An Eclogue puzzle – something to look forward to.
Preamble: In clue order, corrections to definition misprints give a quotation completed by the thematic puzzle title. The name of the work from which the quotation is taken provides an inaccurate description of the protagonists involved in a successful outing. Solvers must select one letter from each of six grid clashes to spell (reading top to bottom) the location of the outing, and write the missing member below the grid.
For some reason, when I read the preamble (“name of the work … successful outing” maybe), the book Three Men in a Boat came to mind. (And lurked there for much of the time I was solving the clues.) Anyway, I made quite reasonable progress on this, but being delayed by the clashes – once one of the words is in, the intersecting word takes a while to tease out. My early guess was that the quotation started “I LIKE TO …” and later that it ended “… FOR HOURS“, with quite a few gaps in the middle. Soon enough (neither fast nor slow) I had plenty with which to hunt down the correct quotation and find “I LIKE WORK: IT FASCINATES ME. I CAN SIT AND LOOK AT IT FOR HOURS.” That is indeed from Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. 
The setting is a two-week boating trip along the Thames, JKJ being joined by two friends, referred to as George and Harris. The full title is TMiaB (To Say Nothing of the Dog) – and as Montmorency is entirely fictional, I thought that was the missing member to be written below the grid. Looking at the clashes I could see a resolution to THBMES or THDMES – close, but no cigar. An alternative was SYDNEY but I couldn’t establish a link to the book; nor figure out why the name of the work “provides an inaccurate description of the protagonists involved“. So, with just 39a _ELTE_ to solve, I went to bed.
Next morning, WELTER came quickly. But had I dwelt on the B/D clash then the day would have just slipped away, so I put the puzzle to one side until the evening.
It was only when I was typing up the grid in preparation for the blog that I spotted HARRIS in the leftmost column and GEORGE in the rightmost; and JERO(BOA)ME down the middle, not to mention an assorted selection of KLAPKA wiggling in the SE corner. I was well up the garden path by now. But in passing, I had also noticed PINSENT straddling two entries in row 3 (Google led me to a law firm), REDGRAVE in row 6 (acting dynasty, of course), and, then at last, CRACKNELL in column 10. Things clicked, and I was back down that path like shot, and into a completely different garden.
A quick scurry to check the results of the rowing in the SYDNEY Olympics, and the 3 of them won gold in the coxless fours in 2000, along with Tim Foster. So, Four Men in a Boat in fact. And what a merry dance we’d been led – I could just imagine Eclogue giggling to themselves in glee at the traps they’d set us.
Late on Monday I was still puzzling over the “thematic puzzle title” and explaining the set-up to a friend. As soon as I got to “coxless fours” it dawned on me: remove the ‘cox’ from “FOURS” and you get … Thanks Eclogue, pick of the year so far for me, I tip my trilby fedora to you.
Au revoir, mes amis; auf Wiedersehen, meine Freunde; ciao …
| Across | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Answer | Correction | Wordplay | |
| 1 | A study in aroma on the rose (9) | ASCENDENT | I | rise | A + DEN (study) in SCENT (aroma) |
| 8 | Mosquito returned to what demon has? (4) | TANG | L | what lemon has? | GNAT< (mosquito) |
| 11 | Having more pawns a champion initially intends encircling rook (6) | ACHIER | I | having more pains | A CH(ampion) I(ntends) E(ncircling) R(ook) |
| 12 | Bread exhibit in church (6) | CHANGE | K | break | HANG (exhibit) in CE (church) |
| 13 | Lock secure tight band (7) | HAIRPIN | E | tight bend | HAIR (lock) PIN (secure) |
| 14 | Once daft little space in street (4) | SENT | W | once waft | EN (little space) in ST(reet) |
| 15 | He put down scares, drawn near (4) | ARNE | O | he put down scores | [NEAR]* |
| 17 | Old guise’s shorthand’s seldom dug (7) | SHUDDER | R | old grise | SH (shorthand) UDDER (dug) {why “seldom”?} |
| 19 | Herald almost resolved ring of operetta, perhaps (5) | LEHAR | K | king of operetta | [HERAL(d)]* |
| 20 | Chlorine, for example, the scourge of ponces (4) | CLEG | I | scourge of ponies | CL (chlorine) EG (for example) |
| 21 | With part of form once swindled, old taxman is taken in (8) | RAMPIRED | T | with part of fort once | RAMPED (swindled) around IR (Inland Revenue, taxman {until 2005}) |
