Inquisitor 1341: Circling the Square by Ferret

by

Ferret is a fairly regular setter in the Inquisitor series these days.

 

 

 

The puzzle had a preamble that stated "Some cells contain more than one letter, making four objects appear in a square.  Entering one letter, indicated in a consistent manner, from each object will form a name and another object in the same square which solvers must symbolically inscribe with a circle.  Solvers must highlight three more names appearing around the square, which must itself also be highlighted (29 cells in total)"

So no worrying about missing letters in wordplay this week, just some solving until clashes become apparent.  I must admit that I was getting a bit worried whether clashes were going to appear at all as it was well into the solving before I noticed something odd.  My first inkling that there might be a clash when I apparently had an N for both the first and second letters of 31 down.  I also seemed to have TL at the end of 28 across.  It was solving ROSOLIO at 4 down that finally dropped the penny and the four LIONs became fairly obvious.

Therefore we had a square with four LIONs at the corners.  Hmm – it’s a fair guess that TRAFALGAR Square has a role to play.  A little bit of studying of the grid determined that the four ‘corner’ cells should be filled solely by the single letter claiming the square rather than the three letter claim.  So for the NW square we have the N of TREEN rather than the LIO of ROSOLIO, for the NE corner we take the L of LYTTA rather than the ION of ALERION, for the SE corner use the N of NUGAE rather than the LIO of LIONISE and in the SW corner enter the L of LAUGH rather than the ION of AUCTION.

With these single letter entries the words NELSON and COLUMN can be seen going clockwise through the four corners of the square starting with the N of WINN (12 down).  In the solution below I have drawn a circle representing NELSON‘s COLUMN.  I have drawn the circle within the square formed by the four corners as I reckon that we should be showing the COLUMN in it’s true position in relation to the LIONs.

The remainder of the end game was to highlight three more names and the names of the square.  TRAFALGAR Square has four plinths towards the edge of the square.  On the [North] East plinth there is an equestrian statue of  GEORGE IV.  A statue of Major General Sir Henry HAVELOCK adorns the South East plinth and on the South West plinth there is a statue of General Sir James NAPIER.  The fourth plinth in the North West corner does not have a permanent statue.  It has been occupied by a variety of artistic works since 1998.  For this crossword the NW corner depicts TRAFALGAR.  The words GEORGE, HAVELOCK, NAPIER and TRAFALGAR [29 letters] are highlighted in the grid depicted below.

The final grid looked like this;

Inquisitor 13412

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was an enjoyable puzzle which [in my opinion] turned out to be easier to solve than first appearances suggested.  I started in the NE corner with GEO (8 across) and E-LAYER (12 across) and steadily filled the puzzle from there.   The wordplay in most of the clues was not complex as shown by the fact that I have rarely used more than two colours in wordplay descriptions below.  I would put this puzzle towards the lower end of John Henderson’s difficulty spectrum, but that is no bad thing and the puzzle is a good test for anyone struggling to come to terms with some recent Inquisitor puzzles.

The title, Circling the Square, simply defines what we did, but also refers to the four plinths circling TRAFALGAR Square.

Across      
No Clue  Wordplay Entry

1

 

A wild boar by a large tree (8)

 

A + LG (large) + A + (an anagram of [wild] BOAR)

A LG A ROBA*

ALGAROBA (the carob or locust-tree native to Mediterranean countries)

 

8

 

Backtrack say over creek in Kirkwall (3)

 

(E.G. [for example; say] reversed [backtrack]) + O (over)

GE< O

GEO (gully or creek in Orkney and Shetland terminology)

 

11

 

Brownish yellow and black leaves crush down at the end of autumn (6)

FALL (Autumn) + (BOW [crush down] excluding [leaves] B [black, on lead pencils])

 

FALLOW (brownish yellow)

 

13

 

Rebroadcast without limits to right part of atmosphere (6)

 

(RELAYED  [rebroadcast] excluding the first and last letters [without limits] R and D) + R (right)

 

E-LAYER (another name for the Kenelly Heaviside Layer, a strongly ionized region of the upper atmosphere about 60 miles up, in which wireless waves are deflected)

 

14

 

