Inquisitor 1325: Stopping Service by Phi

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There was a long preamble to this Inquisitor puzzle by Phi.  It stated:

Unclued answers (all of two words) are an entertainment and four locations therein.  In four down clues, the grid entry is derived from the defined answer by the omission of all occurrences of a particular letter representing the activity decried; wordplay and letter-counts refer to grid entries.  Other down clues contain wordplay referencing an extra letter not entered in the grid – these letters in clue order give another location, plus the unchecked letters in the less familiar final across, and
the central down entries in order.  Each definition in across clues contains a single-letter misprint — correct letters, in clue order, give a further location."

I started the puzzle assuming that all would become clear as I worked my way through the puzzle – and it did.

The initial and final grids are depicted in the animation below.

I got off to a reasonable start in the top left hand corner with LIE (8 across) and OLIO (3 down) but I marked W as the correct letter in 8 across going from bounder to wounder even though I didn’t really like it [for good reason as I found later].  I got another foothold in the bottom left corner with ONONDAGA (27 across) and PHRENISM (19 down).  The grid built
up steadily from there.  I started after dinner on Saturday evening and had finished by about 10 pm.

The first thematic entry to fall was the left hand column where BLANDFORD FORUM became apparent.  MIDSOMER NORTON was the next to show up, in the right hand column.  By this point I could also see PLATFORM as a possibility as the second word in the across clue corrections.  Following a little bit of research, I was led to the song SLOW TRAIN [top, across
entry] by the duo Michael Flanders and Donald Swann.  The song references the effect of the implementation of the 1963 and 1965 reports on railway economics by Dr Beeching.  Many miles of railway lines were closed thereby removing evocative station names from the network.  A number of these lines are being re-opened.  Not too far from where I live, the line from Tweedbank [Galashiels] to Edinburgh is being reconstructed with campaigners calling for the southern end to be extended to Carlisle.
 On the other hand there are other voices saying that the economics still don’t work.

The full text of the song can be found after the detail of the blog below.

The correct letters for the misprints in the across clues spell out CHITTENING PLATFORM.  The extra letters in the wordplay in the relevant down clues generate MORTEHOE.  The unclued central down entry is CHESLYN HAY.  IN the bottom row we have MUMBY ROAD.  The final four down clues generate the four letters C,
Y, M and Y which are the unchecked letters in CHESLYN HAY and MUMBY ROAD.

I’ve got a couple of theories on the significance of the letter L omitted from the grid entries a 1, 5, 14 and 15 down.  My best guess is that is L for line representing the lost railway lines.  There are however, 8 Ls still remaining in the grid – four of which are on one diagonal and two on a parallel diagonal.  I wonder if Phi was trying to represent railway lines in the grid at one point?.
 My other idea was that L was representing 50, it being approximately 50 years since Dr Beeching wrote his reports.  It is quite likely that neither of these interpretations are correct so I will be interested to hear other ideas.

I though the clues were very fair given the complexity of the thematic parts of the puzzle.  As ever I thought most of the misprints were quite subtle (e.g. and for aid in 10 across, as well as Most for Moot at 32 across) and they held me up for a time (which is of course what the setter wants).

My favourite clues in this puzzle were those for REGAN (24 across), and I DO (34 across, simply for the novelty of a two word answer covering 3 letters).  Full details of the wordplay construction, misprints and missing letters can be found in the table below.

The final grid looked like this:

Inquisitor 1325

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The title of the puzzle,  STOPPING SERVICE, is fairly explanatory referring to the end of the railway SERVICE.  It is also a play on words highlighting the fact that most trains through the stations mentioned in the song would have been SERVICEs that STOPped at every station on the line.

A most enjoyable puzzle.