| 23 | Lively jest turning variable with Ecstasy (4) | RAVE | F | lively fest | VAR<(iable) + E(cstasy) |
| 25 | Steel pipe a raptor damaged (11) | APPROPRIATE | A | steal | [PIPE A RAPTOR]* |
| 26 | What rung through France and Germany? Militia’s army regulation (4) | SAAR | S | what runs through France and Germany | SA (Sturmabteilung, militia) AR (army regulation) |
| 27 | Crab snagged stale delicacy with downy hooks, perhaps (8) | BRACCATE | C | with downy hocks perhaps | [CRAB]* CATE (delicacy, archaic) |
| 28 | A couple of articles chap plants (4) | THEA | I | chai plants | THE + A (=a couple of articles) |
| 30 | Marks that hurt pitch (5) | MOUCH | N | pinch | M(arks) OUCH (that hurt) |
| 34 | Lumberjack’s boot wanting a repair with time evaporating (7) | WANIGAN | A | lumberjack’s boat | [WANTING A]* − T(ime) |
| 35 | The result of pawing a god from the east? (4) | NAPA | T | result of tawing | A PAN (god) all< |
| 36 | Unmindful Eamonn boxes elderly shins (4) | LEAM | E | elderly shine | (unmindfu)L EAM(onn) |
| 37 | Real and fake next to the reine of yore (7) | ADRENAL | S | next to the reins of yore | [REAL AND]* |
| 38 | French, fire in mind, locally head after a nut (6) | ENTÊTÉ | M | French firm in mind | TÊTE (head, Fr) after EN (nut) |
| 39 | Poet’s lip covered in blood, reducing satisfactory finish shortly (6) | WELTER | E | poet’s lie covered in blood | WEL(l) (satisfactory) TER(m) (finish) |
| 40 | Tents occupying Lombardy estate (4) | DYES | I | tints | (Lomdar)DY ES(tates) |
| 41 | Inner yells ruining tone with expletive (9) | ENTOBLAST | C | inner cells | [TONE]* + BLAST (expletive) |
| Down | |||||
| No. | Clue | Answer | Correction | Wordplay | |
| 2 | Alloy’s etching? Namely sculpture for instance (5) | SCART | A | Alloa‘s etching | SC (namely) ART (sculpture) |
| 3 | Aztec method of plaiting, a feature that’s plain but unlimited (8) | CHINAMPA | N | Aztec method of planting | CHIN (feature) + (p)AMPA(s) (plain) |
| 4 | Principally exiled Irish regularly evoke the Old God? (4) | EIRE | S | the old sod | E(xiled) I(rish) R(egularly) E(voke) |
| 5 | Plane crashed in country connected to Indra (5) | NEPAL | I | country connected to India | [PLANE]* |
| 6 | Winy umpteen syphon bottles (5) | EENSY | T | tiny | (umpt)EEN SY(phon) |
| 7 | Concerned with divine egency, confused urge with itch (8) | THEURGIC | A | concerned with divine agency | [URGE + ITCH]* |
| 8 | Initially slaying with quip, cause of gag’s halting? (9, 2 words) | SAND CRACK | N | cause of nag’s halting | S(laying) AND (with) CRACK (quip) |
| 9 | No good Scot’s little time for foreign tosh (5) | NGWEE | D | foreign dosh | NG (no good) WEE (little time, Scot) |
| 10 | Autopilot made weaving line that recognises vapour (11, 2 words) | GEORGE MEDAL | L | that recognises valour | GEORGE (autopilot) [MADE]* L(ine) |
| 13 | Isle’s stuff for tags wreathed sir inappropriately (11, 2 words) | HARRIS TWEED | O | isle’s stuff for togs | [WREATHED SIR]* |
| 14 | Trouper’s housing support in hovel (8) | SHABRACK | O | trooper’s housing | BRA (support) in SHACK (hovel) |
| 16 | Biblical wing swung over one hole in another (8) | JEROBOAM | K | biblical king | O BORE (hole) both< in JAM (hole) |
| 18 | Rites apparently elevate Sabbath (9) | APPRAISES | A | rates | APP(arently) RAISE (elevate) S(abbath) |
| 22 | Danube’s riff smooth on narrow opening (8, 2 words) | IRON GATE | T | Danube’s rift | IRON (smooth) GATE (narrow opening) |
| 24 | Swift runner in faction, having ability in athletic acceleration, lost energy taking apples initially (8) | ATALANTA | I | swift runner in fiction | TALENT (ability) in A(thletic) A(cceleration) − E(nergy) |
| 29 | Grey master in Gordonstoun knows fleet’s in (5) | HARNS | T | grey matter in Gordonstoun | HAS (knows) around RN (fleet) |
| 31 | Not sitting for Stubbs, say, on point (5) | UNAPT | F | not fitting | UNA (Stubbs, say) + PT (point) |
| 32 | Muses’ mountain starting high over roving Egyptian Bedouin (5) | HOREB | O | Moses’ mountain | H(igh) O(ver) R(oving) E(gyptian) B(edouin) |
| 33 | For Sandy heads future tides will ebb around quietly (5) | SPAES | R | for Sandy reads future | SEAS< (tides) around P (quietly) |
| 35 | Note measure of cloth, for king’s fussy? (4) | NELL | H | king’s hussy | N(ote) ELL (measurement of cloth) |
|
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Brilliant puzzle, Eclogue.
