A sad moment – this is (presumably) the last EV from Syd Lexis (Alan Donovan), whose recent passing was announced the week before in Nimrod’s Inquisitor 1322 editorial, and to whom tributes have been posted on Derek Harrison’s Crossword Message Board. My condolences to ‘Syd’s nearest and dearest. ‘TITLE, PLEASE’ is a blank thematic jigsaw, which gave me flashbacks to his EV1008, which I blogged almost exactly two years ago.
The preamble tells us that the clues, where given, are in ‘the usual order’. Solvers are to deduce the missing entries and highlight an 11-cell entry giving ‘the TITLE, PLEASE, for the source of the 13 which, like 7, are often 1D’. Oh, and enter the (180 degree-symmetrical) bars, and one clue number.
Rather than just diving into solving clues (my usual approach) I tried a little analysis of the across clues/enumerations, concentratng first on the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ sections – using that ‘180-degree symmetry’ hint from the preamble. The across clues start with a 6, then a 4, a 5, a 4, a 4 and a 3. (Sounds like a ‘Countdown’ numbers round…my formative years were Carol Phwoar-derman, but I have a revived interest since the arrival of Rachel Riley and the ‘8 out of 10 Cats’ team…(;+>)!
The last few across clues, working upwards, are an 11, a 6, a 4, a 10 and then 5, 5, 4, 3. So there must be a missing 11 and 10 in the top few rows, with the other enumerations starting to form a hint of a pattern. So far, so clever and smug, but some serious solving and deduction to be done…
After about 40 minuntes of ‘cold’ solving I had about 20 answers, but no idea how to fit them in. I eventually got KNICKKNACK as that 10-letter across clue, which surely had to cross with DARKEN and SIMPKIN on the way down – but lots of Ks there, so lots of permutations to narrow down! And at this point I reverted to an old-fashioned cut-n-paste – I printed off the blank grid and cut out a number of rectangles with the answers I had, and started piecing it together – from KNICKKNACK upwards.
To cut a long-ish story short I eventually worked out that the missing answers were all up near the top. The third row looked like PROGRAMMER? The ninth column starting THE NAVY …? And the top row looked like RADIO…EXTRA. At this point I assumed the gap was an X – RADIO ‘TIMES’ EXTRA – is this a supplementary magazine to the Radio Times?
As I finished putting the pieces I had in, there was a niggle in the back of the mind – if everything is symmetrical then how come the third down clue was a 5 when it had to match the 6 of ‘DARKEN’ at the bottom of the grid. Surely an EV gremlin can’t have infected Syd’s last puzzle? Then I managed to work out ‘THE NAVY LARK’ as the long, missing, down answer at 7D. This isn’t one of my personal cultural references, but a little Wiki-oogling revealed this is one of many REPEAT PROGRAMMES on RADIO 4 EXTRA – not Radio X then! – making 4D the only clue with a number to be entered – 4 representing ‘four’ as the whole of its ‘first’ cell, to make 6 cells and match up with DARKEN:
I have another slight niggle in the back of my mind that I haven’t completely got everything, but I think the ‘TITLE, PLEASE’ is ‘RADIO 4 EXTRA’, the source of the ‘PROGRAMMES’ (13) which, like ‘THE NAVY LARK’ (7) are often ‘REPEATS’ (1D). I couldn’t completely parse CYCLES in the middle row, but it must be correct as all its letters have crossing confirmation – grateful for any pointers.
As with EV1032, which I also had the pleasure of blogging, the theme is a radio programme (and station, here) of which I have no personal experience, but the puzzle was accessible enough for that not to matter.
In one of the tribute messages on that board, Alan is mentioned as being a bit of a Luddite – “I don’t have an answerphone, let alone a mobile…”. So I’d like to think he would have enjoyed my reverting to cutting out bits of paper to solve this. He must have made some concession to modern technology, as I believe Radio 4 Extra is only available on DAB radio, or t’Internet.
