Inquisitor 1389: Who Ya Gonna Call? by Kandy

by

This is Kandy’s first outing in the Inquisitor series.  For some reason, I have a suspicion that this is a collaborative name.  I am always suspicious that way when I see AND in a name.  Also there was a throwaway line in a Facebook posting that suggested that Enigmatist and Anax were collaborating on something the weekend that this puzzle was published.  I may, of course, be completely wrong, but it would be interesting to know. Kandy’s background.  [Update – well 50% right. A recent post on Facebook this evening reveals it was a collaboration between Anax and Ken Mackenzie (aka kenmac, one of the four Inquisitor bloggers on this site. Thanks for a good challenge guys!]

 

 

 

The preamble was fairly short but described a lot:  28 extra letters in the grid, to be highlighted, are generated by the wordplay in 20 clues.. In order (left to right, top to bottom), they reveal how – a perhaps why – one would make the call.  Those called upon should also be highlighted (35 different cells in the final grid).

That gives us 63 letters to be highlighted in a 13 * 13 grid which is over 37% of the available cells.  In the event it was only 62 cells or just under 37% as one cell did double duty in those called upon.

As usual, I dived straight in to see what I could solve in order to get some sort of foothold in the grid.

Early fallers were DACE (8 across), OAHU (11 across) and TRIPOLI (15 across), all of which were standard clues.

I concluded that 21 across was a thematic clue as the obvious anagram didn’t yield  a sensible word.  I could also see that LORAN was likely to be the defined answer to 31 across, so there was another thematic clue.  The bottom rows, like the top rows seemed to offer standard clues.

Turning to the downs, it soon became clear that the 13 letter answers were going to contain a lot of extra letters in the wordplay.  Deducing OARLAP as the defined answer to 2 down and using the crossing letters that I had, I guessed that there were 7 superfluous letters in the middle of the entry.  Here, I went off course for a bit when I said 7 letters and 4 long down clues, therefore all the extra letters were going to be the middle 7 letters of these four downs.  Wrong!

I got the first inkling that my reasoning was wrong when there clearly was an extra G in the wordplay for 35 down REP

After solving quite a few more clues, I began to get a better idea of where the extra letters were going to go and started to see BLAZE and ACCIDENT as likely words in the extra letters going left right and top down.  It was at that point I saw enough letters to form COASTGUARD, POLICE, FIRE SERVICE and AMBULANCE.  The last two emergency services share the last final cell.  After that, CAPSIZE became a satrong possibility in the extra letters.

For some time, I thought the final word was going to be SURGERY (with hindsight, I should have seen that would only have given me 27 extra letters).  In the end, the penny dropped and BURGLARY became apparent.

I have to admit I didn’t see the shape of 112 in the grid until I had sorted out BURGLARY.  112 is the pan European emergency number for calling any emergency service

This puzzle was a tour de force in cluing showing that just about any combination of letters can be clued with wordplay.  The definition of course referred only to the non gobbledygook bit of the entry.  As the grid filled, there were usually enough letters to identify the defined answer and therefore to deduce the extra letters.

This must have been quite a difficult grid to construct in order to get all the thematic material in.

I enjoyed solving this even though it took a bit longer than usual.

The filled grid with all the relevant highlighting looks like this.  

Inquisitor 1389

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The title WHO YA GONNA CALL? is fairly self explanatory once the puzzle has been solved.

Across

 

        
No Clue Wordplay Defined Answer Extra Letters Entry

2

 

Son, cutting grass: it’s hot in here (4)

 

S (son) contained in (cutting) OAT (genus of grasses)

OA (S) T

OAST (kiln to dry hops or malt; it’s hot in an OAST)

 

 

 

OAST

 

5

 

Legume ground up and roasted for starters (4)

 

GUAR (first letters of [for starters] each of GROUND UP AND ROASTED)

 

GUAR (a legume grown for forage)

 

 

 

GUAR

 

8

 

Fish, dead one (4)

 

D (dead) + ACE (one)

 

DACE (small river fish)

 

 

 

DACE

 

11

 

Island Radio, a hundred hosts (4)

 

OAHU (hidden word in [hosts] RADIO A HUNDRED)

 

OAHU (One of the major islands of Hawaii)

 

 

 

OAHU

 

13

 

