Thinking Outside the Box is an ‘enter where they will fit’ puzzle. These typically require a lot of cold solving, so we’re (more than usually) at the mercy of the setter. If the clues are very difficult, these take a great deal of work. So how much thinking – inside or outside the box – will Piccadilly’s puzzle require?
Fortunately, unlike the last EV of this type, the clues are quite friendly. In fact, I solved nearly all of the clues before attempting to fit them into the grid.
To resolve the ambiguities (which quarter goes where, and where ORT and OUT go), I concentrated on the two three-letter clues starting with O, and the vertical connecting them. As luck would have it, my first guess was correct, and I saw ORTH and SOUT at the top and bottom of the grid. I had initially tried the other quarters the wrong was round, but a quick look showed that the correct choice gave EST and EAS at the left and right of the grid. The four letters to be written outside the grid complete the points of the compass.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
| ASTUTE | Perceptive [analysis of] STATUE* (6) |
| AVENUE | Wide street provides A VENUE (meeting-place) (6) |
| BANANAS | Fruit or nuts (7) |
| CAYUSE | CAUSE (An inducement) [to hold] Y ([tail of] VERY) small horse in Kentucky (6) |
| CLEVER | Quick < {REVEL (to celebrate) C (college)} [making a comeback] (6) |
| CRATER | CATER (Provide food), [entertaining] R (ASTRONOMER [finally]) seeing faint constellation (6) |
| DOE | E (Earl) [pursues] DO (party) animal, female (3) |
| EAS | ERAS (Important dates) [when R (river)’s drained] for Fenland drainage channels (3) |
| ELEVEN | EL (TWELVE, [essentially]), EVEN (not odd) number (6) |
| ENCORES | Calls for more [reform] CENSORE |
| ENLARD | {ANDLE (CANDLE, [not C (cold)]), R (runs)}* [dribbling] grease for Shakespeare (6) |
| ERRANT | Quixotic ANT (soldier) [follows] ER (queen) and R (king) (6) |
| ESCAPE | E ([Last of] GROUSE) and SCAPE (snipe) gain freedom (6) |
| EST | Erhard’s programme (Erhard Seminars Training) is in French (3) |
| EVEREST | Height of ambition is [treating] {SEVERE T ([onset of] TRAUMA)}* (7) |
| EYELET | EYE (Private detective) LET (allowed) small hole to look through (6) |
| FRAGILE | RAG (Large slate) [protected by] FILE (small body of soldiers) is easily broken (7) |
| GENTEEL | Well-bred teen modelled wearing hairstyling product (7) |
| GIRONDE | [Storm] ERODING* part of France (7) |
| HOARSE | Husband rows with wife, finally becoming husky (6) |
| IGNITE | Set fire to LIGNITE (brown coal), [saving] L ([last of] OIL) (6) |
| INNATE | Instinctive < [rejection of] [some] |
| NEROLI | [Tips of] N |
| NESTLE | [Pairs of] NE |
| NEUTER | [Characters regularly participating in] |
| NOTE-PAD | Writer’s block, {AND POET}*[‘s struggling] (7) |
| OILBATH | OIL ([Head off from] TOIL (work)) at BATH (city) where machine part is lubricated (7) |
| ONAGER | ONER (Expert) [accepts] AG (silver) for wild ass (6) |
| OREGANO | O (Duck) with ORANGE* [involved] aromatic herb (7) |
| ORT | Old fragment of food, AS [discarded] from [spoilt] ROAST* (3) |
| OUT | Unfashionable LOUT (bumpkin) L (GIRL [finally]) [dumped] (3) |
| PEELERS | Plunderers are former policemen (7) |
| PRESENT | Here‘s a gift (7) |
| RAPPEN | RAP (Counterfeit halfpenny) and PEN ([three PENNY pieces])? It won’t buy much in Liechtenstein (6) |
| RATITE | Like kiwis, perhaps, AT IT (having sex) [in] RE ([middle of] FOREST) (6) |
| RELIVE | RELATIVE (Family member) [having no heart] to exist again (6) |
| RESULT | [Bend] RULES*, and get T (time) as a consequence (6) |
| REVERE | Have great respect for American patriot celebrated by Longfellow (6) |
| SAG | < GAS (Perhaps ozone), [rising], makes spinach droop (3) |
| SEALER | Hunter of marine mammals, [wretched] {WHALER, EATS}* [WHAT bits are rejected] (6) |
| SEVENTH | SH (Be quiet) [about] EVENT (anything that happens) in interval (7) |
| STEP-CUT | [Peculiar] SET-UP* [crushing] C (carbon), with T (time) making diamonds faceted thus (7) |
| TAT | Shabby clothes and TT (dry) [clothes] A (accepted) (3) |
| TEMPEH | TEMPE (Valley in Thessaly), H ([second in] THESSALY) to produce high-protein food (6) |
| TETHERS | [Among] TS ([outriders from] TEXAS), [plait] THREE* ropes for confining horses (7) |
| TRAMPLE | Insult TRAMP (vagrant) by LE ( |
| WEB | WE (You and I) B ([head to] BEACH) where many surf (3) |
| WHITISH | Being very pale, WISH (desire) [to imbibe] H (hot) IT (vermouth) (7) |
The completed grid looks like this:
| N | ||||||||||||||
| O | R | E | G | A | N | O | W | E | B | F | A | P | ||
| R | E | L | I | V | E | R | H | O | A | R | S | E | ||
| E | V | E | R | E | S | T | I | N | N | A | T | E | ||
| S | E | V | E | N | T | H | T | A | A | G | U | L | ||
| A | R | E | S | U | L | T | I | G | N | I | T | E | ||
| G | E | N | T | E | E | L | S | E | A | L | E | R | ||
| W | E | S | T | N | C | G | H | R | S | E | A | S | T | |
| N | E | R | O | L | I | P | R | E | S | E | N | T | ||
| C | R | A | T | E | R | C | A | Y | U | S | E | A | ||
| O | R | M | E | V | O | S | T | E | P | C | U | T | ||
| R | A | P | P | E | N | O | I | L | B | A | T | H | ||
| E | N | L | A | R | D | U | T | E | M | P | E | H | ||
| S | T | E | D | O | E | T | E | T | H | E | R | S | ||
| H |
This was my first attempt at an EV puzzle, and I found the clues reassuringly straightforward, and completed all but a handful. Fitting them into the grid was quite another matter, though. I couldn’t see how to establish the right way, so just guessed, and guessed wrongly. Once I had reached an impasse I put the puzzle aside. I feel disappointed that I didn’t spot the compass points (aargh!).
I really enjoyed having a go at this, and will try and do better next time!
Many thanks
Other than a handful, the clues were pretty kind to us this week. I dove into the gridfill once I had 1 or 2 clues unsolved. Fortunately some of my guesswork paid off and I soon had a complete grid other than the two O?Ts. The grid stare took a little while until the penny dropped. Two of my quadrants were in the right place and two had to be relocated.
A well constructed variation on a carte blanche puzzle from Piccadilly, his was good fun. Thank you for the blog, Mister Sting.
I managed to make one quadrant with cold-solved answers.
Then I spotted that the 3-letter answers all crossed at the ends but never the middle
and that two were ORT and OUT. I had very quick PDM to NORTH and SOUTH.
A well constructed grid.