Enigmatic Variations 1220: Ring Damascus by Kruger

This was quite challenging (for me, at least) and, if it wasn’t a blogging week, it might have been quietly put to one side and walked away from! I just about managed to finish it, but still haven’t worked out the significance of the title: RING DAMASCUS

The preamble states:

“In RING DAMASCUS, the wordplay in each clue leads to the answer and an additional letter not to be entered into the grid; in clue order, these give guidance as to what solvers must do to complete the puzzle. Chambers Dictionary (2014) is recommended.”

So far – just the one fairly standard EV device – extra letters in wordplay spelling out an instruction – and a nice short preamble … what could possibly go wrong?!

With nothing else to go on, it was head down and solve – with a fairly strong feeling that there would need to be some sort of changes made – substitutions, clashing letters, a shape or pattern? – so use of a pencil and a sceptical mistrust of crossing letters were my first thoughts.

Sure enough, there seemed to be a few clashes here and there as I gradually made some headway with the cold solving. And as more clashes became apparent they seemed to be concentrated on particular entries, so it looked like substitutions rather than, say, resolving clashes to make a shape or find a quotation.

The first minor PDM was when I realised that HORSE at 4D clashed on four of its letters to give IRE?E – which looked like IRENE. So why does IRENE replace HORSE? In the same vein, although I couldn’t solve/parse 1D at all (I just got it now while writing up the blog) the crossing letters were CECI?I? – which is probably CECILIA…another girl’s name. Then LAMP at 32A had LUC? – so maybe LUCY.

With all this focus on clashes and girls’ names, I wasn’t really concentrating on the ‘guidance’ from the extra letters. Returning to that with a bit more rigour paid off. I had something like ‘NAMES OF …’ at the beginning, and ‘…REPLACE…’ further down, which tallied with the names I was finding to replace certain objects. And eventually I teased out the key elements – SAINTS and SYMBOLS.

‘NAMES OF SAINTS TO REPLACE THEIR SYMBOLS AS IN BREWER’.

And with a bit more concentration on saints’ names, I nearly had them all:

• HORSE -> IRENE
• LAMP -> LUCY
• BASKET -> JOANNA
• BOAT -> JUDE
• CAULDRON -> BONIFACE
• BEEHIVE -> BERNARD
• DAGGER -> KI?IAN (KILIAN)
• SCALES -> ?AN?US (MANOUS)
• ?something meaning ‘malicious person’? -> CECILIA (eventually worked out as SERPENT!)
• PURSE -> CYRIL

 

 

However, try as I might, I could not find anything definitive in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, which I assumed was the reference to Brewer(?), to confirm these. I no longer have a paper copy of this, but there are sites out there with facsimile (and searchable) copies of books, and I found one which seemed to be a copy of Brewer (19th or 20th edition?) but there was no obvious compiled list with these names/symbols, and not all of the saints had individual entries, or if they did, not all of them confirmed the substitutions above. I did find a copy of a ‘Dictionary of Saints’, which helped to confirm a lot of them, including KILIAN and MANOUS. Cecilia is mostly linked to music – organs and harps – which didn’t help with working out the ‘malicious person’.

I expect I was just looking in the wrong place or the wrong Brewer – maybe there is one specifically for saints? Hopefully someone will provide the answer to this below? Anyway, it seemed to make this more difficult than it might have been.

Back to the title – I assume that a RING is a symbol for a saint linked to DAMASCUS (Saint John? this has four letters, so would match with RING) – but again I haven’t been able to prove this definitively.

So, in summary – a pretty challenging EV (IMHO) but an interesting and well constructed theme/denouement – first find all saints with a symbol whose word length matches the length of the name of the saint themselves! – and it was satisfying to get there in the end. Some fairly tough clueing, as I remember – which is usually the case with extra letters. I didn’t notice the preponderance of anagrams at the time, but while parsing the clues below there seem to be a higher proportion than maybe ‘average’ for an EV? While solving, and specially while concentrating on wheedling out those extra letters, I don’t tend to sit back and appreciate the surface readings and the craftsmanship that goes into creating a puzzle like this. Which is the beauty of doing a blog and having to go back and deconstruct/parse them all in more detail.