Across

 

      
No Clue Letter and Change Wordplay Entry

8

 

Line that is statement from bounder (3)

 

C bounder – bouncer

 

L (line) + IE (id est; that is)

 

LIE (statement from bouncer [liar])

 

9

 

DeGeneres, say, losing heart, getting cross, creating arguments (7)

 

H creating – cheating

 

(ELLEN [reference ELLEN DeGeneres, American stand-up comedian and actress] excluding [losing] the middle letter [heart] L) + CHI (Greek letter shaped like an X [cross])

 

ELENCHI (refutations; cheating arguments)  ‘cheating’ is the only word I can find that uses the required H

 

10

 

Grandfather’s accepting opening from IRS and … (5)

 

I and – aid

 

AVAL (relating to a grandparent; grandfather’s) containing (accepting) I (the first letter of [opening from] IRS)

AVA (I) L

 AVAIL (be of use; aid)

11

 

…tax cut involving husband rejected? Chump! (4)

 

T Chump – Thump

 

(DUTY [tax] excluding the final letter [cut] containing [involving] H [husband]) all reversed (rejected)

(T (H) UD)<

THUD (thump)

 

12

 

"Ouch" and "sore" possibly describing Uncle Sam’s pains? (8)

 

T pains – paint

 

Anagram of (possibly) OUCH and SORE

 

OCHEROUS (American spelling [Uncle Sam’s] of OCHREOUS, a word that can be used to describe paint made from OCHER/OCHRE)

 

13

 

I define tranches reputed of value to Paris (7)

 

E tranches – trenches

 

DIT (French for ‘said’; reputed) + CHER (French for ‘dear’; of value)

 

DITCHER (one who defines [fixes the bounds of] trenches)

 

16

 

Coil appropriate to large electrical company (5)

 

N Coil – Coin

 

FOR (appropriate to) + GE (General Electric; large electrical company)

 

FORGE (to form or fashion; to coin)

 

17

 

Local draft recalled soldiers in endless crush (6)

 

I draft – drift

 

(OR [other ranks; soldiers] reversed [recalled]) contained in (in) (STAMP [crush] excluding the final letter [endless] P)

ST (RO<) AM

STROAM (dialect [local] word for to wander about or drift)

 

20

 

Stories I discounted?  One still follows, given fame (6)

 

N fame – name

 

LIES (stories) excluding (discounted) I + LIE (singular story, following the amended plural at the beginning of the entry)

 

LESLIE (given name for a male)

 

21

 

Kooky lyric about opening of hypermarket in brand style (6)

 

G brand – grand

 

Anagram of (kooky) LYRIC containing (about) H (first letter of [opening of] HYPERMARKET)

RIC (H) LY*

RICHLY (in grand style)

 

23

 

Deer released around zone, with new leaking animal? (6)

 

P leaking – leaping

 

Anagram of (released) DEER containing (around) (Z [zone]) + N (new)

D (Z) ERE* N

DZEREN (Central Asian antelope; leaping animal)

 

24

 

Bear’s offspring managed to circumvent terrible hunting ultimately (5)

 

L Bear – Lear

 

RAN (managed) containing (to circumvent) EG (last letters [ultimately] of each of TERRIBLE and HUNTING)

R (E G) AN

REGAN (one of King Lear’s daughters [offspring] in Shakespeare’s play of the same name)

 

26

 

Smart article turned on Latino men, possibly rudely (7)

 

A men – man

 

CHIC (smart) + A (indefinite article) + (ON reversed [turned])

CHIC A NO<

CHICANO (a sometimes derogatory possibly rudely] American term for a man of Mexican [Latino] descent)

 

27

 

Bribe repeatedly working – scruffy Aussie beginning to act (8)

 

T Bribe – Tribe

 

ON (working) + ON (working ; thereby working repeatedly) + DAG (Australian term for ‘scruffy’) + A (first letter of [beginning to] ACT)’

 

ONONDAGA (a Native American people; tribe)

 

31

 

Grain used as good source of iron following piece of lemon (4)

 

F good – food

 

RAG (pithy part of an orange or lemon) + I (first letter of [source of] IRON)

 

RAGI (a millet much grown in India and Africa; grain for food)

 

32

 

