Inquisitor 129 TWENTY20 CRICKET by Loda

Wow! Tremendous stuff from Loda! A puzzle with 20  across and 20 down clues where all the answers were 6 letter words corresponding to the balls in an over, using vowels as scoring shots and W’s as wickets. Quite amazing.

Ba gave up with the cry “Oh no!  I can’t stand anything to do with cricket”. You couldn’t do this one without a knowledge of cricket (and of the T20 rules ?), though the clues did not require any specific cricketing knowledge to solve them. The clues were pretty taxing though.

Each clue contained an extra word (googlie!) and these spelled out the final instruction. After a number of false dawns I eventually decoded

WHEN THE GAME IS OVER HIGHLIGHT THE MATCH RESULT

The “normal” part of the crossword is explained below. Remember that W is not mentioned in the wordplay. The cricket scorecard and match result is below the table.

Across
	“Googlie”
1	Walks	TWO-WAY -T(he) + O(z) +AY
2	Hayden	BESTOW – BEST (first) + O (ball)
3	Elements	(R)OUSTED
4	New	TALION – T(eam-mate) + A(ustralian) + LION
5	Throws	SWINGS – SINGS = celebrates
6	Hectic	DIGEST – D(ead) + [IT’S E.G.]*
7	Enticer	ENABLE – BANE rev. + L(ength) + (Pan)E(sar)
8	Ground	ELVERS – I liked “Murray’s offspring” as a definition! [REL(ie)VES]*
9	Aussie	SCRYER – another good definition “one looks into ball”: S(eam) + RYE in CR(own)
10	Misfield	RE-EDIT – ER rev. + TIDE rev. – clue is not quite accurate.
11	Expensive	WHORTS – [SHORT]*
12	Ian	BROWNS – B(owle)R + ON (leg side) + S(quare)
13	Symonds	HOLIST – L + IS in HOT
14	One	AGUISE – new word to me! A + GUISE
15	Volley	LIMBOS – another good definition! S + LIMBS round (b)O(uncers)
16	Eighth	REVIEW – VI in REE
17	Ricky	HEWERS – (C)heers!
18	Hussey	SIERRA – hidden in bossier railed
19	Innings	STARVE – R in STAVE
20	Gilchrist	WINNOW – a fan: [IN ON]*
Down
1	Hick	TITLES – TIT (= nag) + LES (Dawson)
2	Lamb	OWL-CAR – a night tram! [LOCA(l) R]*
3	Into	WHITBY – HIT + BY
4	Ground	YONDER – hidden in latterly on Derek
5	Having	BUSIER – [BUSIE(r)]* – liked “crease” as an anagram indicator!
6	Tonked	STIEVE – Scottish word for “firmly” – STEVE (Waugh) round I
7	Team	TENSED – [NETS E(nfiel)D]*
8	Hogg	WISEST – [(inn)I(ngs) SETS]*
9	Eventually	LAUNCH – LAH round UN + C(rease)
10	Matt’s	HOWLET – didn’t know this version of owlet, but another fun definition: HOLE + T
11	Additional	ERG-TEN – ergs (work) to the power of 10! E(i)G(h)T(e)E(n) round R + N(ote)
12	Taylor	INSERT – a “flier” inserted in a magazine? [RESTIN(g)]*: “drops leading edge off Gower” is a brilliant way to remove a G!!
13	Conditions	WHARFS – “Cutters” are boats in this context! FR reversed in H(ard) A(rea) S(trip)
14	Hoggard	OLIVIA – O(ver) + LA (= lo)  round IV I (4 + 1)
15	Relations	RIMIER – RIM + IE + (keepe)R
16	Energy	STOWRE – a battle or assault: STORE = keep in reserve
17	Slip	BASHAW – BASH + A(ustralian)
18	Umpire	OUTWIN  – Spenserian: OUT(re) + IN
19	Last	WIVERN – [VER NI]* – over nine less “one”
20	Taken	SEESAW – SEE + (pom)S  + A

 

The cricket match is scored with vowels as scoring strokes, W as wickets and consonants as “dot” balls:

Australia:

1) .W4W16 2) .2..4W 3) 45..2. 4) .1.34. 5) .W3… 6) .3.2.. 7) 2.1..2 8) 2..2.. 9) …62. 10) .22.3.

11) W.4… 12) ..4W.. 13) .4.3.. 14) 1.53.2 15) .3..4. 16) .2.32W 17) .2W2.. 18) .32..1 19) ..1..2   20) W3..4W

Score: 128 all out on the last ball

England:

1).3..2. 2) 4W..1. 3) W.3..6 4) 64..2. 5) .5.32. 6) ..32.2 7) .2..2. 8) W3.2.. 9) .15… 10) .4W.2.

11) 2…2. 12) 3..2.. 13) W.1… 14) 4.3.31 15) .3.32. 16) ..4W.2 17) .1..1W 18) 45.W3. 19) W3.2.. 20) .22.1W 

Score: 128 all out on the last ball

So the result was a TIE which can be found in STIEVE and is to be highlighted (if my calculations are correct!). If my calculations are wrong, you could also find E WIN or A WIN at the bottom with the WIN of WINNOW, which is interesting!

I am unclear about what happens in the current World Cup in the event of a tie. Are the points shared in the group stages and super-8 phases? They couldn’t be in the knockout stage, so there is a bit of a question hanging over the result. Brilliant fun though and I am sure someone with more cricket information will correct me if I have missed something!