A quick comment that I’m glad I didn’t have last weeks blog, What You’ve Got to Do by Syd Lexis; it looks like I made a complete Horlicks of the final step! Luckily, this week’s puzzle seemed pretty straightforward with two types of adjustments being required to ten answers before entry and then a little bit of highlighting at the end; it turned out to be a really little bit!
I decided not to scan all the clues in order, mainly because I only had one answer after attacking the first dozen or so clues. So I adopted a more focussed approach, and gradually saw some progress. Not being a cricket fan, Neville Cardus didn’t jump out at me, but pretty soon, TESTEE and ASSESS being too long for their entry indicated that double letters at the end had to be entered as singles. RIPER, MATER and BARED, being too short for their entries were probably to be entered with doubled-up letters to give RIPPER, MATTER and BARRED.
I wish I could say that I immediately thought of a Listener in 2006 with the same theme, but it took all the extra/missing letters, EURTRSCSPO, to give me PROCRUSTES before I twigged. In fact there have been at least two Listeners and an Independent with a Procrustean theme. I did however remember that he used a BED to stretch or shorten his victims, and there it was, three squares running up the NE diagonal from the centre of the grid.
Solving time: a little longer than it should probably have been, about 90 minutes.
Unfinished business: 16ac and 14dn
Legend:
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
X or Y = extra or missing letters for the ten letters of PROCRUSTES
| ACROSS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TESTEE | one sitting exam: EST (is in French) in TEE (support) |
| 6 | CARDUUS | his reports from Old Trafford: in scoreCARD USually; Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE (1888-1975), music and cricket writer |
| 12 | OLEIN | glycerine ester: [NIELLO (method of ornamenting metal) – one L (bit of liquid)]< |
| 13 | ORION | stars: (M)ORION (helmet without peak, ie without first letter) |
| 14 | BERETS | caps: BETS (predictions) involving RE (second pair in gREen); personally I would have said the second pair in ‘green’ was EE, the first pair being GR |
| 15 | SPOORS | tracks: POOR (not good) in SS (centre of maSSif) |
| 16 | DOOB | grass: DO (note) + OB (order??); this second part seems to be trying to be OBE |
| 19 | OMELETTE | dish: (R)OTTE(R) (unbounded cad, ie without ends) eating MEL (honey) E (English) |
| 21 | BARRED | naked: BA (graduate) + RED (raw, qv in Chambers) |
| 22 | BREATH | life: BREADTH (width) – D (depth) |
| 23 | AETHER | upper air: HEATER* |
| 27 | MATTER | mother: MASTER (employer) – S (son) |
| 30 | LORRAINE | girl: (LORINER + A)* |
| 32 | STARR | 2 meanings: rush & bond in Israel |
| 36 | POSSES | control: SS (ship) ES (letter) after PO (river) |
| 37 | SICCAN | chap from Syracuse (Sicily): SIAN (Jane, Welsh) outside C (cold) |
| 38 | MENSE | ornament (Scottish): MEN (fellows) + SE (starts to Salvage Early) |
| 39 | CATTY | spiteful: CA (about) + TOTTY (small child) – TO (most of TOy) |
| 40 | OOCYTES | fertile egg cells: (YES COOT)* |
| 41 | ASSESS | 2 meanings: judge & Jenny (female ass, humorous); hence double ? |
| DOWN | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 | ELEA | Greek colony: E (bit of Excellent) + LEA (pasture) |
| 3 | SERVER | one who starts play (tennis): VERSER (poet) with halves switched |
| 4 | TIED | restricted: sounds like TIDE (flow) |
| 5 | ENTREE | course: in betweEN TREEs; unfolded here means (I think) not enclosed, ie no outside; I don’t think I like it |
| 6 | COSET | subgroup: COST (what is outlaid, ie spent) outside E (European) |
| 7 | ARSY | lucky (Australian): AY (always) has RS (rupees) |
| 8 | RIPPER | more than ready: RIPE (grope, Scots) + R (danceR’s bottom) |
| 9 | DOODLE | 2 meanings: meaningless scribble & as in DOODLEBUG |
| 10 | UNROTTEN | in good nick: [TURNSTONE – S (top of Shoreline)]* |
| 11 | SIS | 2 meanings: American relative (sister) & expression of disgust (South Africa) |
| 14 | BAOBABS | tropical trees: ABBAS* hiding OBA (17dn); except I have one A too many! |
| 17 | OBA | West African chief: OB (old boy) + A |
| 18 | BAHREIN | Gulf state: BAHAI (Persian religion) – A (active) – I (independence) + REIN (govern); a less common spelling (at least in this country) of Bahrain |
| 20 | MAESTOSO | dignified: TEAMS* + O (round) + SO |
| 24 | TEA | tree: TEA(K) (cut down hardwood) |
| 25 | HORSEY | equine: HORS (outside, French) + EY(E) (observe, cropped) |
| 26 | ELUENT | liquid used for purification: [TOLUENE – O (oxygen)]* |
| 28 | ARNICA | treatment for this (ie bruises): CRANIA* |
| 29 | TINCTS | dyes: C (hundred) T (tons) in TINS (cans) |
| 31 | RUSES | tricks: USE(D) (mostly employed) in RS (middle of peRSia) |
| 33 | ESSE | existence: ESSENE (ascetic) – NE (Tyneside) |
| 34 | OCAS | wood sorrels: initials of Openly Cultivate American Sourwoods |
| 35 | LATE | out of office: L (liberal) + ATE (worried) |
| 36 | PROO | call (Scots): PROOF (evidence that convinces) – F (fellows) |
I didn’t do this EV but just looking at the two problem clues it’s almost as if they are part of a slightly different theme. They both seem sound if they are allowed to provide an extra letter. I can’t find any way of making them work.
To give the benefit of the doubt on 16a, OB could be either Order of Burma or order of battle, which are abbreviated in Wikipedia and/or the OED as OB. However, those are both pretty obscure.
Also, according to most of the info on the web, Procrustes used an IRON BED, and I did find the word IRON hidden in the grid. Was I overthinking things to highlight “iron” as well?
Colin, I suspect you’re right about extra letters. It’s as though the grid underwent some sort of surgery and the two clues weren’t adjusted. And, dr b, since your IRON is reversed in the second row, I think it’s just an accident. I’m afraid I have no insight into how much leeway the EV prize draw elves are allowed when checking solutions against their copy.