Most government, in my opinion, should be rejected (5)

 

O Most – Moot

 

G (government) + (TO ME [in my opinion] reversed [should be rejected])

G (EM OT)<

GEMOT (meeting or assembly;  a moot was originally a meeting)

 

33

 

Our wandering’s remarkable – here’s the real end (7)

 

R real – rear

 

Anagram of (wandering) OUR + SOME (remarkable)

URO* SOME

UROSOME (tail region; rear end)

 

34

 

Comment on carriage:  "Central part of ride over?" (3, 2 words)

 

M carriage – marriage

 

ID (middle letters of [central part of] RIDE) + O (over in cricket scoring notation)

 

I DO (words said [comment] on marriage)

 
Down    

 

  
No Clue Letter and Change Wordplay Entry

1

 

God who destroys trees (4)

 

L

 

SIVA (One spelling of the third god of the Hindu triad, destroyer and reproducer)

 

SILVA (the assemblage of trees in a region)

 

2

 

Ungainly camel after branch on bush (9, 2 words)

 

M

 

Anagram of (ungainly) CAMEL AFTER

 

LEAF TRACE (a branch from the vascular system of the stem destined to enter a leaf; branch on bush)

 

3

 

Cook disrobed, holding up material for frying savoury dish (4)

 

O

 

OO (central letters of [disrobed of outside letters] COOK) containing (holding) (OIL [material for frying] reversed [up; down clue])

O (LI<) O

OLIO (a savoury dish of different sorts of meat and vegetables)

 

4

 

One leaving restaurant in a hurry no longer?  We left all but last of fruit (7)

 

R

 

WE + L (left) + (CHERRY excluding the final letter [all but last] Y – note that one of the Rs is superfluous so the residue is simply CHER)

 

WELCHER (obsolete spelling [no longer] one who runs off [in a hurry] after failing  to pay.)  Chambers puts the use of WELCH is a gambling context, but I think it probably covers any scenario including failure to pay in a restaurant.

 

5

 

Poet’s always upset about one Kiwi cousin? (4)

 

LL

 

E’ER (poetic usage of  ever [always] reversed [upset; down clue]) containing I (one)

RE (I) E<

RELLIE (Australian and New Zealand word for a relative; Kiwi cousin)

 

6

 

Resort animated after soldier turned up (8)

 

T

 

ANT (reference soldier ANT) + an anagram of (animated) RESORT

AN TRORSE*

ANTRORSE (turned up or forward)

 

7

 

Heavenly stuff one church gets to aggregate (5)

 

E

 

I (one) + CH (church) + ORE (naturally occurring mineral aggregate)

 

ICHOR (the ethereal juice in the veins of the gods; heavenly stuff)

 

14

 

Hero worship that is around in Oz, sadly (6)

 

L

IE (id est; that is) containing (around) an anagram of  (sadly) IN OZ

I (ONIZ*) E

LIONIZE (hero worship)

 

15

 

Excellent to tuck into cherry from Biblical land (6)

 

LL

 

AI (excellent) contained in (to tuck into) GEAN (European wild cherry)

G (AI) EAN

GALILEAN (from the Biblical land of GALILEE)

 

18

 

Hindu festival image misrepresented with a shortage of red stuff (9)

 

 H

HOLI (Hindu spring festival) + an anagram of (misrepresented) IMAGE + A

OLI GAEMI* A

OLIGAEMIA (abnormal deficiency of blood.; shortage of red stuff)

 

19

 

Morphine’s activated supposed mental force (8)

 

O

 

Anagram of (activated) MORPHINE’S

 

PHRENISM (a supposed mind-force described by ED Cope as active in nature and evolution)

 

22

 

Stimulus to urge blocking juror (7)

 

E

 

EGG (urge) contained in (blocking) TRIER (juror)

TRI (GG) ER

TRIGGER (anything that starts a train of action; stimulus)

 

25

 

Mist over second opening to unusual Cornish tunnel (5)

 

M

 

FOG (mist) + MO (moment; second) + U (first letter of [opening to] UNUSUAL)

 

FOGOU (a man-made underground passage or chamber, found in Cornwall.)