Goddess is found with Osiris regularly (4)

 

IS + IS (3rd and 6th letters of [regularly] OSIRIS)

 

ISIS (an Egyptian goddess, wife and sister of Osiris [an interesting relationship], so no doubt the two would be seen together regularly)

 

15

 

He examines drug found by boy in school lavatory (8)

 

(SON [boy] + E [ecstasy; drug]) contained in (in) REAR (school lavatory)

REA (SON E) R

REASONER (one who examines)

 

16

 

Piece of scapula seems to be suitable for use as a light cutter (4)

 

CASE (hidden word in [piece of] SCAPULA SEEMS)

 

LASE (become suitable for use a LASER or light cutter)

 

17

 

Wooden support pens run by navy (5)

 

(TEE [support {for a golf ball}] containing [pens] R [run, in cricket scoring notation]) + N (navy)

T (R) EE N

TREEN (wooden)

 

19

 

Gristly band left round beheaded porker (5)

 

L (left) + ([FATTY {porker} excluding the first letter {beheaded} F] reversed [round])

L YTTA<

LYTTA (a cartilaginous or fibrous band on the undersurface of the tongue in carnivores; gristly band)

 

20

 

Gunners included in museum all about Salisbury (5)

 

(RA [Royal Artillery; gunners] contained in [in] MUS [museum]) all reversed (all about)

(S (AR) UM)<

SARUM (ancient name of the city of Salisbury)

 

22

 

Around borders of Mali she’s heard calls of ‘go away’ from soldiers(6

)

(MI [first and last letter of {borders of} MALI]) reversed (around) + SHIS (sounds like [heard] SHE’S)

IM< SHIS

IMSHIS (cries of go-away in old military slang; call of go-away from soldiers)

 

25

 

Ends tenancies, limiting a spell of prosperity (6)

 

LETS (tenancies) containing (limiting) UP (spell of prosperity)

LET (UP) S

LET-UPS (ends [Chambers Thesaurus])

 

26

 

It’s not uncommon in exceptionally large camels (5)

 

Anagram of (uncommon) NOT contained in (in) OS (outsize; exceptionally large)

O (ONT*) S

OONTS (camels [in India])

 

28

 

IOU can’t hurt sale (5)

 

Anagram of (hurt) IOU CANT

 

AUCTION (sale)

 

31

 

Guinea I spent on trifles (5)

 

Anagram of (on?) GUINEA excluding (spent) I

 

NUGAE (trifles)

 

32

 

Time in restraint promptly forgotten (4)

 

T (time) contained in (in) TIE (restraint)

TI (T) E

TITE (obsolete [forgotten] word for ‘promptly’, ‘at once’)

 

33

 

A bloke eats mostly protein (8)

 

A + MAN + (DINES [eats] excluding the final letter [mostly] S)

 

AMANDINE (protein in sweet almonds)

 

36

 

Officer of the day in charge of force (4)

 

OD (Officer of the Day) + IC (in charge of)

 

ODIC (referring to Reichenbach’s arbitrary name for a force he supposed to manifest itself in light, magnetism, chemical action, hypnotism, etc.)

 

37

 

Appease old claim (6)

 

ALLEGE (obsolete [old] word for allay [appease])

 

ALLEGE (claim)  double definition

 

38

 

I resided in compound (6)

 

I + SAT (resided) + IN

 

ISATIN (a substance [C8H5O2N] obtained by oxidizing indigo; compound)

 

39

 

Remove the last of support money earlier (3)

 

PIER (support) excluding (remove) the last letter (last of) R

 

PIE (a former [earlier] unit of currency in India)

 

40

 

Hold and jam cover on cap (8)

 

HAVE (hold) + LOCK (jam)

 

HAVELOCK (a white cover for a military cap)

 
Down      
No Clue Wordplay Entry

2

 

At sea alter a line on the side (7)

 

Anagram of (at sea) ALTER +A + L (line)

LATER* A L

LATERAL (on the side)

 

3

 

Trouble arising with a bit of girl’s brain tissue (4)

 

G (first letter of [bit of] GIRL) + (AIL [trouble] reversed [arising; down clue])

G LIA<

GLIA (the supporting tissue of the brain and spinal cord)

