Enigmatic Variations 1228: Full Circle by Artix

What will EV solvers find at the ‘Artix Circle’?…A vast expanse of whiteness for a start! With no numbers and very few bars, we have ourselves another jigsaw EV…albeit at least with the clues in the correct order…

The (rather involved) preamble states:

“Clues are presented in the normal order, and bars (which would display mirror symmetry) must not be entered. The four lettered clues, A, B, C and D, consist of wordplay only; their answers form a chain A-B-C-D where A & B and B & C are linked by surnames of authors and characters, and C & D are linked by the titles of works. The specific link (12,5) to return FULL CIRCLE from D to A suggests a thematic problem; solvers must complete a graphical representation of this problem by adding lines to the bars already present in the grid to form four geometric shapes. Read clockwise, the set of six cells adjacent to the outermost intersections of these shapes spells a thematic word. Chambers Dictionary (2014) is recommended.”

As far as jigsaw-filling is concerned, the key piece of information there is the ‘mirror-symmetry’ – so anything found on one side should have a match on the other. I clung on to this morsel and had a bit of a recce on word lengths… The first two Across clues were 5s, so probably occupied the top row – either touching the corners or meeting in the middle. The next was a 12, so a full row – probably the second, but maybe the third. Then a single 6 – so that must be across the middle. Then two 5s, so again one on each side. Then three 4s – so these were likely to use the bars in the 5th row. And so on… with the Acrosses, and through the Downs. So even before solving, I was working out a structure in my head, albeit with a few alternative permutations in some cases.

I then started some cold solving, ignoring the rest of the instructions – reckoning that I could come back to them once I had something to work with.

(An alternative might have been to focus on those lettered clues – but as it turned out I didn’t get any of them in my first few passes through the clues, so they were left in limbo for the time being, until I got a few crossing letters.)

A couple of early solves were COHOS and ORCA, so the O of ORCA probably matches one of the Os in COHOS. And the S of SAGUIN probably hangs off the S of COHOS. But the actual placement of COHOS wasn’t obvious until I got ECTOZOAN going down. Contrary to the instructions, I drew the bars in on my working copy, as this made it easier to see what was going on.

Putting OTARY across from the first O of ECTOZOAN and REGENT meeting the G of SAGUIN the jigsaw pieces started falling in to place, and I also managed to find a couple of the thematic names: HARRY POTTER, PETER RABBIT – so most likely a Beatrix Potter link there.

And after a few sessions at this, I had a full grid and the following:

A = HARRY POTTER – fictional wizard

B = PETER RABBIT – fictional character in book written by Beatrix Potter

C = PAULO COELHO – author, and Coelho in Portuguese is ‘rabbit‘; he wrote a book called ‘The Alchemist‘

D = JOSEPH WRIGHT – artist, painted a picture titled ‘The Alchemist‘

My rudimentary Harry Potter knowledge suggested that the linking phrase of (12, 5) to get from D back to A was probably the ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, something used by alchemists, and in the title of a Potter book.

At this point I got a bit stuck trying to find ‘four geometric shapes’ – given that the outline bars in the grid only suggested one – a square. However a bit of Wiki-oogling on ‘philosopher’s stone’ threw up this likely looking candidate:

 

and the following quotation:

(In Michael Maier’s ‘Atalanta Fugiens’.) “Make of a man and woman a circle; then a quadrangle; out of this a triangle; make again a circle, and you will have the Stone of the Wise. Thus is made the stone, which thou canst not discover, unless you, through diligence, learn to understand this geometrical teaching.”

Which could be adapted to refer to the EV: ‘Take a normal crossword grid and remove all the black squares. Fill it with some sort of thematic material, devise some devious clues and a denouement, and you will have a puzzle. Thus is made the EV, the solution to which ye solvers canst not discover unless you, through diligence, read and re-read the preamble several times.’ (;+>)

Reaching for a compass and a pencil from my kids’ stationery sets (how many years since I last used a compass to draw a circle?!) and using the corners already indicated for the square, I managed to fit this shape onto the grid, and for the final touches I reckoned that the three outermost intersections (triangle and outer circle) were adjacent to the letters SP + EL + LS – with SPELLS seeming an appropriately thematic word:

 

(NB. I originally misspelt Paulo Coelho as Paolo in my submitted entry and in the animated grid above. Lazy parsing on my part, and no crossing letter there…and ironic given that the word next to it is MISENTRY!. It was only when parsing the clue below that I realised there isn’t a French city called Pao! I just decided that life is too short to bother re-doing the animation.)

In terms of clues/solving – I thought that the clueing was relatively ‘accessible’…presumably Artix being gentle with us, given the extra complications of jigsaw-ing and the latter stages of the denouement. I enjoyed: CAPTAIN’S LOG (Kirk’s record); ‘leaping’ as the anagram indicator for COHOS, with the mental image of a school of fish leaping from the water; Artix helpfully referencing One Direction in the ZAYN/ZANY Malik clue (no, I don’t know the individual members by name); the use of Rihanna (another contemporary artist with whose oeuvre I am not overly familiar!) and No 1 for BRIT. I could go on, but you get the idea – some nice surface readings and (mainly) quite gettable clues.

In summary – a rather daunting looking grid and preamble turned out not to be as difficult as it had originally looked. The three stages of: solving and filling the jigsaw; linking A-B-C-D; and then drawing the shapes, added some interesting variety – and all added up to an very enjoyable and ultimately satisfying solve. Thanks to Artix for this – and I hope it was equally enjoyable for others.

