A long preamble but, as Nimrod indicated in his paragraph on “The regulars”, this was a mild offering from Samuel. Across clues with extra letters, plus seven wordplay-only surnames. Normal Down clues. The owners of the surnames crossed barriers. Unclued thematic left and right columns and central column barrier.
I got the theme early from HU??D . . . down the left column and W?RL . . . down the right, combined with LEWIS at 11A and the appearance of BOLT in the third row. We were looking for HUNDRED METRES WORLD RECORDS, held by seven athletes (interspersed with a number of holders discredited for drugs offences including, most famously, Ben Johnson), plus Usain Bolt.
The names were (chronologically) Jim HINES (1968), Calvin SMITH (1983), Carl LEWIS (1988), Leroy BURRELL (1991), Donovan BAILEY (1996), Maurice GREENE (1999), Asafa POWELL (2005), and of course Usain BOLT (2008). Hines was the first to run under 10 seconds (at altitude in Mexico City), and the extra letters spelled out FASTER THAN TEN SECONDS. So the full reading of the phrase (to be read “in conjunction” with the unclued columns) was HUNDRED METRES WORLD RECORDS FASTER THAN TEN SECONDS.
Down the central column was the FINISHING LINE. The BARRIERS of the title being presumably the Ten Second barrier and the Finishing Line.
So, nicely constructed, but I found the theme too easily. I felt that the names need not have been clued at all, and I never even bothered to check BLESS R—– HELL until writing the blog, just for completeness. It would be a nice gentle introduction for newcomers to the Inquisitor series.
I found it difficult to explain the wordplay of a couple of clues to finish the blog, though the answers were quite apparent.
| Athletes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Name | Wordplay |
| 11A | Grade from ATV exposed risk (5) | LEWIS | LEW (Grade – head of ATV) + (r)IS(k) |
| 16A | Missing wife cries (5) | HINES | WHINES (cries) minus W(ife) |
| 25A | Society fail to see to one lisping? (5) | SMITH | S(ociety) + MITH (miss lisping) |
| 33A | Renege in error (6) | GREENE | [RENEGE]* |
| 34A | Humourless — thoroughly! (6) | POWELL | PO (humourless) + WELL (thoroughly) |
| 39A | Trouble governor on the outside (6) | BAILEY | BEY (governor) round AIL (trouble) |
| 44A | Change from 19 both sides assimilated (7) | BURRELL | R and L (both sides) in [RUBLE]* (answer to 19A) |
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay (Extra letter) | Xtra |
| 1 | Kick heartless hero away (4) | HOOF | H(er)O OF(F) | F |
| 5 | Action following fat so and so wrestling flatters (9) | SOFT-SOAPS | P(A)S (action) after [FAT SO SO]* | A |
| 10 | Vessel runs at sea (3) | URN | [RUN(S)]* | S |
| 13 | Turning Wood’s fine for the old (5) | UNLAW | WALNU(T) reversed | T |
| 14 | Secret government spoke (4) | RUNG | RUN(E) + G(overnment) | E |
| 15 | Grass beetle died (4) | DOOB | DO(R) (beetle) + OB (died) | R |
| . | ||||
| 18 | Excite gentleman (3) | SIR | S(T)IR (excite) | T |
| 19 | American yokel’s holding left hand ready for Stalin? (5) | RUBLE | RUBE (American yokel) round L(H) (left hand) | H |
| 20 | Value animal’s skin it’s similar to a badger (5) | RATEL | RATE (value) + (A)(nima)L (animal’s skin) | A |
| 21 | Regularly retain family crest with new man’s name (6) |
EAMONN | |
N |
| . | ||||
| 23 | Partner shut up associate (7) | HUSBAND | [SHU(T)]* (up is anag indicator) + BAND (associate) | T |
| 28 | Design institute in honour of spirit (6) | MANITO | M(E)AN (design) + I(nstitute) + TO (in honour of) | E |
| 30 | Cathedral city cut ancient French palace (6) | ELYSEE | ELY + S(N)EE (cut obs.) | N |