 

4

 

Cordial made from reduced wine mixture (5)

 

ROSÉ (wine) excluding the final letter (reduced) É + OLIO (medley; mixture)

 

ROSOLIO (sweet cordial made with raisins)

 

5

 

Black escort in Eastern Mississippi is becoming (7)

 

B (black, describing a pencil) + (SEE [escort] contained in [in] [E {Eastern} + MS {Mississipi}])

B  E (SEE) MS

BESEEMS (is becoming)

 

6

 

No time for oriental ornate eagle on flag (5)

 

Anagram of (ornate) ORIENTAL excluding (no) T (time)

 

ALERION (in heraldry [on a flag] an eagle displayed, without feet or beak)

 

7

 

Coach stop after match (7)

 

TALLY (match) + HO (stop)

 

TALLY-HO (four-in-hand coach)

 

8

 

Circling something unknown in grid (8)

 

Y (letter representing an unknown in mathematics) contained in (in) GRATING (grid)

G (Y) RATING

GYRATING (spinning; circling)

 

9

 

Devious person in Middle East uprising (3)

 

EEL (hidden word in [in] reversed [uprising; down clue] MIDDLE EAST)

EEL<

EEL (devious person)

 

10

 

Drunken revel cut short to consume soft drink (6)

 

ORGY (drunken revel) excluding the final letter (cut short) Y + EAT (consume)

 

ORGEAT (a syrup or drink made from almonds, sugar, etc, formerly from barley.)

 

11

 

Lets off worthless people (5)

 

FARTS (breaks wind)

 

FARTS (worthless people) double definition

 

12

 

Common old penny?  Gain prize specimen at last (4)

 

WIN (gain prize) + N (last letter of [at last] SPECIMEN)

 

WINN (obsolete [old] slang [common] word for penny)

 

18

 

Wax used up on floor covering that may be raised (8)

 

CERE (cover with wax) reversed (up; down clue) + TILE (floor covering)

EREC< TILE

ERECTILE (may be raised)

 

21

 

Queen supports extreme speaker (7)

 

UTTER (extreme) + ER (Elizabeth Regina; Queen)

 

UTTERER (speaker)

 

22

 

One type of fruit incorporates a bit of original adult plant (7)

 

I (one) + (POME [type of apple] containing [incorporating] O [first letter of {a bit of} ORIGINAL]) + A (adult)

I POM (O) E A

IPOMOEA (a plant of the jalap and morning glory genus (IPOMOEA) of the Convolvulus family.

 

23

 

Tins cans manufactured from particular type of tin (7)

 

Anagram of (manufactured from) TIN CANS

 

STANNIC (relating to tin in its quadrivalent state; particular type of tine)

 

24

 

Bacall’s heart throb turns up in The Big Sleep – just the opposite! (6)

 

CA (middle letters of [heart] BACALL) + (PANT [throb] reversed [turns up; down clue])

CA TNAP<

CATNAP (a brief sleep; the opposite of a big sleep)  The Big Sleep was a film starring Lauren Bacall

 

27

 

Celebrate the arrival of Seine tours (5, 2 words)

 

Anagram of (tours) SEINE

 

SEE IN (celebrate the arrival of – as in SEE IN the New Year)

 

29

 

Chuckle loudly at first over almost anything (5)

 

L (first letter of [at first] LOUDLY) + (AUGHT [anything] excluding the final letter [almost] T)

 

LAUGH (chuckle)

 

30

 

Judge is woolly in conversation about princess (4)

 

CA (circa; about [a woolly approximation]) + DI (reference Princess Diana)  I’m not entirely sure about the use of ‘in conversation’ because usually it indicates a homophone.  It doesn’t seem to here and we don’t say CA when describing something as wooly; I accept that we may say ‘circa’ of which CA is an abbreviation.