Good name for American prostitute?  Never right (5)

 

HO (variant of WHORE [prostitute]) + NO (never) + R (right)

 

HONOR (American spelling of HONOUR referencing someone held in high esteem [with a good name]; good name for American)

 

 

 

HONOR

 

15

 

Dock turned into oddly terrific port (7)

 

LOP (cut of the top or ends; dock) reversed (turned) contained in (into) TRII (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [oddly] of TERRIFIC

TRI (POL)< I

TRIPOLI (port and capital city of Libya)

 

  

TRIPOLI

 

16

 

Cold dish, mostly meat? (6)

 

C (cold) + ENTRÉE (dish served at a main meal; there seem to be differing interpretations relating to when the dish is served during a meal) excluding the final letter (mostly) E

 

CENTRE (crux; meat)

 

 

 

CENTRE

 

18

 

African elder‘s stories about a zebu being broken (8)

 

A’NA (a collection of someone’s table talk or of gossip, literary anecdotes or possessions) containing (about) (an anagram of [being broken] A ZEBU)

A (BUAZE*) NA

ABUNA (Ethiopian patriarch; African elder)

 

AZE

 

ABUAZENA

 

19

 

One each? That’s not good (4)

 

I (one) + ALL (each) or together 1 ALL (one each)

 

ILL (not good)

 

 A IALL

20

 

LA state spies in Italy certainly assumed name (8)

 

CAL (California; Los Angeles [LA] is located in California) + CIA (Central Intelligence Agency; spies) + SI (yes [certainly] in Italian)

 

ALIAS (assumed name)

 

CCI

 

CALCIASI

 

21

 

Do I sense incorrect understanding? (8)

 

Anagram of (incorrect) DO I SENSE

NDOEESIS*

NOESIS (purely intellectual apprehension or perception; understanding)

 

DE

 

NDOEESIS

 
22

Dead heartless man’s broken heart (5)

 

MAN excluding the central letter [heartless] A contained in (broken) NUB (gist; heart)

NU (MN) B

 NUMB (dead) N NUMNB

24

 

Very fine cloud can be seen swirling around hill (13, 2 words)

 

Anagram of (swirling) CLOUD CAN BE containing (around) TOR (hill)

C (TOR) CDONBLAEU*

CORDON BLEU (of a very high standard [in relation top a chef or cookery])

 

TCA

 

CTORCDONBLAEU

26

 

After a month, extremely copious discharge (5)

 

APR (April; month) + CS (first and last letters of [extremely] COPIOUS)

 

ARC (luminous discharge of electricity)

 

PS

 

APRCS

 

28

 

Fresh air secured by move to deck (8)

 

Anagram of (fresh) AIR contained in (secured by) IMPEL (move)

IMPE (IAR*) L

IMPEARL (decorate [with PEARLs]; deck)

 

I

 

IMPEIARL

 

31

 

Aid to navigation left in Ground Zero, with a note (8)

 

(L [left] contained in [in] anagram of [ground] ZERO) + AN (a) + B (musical note)

Z (L) EOR* AN B

LORAN (long range radio navigation system)

 

ZEB

 

ZLOERANB

 

33

 

Two kings in each carriage (4)

 

(K [king] + K [king] giving two kings) contained in (in) EA (each)

E (K K) A

EKKA (small one-horse carriage)

 

 

 

EKKA

 

34

 

One stupid idiot receiving gold and not retiring (8)

 

MUG (simpleton; [idiot]) containing (receiving) (OR [gold] + NOR [and not] reversed [retiring])

MU (OR (RON)<) G

MORON (one who is stupid)

 

URG

 

MUORRONG

 

36

 

Bushman about to record war cry (6)

 

SAN (a member of an almost-extinct nomadic race of huntsmen in S Africa; bushman) containing (about) LOG (record)

S (LOG) AN

SLOGAN (originally a clan war cry)

 

 

 

SLOGAN

 

37

 

Idle guards give information without consistency (7)

 

ERIC (reference ERIC Idle, member of the Monty Python team) containing (guards) RAT (turncoat; one who gives information)

ER (RAT) IC

ERRATIC (irregular; without consistency)

 

 

 

ERRATIC

 

38

 

An Afghan spirit associated with tree (5)

 

KA (the spirit or soul within a person) + FIR (example of a tree)

 

KAFIR (native of KAFIRistan in Afghanistan)

 

 

 

KAFIR

 

39

 

One can get a grip on depravity (4)

 

VICE (tool with movable jaws for gripping an object that is being worked on)

 

VICE (depravity) double definition

 

 

 

VICE

 

40

 

In the air, like fabulous tree (4)

 

UP (in the air) + AS (like)

 

UPAS (a fabulous Javanese tree that poisoned everything for miles around)

 

 

 

UPAS

 

41

 

High point across river (4)

 

TIP (point) containing (across) R (river)

T (R) IP

TRIP (the experience of the hallucinatory effect of LSD or similar drug; high)

 

  

TRIP

 

42

 

Bricklayer keeps houses warm in the country (4)

 

YERK (hidden word in [houses] BRICKLAYER KEEPS)

YERK (dialect [in the country] word form ‘to rouse and excite’.  Warm can also be defined as ‘to excite’)

 

  

YERK

 
Down          
No Clue Wordplay Defined Answer Extra Letters Entry

1

 

Reach under bed for birth partner (6)

 

COT (small bed) + WIN (reach)

 

CO-TWIN (birth partner of a TWIN)

 

 

 

COTWIN

 

2

 

Rabbit at plaza proud to hop around bishop (13)

 

Anagram of (hop) AT PLAZA PROUD containing (around) B (bishop)

OAR (B) ADTPZULAP*

OARLAP (a rabbit with its ears standing out at right angles to the head)

 

BADTPZU

 

OARBADTPZULAP

3

 

Without one, dealer is more flexible (7)

 

SUPPLIER (dealer) excluding (without) I (one)

 

SUPPLER (more flexible)

 

 

 

SUPPLER

 

4

 

Eucalyptus will struggle to get roots etc clear (13)

 

Anagram of (struggle to get) ROOTS ETC CLEAR

TOOLCECSERART*

TOOART (variant spelling of TUART [a strong-timbered eucalyptus])

 

LCECSER

 

TOOLCECSERART

 

5

 

Miss a party (4)

 

GAL (girl; miss) + A

 

GALA (festivity; party)

 

 

 

GALA

 

6

 

Copper caught in silly type of cell (6)

 

(CU [chemical symbol for copper] + C [caught in cricket scoring notation]) contained in (in) ASS (silly [as a noun defined as a silly person])

AS (CU C) S

ASCUS (an enlarged cell, commonly elongated, in which usually eight spores are formed)

 

C

 

ASCUCS

 

7

 

Bird – cuckoo – nibbler on railway shrub (13)

 

RHEA (small flightless South American bird) + an anagram of (cuckoo) NIBBLER + RY (railway)

RHEA INBEBLR*  RY

RHEINBERRY (buckthorn; shrub)

 

ABL

 

RHEAINBEBLRRY

 

8

 

Work gold around New Zealand and German river (6)

 

(DO [work] + AU [chemical symbol for gold]) containing (around) NZ (New Zealand

DO (NZ) AU

DONAU (German name for the river DANUBE)

 

Z

 

DONZAU

 

9

 

Social workers‘ risks (5)

 

ANTES (stakes at betting; risks)

 

ANTS (social insects that scavenge [work]; social workers)

 

E

 

ANTES

 

10

 

NY ice rink contrived to break plug one put in box (13, 2 words)

 

Anagram of (contrived) NY ICE RINK contained in (to break) CORK (plug)

COR (NINERKYIC*) K

CORNER KICK (in football [and other sports] a CORNER KICK is frequently played into the penalty box

 

INY

 

CORNINERKYICK

 

12

 

Reading fans after drink turned foul, grabbing Leo’s hair (11)

 

BIB (to drink) + (SOIL [foul] reversed [turned] containing [grabbing] MANE [the hair of a lion [leo])

BIB (LIO (MANE) S<)

BIBLIOMANES (people who love books; reading fans)

 

 

 

BIBLIOMANES

 

14

 

To be more boring, drive around Spain (4)

 

RAM (drive) containing (around) E (International Vehicle Registration for Spain)

R (E) AM

REAM (enlarge the bore of; to be more boring)

 

 

 

REAM

 

17

 

See opening because of defeat (5)

 

LO (behold; see) contained in (opening) FOR (because of)

F (LO) OR

FLOOR (defeat)

 

 

 

FLOOR

 

23

 

Cause damage boxing a constant Scottish produce (5)

 

MAR (cause damage) containing (boxing) (A + K [mathematical symbol often used for a constant value; there are also specific constants in physics and chemistry denoted k)

MA (A K) R

MAK (Scottish for make [produce])

 

AR

 

MAAKR

 

25

 

Will falsify a greeting (7)

 

LIE (falsify) + A + AVE (hail!; greeting)

 

LEAVE (as in LEAVE in a will; verb ‘to will’)

 

IA

 

LIEAAVE

 

27

 

My marrow not quite enough for dogs (6)

 

COR (My! [goodness]) + GIST (essence; meat; marrow) excluding the final letter (not quite enough) T

 

CORGIS (examples of dogs)

 

 

 

CORGIS

 

28

 

I start to relax with expert, one with evening job? (6)

 

I + R (first letter of [start to] RELAX) + ONER (expert)

 

IRONER (one who evens things [out] – e.g. clothes or problems)

 

 

 

IRONER

 

29

 

Knife could make clean cut, ultimately (6)

 

Anagram of (could make) CLEAN + T [last letter of {ultimately} CUT)

LANCE* T

LANCET (a surgical instrument used for opening veins; knife)

 

 

 

LANCET

 

30

 

A female entering fine Russian city (4)

 

MS (form of address for a lady to avoid discrimination between married and unmarried statue; female) contained in (entering) OK (that’s good; fine)

O (MS) K

OMSK (city in Russia)

 

 

 

OMSK

 

31

 

John’s nothing but a scrubber (5)

 

LOO (lavatory; john) + FA ([sweet] Fanny Adams or a coarser variant, each meaning nothing at all)

 

LOOFA (fibrous network of the fruit of a tropical plant, used as a hard, rough sponge; scrubber)

 

 

 

LOOFA

 

35

 

Doctor’s enthralled about theatre (4)

 

GP (General Practitioner; doctor) containing (enthralled) RE (with reference to; about)

G (RE) P

REP (repertory theatre)

 

G

 

GREP

 

 

 

19 comments on “Inquisitor 1389: Who Ya Gonna Call? by Kandy”

  1. Totally humbled by this one. So respect to Kandy, and even more to duncan for the cracking and elegant explanation. Filled the grid, saw the emergency services,saw ACCIDENT. But that was it, despite returning to the puzzle over several days. So I am busted back to neophyte rank.
    Good for the (gritted teeth)soul.

  2. This was my first return to the inquisition for several months, and a fine reminder of why anyone would volunteer for this pain. I’m still short on time, so I only finished it this morning (just before coming to this blog, honest!), partly due to having been held up by having a T rather than an R as the 5th letter in 34A.

    As with all the best puzzles, the interplay between the clues and the theme built right to the end and gave nudges at just the right moments. Spotting FIRE SERVICE dispelled any lingering Ghostbuster thoughts and gave some much-needed extra letters from COAST GUARD and AMBULANCE.

    Thanks to KANDY (or to K and to Y?)and Duncan for the confirmation.

    (Jon, I’m intrigued as to how what you’ve described counts as a failure in any sense?)

  3. Thanks for the blog. Can’t believe I filled in all the answers, but forgot the number of cells to be shaded and missed the 112 bit.

  4. Sorry OPatrick, I only completed the grid in terms of the answers – without the missing letters that gave the causes for making the call. Oh, and like you, I spent some time thinking Ghostbusters.

  5. I recall having a bit of trouble with this and getting increasingly annoyed about the (apparently) random letters appearing in the solutions (13 letter wordplay yields a 6 letter solution ? Gimme a break !!)
    I finished it off without really warming to the puzzle at all, found the callers and the reasons for calling but didn’t see the 112 until I grumpily added the highlighting. Then the penny dropped, a smile appeared and all was forgiven

    Lovely stuff.

    Thanks to Kandy and to Duncan.

  7. Very hard work but very rewarding. I tend to agree with BF’s gripe about the wordplay, but in the end you forgive it. Puzzle of the year so far for me.

  8. A challenge, this one, but totally enjoyable. I agree with OP @ 2 about the interplay. I also had a T in 34A and wondered what SIZE BUT GLARY meant until the penny dropped!

    I must stand back now and again – too much wood and not enough trees. So it was quite late before I spotted any of the services as they emerged in the grid and was unable to make much use of them. Also, it was my wife who spotted 112 over my shoulder as I was shading it in. Grrr!

    LOI was 21A, when it was clear which letters were redundant.

    Thanks to K & Y (?) for an entertaining few hours and to Duncan for a fine blog.

  9. I thought this was a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, with 7 surplus letters in two down answers to squeeze and fit into various across clues and no consistent or symmetric pattern emerging (until the end when the completed picture emerged!).

    I saw POLICE across row 3 quite early so guessed it was something to do with 999 but no, so then I tried 911 and completely forgot about 112.

    Like others, I found this hard work but ultimately very rewarding – I enjoy jigsaws. Not quite my POTY but certainly top five so far.

    Many thanks to Duncan and Kandy.

  10. My solving experience echoed many of the comments already made. A very difficult puzzle (always much more difficult when you can’t use solving aids because you don’t know how many letters are in the answer), but I got there in the end, and, like many others, I didn’t see the 112 until I shaded all the letters, and was very pleasantly surprised when everything (including the ‘how’ in the preamble) slotted into place. Great grid construction.

    Thanks to S and B.

  11. I have recently learnt that this puzzle was a collaboration between Anax and Ken Mackenzie [aka kenmac a regular Inquisitor blogger on this site]. No doubt the week of publication was chosen to avoid kenmac being the blogger. Great challenge guys – thanks!

  12. We completed the puzzle and were very impressed by the combination of events and emergency services hidden in the grid. It was amazing how long it was before we noticed AMBULANCE. The others followed rapidly.

    What we failed to notice and which impresses us even more was the inclusion of 112 given by the extra letters. Maybe if we had shaded them in as directed, we would have noticed it, or maybe not!

    Thanks to kemac and Anax for a brilliant debut puzzle and thanks to Duncan for the comprehensive blog.

  13. I think this puzzle – and people’s comments in the blog – prove a universal truth: not all solvers are the same.

    I also think, though, that they fall roughly somewhere between the following types.

    Those who can crack it while waiting for their breakfast egg to boil*.
    Those who boil because they can’t.

    I fell into the latter category last Saturday.

    But I have a note from my mum that says I was suffering from a touch of flu or something chronic and orrible and it wasn’t fair that all those clever people didn’t wait till I was feeling better.

    (I hope you will all excuse her poor handwriting, which I admit looks suspiciously like mine.)

    Yet, why is it that sometimes some of us can catch on early and others can’t.
    Then another week it’s the other way round?

    Purely rhetorical question.

    * Can anyone remember that thing about the Oxford professor who used to time his boiled egg to perfection by waiting until he had completed the Times crossword?

  14. @11: Guilty as charged.

    Dean (Anax) and I worked together on this.
    The pseudonym is a corruption of “K an’ D.”

    Thanks for the positive feedback. In the next day or so, I’ll cobble together a setters’ blog and post it here.

    And (@9) now I’m off to practise my acceptance speech. 😉

  18. Harder than many, not as enjoyable as some. (Both these in some way because I had no free time the weekend the puzzle was published – spent it driving to and around NE London helping nephew & nieces shuffle furniture from house to house – and had to squeeze the solving into snatched half hours here and there over the following week.)

    Spotted the three ‘horizontal’ services about halfway through, and the ‘vertical’ one a little later. Much later I got the “why”, and then, after highlighting, the “how”.

    For me, one aspect that detracted from the puzzle was that, given the 28 cells forming the “112”, the four words seemed somewhat arbitrary as long as they were related to the four services (in some order) and the sum of the lengths checked out. So I’m afraid that this one didn’t quite float my boat. Sorry.

    Nevertheless, thanks for the puzzle & the blog. (Now I’ll go & read kenmac‘s blog.)

  19. Great stuff. I went around the houses quite a lot with this one, firstly with the Ghostbusters theme (that tune, Aaaagh !) then once I had the first row filled I was convinced I was looking for a Baywatch strand. Once blaze became a likely suspect, the rest followed. Like others, it wasn’t until I filled in the shading that the 112 became apparent. Clever ! I loved 12D and 28D.

    Great blog and associated background post , many thanks to all involved

Comments are closed.