| . | ||||
| 32 | On returning fool ages (4) | ERAS | RE (on) reversed +AS(S) | S |
| 37 | Harass busy person to contribute (4) | BEGO | BE(E) (busy person) + GO (to contribute) | E |
| 38 | Scots scratch some restrictions (3) | RIT | hidden in restRI(C)Tions | C |
| 41 | Eastern European established house (4) | ESTH | EST(ablished) + H(O)(use) | O |
| 42 | Wavering sister prayed alone in the end (4) | UNDE | (N)UN + (praye)D (alon)E | N |
| 43 | Be dismayed about American leaving wine? (3) | RED | (D)READ minus A(merican) | D |
| 45 | Optics start to empty in Glaswegian joints (4) | EYES | E(mpty) in (S)EYS (Scottish joints of meat) | S |
| Down | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay |
| 2 | Ring sibling up (3) | ORB | BRO (sibling) reversed |
| 3 | Whilst working, Bond baddy’s twice deserted to M’s successor (5) | ON-JOB | ODDJOB (Bond baddy) with N (M’s successor) for DD (D(eserted) twice) |
| 4 | Wolf by lake chewed insect egg (7) | FLY-BLOW | [WOLF BY L]* |
| 5 | Cannons point out group of stars (7) | SERPENS | SERPENTINES (cannons) minus TINE (point) |
| 6 | Puzzle over singular barks (6) | SUBERS | REBUS reversed over S(ingular) |
| 7 | Partly dishonour John’s wife? (3) | ONO | Hidden in dishONOur (Yoko Ono wife of John Lennon) |
| 8 | In terrible atlas, large river’s full of leading lights (7) | ALL-STAR | L(arge) in [ATLAS]* + R(iver) |
| 9 | Solitaire’s ring’s lost by niece playing with a top (8) | PATIENCE | [NIECE A TP]* (ring’s lost = remove O from TOP) |
| 12 | Chinese city elevated Welshman, a nationalist (5) | WUHAN | HUW reversed + A + N(ationalist) |
| 17 | Topless brunette finally went out dancing without sex (6) | NEUTER | [RUNETE]* (wen)T removed from (b)RUNE(t)TE (topless) |
| 22 | Weapon’s held by most important person causing panic (8) | ALARMIST | ARM (weapon) in A-LIST (most important) |
| 24 | Unfit, I pant terribly (5) | INAPT | [I PANT]* |
| 26 | Medical officer stirred urea for Wells doctor (6) | MOREAU | MO + [UREA]* |
| 27 | Two extras see you (6) | BYE-BYE | BYE (cricket extra) twice |
| 29 | Kinky two with bra? It pulls! (6, 2 words) | TOW BAR | [TWO BRA]* |
| 31 | Showing contempt is, according to nature, frightening (6) | SNEERY | SN (secundum naturam – following nature) + EERY (frightening) |
| 35 | It’s round and about the outskirts of Honolulu? (4) | OAHU | &lit clue – OAHU is round Honolulu and is O (ring) + A(bout) + H(onolul)U |
| 36 | Scottish lot see out boat (4) | KEEL | KEVEL (same as cavel) – used for casting lots, minus V(ide) (see) |
| 40 | Fairy lost money (3) | FEE | FEE is an obsolete (lost) term for money. |
Mild inquisitor-oxymoron
Well, mild in that I got between a third and a half of it done, although I failed to get the theme. There are weeks where I fail to get a single clue.
Thanks Samuel, I enjoyed this greatly. I’ve only every completed a couple before this one, and like Dormouse@2 there are several weeks where I fail to make any inroads whatsoever. I got held up for a while after misinterpreting the instructions and believing that there were only 8 members of the group in total so believed that it had to be something like runners going under 9.90 seconds. Thanks for the blog Hihoba.
Yes, this was very much at the easy end of the Inquisitor spectrum – I had some trouble figuring out the wordplay for KEVEL at 36d but not much else delayed me.
Hihoba: your difficulty to explain the wordplay of a couple of clues is not at all apparent – thanks for the blog. (PS In the grid the font colour of POWELL hasn’t been changed to red.)