 

CADI (a magistrate in Muslim countries; judge)

 

31

 

Charge under a pound for fête (5)

 

L (pound sterling) + IONISE (charge [a particle])

 

LIONISE (treat as a hero; fête

 

34

 

Enthusiastic about tax officer leaving entirely (4)

 

IN TOTO (entirely) excluding (leaving) TO (tax officer)  Either TO can be excluded

 

INTO (enthusiastic about)

 

35

 

Judge distance beneath base (3)

 

E (base of natural logarithms) + LI (Chinese unit of distance)

 

ELI (priest, magistrate [judge] and general all-round good egg in the crossword world)

 

 

31 comments on “Inquisitor 1341: Circling the Square by Ferret”

  1. An elegant device and a pleasant puzzle to solve, though barely registering on the Doh scale in comparison to recent IQs. I was wondering if there was more to the ‘symbolically inscribing with a circle’ part – my London geography is very hazy indeed so thought I might have been missing something.

    Odd to see both Geo and E-layer (previously E-region) making another appearance so soon.

    Thanks F and DS.

  2. Lovely lucid blog.

    My take on 30d was: ‘ . . .woolly in conversation . .’ = sounds like ‘cardie’ (or ‘cardy’ if you prefer) i.e. woolly garment.
    And maybe double use of ‘about?
    C for circa. (Princess) Ida ‘about’ = turned.

  3. Also thought it was a lovely puzzle, but just one tiny quibble. HAVELOCK wasn’t a hidden word – and in some ways could have given the game away too easily for people who knew of him, and the fact that he is in the square.

  4. Er. . . re my comment @ 2. I’m not sure if ‘cardie/cardy’ is just a northern usage. Short for cardigan.

  5. An enjoyable IQ which as Duncan has said, was not as difficult as expected from the preamble. We had the same parsing for 30d as jonsurdy@2. Chambers states that it is short for cardigan and doesn’t have it down as a regional word.

    Thanks to Ferret and Duncan.

  7. For a time I thought that 30d was QADI with Q somehow signifying “woolly” and A for “about” until the theme put me right.

    It was rather spooky to find both GEO and REAR turning up for the second week in a row either as an entry or part of the wordplay.

    Thanks to Ferret and Duncan

  8. As usual 17 answers then brick wall.

    How do you know if round or around means circling or reversed

  9. We found this a fun puzzle. Mrs BF was also slightly surprised that Havelock appeared ‘naked’ as it were.
    We parsed 30d as a triple definition – CADI (definition)/(sounds like )cardie/CA + DI.

    Many thanks to Ferret and Duncan.

  10. Gordon Fisher @ 8

    I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule about round or around. It really all depends on how the compiler sees the wordplay and which of ’round’ or ‘around’ best fits the clue he/she wishes to write to indicate containment or reversal.

  11. Re comments at #8 and #10, I agree. It’s part of the trickiness and enjoyment of teasing out puzzles that a word like ‘around’ can mean more than one thing.

  14. That’s fantastic Phil R – despite visiting the square on many occassions we’ve never seen them. We will next time! It can’t be a coincidence, surely?

    Ferret – our admiration just went up a notch!

  15. Since when does rear mean school lavatory nobody I have spoken to has heard of it and a ‘rear toilet’ on Google elicits no response

  16. Gordon Fisher @ 15

    Crosswords like the Inquisitor often use the more obscure meanings of words.

    For rear the following extract from Chambers Dictionary shows the source of the meaning you are querying:

    rear: noun – the back or hindmost part or position, esp of an army or fleet; a position behind; the buttocks (); a public or school, etc
    lavatory

    Chambers lists rear as a headword three times. The definition above is taken from the first occurrence.

    The definition as public or communal lavatory in school or university sland is also given in the Shorter Oxford.

    I can’t find an equivalent definition in Collins

  17. I thought this was a lovely puzzle. A delight. (See – I’m not always as grumpy as last week.) And, for me, no easier/harder than Schadenfreude‘s recent offering.

    My only little quibble concerns the “inscribed circle” – inscribed in the 4×4 square or the 2×2 square formed by the LIONs? I opted for one with a radius of two cells rather than Duncan’s single cell. Maybe his is more in line with the spirit of the rubric than the letter – there seems to be some latitude in the interpretation here. — I’d be interested to know WHAT SIZE CIRLCE DID OTHERS DRAW? —

    As has been mentioned above, 8a GEO, 15a REAR, and (essentially) 13a E-LAYER featured in the previous crossword – what a coincidence. (Gordon Fisher @8: for REAR = public or school lavatory, see rear^1 in Chambers.)

