Enigmatic Variations No. 931 Pondlife by Jaques

Back to a complex preamble again this week. The solver is tasked with identifying 1ac and then must act as they would to correct a PONDLIFE deficiency – in the process providing 33ac. Then they must provide a second offering to fully destroy the thematic material in the grid and its own status. To add to the confusion, potentially, and enable the wood to be discerned from the trees, there are 8 misprinted definitions and some clues with incomplete (by one letter) wordplay. And yet again for one of my blogs pencil is recommended or, in my case, more than one copy and a nice pen is required. And for me anyway, there was a choice of endings!

Certainly many degrees harder than the previous few weeks. So starting with the useful, from a grid-fill perspective, bits of the preamble for solving the clues, before attempting to make sense of the “PONDLIFE” related details:

• There are 8 misprinted definitions
• Some clues have incomplete wordplay

A good selection of easy, medium and obscure clues and my initial pass of the misprints yielded HOEBILL. One letter short of the required octet. So I re-scanned the clues and decided 11ac could yield an S to make SHOEBILL, though on my first reading the clue did look misprint-free. A SHOEBILL is a type of heron or stork. The missing letters in the wordplay were OGL (though the preamble made no allusion to their purpose). Were they possibly a red heron?. Sorry could n’t resist.

What, then, was 1ac – by jove it was  JUPITER. 33ac was a straight clue, albeit using an unfamiliar to me anyway, abbreviation for a president prex., to yield REX.

So 1ac needs to provide 33ac. JUPITER provides a king? And how does a shoebill come into it. A quick google of these three terms, as this was not a tale I was familiar with, yielded the following from one of Aesop’s fables “The frogs asking for a king”. There are many differing translations available and the preamble has not defined a reference book for the definitive version! Now to attempt to explain my dilemma with the end-game:

Townsend’s translation (1887):

The Frogs Asking for a King

The Frogs, grieved at having no established Ruler, sent ambassadors to Jupiter entreating for a King. Perceiving their simplicity, he cast down a huge log into the lake. The Frogs were terrified at the splash occasioned by its fall and hid themselves in the depths of the pool. But as soon as they realized that the huge log was motionless, they swam again to the top of the water, dismissed their fears, climbed up, and began squatting on it in contempt. After some time they began to think themselves ill-treated in the appointment of so inert a Ruler, and sent a second deputation to Jupiter to pray that he would set over them another sovereign. He then gave them an Eel to govern them. When the Frogs discovered his easy good nature, they sent yet a third time to Jupiter to beg him to choose for them still another King. Jupiter, displeased with all their complaints, sent a Heron, who preyed upon the Frogs day by day till there were none left to croak upon the lake.

Now to apply this version of the tale to the grid: A log then an eel then a heron (shoebill).

Acting on behalf of 1A, solvers must make good this PONDLIFE deficiency, providing 33A as requested. Although this first offering completes some thematic material it is deemed inadequate. So solvers should try a second offering which will completely destroy this thematic material and, in doing so, its own status.

Well this was my first interpretation of the above with respect to the grid entries:

LOG is already visible diagonally in the completed grid, as is GOLIATH reading the other way, a type of frog, so the first offering I believed to be EEL to replace the REX at 33ac. The second offering is a heron – a SHOEBILL has a Latin name of Balaeniceps rex and putting this diagonally obliterates the LOG and GOLIATH and turns the EEL into SEL. My problem with this approach is that the second offering’s status was removed by the first offering i.e. REX became EEL and is really the third offering log then eel then heron.

OR Jacob’s translation (1894)

The Frogs Desiring a King

The Frogs were living as happy as could be in a marshy swamp that just suited them; they went splashing about caring for nobody and nobody troubling with them. But some of them thought that this was not right, that they should have a king and a proper constitution, so they determined to send up a petition to Jove to give them what they wanted. “Mighty Jove,” they cried, “send unto us a king that will rule over us and keep us in order.” Jove laughed at their croaking, and threw down into the swamp a huge Log, which came down – kerplash! – into the swamp. The Frogs were frightened out of their lives by the commotion made in their midst, and all rushed to the bank to look at the horrible monster; but after a time, seeing that it did not move, one or two of the boldest of them ventured out towards the Log, and even dared to touch it; still it did not move. Then the greatest hero of the Frogs jumped upon the Log and commenced dancing up and down upon it, thereupon all the Frogs came and did the same; and for some time the Frogs went about their business every day without taking the slightest notice of their new King Log lying in their midst. But this did not suit them, so they sent another petition to Jove, and said to him, “We want a real king; one that will really rule over us.” Now this made Jove angry, so he sent among them a big Stork that soon set to work gobbling them all up. Then the Frogs repented when too late.

Now to apply this version of the tale to the grid: A log then a stork (shoebill).

In my opinion, all three approaches yielded real words, but neither quite met the preamble  – as a result  I can’t decide which is correct, though I personally prefer the first approach, or is there another interpretation I have not thought of?

Certainly grounds for debate or correction, but an enjoyable mental foray all the same, but on this occasion I must admit to failing to fully understand Jaques’ intent.

Key

* (anagram), Underline = definition, DD = double definition, rev = reversed