So, thank-you Syd Lexis/Alan for the many puzzles and challenges over the years – including the recent (also posthumous) Listener 4284, which I enjoyed equally. You will be much missed – although one other post on that board does mention there being a few more Syd puzzles in the EV pipeline, so we may be challenged and entertained a few more times in the coming months…
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Length | Solution | Clue (definition in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| * | (6) | UNABLE | Old-timer’s incompetent, with head in a tree (6) / U__LE (rubber tree) around NAB (head, obsolete slang) |
| * | (4) | FLUE | In places flat soft down (4) / double defn – two of the ‘subsidiary’ definitions of FLUE – dialect for ‘flat’; light fluff, or soft down, in unswept places |
| * | (5) | EAGLE | Bore changing direction for coin (5) / EAG(R)E (bore – tidal river flow) changing direction – L (left) for R (right) |
| * | (4) | LEAN | About to fail without a catch, taking extra time (4) / (C)LEAN – without a catch – without (failing) C (circa, about) |
| * | (4) | NESS | Headland retreats missing top of tide (4) / NES(T)S – retreats, missing T (first letter of tide) |
| * | (3) | ANY | Edmund’s company failing maiden over one (3) / (M)ANY – Spenserian for a retinue or company – without (failing, again!) M (maiden) |
| * | (6) | RAIYAT | Broken tray catches sloth for Indian farmer (6) / R__YAT – anag (i.e. broken) of TRAY – around AI – sloth |
| * | (5) | TASTE | Succeeded in gallery to have experience (5) / TATE (Tate Moden Gallery) around S (succeeded) |
| * | (3) | STY | A writing instrument for Shakespeare to leave out, a pen (3) / STY(LET) – writing implement, without LET (Shakespearean, leave) |
| * | (6) | SHOOLS | At Hollywood Park, possibly, fixes holding line and begs for some ancient (6) / SHOOS (fixes, a horse race, as in ‘a shoo-in’, American slang, hence ‘Hollywood Park’?) holding L (line) |
| * | (6) | CYCLES | Research explosive section without breaking into rounds (6) / SEC(TION) without explosive INTO, rounds = CES; YCL = ?? |
| * | (3) | TIU | Note title of respect for the old war god (3) / TI (note, in so-fa-ti notation) + U (Burmese title of respect, as in U Thant, UN General Secretary in the 1960s) |
| * | (5) | LADLE | Scottish lover with the French spoon (5) / LAD (Scottish for lover) + LE (the, in French) |
| * | (6) | IGNOMY | William’s dishonour with gentleman endlessly with money before end of day (6) / (S)IGNO(R) – gentleman, endlessly – + M (money) + Y (end of daY) |
| * | (3) | OHM | Old measurement covering Henry’s derived unit (3) / OM (Old Measurement) around H (henry, unit of inductance) – giving OHM – another (SI) unit! |
| * | (4) | SHRI | Asian title is uttered piercingly – not half! (4) / SHRI(EKED) – uttered piercingly, not (second) half |
| * | (4) | EWER | One who ferments fails brother in jug (4) / (BR)EWER – one who ferments, without (fails, again!) BR (brother) |
| * | (5) | REMAP | Again draw the Jack of Clubs with sign of hesitation returning (5) / PAM (Knave of Clubs, in cards) + ER (sign of hesitation), all returning |
| * | (10) | KNICKKNACK | Knight has to steal a special contrivance, a small article (10) / K (night) + NICK (steal) + KNACK (special contrivance) |
| * | (4) | NAAN | Granny eats a type of bread in Delhi (4) / NAN (Granny) around (eating) A |
| * | (6) | STEVEN | Saint with calm voice in places (6) / ST (Saint) + EVEN (calm) |
| * | (11) | DISTINCTION | Honour fools returning in style (11) / DI__CTION (style) around STIN (nits, fools, returning) |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Length | Solution | Clue (definition in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| * | (6) | ARRANT | Before king, sing noisily – like a rascal! (6) / A (before, ante) + R (rex, king) + RANT (sing, noisily) |
| * | (5) | INGLE | Fire, a slight burn – not special and without luminance (5) / (S)INGE (slight burn, without S – special), around L (luminance) |
| * | (5) | 4BALLS (FOURBALLS) | All of us upset about former military unit’s games on course (5) / FOU__ALLS (anag, i.e. upset, of ALL OF US) around RB (Rifle Brigade, former(?) military unit) |