 

Across
Clue No	Solution	Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing
*	COHOS	They’re found in school, endlessly leaping (5) / anag (i.e. leaping) of SCHOO(L) (endlessly)
*	POP-UP	Part of litter outside work window (5) / P_UP (part of litter) outside OP (opus, work)
*	CARAVANSERAI	Forerunner of accommodation campers used in services right by main road? (12) / &lit-ish/Cryptic Definition? CAR_E (services) around A (first letter, or forerunner of Accommodation) + VANS (campers), plus R (right) plus AI (main road)
*	REGENT	Soak takes in low-down old prof from St. Andrews (6) / RE_T (soak) around (taking in) GEN (information, low-down)
*	OTARY	Ordinary sailor joining (in the end) Navy Seal (5) / O (ordinary) + TAR (sailor) + Y (navY, in the end)
*	BELLE	Picked up what’s needed to ring Venus? (5) / homophone, i.e. picked up – BELLE (Venus, beautiful woman) sounds like BELL (whats needed to ring)
*	ZANY	Mr. Malik’s set back One Direction or is he only joking? (4) / ZA(N)Y(N) (Zayn Malick, a member of One Dimension, a popular beat combo, m’lud) with N (North, one direction) set back by one position
*	LIMB	Border official’s first to escape from prison (4) / LIMB(O) (prison, with O – first letter of Official – escaping)
*	ROON	Tee off at Open venue giving edge to Monty (4) / (T)ROON (venue for 2016 British Open, golf tournament, with T – tee – off)
*	OIL PAN	Cracked lap joint taking both ends off sump (6, two words) / anag, i.e. cracked, of LAP + (J)OIN(T) (taking both ends off)
*	ARRECT	Upright academician’s off his trolley, by the sound of it (6) / A (Royal Academician) + RRECT (homophone, i.e. by the sound of it, of ‘wrecked’, or off his trolley, drunk)
*	ANCONA	Short-legged sheep next to a speckled hen (6) / ANCON (breed of short legged sheep) + A
*	VIATOR	Mature for one to exchange $100 for Australian traveller (6) / VI(C)(A)TOR (Victor Mature, exchanging C – £100 in US slang – for A – Australian)
*	ALIT	Fired head of Tesco after supermarket is seen to be out of date (4) / AL(D)I (supermarket, without D – date) + T (first letter, or head, of Tesco)
*	BLOTTO	Legless lecturer’s in bed, not all there (6) / B_OTTO(M) (bed, not all there) around L (lecturer)
*	ECBOLE	Tiny digression like this could swing by-election (6) / partial anagram, i.e. could swing, of B(Y) ELEC(TI)O(N) – without the letters TINY
*	JOSEPH WRIGHT	Clue D: Might he repair women’s riding coats? (12, two words) / JOSEPH (18th C woman’s riding coat) + WRIGHT (someone who might repair things)
*	EGERIA	She’d tell you what to do, say, on fine (not cloudy) afternoon (6) / EG (say, for example) + ERI(C) (Irish, blood fine, less C – cloudy) + A (afternoon)
*	SHTOOK	Mum sought and received bother (6) / SH (mum, quiet) + TOOK (sought and received)
Down
Clue No	Solution	Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing
*	ECTOZOAN	One gets food of another canoe, travelling round Thailand and Australia (8) / EC_OAN (anag, i.e. travelling, of CANOE) around T (Thailand) + OZ (Australia)
*	CAPTAIN’S LOG	Kirk’s record to salute volunteers during agricultural strike (11, two words) / CAP (salute) + TA (volunteers) + IN (during) + SLOG (agricultural strike, e.g. in cricket)
*	ORCA	Killer holding up half of circus troupe? (4) / ACRO(BATS) – half of circus troupe, held up
*	HARRY POTTER	Clue A: Prince wears badger fur (11, two words) / HARRY (badger) + P (prince) + OTTER (fur)
*	SANGUIN	Master leaves tricksily amusing little monkey (6) / anag, i.e. tricksily, of A(M)USING (leaving out M – master)
*	PNEUMA	Mix this spirit with Asti to make A1 spumante cocktail (6) / partial anagram, i.e. mix, of (AI S)PUMAN(T)E (minus the letters of ASTI)
*	PETER RABBIT	Clue B: Start of rant in repeat broadcast – something boring about Britain (11, two words) / PETER_A (anag, i.e. broadcast, of REPEAT) around R (start of Rant), plus B_IT (part of a drill, something boring) around B (British)
*	URAL	Address which spans 50 mountains here (4) / UR_L (internet address, Universal Resource Locator) around A (Medieval Roman numeral, 50)
*	PAULO COELHO	Clue C: Crazy European in French city left house (11, two words) / PAU (French city) + LOCO (crazy) + E (European) + L (left) + HO (house)
*	MISENTRY	Collectors of data for campaign watch what’s booked wrongly (8) / MI (Military Information, secret service, collectors of data for military campaign) + SENTRY (watch)
*	LANA	Edges stripped of flat Turner, perhaps (4) / (P)LANA(R) (flat, with edging letters stripped off)
*	BRIT	Music award spot features No.1 from Rihanna (4) / B_IT (spot) around R (first letter of Rihanna)
*	ALOHA	Going after American ‘look’, husband accepted Hawaiian shirt? (5) / A (American) + LO (look) + H (husband) + A (accepted)
*	VIEWS	Watches TV with partners in force (5) / VI_S (Latin, force) around EW (East and West, partners in bridge)
*	HOSE	Something worn below or preferred to go undressed? (4) / (C)HOSE(N) (preferred, undressed by removing outer letters)
*	POGO	Stick given to child dancing like this in late ’70s (4) / double defn. POGO stick might be given to a child, and POGO dancing (jumping up and down) was popular during the punk movement of the late 1970s.