Thanks then, to Kruger – I hope I have done this justice – and I have learned a few saints along the way – KILIAN, MANOUS and BONIFACE…who seems to have met his end by being cast into his symbolic cauldron!

 

Across
Clue No	Solution / Entry	Additional letter	Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing (extra letters in brackets)
1	CHILLI	N	Spicy food badly served in dishes left unfinished (6) / CH_I(N) (china, or dishes, left unfinished) around ILL (badly)
5	SCALES / MANOUS	A	Films Scottish Arts Council on historical festivals (6) / S(A)C (Scottish Arts Council) + ALES (historic/archaic for festivals)
11	ESTUARINE	M	In EU, stream flowing from mouth of the Rhine? (9) / anag, i.e. flowing, of IN EU STREA(M)
12	BRAT	E	Abruptly scold naughty child (4) / B(E)RAT (berate, or scold, losing last letter, i.e. abruptly)
13	CHEESES	S	See chess being played in Derby and Leicester? (7) / anag, i.e. being played, of SEE CHES(S)
15	SLANT	O	Point of view according to key leader of socialists in revolution (5) / T(O)NAL (music, according to key) + S (first letter, or leader, of Scoialists) – all turned, or in revolution
16	IAMB	F	Foot – part of limb Mafia returned (4) / hidden, reversed word, I,e, ‘part of’ and ‘returned’, in ‘limB MA(F)Ia’
17	CESS	S	At one time, rate influential person out of University College (4) / (S)(UC)CESS – influential person, without UC – University College
18	OGEE	A	Architectural feature in old house finally cracked with age (4) / anag, i.e. cracked, of O (old) + E (final letter of housE) + (A)GE
19	DAGGER / KILIAN	I	Doctor cut by Agatha Little’s knife (6) / D_R (doctor) around (cut by) AGG(I)E (diminutive form of Agatha)
20	IBSEN	N	Writer’s without part of pen at first (5) / (N)IB (part of pen) + SEN (musical abbreviation – ‘without’)
22	ABLE	T	Board having enough power (4) / double defn – (T)ABLE = board, ABLE = having enough power
24	EARBOBS	S	Catch man from LA approaching British with special items of jewellery (7) / (S)EAR (catch) + BO (US familiar term for man) + B (British) + S (special)
27	BOAT / JUDE	T	To bathe at sea, he abandoned ship (4) / anag, i.e. at sea, of TO BA(T)(HE) – abandoned by HE
29	ANNAT	O	Lost one year’s income – not an amount initially ruinous (5) / anag, i.e. ruinous, of N(O)T + AN + A (initial letter of Amount)
30	ORCEIN	R	Whale enzyme not one needed originally in dyestuff (6) / ORC (whale, orca) + (R)E(N)IN (enzyme, without one N – original letter of Needed)
32	LAMP / LUCY	E	Punch friend holding me back (4) / P_AL (friend) holding M(E) – all backwards
34	ARCO	P	Direction at end of pizzicato passage in harp concert (4) / hidden word in ‘hAR(P) COncerto’
35	IFOR	L	Distance of Chinamen beneficial to Welshman (4) / (L)I (Chinese distance, about a third of a mile) + FOR (beneficial)
36	NERKA	A	Salmon in New England vessel beginning to affect… (5) / NE (New England) + (A)RK (vessel) + A (beginning to Affect)
37	BEEHIVE / BERNARD	C	… wood I’ve taken on in busy place (7) / BEE(C)H (wood) + I’VE
38	NAIF	E	Being simplistic, intended recalled opener for county to be dropped (4) / FIAN(C)(E) – intended – without C (opening letter of County dropped), then all recalled
39	CAPRICCIO	T	Townsman engaged in island company’s irregular work (9) / CAPRI (island) + C_O (company) around CI(T) (townsman)
40	LLOYDS	H	Including yen, all dosh strangely not accepted in bank (6) / anag, i.e. strangely, of (A)LL DOS(H) + Y (yen), minus A (accepted)
41	SALEEM	E	Harry oddly seemed male Arabic name (6) / anag, i.e. harry, of SEE (odd letters of seemed) + MAL(E)
