Enigmatic Variations No. 1109: Seaside Capers by Piccadilly

The construction of this crossword was reminiscent of a puzzle a few months ago. Across entries in the two top and bottom rows, and down entries in the four left and right columns had an extra letter in the wordplay not entered in the grid. They provided an instruction to the solver. These clues were to be entered normally, all others were to be entered jumbled. I decided not to ferret out the earlier puzzle, but to solve this one uninfluenced.

Concentrating on the clues leading to entries that were to be entered normally, they were pretty straightforward. All but one or two were solved in my first pass through the clues. These then provided a solid foundation to fit in the remaining jumbled entries.

I completed the grid fairly quickly with the feeling that not all Piccadilly puzzles were as straightforward. Completed, that is, except for the ambiguity which was in 25ac which could be either NIIOCIPSLAT or NIIOPICSLAT. The extra letters in the wordplay spelt out Find disease in grid. I studied the grid for quite a while without success, looking mainly in the diagonals. I temporarily put it to one side.

Casting a weary eye over the grid again just before the land of nod, and I saw VOLCANO in rows 9 and 10, and working my way up the grid, PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS was in the central 5×9 area of the grid. Chambers defines it as “a form of pneumoconiosis caused by very fine silicate or quartz dust”. It is one of the words in the 12th edition of the dictionary that the editors have considered worthy of strong highlighting, along with the likes of hydra-headed, Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon and piss-a-bed (the dandelion). In fact, our word is in Chambers as far back as the 1988 edition, if not before. Up till now, it has appeared quietly, without any fanfare or shouting!

Having finished the grid and found the disease (anagram of ‘Seaside’ in the title), I was left with two thoughts. Firstly, since 25ac could only be entered in one of two ways, was that one ambiguity or two? And secondly, was it necessary to highlight the disease in my submitted entry, after all we weren’t explicitly told to. I decided it would be prudent.

I checked on the earlier puzzle which employed the same technique. It was indeed another puzzle by Piccadilly: EV No. 1046, Author.

Thanks for an entertaining puzzle, Piccadilly. Just got to work out now how to bring the word up in conversation!

[It was only when I was writing this blog that I spotted a problem with 16ac. It reads as BOULLION – O = BULLION, but the broth is spelt BOUILLON. BOULLION is a French ex-Formula One racing driver.]

Legend:
Definition in clue
X = Extra letter in wordplay
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden