Enigmatic Variations No. 1173: 21 7s by Shark

This week, there was the second Shark puzzle since the clocks went forward at the end of March. It probably meant that we had a date-related theme in front of us.

I’ve had it easy over the past few months, with several puzzles which had no extra/missing letters/words in the clues/entries. This week, just to make up for it, there were adjustments required to half the answers and a letter needing to be added to or removed from the definition in every clue.

As expected from Shark, this was a fairly tough one. We were lucky that we were given the lengths of the solutions so it was easy to identify the 22 words that needed to be altered before entry and consequently whether a letter was lost or added. However, with the misprints we had no such indication and that made the solve tricky to say the least.

I pretty much worked my way down from top to bottom, not because I was being particularly logical, but because I needed help from crossing entries with most clues. Moreover, don’t think that it was quick top to bottom — I think this one took me the best part of an afternoon (Tuesday if memory serves).

Near the end of the grid, I had most of the letters giving Initials of snook before the penny dropped, and I was able to fill in the gaps in the remaining clues to give er balls; shade six World Champions. The last 20% of the grid was then a bit easier, and I eventually scrawled some shading through Steve/Joe/Fred DAVIS, Denis TAYLOR, Ray REARDON, John PARROTT, John SPENCER and John PULMAN with little thought. I don’t watch snooker on TV these days, but all the players in the grid were well-known back in the 70’s and 80’s, the heyday of Pot Black. (It’s a shame that Stephen Hendry wasn’t one of the six to complete the England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland line-up.)

The significance of the title then became apparent. It was nothing to do with pairs of planes, but 21 × 7 = 147, the maximum break in snooker. However, this didn’t stop me being gobsmacked as I completed my entry and saw what was displayed when the six champions were highlighted!

So, to summarise what tasks Shark set himself:

1) Construct a grid where a quarter of the solutions lose a letter before entry and a quarter gain a letter;
2) Have those 22 letters consist of 15 Rs plus Y, G, B, B, P, B and W representing the balls in snooker;
3) Include six snooker World Champions in the grid to be highlighted;
4) Have the highlighting in the shape of 147.

Phenominal! And he’s got a full-time job too.

Legend:
Definition in clue
Swords Words amended by added/removed letters in clues
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden