The preamble for PARADOX tells us: “In clue order, the second or fifth letters of single extra words in 15 clues give a PARADOX that is epitomised by one of the unclued entries. The other seven unclued entries give the means by which this PARADOX became possible and those who made the most use of it. The other choices of the second or fifth letters instruct solvers as to what they must write below the grid.”
This was an enjoyable caper – and (somewhat fortuitously) I had recently ‘re-visited’ the theme courtesy of a series of repeats on ITV3 or Film 4, or some such channel that can only be filled with endless repeats…
As the grid filled up, there seemed to be plenty of helpful crossing letters in most of the unclued entries – and I think the PDM came quite early on with what looked like ‘EMMETT’, and then ‘MCFLY’. Given that I am of a certain age, I am only vaguely aware of the existence of some teeny-bopper band by the name McFly, but to me it could only mean one thing…MARTY MCFLY and ‘Doc’ EMMETT BROWN, from the film ‘Back to the Future’. Sure enough, there soon followed BIFF TANNEN, the bully character, and DELOREAN – the means by which it the time travel became possible… It did take me a while to work out that ‘W?R?OMOT’ was ‘TOMORROW’ backwards, the ‘epitomisation’ of the paradox.
Those second/fifth letters of the extra words series are something I have seen before – maybe from Kruger? – and they are an impressive device. It must have taken some work to get them all into the clues so cleverly. One strand spells out ‘BACK TO THE FUTURE’, which I initially guessed at before it was complete and lazily wrote under the grid. But, on a double check and re-read of the preamble, this is the PARADOX itself, and I went back to check the other strand: NAME OF DOC’S POOCH – which was EINSTEIN, which had to be written below the grid:
So, a fun diversion and a relatively straightforward blog (for which I am grateful in a busy week!). I guess there may be older and younger solvers for whom the film is not such a reference point, but I’m sure a few guesses at MCFLY and DELOREAN, along with some judicious Wiki-oogling, would have helped them get across the line.
It is nearly three weeks since solving, and I am afraid the mechanics of the solving process at the time are a dim and distant memory… Fair to say, I think, that there were some challenging but fair clues, a clever device with the 2nd/5th letters, and a fun thematic denouément… Thanks, Kruger.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Length | Solution | 2nd / 5th letters | Clue (definition underlined, extra words in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1 | (5) | EPOPT | Spiritual leader rebuffed tense initiate of Greek religious ceremonies (5) / EPOP (Pope, spiritual leader, rebuffed) + T (tense) |
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| 5 | (8) | WORROMOT | Unclued (8) / thematic deduction – ‘back’ TO + MORROW (the future) |
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| 11 | (7) | MERINOS | Immigrants to Australia sin more corruptly (7) / anag (i.e. corruptly) of SIN MORE |
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| 12 | (5) | ENEMY | N / B | Someone who hates you at one time holding snobbish fellows back (5) / Y_E (you, archaic) around MEN (fellows) – all backwards |
| 13 | (7) | MACLEOD | A / A | Former Balkan Chancellor, insane, embraces girl (7) / MA_D (insane) around (embracing) CLEO (girl) |
| 15 | (6) | SLICER | It can be used to cut diamonds in camera (sort of) (6) / SL_R (sort of camera) around ICE (diamonds) |
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| 16 | (6) | SCREEN | C / M | Native Americans scrambled to enter unoccupied sealskin shelter (6) / S_N (‘unoccupied’, or emptied, SealskiN) around CREE (Native American tribe) |
| 18 | (5) | TOTEM | To carry money is something given undue respect (5) / TOTE (carry) + M (money) |
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| 20 | (6) | TANNEN | Unclued (6) / thematic deduction – see 32D |
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| 22 | (8) | LOBBYIST | He tries to influence cop losing his head in Long Island street (8) / LI_ST (Long Island + ST – street) around (B)OBBY (cop, or bobby, losing first letter) |
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| 25 | (8) | SPITFIRE | K / E | Hot-headed woman’s father buries hollow female skeleton (8) / S_IRE (father) around (burying) PIT (hollow) + F (female) |
| 28 | (6) | HIGHLY | In an elevated position, husband drunkenly drops single piece of thatch twice (6) / H (husband) + (T)IGH(T)LY (drunkenly, dropping T – single pece of Thatch – twice) |
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| 31 | (5) | BROWN | Unclued (5) / thematic deduction – see 1D |
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| 33 | (6) | YEARLY | O / T | Yard, on more than one occasion, apprehends nobleman – sometimes for twelve months (6) / Y_Y (yard, more than once) around (apprehending) EARL (nobleman) |
| 35 | (6) | VIENNA | Ridiculously naive name: ‘Metropolis’ (6) / anag (i.e. ridiculously) of NAIVE + N (name) |
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| 36 | (7) | NERVOUS | O / F | Timid Australian deserts ravenous boldfaced vagrant (7) / anag (i.e. vagrant) of R(A)VENOUS – without (deserted by) A (Australian) |
| 37 | (5, two words) | OF AGE | Being old enough, Jock’s grandchild accepts cigarette (5, two words) / O_E (oe, oy, Scottish for grandchild) around (accepting) FAG (cigarette) |
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| 38 | (7) | JAINIST | D / T | Ascetic religious adherent is identified in Japan with a temperature – sick (7) / anag ( i.e. sick) of IS + IN + J (Japan) + A + T (temperature) |
| 39 | (8) | OFFENDED | O / H | Broke the law: killed South American – accepting consequence (8) / OFF_ED (killed, American) around (accepting) END (consequence) |
| 40 | (5) | MARTY | Unclued (5) / thematic deduction – character from BTTF |
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| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Length | Solution | 2nd / 5th letters | Clue (definition underlined, extra words in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1 | (6) | EMMETT | Unclued (6) / thematic deduction – character from BTTF |
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| 2 | (7, two words) | PEA SOUP | C / E | Without beginning to search, suppose scared adult lost in fog (7, two words) / anag (i.e. scared) of SUPPO(S)E (without first S – first letter of search) + A (adult) |
| 3 | (4) | ORCA | Cetacean’s obscured by superior camouflage (4) / hidden word in ‘superiOR CAmouflage’ |
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| 4 | (6) | PILSEN | Czech city college blocks degree (6) / PI_N (degree) around (blocked by) LSE (London School of Economics, college) |
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| 5 | (7) | WOORALI | Nothing spoken in Isle of Wight about source of poison (7) / W_I (Isle of Wight, IW, about) around O (zero, nothing) + ORAL (spoken) |
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| 6 | (5) | RESET | Steer around old Scottish harbour (5) / anag (i.e. around) of STEER |
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| 7 | (5) | ONION | Head private investigator leaves impression (5) / O(PI)NION – impression, without PI (Private Investigator) |
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| 8 | (7) | MECONIN | F / S | Effusive followers assuming icon destroyed substance found in opium (7) / ME_N (followers) around CONI (anag, i..e destroyed, of ICON) |
| 9 | (4) | OMEN | U / P | Sign European seafarer erected (4) / OMEN (sign) = NEMO (fictional seafarer, Captain Nemo), upwards (erected) |
| 10 | (6) | TYRANT | Bully starts to threaten you with tirade (6) / T+Y (first letters of Threaten and You) + RANT (tirade) |
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| 14 | (8) | DELOREAN | Unclued (8) / thematic deduction – time machine from BTTF |
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| 17 | (5) | NABOB | Arrest former pupil – a very rich person (5) / NAB (arrest) + OB (Old Boy, former pupil) |
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| 19 | (5) | MCFLY | Unclued (5) / thematic deduction – see 40A |
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| 21 | (7, two words) | FIG LEAF | O / T | County’s gaffer essentially introduces tricky agile substitute (7, two words) / F_F (centre, or essence, of gaFFer) around (introducing) IG LEA (anag, i.e. tricky, of AGILE) |
| 23 | (7) | BETREAD | O / U | Trample on berated compulsive criminal (7) / anag (i.e. criminal) of BERATED |