Down
Clue No	Solution / Entry	Additional letter	Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing (extra letters in brackets)
1	SERPENT / CECILIA	I	Malicious person somewhat indecent in capital of Estonia (7) / SE_NT (currency unit, 100th of an Estonian kroon) around R(I)PE (somewhat indecent)
2	ITEMISED	R	Listed dire cooks in Times incorrectly? On the contrary (8) / Contrariwise double/nested anagram! TEMIS (anag, i.e. incorrectly, of TIMES) in I_ED (anag, i.e. cooked, of DI(R)E)
3	LASAGNA	S	Dish from Turin (girl from father’s side of the family) starts to turn erotically away (7) / LAS(S) (girl) + AGNA(TE) (from the father’s side, with T&E missing – starting letters of Turn and Erotically)
4	HORSE / IRENE	Y	Awfully sorry, he rejects introduction to regimental cavalry (5) / anag, i.e. awfully, of SOR(R)(Y) + HE, minus one occurrence of R (introductory letter of Regimental)
6	ANGEKKOK	M	Losing a bit of composure in Kolkata’s first game, knock out shaman (8) / anag, i.e. out, of K (first letter of Kolkata) + GA(M)E + KNO(C)K – without C (losing first letter, or a bit, of Composure)
7	NESSIE	B	Monster outrageously seen eating more than half of old crone (6) / NES_E (anag, i.e. outrageously, of SEEN) around SI(B) (more than half of SIBYL, or old crone)
8	URALI	O	Source of poison a rector leaves in the countryside. Pay attention! (5) / (R)URAL (in the countryside, with one R, or rector, leaving) + (O)I (interjection – pay attention!)
9	SAN SALVADOR	L	Volcano nearly collapsed – two thirds of valley roads destroyed (10, two words) / SAN (nearly SANK, or collapsed) + anag, i.e. destroyed, of VAL(L) (two thirds of VALLey) + ROADS
10	ATTUNE	S	Sauna mostly right to declare “No Alcohol Admitted”. Get used to it! (6) / (S)A_UN (most of SAUNA) + E (the rightmost letter of declarE), admitting TT (teetotal, No Alcohol Admitted)
14	HARBOUR SEAL	A	Aquatic animal in mist covering market beside Australian lake (10, two words) / HA_(A)R (mist) around (covering) BOURSE (stock market, exchange), plus A (Australian) + L (lake)
17	CEMBALO	S	Lamb chose to forget Henry restored harpsichord (7) / anag, i.e. restored, of LAMB C(H)O(S)E (without, or forgettng, H – henry)
21	IRON-CLAD	I	Dry boy in ship covered in sheets (8) / IRON(I)C (dry) + LAD (boy)
23	CAULDRON / BONIFACE	N	Cold urn – an unusual container for boiling water (8) / anag, i.e. unusual, of COLD URN A(N)
25	BACTRIA	B	Audibly supported very naughty boy cut down in region of Afghanistan (7) / BACT (homophone for BACKED, or supported) + (B)RIA (Brian, cut short – ref, Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’, where he is described as a ‘He’s not the Messiah…he’s a very naughty boy’ by his mother)
26	STARDOM	R	Fame achieved in small town after flight from Scotland without second of pilots (7) / STA(I)R (flight of steps, Scottish, without I – second letter of pilots) plus DO(R)M (short for dormitory, or small town/suburb)
27	BASKET / JOANNA	E	Gathering of people about to request opening of the rear section of stagecoach (6) / B_E(E) (gathering of people) around ASK (to request), plus T (opening letter of The)
28	PIRACY	W	Unauthorised publication leads to crisis years after religious conflict repulsed (6) / PI (preligious) + RA(W) (war, conflict, repulsed) + CY (first letters of C & Y)
31	PURSE / CYRIL	E	Rupees collected in this? (5) / anag, i.e. collected, of RUPE(E)S
33	USERS	R	Employers take in cunning plans (5) / (R)USES (cunning plans) around R (Latin, recipe, take)