Enigmatic Variations No. 882 – Two Extremes by Oxymoron

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As seems usual for me these days the preamble turned out to be harder to follow than the puzzle. In the end it was a fairly straightforward puzzle once the penny had dropped. At some point part way through I got the bit about END and BEGINNING and worked out the two full quotations. This done the authors dropped in to place as the unclued entries. and the tentative down entries could be done in a darker pencil. I’m still a bit lost on the bit of the preamble that says, “[…] attributing numerically specific meanings to the interchanged words.”

One odd effect in having the position of the omitted letter as part of the enumeration was my inability to not interpret (5,2) as a two word answer! I did wonder if the positions were strictly necessary but maybe that would either be too difficult for an EV.

The omitted letters lead to, IN MY END IS MY BEGINNING said by MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, the seconds quotation is then IN MY BEGINNING IS MY END by THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT The two entry methods involved moving the initial two letters to just before the final letter and moving the final two letters to just after the initial letter.

The across answers are shown with the omitted letter shown in red. The down answers show the grid entry with the moved part is shown in red.

(XY Z)* anagram
X[Y]Z insertion
X[y]Z deletion
ZYX< reversal

Across
1 ANIMALCULAR A N MAL in URACIL*
10 PANAXES PA[N AXE]S pas = action
11 MEERCAT MEER CAT a meercat is also an old word for a monkey.
12 AGRIMONY A GRIM [NO<] Y
13 NEWLY ([o]NLY WE)*
14 DAYNT DAY NT day = lifetime.
16 PODSNAP POD’S N AP ref. Mr Podsap from Dicken’s Our Mutual Friend giving rise to the Chamber’s entry Podsnappery for a very British philistinism.
18 ORRIS [m]ORRIS
20 BAUSOND ABOUNDS* bausond = spotted, of an animal.
22 ALMOST A L[M]OST
23 SEEMLY SEE[M]LY seely = foolish
24 SEBIFIC S E[(I FIB)<]C EC is the IVR for Ecuador.
26 VISIE VIS[I]E visé is an old form of visa, an endorsement.
28 RINSING IR[o]NING’S*
30 TICHY TI CH Y tichy is an alternate spelling of titchy.
31 NATES ‘N’ ATE S
32 REFROZEN FOR[m]ER* ZEN
33 BOTTINE TIN in (TO BE)*
34 UNFITLY UN F[I T]LY fly = a type of stagecoach.
35 TELEMESSAGE LET< EME’S SAGE
Down
1 APADT A DA PT
2/19 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
3 LEMSON SOLE M N
4 CSOA SOC A soca is a form of dance music blending soul and calypso.
5 UENPRIS U[PRISE]N
6 LELOS L O SEL[f] losel = a rascal or worthless person.
8 PALARSIF PAR FAILS*
9 STYPOT S POTTY
15/7 THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT
17 XAEMITOA EXAM[in]ATIO[n]*
21 DWINREE R EDWIN E tent is a type of red wine. Edwin was the king of what would become Northumbria in the early 600s.
23 SURABD A B[S]URD
25 EIRFFE E FF IE< R ff = fecerunt, (they) made it. Effeir = Scots for show or appearance.
26 VIANL A N VI L a tinsmith’s stake is a type on anvil.
27 MYEYE M YE YE odd one here as the entry method doesn’t change the answer!
29 EEUM EM E U I’ve always spelled it emu but emeu seems to occur more in crosswords.

2 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No. 882 – Two Extremes by Oxymoron”

  1. Gaufrid
    #1 - Sat 10th Oct 09, 16:22

    Thanks Colin
    I too have a big question mark against the “… attributing numerically …..” in the preamble. I was hoping you were going to be able to explain it  🙂

  2. Colin Blackburn
    #2 - Sat 10th Oct 09, 18:17

    Got it, Gaufrid! I wondered why two letters were moved. MY end is MY, MY beginning is MY. So there is a numerical significance in the quotations. The first/last two letters are placed in the last/first two letters.
    It dawned on me while out running!

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