In ‘ATOL’, the preamble tells us that a ‘specific’ 10D of nine letters is formed by the addition of seven letters to answers to seven clues which are not ‘fully clued’. Each addition producing a normal word – including one surname.
An interesting puzzle with a forehead-slapping denouement (in my case), not helped by my initial assumption that this would be a bridge (card game)-based puzzle. (Not being a bridge player, but misinterpreting ATOL as ACOL – the scoring system in bridge…). I was also vaguely aware that ATOL is something to do with compensation for flights/holidays when firms go bust…but surely that would be a ‘bridge’ too far for an EV theme?…
Once I got into it, this proved to be a relatively quick grid-almost-fill, with quite a few clues at the easier end of the EV scale – to me at least – and a preponderance of relatively quick anagrams. There were also a couple of new/obscure – again, to me – words, like TEDY, YLKE and DISSILIENCE, which could be got to from the wordplay alone, but needed a quick check in Chambers…
So, back to the theme – seven entries not fully clued…and applying the first rule of EV solving – check the diagonals and middle row – it soon became clear that these were going to be along the middle row – with the gaps in SOL_ERS, _LATTER, LE_AL, etc. becoming apparent.
And even before I got 10D – CENTRAL LINE – I twigged that ‘A to L’ was to be entered between the A at the end of ALA and the L at the beginning of LEE. Several gaps seemed to only have one option – LEGAL, CADDISH, CARJACK – and the surname surely had to be (Paul) KLEE, the Swiss painter, unless CARJACK was actually (Paul) CARRACK…a singer of some repute in the 70s/80s…and beyond…
But I just couldn’t see how to fit the first 12 letters (A to L) of the alphabet into those 9 spaces…the obvious thing would be to drop the vowels – E and I didn’t seem to feature, but the A was already pretty fixed. And if SOL_ERS had to have the D, then ALA_ must be ALAB or ALAC – neither of which was in my Chambers… ALAE is in there, but then it would be E before D, out of alphabetical order. ALAS, I didn’t see anything else to fit there for a while…
A week or so of returning to this and staring at it every now and then didn’t help until, just as I was about to throw in the towel, I had that head-slapping ‘Eureka’ moment – the ‘specific’ central line of the puzzle is the ‘central (alphabetical) line’ of the QWERTY keyboards that I bash for so many hours each day…ASDFGHJKL. ‘Simples’, as the Meerkats might say!
Maybe this would have come quicker to a touch-typist? I am a two-fingered keyboard-basher who just ploughs on head down and then corrects errors after a paragraph or so…or maybe I was just a bit slow that week.
Anyway, I got there in the end, in time to do this blog, and thanks to Owzat for an entertaining puzzle (and ‘Grrr….’ for putting something so everyday in front of my face that I couldn’t see it!…)
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Thematic | Entry | Clue (definition in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1A | CUSTODY | Watching W Indian bird behind blind mostly (7) / CUS (most of blind, or swear – as in ‘effing and blinding’?) + TODY (West Indian bird) |
|
| 6A | CASHEW | About to display old kidney-shaped nut (6) / CA (circa, about) + SHEW (archaic spelling of show) |
|
| 11A | EPILATED | Removed locks in elite pad after tampering (8) / anag (i.e. after tampering) of ELITE PAD |
|
| 13A | NEEDLE | Require the French instrument that’s sharp (6) / NEED (require) + LE (‘the’, in French) |
|
| 14A | BRICK | Block book by Stein, for example (5) / B (book) + RICK (Rick Stein, celebrity chef, is an example of a ‘Rick’) |
|
| 15A | SEEDCASES | Parts of plant ceased working in south eastern section (9) / SE (south east) + S (section) around anag (i.e. working) of CEASED |
|
| 17A | AUTHOR | Writer of Truffaut horror (6) / hidden word in (i.e. ‘of”) TruffAUT HORror’ |
|
| 18A | LIAISED | Worried dailies co-operated on a matter of mutual concern (7) / anag (i.e. worried) of DAILIES |
|
| 19A | BARFLIES | Rod runs fast to get regular drinkers (8) / BAR (rod) + FLIES (runs) |
|
| 20A | RAID | Fast prince has gone bust (4) / RA(P)ID – fast, without P (prince) |
|
| 22A | ALA | ALA(S) | Side petal in uncovered salad (4) / (S)ALA(D) – without covering letters |
| 24A | LEE | (K)LEE | Shelter slippery character from the east (4) / LEE (shelter) = EEL (slippery character) backwards, from the East |
| 26A | SLOE | Black and slack by the sound of it (4) / homophone – SLOE (black, or blackthorn bush/fruit) sounds like SLOW (slack, i.e.. ‘slow business’) |
|
| 27A | LAXATIVE | Axe vital broadcast giving freedom once (8) / anag (i.e. broadcast) of AXE VITAL |
|
| 28A | CHLORAL | Colourless stuff left in hymn tune (7) / CHORAL (hymn tune) around L (left) |