| * | (5) | ELMEN | Old wooden railway has to repair cut (5) / EL (elevated rail road) + MEN(D) – repair, cut short |
| * | (4) | XEMA | Fliers’ credit card turned up (4) / AMEX (American Exress, credit card) |
| * | (6) | ALLEYS | Large marbles – things seen on American tennis court (6) / double defn – an ‘alley’ is a large marble, and I believe the ‘tramlines’ on a tennis court are called ‘alleys’ in America |
| * | (7) | PULSATE | Squatted to pipe about thrill with life (7) / PULE (pipe, whimper, whine) about SAT (squatted) |
| * | (6) | YEASTY | The old pie pastor cut is insubstantial (6) / YE (the, old-fashioned) + (P)ASTY (pie, without, or cutting, P – pastor) |
| * | (11) | REGALEMENTS | After foundering anglers meet for feasts (11) / anag (i.e. after foundering) of ANGLERS MEET |
| * | (4) | GYRO | Apparatus with some energy rotates (4) / (semi?) &lit – and hidden word in ‘enerGY ROtates’ |
| * | (5) | NIECE | Granddaughter originally respectable consumes disco biscuit (5) / NICE (respectable) consuming E (Ecstasy tabley, disco biscuit?) |
| * | (3) | REC | Play centre is at centre of ruin (3) / (W)REC(K) – centre of ‘ruin’ |
| * | (5) | TOPOI | Head of Institute for Rhetoric Expressions (5) / TOP (head) + O (contraction, of) + I (Institute) |
| * | (3) | TEA | Old American drug is a tricky question, not half! (3) / TEA(SER) – tricky question, not (second) half |
| * | (7) | HIGHWAY | Drunk has to zigzag round path (7) / HIGH (drunk) + WAY (yaw, or zigzag, round) |
| * | (3) | SLY | Cunning, disgusting, I’m leaving (3) / SL(IM)Y – IM leaving slimy – disgusting |
| * | (4) | LOOM | Diving bird is low starting and low returning (4) / L (first letter, or start, of LOW) + OOM (moo, or low, as in cattle, returning) |
| * | (7) | SIMPKIN | Wine-vessel containing little devil’s Pakistani drink (7) / SKIN (wine vessel) cointaining IMP (little devil) |
| * | (6) | TISANE | It is a new covering, a type of infusion (6) / hidden word in ‘iT IS A NEw’ |
| * | (6) | UNREAD | In a way not informed, being under a crackpot! (6) / anag (i.e. crackpot) of UNDER A |
| * | (6) | DARKEN | Sully chest in room (6) / D__EN (room) containing ARK (chest) |
| * | (6) | WHACKO | Mad enthusiastic expression (6) / double defn – WHACKO being a colloquial interjection of surprise/delight, as well as a being a derogatory term for ‘mad, eccentric’ |
| * | (5) | RECTI | Government at the risk of missing muscles (5) / RECTI(ON) – government, missong ‘ON’, or ‘at the risk of’ |
| * | (5) | GENET | Spanish horse fur could be an imitation (5) / triple defn – GENET can be a Spanish horse; a civet-like creature’s fur; or an imitation fur thereof |
| * | (4) | WIST | Know, in sham way, humour hides strangeness (4) / WI_T (humour) hiding S (strangeness, Physics term) |
I’m glad you enjoyed the puzzle. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, this isn’t the last Syd Lexis EV. There are more to come, and you’ll be seeing his puzzles for a couple of years yet.
Good to hear that there are more puzzles like this to come. Glad to hear Syd was a Luddite too, there are far too many technophiles involved with crosswords these days I feel.
I did think the 4BALLS length should have been given as 6 letters. A bit of mischief, but typical of a setter I really liked.
The ‘research explosive’ is RDX or CYCL(onit)E + S(ection).
Thanks for the very thorough blog.
The crossword setting world moves on. As we have more technology why not use it? Can lead to interesting new themes that might never have been discovered or thought of before. One would hope that at least some of the richness in thematic crosswords is that they can keep going into new generations, new thematic material, new setters…
2014 has seen some of the older generation of setters dying, and it would be a shame to discourage new setters by insisting that they stick to the old methods. I’m full of respect for anyone who can set puzzles using little more than a typewriter, but I don’t see that it’s necessary or even desirable to stick to that technique if it allows more, and hopefully equally special, new puzzles to be written for future solvers to enjoy.
That said, it’s a shame that I’ve only entered the thematic crossword world now, too late to enjoy more of Syd Lexis’ and others’ work. Only caught the tail-end of it, so to speak.
