemeLY RICh (Def: tune) | |
| 30 | Assistant physician repeatedly following broadcast (6) | INTERN | Sounds like IN TURN | ||
| 32 | Get safely away from El Salvador promontory (6) | ESCAPE | ES CAPE | ||
| 33 | Favourite regiment’s withdrawn from ancient city (6) | PET | PELMET | PETra without the RA, who are one of “two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army”. | |
| 36 | Rugs in middle of playroom, on reflection, are special (4) | RYAS | RY from the centre of plaYRoom, reversed + A (are) S (special) | ||
| 37 | Measure boundary (4) | METE | Double definition | ||
| 39 | Successfully deal with company on Prince Edward Island (4) | COPE | CO + PE (an abbreviation for Prince Edward Island) | ||
| 40 | Sort out ten fragments villager’s left over? (4) | A | ORTS | An anagram of SORT (Def: tea fragments) | |
| 41 | Non-pejorative term for fellow American cop (4) | P | SODA | SOD A (Def: pop) |
So near yet so far.
Got CARBON CAPTURE ok
Then ALDER (first tree in)ASH OAK ELM
Then SUN
I saw 12 was PORT and smelt COAL but thought it might be COPORTAL
So thanks for the GAS, OIL and WIND (I had LINEAGE)
I’m still a rookie at these!
A longish haul here, but I enjoyed the journey. All thanks to Kruger and Jon_S. Rabbit hole of the week for me was the guess that ?EERY at 31A was an unusual female name, giving GIRL as the correction of GIRD, unfortunately providing an L which with the other scattered letters I then had persuaded me that “another potential aid” was something NUCLEAR. However, it all worked out in the end.
Somehow I guessed ‘carbon capture’ long before I had proper evidence, which helped a little. I checked out with all the trees and renewables, and a big question mark over three clues.
Thanks to Jon_S for the very satisfying answer, and to Kruger for a clever (slightly too clever for me) challenge.
An enjoyable puzzle with plenty of self-inflicted dead ends…a common occurrence, I’m sure, but there’s nothing wrong with recycling! Due to the order of solution of entries the theme evolved from islands, to trees (as with copmus, I had a LINE at 6ac, and was convinced there must be a SUN tree, before conceding that an ATOM tree sounded far fetched), to adding letters to short answers, before finally spotting TROILIST. Still work to do…there are so many trees to choose from!
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Like most solvers I had a few trees to start with, making the emergency somewhat obscure, but like Neil+Hunter I guessed carbon capture early and together with SUN and ATOM the theme became obvious.
The shortened answers took the longest to sort out, but I had run out of space for longer ones and knew there must be reductions as well. Luckily the obvious answers of COAL OIL and GAS were indeed correct, which made it possible to finish.
Overall hard but fair, although I needed to confer with my Inquisitor partner Pearl to deduce the last few entries.
Thank you to both setter and blogger.
A fun puzzle, with some great clues (I particularly liked the device used in 3D for the L to K switch forming EEKS from EELS – very clever that was). Sadly, due to a sudden surfeit of free-to-view Association Football on my television, I ran out of time with six clues left to solve. So another DNF recorded by me again this week, but a really engaging Inquisitor nevertheless – very topical too.
Rather enjoyed this, so thanks Kruger.
As with others, first a mix of renewables & trees, then a head-scratch followed by – ah, yes – removals.
Jon_S: I too had the “form” (hare) to LAIR link in 4d; slightly loose but OK.
As to 13a, C for “chapter”, it is in Chambers under “c or c. … caput (L), chapter …”
Thanks for the blog.
I’ve been attempting to catch up on a few unfinished IQs from 2022 and completed (ish) this one today. Sorry Kruger, but I found this disappointing. I think I would lay much of the blame with the blurb: I don’t see how inserting ‘SUN’, for example, would “depict ways to help” the climate emergency. After filling 99% of the grid and listing the modified entries that I had found, I was able to hazard a guess at renewable energy but the whole thing seemed rather a stretch and I entirely failed to spot the answers that needed removal of a thematic word.