I too went deep down the wrong garden path, having delightedly discovered GEORGE and HARRIS, albeit no MONTMORENCY, even on a diagonal.
But having realised that it had to be SYDNEY rather than THAMES, the rest followed quickly. I had a special interest in those Olympics. Our Australian granddaughter Lola, now a lovely 15-year old, was born while they were on, and accordingly has the second name Olympia.
Since the others appeared in the grid by surname only, I merely put FOSTER below it. I hope that was what was expected.
Forgot to say that my reading of the title was simply that, as the preamble says, it completed the quotation by reading on from the letter H.
I also wondered if it could be an acronym for Olympic UK Rowing Success !
I think the explanation of “seldom” in 17a is the entry for udder in Chambers which shows as the second meaning “a dug or teat (rare)”. The entry for dug (2) is “a nipple or udder of a cow or similar animal”, so presumably it’s not rare in that direction…
I feel that removing the first letter of FOURS to express “coxless” is inappropriate: were there a cox he or she would be at the back. This may be sour grapes on my part – I didn’t look very hard for the thematic puzzle title.
Thanks to Eclogue for an excellent puzzle and to HG for the blog. I did think that we wouldn’t end without a sighting of a trilby.
A fine puzzle, with a great PDM when I finally spotted PINSENT, having spent a while searching for George Harrises being part of the first European landings at Botany Bay. Perhaps the misdirection was a little too clearly flagged, but I’m not complaining about that!
I took the OURS part to be a patriotic reference, but I like the idea of a coxless fours.
A fine puzzle indeed, with a bit of everything.
Wonder if Foster was chosen deliberatly as he was the only one I couldn’t recall off the top of my head, and the other three are ‘celebrities’ these days ?
I liked some of the clueing, the substitution of ALLOA for ALLOY in 2D made me guffaw !
I think we have all been primed now to expect the unexpected from Eclogue so can’t say we haven’t been warned next time. Once bitten twice, shy and all that…
Many thanks to both Eclogue and HG for the blog.
Well, I filled the grid, and managed to find the location of the outing, but as to what to do next… A definite win for the setter this week.
Yes, that’s brilliant. I was happy to have found the book and a couple of the characters, even if Sydney was inexplicable; I would have said it was a very enjoyable solve with a slightly simple endgame . M (humble pie) e.
Thanks to Eclogue and HolyGhost… and a great quote, too.
An absolutely brilliant IQ – when the penny dropped that the location was Sydney not Thames, we were instantly reminded of the Fedora / Trilby misdirection a year or so ago.
We failed to spot that one, so we were pleased that we’d not been fooled again. Amazingly we only noticed PINSENT and REDGRAVE in the grid after the ‘Sydney’ moment, having been hooked on GEORGE, HARRIS and JERO(boa)ME, prompted by unravelling the quotation.
With regard to the title, we were content with the H….OURS connection at the end of the quotation, but the additional connection with ‘coxless fOURS’ is a stroke of genius!
Many many thanks to Eclogue for a fantastic tour de force, and to HG for the excellent blog.
John Lowe @3: thank you for explaining the “seldom” in 17a.
And I see your point about the cox being at the back; but for some reason, I always picture the boat moving across my field of vision towards the right, and thus the cox (if there were one) would be on the left.
Hats off and thanks to Eclogue for a PotY contender, with a masterly example of misdirection. Like Bertandjoyce above, we can’t understand how we missed the Olympic rowers in the completed grid before we finally unravelled the alternative location.
HG @9: I suspect that you are used to watching rowing on Television where it usually seems to go from left to right. I think that the spectators in the stands opposite would see it differently. My limited experience in an eight tells me that the oarsmen have their backs to the direction of travel and the cox is at the back near the rudder. This doesn’t diminish the pleasure I got from doing the puzzle, though.
Many thanks to HolyGhost for the excellent summary and to all commentators. We’re glad you enjoyed the puzzle. Our own musings on this particular puzzle can be found on our blog at http://eclogue-eclogue.blogspot.co.uk/
Excellent ! Not much to add other than I was led down a path, seeking wild geese on the Thames for quite a while A wonderful and very satisfying PDM. I also thought the ‘OURS’ simply completed the quotation, without realising the coxless-4s relevance. Lovely stuff thanks Eclogue, and thanks yet again for the blog HolyGhost.
Thanks Ecologue and HG. I failed on this one. I filled the grid apart from a couple of blanks but failed to spot SYDNEY, like others I was fixated on trying to find some way it could be THAMES. Having said that I like Three Men in a Boat a lot and have no interest in rowing or the Olympics, so I am not too sad to have missed the finale.
Like HG Three Men in a Boat was the first thing I thought of when I read the instructions but the knowledge was not much of a help, as it turn out it was more of a hindrance.