With the loss of Rustic/ Mr Lemon, Radix and Syd Lexis marked in a chain of Listeners, let us hope that the new setters can continue to live up to their exacting standards.
There are those of us who started with pen and paper and have happily embraced technology. I don’t really see the Luddite position myself, as the way I use computer aids still requires all the consideration of word placement and whether a crossing letter looks usable or not. If, on occasion, I can fill a straightforward corner with a choice of ten options, including some I might not have thought of, enabling me to pick and choose friendlier words to clue, why shouldn’t I? Surely better than limiting myself to whatever I happen to come across by chance.
One might wonder, too, whether a reply to a blogpost is quite the most appropriate place to grumble about technophilia…
I think you’ve oversimplified the Luddite position – people usually do.
This computer I’m using clearly makes me a technophile myself – sorry, I hadn’t realised that until you pointed it out.
I don’t really care how you set your crossword but it shouldn’t be necessary to write a computer program to solve it. I’m also opposed to the use of anagram solvers, unless I’ve already admitted defeat and accepted that I’ve failed to solve the crossword myself. Sadly, setters know that ‘crossword technology’ is overused by solvers and compose crosswords with that in mind [this makes them less effective but even more widely relied upon].
I hope to finish every crossword using only Chambers dictionary [hard copy] as an aid. Azed and Beelzebub nearly always make this possible, it’s often possible with Inquisitor and EV, but with Listener, hardly ever. Technology is making the process less enjoyable for me – that’s my opinion and I’m entitled to express it.
Thanks for the blog, mc. I’ve done several Syd Lexis puzzles over the years, but I don’t remember any of them being as tough as this one turned out to be. I think it took me longer than Kcit’s recent Loss of Life, also a carte blanche, and that was tricky enough. Nevertheless, this was an enjoyable romp through the BBC archives, although The Navy Lark was a bit before my time. My only concern was whether to put the 4 in as a clue number (as in the printed solution) or as a full-sized character… I chose the latter.
Of course you’re entitled to express your opinion — and other people are entitled to disagree if they choose. It seems to me that technology in the long run has something to add to crosswords, particularly in the setting, and it should therefore be embraced rather than ignored.
I’m sorry that my casual remark has proved to be the launch pad for the usual, tiresome agenda we see pushed out at every opportunity.
My initial remarks were prompted by the actual content of this blog. Most of what I said relates directly to this very fine puzzle and the very gifted man who set it. It would be nice to see more comments like the one at 6.
Well there’s a hollow apology if ever there was one. There is no agenda on my part, nor on Phi’s I’m sure. It’s just a simple statement of fact that technology is a part of things now, and we would surely do well to celebrate the new things that technology will offer the world of crosswords than to bemoan its interference as some kind of destruction.
I thought this a fine crossword, and I’m envious of anyone who is able to set or solve using little more than pen or paper I certainly don’t think they are luddites just because of that. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s fair to criticise people who can’t or don’t, though. Every generation learns to make the best uses of the resources they have.
Hi all – this may be a valid debate, but is going a bit off topic – at the end of the day every (wo)man to his-or-herself as to how they want to set or solve puzzles. Speaking for myself, my conscience permits me sleep at night after using electronic copies of Chambers (including wildcard searches); electronic anagram solvers (I even wrote a very simple one myself); and the occasional Wiki-oogle to crack a theme where the subject is outside of my cultural references.
I had expected/hoped that there would be more comment on the passing of this particular setter and the pleasure (or pain?!) he has given us over the years – but given the three-week lead time on EV entries a month has flown by, and maybe people who felt inclined to comment/post tributes have done so elsewhere?…
On a positive note, I see yesterday’s EV1115 is by Moordon, which is a combination of Tim MOORrey and Alan DONovan, so we have another dose of Syd/Alan’s medicine this week as well…in my case probably on the train to London tomorrow morning…then the train back, and maybe a few more journeys as well!
Yes, EV1115 is a joint offering by Tim Moorey and Alan Donovan. I’ll share more on that puzzle when the solution is published.
Dave H – entering the number 4 as either normal text or superscript would have been marked correct.
Regarding the technology debate, with Alan’s sad death I am now aware of only three EV setters who send submissions in non-electronic format. I’d also like to think that there are a decent number of solvers who do tackle puzzles armed with only a hard copy of Chambers – but I suspect I’d be disappointed if I found out how few people actually do so.