Several penny dropping moments on this one, and using Pears for the theme.
Good stuff!
Thanks for the blog, Hihoba.
I agree this would be good for newcomers to Inquisitor – I’m sure c18 months ago when I first attempted Inquisitor I would have appreciated this puzzle more.
But now, I found it too much of a doddle & so a bit disappointing – after the first run through the clues, the unclued entries were obvious which left c75% of the grid filled & the rest of the clues were mopped up in short order – far and away my fastest completion of an Inquisitor or even an Enigmatic Variations – despite not previously knowing all of the runners.
That’s not to say it wasn’t a well constructed puzzle – Samuel’s puzzles always are, in my experience – just insufficiently challenging.
Re Shikasta @6 : themes that seem very easy to some can be almost incomprehensible to others – just depends on your personal areas of interest. As IQ solvers (and indeed EV solvers), we just have to take the rough with the smooth.
I agree this was easier than usual but I think that’s OK. The next one may be a real grind and the editor has said that he tries to spread the degree of difficulty on a 5-week cycle.
Thanks HG (#4) I’ll try to rectify the font colour. The two I had minor delays with were KE(V)EL at 32D and SERPEN(TINE)S at 5D.
Thanks to all others for their comments. The fact that it was relatively easy (compared to some other Inquisitors) was not meant as a criticism. We need variety in themes and degrees of difficulty.
re chesley @7
It wasn’t the theme that made this easy – as I said I didn’t know several of the runners – but the clues, 1 run-through of which gave me so many letters that the unclued entries were obvious.
I also accept that there is a deliberate range of difficulties in IQ – the editor wrote here on 225 that over each 5 wk period he aims for 1 easier, 1 very tricky & 3 somewhere in the middle.
However this was by far the easiest I have ever done – & compared with the usual challenge that IQ provides (even the easier ones) it therefore left me a little disappointed.
It must be hard to gauge the mix of difficulty & I think the editor does an excellent job of it – & I did so even when I was at the stage of sometimes struggling even to get a start on a puzzle. However, that previous history of a consistent range & mix of difficulty is what makes this puzzle such an outlier.
Of course, we have to take the rough with the smooth, but the editor also said that comments here were useful to gauging the range; so, in my opinion, better to be honest about being a bit disappointed than to sweep it under the carpet.
Shikasta : I do largely agree with you. Having a puzzle that is (to some) too easy is as frustrating as one that you can’t even get into – and of course we’ve all had both of these from time to time.
I gave the list of sprinters (which were certainly easy to get) to my “better half” and she didn’t have a clue what the connection was – so not everybody thinks along the same lines or has the same interests.
Having said that, I know the editor does look at the comments on 15^2 (indeed he has promoted it in his recent vignettes) so all feedback will be useful to him, I’m sure.
Well done to those of you who found this ‘easy’. Certainly not one of the fiendish ones we get from time to time and need either a maths degree or a long trawl through the internet to deduce either the theme or even the unclued entries. I first started the Independent Magazine Crossword back in (I think) 1991. No internet then. Like Jake@5 I much prefer to use my Pears for research. I always find Samuel puzzles ‘do-able’ without resorting to Wiki. This was one of them and I enjoyed it very much.
My thanks and great admiration to Hihoba and all the other bloggers on this thread.
We are quite happy to have the odd easier Inquisitor – especially when we have a busy weekend which is exactly what happened with this one.
It wasn’t helped by having LOUIS for 11ac until we had a few difficulties with connecting answers as well as guesing the theme.
Regardless of the difficulty, we are usually amazed at the construction behind each puzzle and this one by Samuel was no exception so thanks to him.
We weren’t that confident about go = to contribute but having looked at the blog and Chambers we find that it is fine! Thanks hihoba!
Thanks to Bertandjoyce for pointing out the excellent construction of the grid which I omitted to comment on. I, too, am always thrilled when setters can do this jiggling about in order to complement the theme.Thanks again, Samuel.
23a is cooked. Could also be interpreted as HUS(H) + BAND (where “hush” = “shut up” and the spare letter is in this case H.