Being a natural pessimist, I had visions that my first blog would end up being for a puzzle by Dimitry, Kea or Oxymoron (Schadenfreude’s EV pseudonym), so seeing it was by Syd Lexis was a bit of a relief. The carte blanche grid did sow some seeds of doubt, but at least there were no missing/extra letters/words or misprints to worry about; if nothing else that would make the blog straightforward and there would be no fancy colouring, well not much as it turned out.
Syd normally provides a bit of fun, and has done a number of puzzles where a long word has to be changed or added, creating new words in the process. A fairly recent one was EV 710 back in 2006 and was called Boring, where the word ASYMMETRICAL needed to be added to make new words, and to change the grid from a symmetrical (boring) pattern into an asymmetrical one.
This puzzle seemed to be in a similar vein, and the central across word being only 6 letters in a 13×13 grid with 180° symmetry confirmed this suspicion. It soon became clear that the central column was empty, with words jumping across the gap. On completion of the grid, a version of HOBSON’S CHOICE needed to be filled here, giving new words in, or justified by, Chambers. So putting an N in QUADRAT, an A, I or O in STRING, an A in TINTING and an L at the end of CHANCE gave NO ALTERNATIVE a bit too quickly, but this week I’m not grumbling.
I found the clues fairly straightforward, and many don’t need much commentary from me below. For the clue number I have shown the sequential number of the clue as printed followed by the number it would have in a fully barred and numbered grid (only bars were required for an entry).
Solving time: just over 2 hours, which is very quick for me. An enjoyable, if easy, puzzle which I think novices would have had fun with.
Legend:
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
blue letter from central column in grid
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | QUADRANT | QUA+DR+AT | a small area cordoned off for investigation of plant/animal life; qua = ‘in the capacity of’ (Latin adverbial ablative feminine … who am I to argue) |
| 2 | 7 | FAITH | I in FAT+H | trust |
| 3 | 11 | STORING | STRIN(E)+G(UT) | line; Strine = Australian, and needs to be spoken in an Aussie accent for full effect |
| 4 | 12 | ASSAY | AS+SAY | old word for tempt; say = old woollen fabric like serge |
| 5 | 13 | TAINTING | TINT+ING | colouring; tint is past active/participle of tine = lose (Scottish); ing = meadow |
| 6 | 15 | CHANCEL | ENHANCE with C for EN | opportunity; EN = Enrolled Nurse |
| 7 | 16 | ASTIS | yeAST IS needed | wines; I’m not sure if ‘needed’ is part of the container or a linking word; whatever, I happen not to like hidden clues where the answer’s start/end coincides with the start/end of a word in the clue |
| 8 | 19 | PESTO | POE’S* | an American currency; American is Central, South or Mexican, rather than Poe’s US |
| 9 | 20 | MIME | MIM+E | a buffoon; mim = demure in Scotland (eg in Holyrood), e is the logarithmic base |
| 10 | 21 | IDLE | LIED* | vain |
| 11 | 23 | STEALER | S+TALER | more impaired by age or time; a taler/thaler is an old German silver coin |
| 12 | 25 | NOB | 2 meanings | head and a person of wealth |
| 13 | 27 | SOURSES | SOUS+E+S | gets drunk; S = son(s) |
| 14 | 28 | EAT | EA+T | upset; T = surface tension |
| 15 | 29 | INTONED | T(ENS)IONED* | with toes (piggies) turned in; ens = being or existence |
| 16 | 31 | SERR | S+ERR | press close |
| 17 | 33 | BENE | BENE(T) | prayer; benet = exorcist |
| 18 | 34 | CAABA | AB in CA | shopping bag in the US (eg in Los Angeles) |
| 19 | 36 | ADDED | ADD(L)ED | summed up |
| 20 | 38 | TSAMBAS | S+AMBA(N)S | dances; ambans are Chinese resident officials in a dependency |
| 21 | 40 | PRECEPIT | PR+E(X)CEPT | commandment; PR = press release; X is the second ‘item’ in ‘extraordinary’ |
| 22 | 42 | TUANS | UT<+ANS | title of respect in Malaya; ut = as |
| 23 | 43 | SCARVES | CARE in SS | becomes frightened; aboard = in SS (one day it’ll be something else) |
| 24 | 44 | SCION | SONIC* | offshoot or descendant |
| 25 | 45 | PERILLED | RILL in PED | formed pellets, eg by melting and solidifying into droplets; ped = mass of soil |
| Down | ||||
| 26 | 1 | QUACKING | C in QUAKING | charlatan’s action |
| 27 | 2 | UNSHADOWED | (HOW A SUDDEN)* | revealed |
| 28 | 3 | ASSAIL | AS+SAIL | attach; sail = project |
| 29 | 4 | DUAN | DU+AN(D) | part of a poem |
| 30 | 5 | ATTEST | A+T(RAINEE)+TEST | join up / enrol |
| 31 | 6 | NO ALTERNATIVE | HOBSON’S CHOICE | |
| 32 | 7 | FINAGLED | I+NAG in FLED | obtained by guile or swindling; I don’t think I knew it was spelt that way |
| 33 | 8 | ANTS | ANTS(Y) | insects; ecandate = tailless, but it’s the ‘excited’ that becomes tailless not the insects |
| 34 | 9 | TIN | TI+N | money; two notes |
| 35 | 10 | HUGS | H+UGS | skirts; ug = loathe |
| 36 | 11 | SYCE | clasSY CEremony | Indian groom or attendant |
| 37 | 14 | IDO | IDO(L) | an international language developed from Esperanto; tre agrabla |
| 38 | 17 | TIRE | 2 meanings | wear out, and furniture à la Shakespeare |
| 39 | 18 | IMPARLANCE | (CRIMEA PLAN)* | parleying or conference |
| 40 | 20 | MESS | ME+SS | haul of fish in the US (eg near Cape Cod); Me is Maine (one of 8 US states beginning with M) |
| 41 | 21 | ESNE | SEEN* | good old esne, a slave |
| 42 | 23 | SOTADEAN | (ONE’S DATA)* | relating to Sotades, a lascivious Greek poet |
| 43 | 24 | STRESSED | (DESSERT+S)< | experienced anxiety |
| 44 | 26 | BIND | B+IND | chafe |
| 45 | 30 | EASTER | E+ASTER | an easterner, especially in the US, eg from Boston; aster = old (former) word for star |
| 46 | 32 | EMBAIL | EM+BAIL | encircle to Spenser; quad = quadrat, a piece of type metal used in spacing words, such as an em or en |
| 47 | 34 | COP | 2 meanings | get and head |
| 48 | 35 | BATS | 2 meanings | foreign lingoes and crazy |
| 49 | 36 | APES | (T)APE+S(PITE) | imitators |
| 50 | 37 | ECCO | (S)ECCO | there; secco = plain or dry (like wine) |
| 51 | 39 | MULL | 2 meanings | ponder and crumble |
| 52 | 41 | ROC | (C)ROC(K) | fabulous bird; crock is a jar, so ‘nesting in a jar’ is an indirect hidden, but pretty easy |