 

28

 

Party lad picked up grass (4)

 

Y

 

DO (party) + (BOY [lad] reversed [picked up; down clue])

DO OB<

DOOB (dog-tooth’s grass)

 

29

 

A heart soaring, as in flight (4)

 

C

 

A + (CORE [heart] reversed [soaring; down clue])

A ERO<

AERO (relating to aircraft or aeronautics; in flight)

 

30

 

Drink crazed barber? (4)

 

Y

 

TODDY (mixture of spirits; drink)

 

TODD (reference Sweeney TODD, demon barber)

 

The full text of the song is as follows

Miller’s Dale for Tideswell …
Kirby Muxloe …
Mow Cop and Scholar Green …

No more will I go to BLANDFORD FORUM and MORTEHOE 
On the slow train from MIDSOMER NORTON and MUMBY ROAD.
No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat
At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street.
We won’t be meeting again
On the Slow Train.

I’ll travel no more from Littleton Badsey to Openshaw.
At Long Stanton I’ll stand well clear of the doors no more.
No whitewashed pebbles, no Up and no Down
From Formby Four Crosses to Dunstable Town.
I won’t be going again
On the Slow Train.

On the Main Line and the Goods Siding
The grass grows high
At Dog Dyke, Tumby Woodside
And Trouble House Halt.

The Sleepers sleep at Audlem and Ambergate.
No passenger waits on CHITTENING PLATFORM or CHESLYN HAY.
No one departs, no one arrives
From Selby to Goole, from St Erth to St Ives.
They’ve all passed out of our lives
On the Slow Train, on the Slow Train.

Cockermouth for Buttermere … on the Slow Train,
Armley Moor Arram …
Pye Hill and Somercotes … on the Slow Train,
Windmill End.

5 comments on “Inquisitor 1325: Stopping Service by Phi”

  1. I was puzzled about the ELENCHI definition too. I still don’t see the role of ‘cheating’ as I think ‘arguments’ would be an adequate definition.

    Not being familiar with the song, I had been misled by the early-emerging ‘MIDSOMER’ into thinking murderously, until the rest of the quote and unclued entries got me on to the right track (ha ha).

  2. I do rather like that song. Unfortunately, I didn’t get enough answers to identify the station names. Then again, I can never remember the names of the stations in the song anyway, so those answers would all have been da-da-da-da-da for me.

  3. Thanks Duncan for the blog. We were out of the country when we tackled the crossword with limited internet access and not much time to ponder over the clues.

    We suppose the above are somewhat feeble excuses to explain why for the first time for ages we had some empty squares!

    We could not fathom out 5d or 15d but now that we have read the blog, we cannot work out why we had problems!

    Thanks Phi – we’ll try harder next time!

  5. Maybe I’m hard to please (“what’s this maybe?” I hear you cry), but I found this puzzle no more than the sum of its parts. The 4 down answers that had to be altered seemed to be chosen more for the convenience of the clue writer than anything else – a number of other down answers retained their L‘s. And the extra letters from the last 4 down clues (“the unchecked letters in the less familiar final across, and the central down entries”) were not really necessary apart from making sure all the down clues had something going on – for me, those two thematic entries weren’t any more or less familiar than most of the others. Maybe because the stations were paired in the “entertainment” and that left 8 down clues spare.

    Anyway, after finding BLANDFORD FORUM and SLOW TRAIN, the rest fell out quite easily, apart from RELLIE (because I temporarily lost sight of the fact that I could be looking to omit more than a single L).

    Thanks to setter & blogger. (Duncan – you seem to have left a sentence from your previous blog in this one: “The initial and final grids are depicted in the animation below.”)

    PS SILVA could have gone either way – “god …” as definition and “trees” as wordplay or vice versa, with L as extra in wordplay or to be removed from answer before entry – I jumped the wrong way initially.

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