| 24 | (7) | SAWDUST | Noticed bent stud detached pieces of wood (7) / SAW (noticed) + DUST (anag, i.e. bent, of STUD) |
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| 25 | (6) | SHIVOO | Social occasion in Botany Bay so ordinary not all of colony is entertained (6) / S_O + O (ordinary), around (entertaining) HIV (‘not all’ of HIVE, or colony) |
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| 26 | (6) | HRYVNA | Harry oddly renovated van for cash in Kiev (6) / HRY (odd letters of HaRrY) + VNA (anag, i.e. renovated, of VAN) |
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| 27 | (6) | ANGSTY | R / C | Feeling anxious, undergraduate initially leaves sympathetic French woman outside of grammar school (6) / A(U)N_TY (sympathetic woman, aunty, without U – first letter of Undergraduate), around GS (Grammer Skool) |
| 29 | (5) | HINGE | Fact: Highlands & Islands Enterprise takes in new government (5) / HIE (Highland & Islands Enterprise, quango?) around (taking in) N (new) + G (government) |
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| 30 | (5) | YEARD | H / E | Soil from Jock’s garden covering chalet steps in the middle (5) / Y_ARD (garden) around (covering) E (middle letter of stEps) |
| 32 | (4) | BIFF | Unclued (4) / thematic deduction – character from BTTF |
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| 34 | (4) | LOIR | Dormouse in department store finally removed (4) / LOIR(E) – French départment, with E (last letter of storE) removed |
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This is a film I’ve never seen so Googling was necessary. The backwards “tomorrow” at the top was a clever touch. However, I don’t like the ugly phrase “outisde of”, as in27d. Clues should be concisely written and the “of” is redundant here but this construction is becoming more common as a means of padding out sentences. Painting the outside of one’s house is all right but I would never say I am sitting inside of my house. Here endeth the lesson.
Tony, I’m not sure that I entirely agree with the points you make. Whilst some setters come up with very concise clues, others don’t. I don’t believe either way of writing clues to be correct; it’s a setter’s right to be able to write the clues he/she sees fit, as long as they are fair. The task of editing a puzzle relies on ensuring that things are fair, whilst at the same time not simply improving the style of a clue for the sake of it. It’s important that the setter’s individuality is maintained, otherwise all puzzles would become homogenised in the style of the editor.
In this instance, Chambers has a specific entry for ‘outside of’, defining it as ‘in or to a position external to’. As such, the setter’s clue is correct and completely fair. I appreciate that you may not be a fan of the word ‘of’ in this context, but if the setter has chosen to use it, it’s justified by Chambers, and it’s fair… then fair enough!
Tony @1 : It is common usage in my neck of the woods (and I would guess elsewhere in the UK) to use “outside of” as the equivalent of “outside” and I see nothing wrong with this.
I enjoyed this puzzle – I thought it was very nicely constructed. I vaguely remembered the film which was enough for all the names apart from Biff’s surname & the dog which I had to google.
However, it appears there are 2 options for the dog – Copernicus in the ’50s & Einstein in 1985 – I couldn’t see any reason to pick one over the other.
http://backtothefuture.wikia.com/wiki/Emmett_Brown
Yes, although a huge fan of the Back to the Future trilogy, I’m afraid I forgot all about Copernicus! Apologies to all. I would hope the vetters of EV submissions have accepted either EINSTEIN or COPERNICUS as a valid sub-grid answer.
I thought it was quite a nice puzzle. Never having seen the films meant it took a while to see what was going on — for some time I wondered if it was going to be the paradox from “The Pirates of Penzance” about leap years and birthdays, but that obviously turned out to be totally wrong. It was nice to have a delayed PDM, though.
The dog mystery was probably one of those things that only really exists either if you know the series superbly well, or don’t and have to rely on internet information. Anyway, it was clear in the end that Einstein was the intended answer. Thanks Kruger.