|
| 29A | SCREEN | Test native American in outskirts of Saskatoon (6) / SN (outer letters of SaskatooN) around CREE (native American) |
|
| 30A | TAILSTOCK | Part of a lathe follows to a T (9) / TAILS (follows) + TOCK (telecommunications code for T) |
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| 34A | ERNIE | Computer Nationalist chucked in lake (5) / ERIE (US lake) around N (Nationalist) |
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| 35A | SANCAI | Do scan first-class ceramic glaze that’s colourful (6) / anag (i.e. ‘do’) of SCAN, plus AI (first class, exellent) |
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| 36A | EATERIES | Chippies demolish a tree that is special (8) / anag (i.e. demolish) of A TREE, plus IE (that is) + S (special) |
|
| 37A | SNARER | Trapper coming round did run again on Sabbath (6) / S (Sunday, Sabbath) + NARER (re-ran, ‘did run again’, coming round) |
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| 38A | STATIST | Politician say, short of energy? It’s unusual (7) / STAT(E) – say, without E, energy) + anag (i.e. unusual) of ITS |
|
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Thematic | Entry | Clue (definition in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1D | CINNABAR | Caught one between two drinking places getting bright red (8) / C (caught) + INN (drinking place) + A (one) + BAR (another drinking place) |
|
| 2D | UNEQUAL | Not evenly balanced, foreign Manuel without money skirting question (7) / anaq (i.e. foreign) of (M)ANUEL – without M, money, around (skirting) QU (question) |
|
| 3D | TEDY | Scott’s boring day in still coming up (4) / TEY (yet, still, coming ‘up’) around D (day) |
|
| 4D | DIE | Pass on what may be loaded (3) / double defn. a DIE may be loaded (against a gambler), and DIE can be to pass on. |
|
| 5D | YLKE | Once kind model Kelly leaving learner behind (4) / anag (i.e. model) of KEL(L)Y – losing/leaving behind L, learner |
|
| 6D | CADDIS | CADDIS(H) | With rotters hanging around, daughter and I fly (7) / CADS (rotters) around D (daughter) + I |
| 7D | SERA | Hospital supplies coming from Sweden are defective (4) / S (Sweden) + ERA (anag, i.e. defective, of ARE) |
|
| 8D | EXCEED | Better except fourth letter’s upside down (6) / EXC (abbrev. Of except) + EED (dee, fourth letter D, upside down) |
|
| 9D | WOKS | Pots all right for beer in Wales (4) / W(ALE)S with ALE (beer) replaced by OK (alright) |
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| 10D | CENTRAL LINE | (11, 2 words) / thematic deduction |
|
| 12D | DISSILIENCE | Detective’s quiet about one springing apart (11) / DIS (DI, detective instector, with ‘s – contraction of IS) + SILENCE (quiet) around I (one) |
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| 15D | SOLERS | SOL(D)ERS | New lessor of old garrets (7) / anag (i.e. new) of LESSOR |
| 16D | CARACK | CAR(J)ACK | Joke about a large galleon (7) / CRACK (joke) around A |
| 18D | LEAL | LE(G)AL | Bard’s true measure of yarn left (5) / LEA (measure of yarn) + L (left) |
| 21D | RE-ENLIST | Recruit again changed line in break (8, hyphenated) / REST (break) around ENLI (anag, i.e. changed, of LINE) |
|
| 23D | LATTER | (F)LATTER | Poet’s last back muscle has to soften up (7) / LAT (latissimus dorsi, muscle, in back) + TER (ret, soak or soften, up) |
| 25D | EVEJARS | First woman’s guarding pot for night birds (7) / EVES (first woman, biblical, plus ‘s contraction of IS again) around JAR (pot) |
|
| 26D | SHARON | Batty lady’s upset about hard Israeli general (6) / SARON (NORAS, Nora Batty, actress, plus ‘s contraction of IS again!, set upwards), around H (hard) |
|
| 30D | ?TEAS? | Strainer in river reportedly (4) / homophone? The river TEES sounds like TEAS, which have to be strained? |
|
| 31D | LIAR | Storyteller in bar coming up (4) / LIAR (story teller) = RAIL (bar), coming up |
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| 32D | OARS | Poles rise first to last (4) / (S)OAR – rise – with first letter going to last = OARS |
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| 33D | ONST | Headless fellows tango once (4) / (D)ONS – fellows, without top letter – plus T – tango, phonetic alphabet |
|
| 35D | SIT | It’s upset brood (3) / anag (i.e. upset) of ITS |
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I expect that you won’t be the only one to have taken so long to realise that the answer was almost literally in front of them the whole time, or at least very close by and staring them in the face!
I believe ASDFGHJKL might mean, ‘I’m bored’ [in textmessaging] or represent something otherwise inexpressible. i just took a punt and googled it – that’s when i realised it was the centre row on the keyboard.
Teenage angst in the ‘Enigmatic Variations’ – is that a first?