    For 30a, I’m with BF @9: CADI (definition)/cardie (homophone)/CA (about) + DI (princess).

    Regarding IMPS: my money is on it being fortuitous – they are clearly not located under the base of the actual column!

    Thanks all round.

    PS Duncan: In 31a you write “Anagram of (on?)” – Chambers gives ON = “on the way to being drunk”; I’ve seen this as an anagram indicator before.

  19. This was my favourite Inquisitor of recent memory (which perhaps says something about my preferred level of difficulty?). The moment when I saw there were four lions, and therefore… – delightful. I can’t believe the Havelock gave it away for many people.

  20. Etui Brute

    Thanks for your help. I guess I do not have the level of knowledge required for these puzzles-I have been looking at them for 10 years and have only finished two-however I will soldier on and occasionally grumble(my wife says that word should be regularly

  22. HolyGhost @17

    >> WHAT SIZE CIRLEE DID OTHERS DRAW?

    I don’t have the crossword to hand but as I recall we had some trouble understanding exactly what the preamble required. In the end we couldn’t decide so we drew a circle that passed through the four corners of the inner 2×2 square giving us the best (or worst) of both worlds. We don’t enter the competition so we just complete the grids for our own satisfaction. Doubtless incorrectly in most cases …

  23. #17, #22.

    A circle inscribed in a square has a diameter equal to the side length of the square. In other words, the circumference should contact the inner borders – if that level of geometrical precision is of relevance in this puzzle.

  24. Laphria: I’m well aware of what an inscribed circle is. (Probably too mathematically clued-up for my own good when it comes to crosswords.) So my dilemma was: is the square 4×4 as defined by the outer edges of the cells containing the characters NELSON COLUMN, or is it 2×2 as defined by the inner edges? Or does it indeed have ‘thick’ edges 1 cell wide …

  25. HG – you raised the question! According to the result in the Indy today the square was 2×2. So we all seem to agree. I can’t see how it could be interpreted otherwise – the square as highlighted is obviously 1 cell thick in the wall, so the inscribed circle is 2 cells diameter.

  26. Thank you duncanshiell for the blog and everyone who has commented. This puzzle was meant to be a gentle solve so I am pleased most of you found it so.

    Regarding the inscribed circle, my intent was as drawn by duncanshiell, trying to emulate the position of Nelson’s column in relation to the lions on the square base. As far as I am aware the test solvers did not query that interpretation. In many ways it was superfluous but I felt it added a visual completeness and allowed the double meaning of the title to stand, along with the clue to GYRATING: Circling something unknown in grid.

    I wish I could have concealed HAVELOCK around the corner, in the same manner as the other plinths, but the word just does not work, there being no words in English ending KC, KCO etc. I think many people are aware of what is on the fourth plinth but very few people know the statues which appear on the other three, so I hoped HAVELOCK would be entered without realizing its significance until after the discovery of the four LIONs.

    Thank you for your feedback.
    Ferret

  27. Laphria: One cannot appeal to a published answer as evidence that the rubric was clear or otherwise. (In fact, the puzzle depicted in yesterday’s paper shows the 12 cells of NELSON COLUMN highlighted, in addition to the 29 cells we were actually instructed to highlight.)

    Thanks once again to Ferret for a lovely puzzle, and for dropping in & making us aware of his intent.

  28. I had a 4X4 circle, since it ‘covered’ the words ‘Nelson Column’, which seemed to make sense at the time. Probably not necessary to add that I didn’t win…

  31. Re. inscribed circle, I finally sent my entry in with circle as per solution … BUT my original instinct was for it to approximate to the diameter of the actual column, and so I had pencilled in a circle of single cell diameter straddling the central intersection of the four cells. I had found out on Google that the distance between two adjacent lions’ noses is 70ft. and the diameter of the column at its base is 10ft. So even a single cell diameter circle on the grid would be too large, equivalent to 17.5 ft. !

    An ambiguity in the preamble that slightly took the edge off an otherwise lovely puzzle. I am guessing that IMPS was a coincidence.

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