I was at a reunion of old (1960s vintage) Swimming and Water Polo players this weekend, so got a late start on this. My grateful thanks to Ho (also at the reunion) who got it started and was willing to share his answers. I am away sailing (weather permitting) when this is published, so may be a bit slow in responding to your comments.
Another Schadenfreude puzzle this week. The rubric read:
Wordplay yielded by 15 clues ignores a single letter; solvers must highlight the 10 cells containing these letters. Remaining clues have a misprint in the definition; correct letters in clue order, plus highlighted letters row by row in reverse order provide thematic information which should help solvers to complete the grid. To achieve this, the contents of six cells in clued entries must be altered to form six new words.
The misprinted definitions eventually yielded SCENEILONDONASTREET. After much fruitless searching for an N to make it Scene iN London . . . I realised that the I was a Roman one and that it was SCENE I. LONDON. A STREET. One Google later and the whole thing became clear. This is the stage setting for the start of Richard III (Shakespeare) and the opening lines are “Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York;” and so the “Seasonal Change” of the title is Winter made glorious Summer.
The quotation manifests itself, with the exception of six letters, in the perimeter and row 7. The rubric instruction indicates that the six letters should yield new words – 2D TEARY -> WEARY, 5D DOCKET -> ROCKET, 19A GOBS -> GOBO, 24D NEARER -> NEARED, 21A BANK -> YANK and 17D LOSELS -> LORELS.
At the time of starting this blog, I had solved everything except the 15/10 letter conundrum. The 15 letters are: ETESCULRCTUESLGO. Eliminating duplicates that leaves: ETSCULRCGO. An anagram of these, + a duplicate E gives GLOUCESTER, Richard the Third’s title at the start of the play, but I couldn’t see where to find the word in contiguous letters in the grid. Eventually it dawned that I needed to highlight the actual unclued letters, and five of them would cross in the grid, leaving only ten cells. I duly did this and GLOUCESTER duly appeared reading row by row from bottom to top, as it said in the rubric if I had only read it properly!
So another Schadenfreude masterpiece. I’m not sure where to put it on the difficulty scale. I found it difficult to start and some of the clues required a lot of effort to parse for the blog, but once the penny had dropped, it would have been reasonably straightforward if I hadn’t spent a lot of time looking for something that wasn’t there!
Misprint Clues |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue – correct definition – (original) | Answer | Wordplay | |
| 9A | Seated (Heated) office in decline (6) | SEDENT | DEN (office) in SET (decline) | S |
| 10A | American tramp with superior education used a vac (van) (8) | HOOVERED | HO (American prostitute) + OVER (superior) + ED(ucation) | C |
| 11A | Haste (Hasty) cabinet minister replacing section in plant (10) | IMPATIENCE | CE (Chancellor of the Exchequer) replaces S(ection) in IMPATIENS (plant) | E |
| 13A | Plant (Plait) cut short by American out of touch (9) | DOCK-CRESS | DOCK (cut short) + C(A)RESS (touch minus A) | N |
| 15A | Copper caught by fellow (not mean) with active dregs (drugs) (6) | FECULA | FEL (FELLOW minus LOW (mean)) + A(ctive) round CU (copper) | E |
| 19A | Black Sabbath pursuing sound spits (spots) (4) | GOBS | GO (sound) + B(lack) + S(abbath) | I |
| 21A | Pool (Poor) pottery (4) | BANK | Double definition | L |
| 26A | A dry sheltered former (farmer) politician (6) | ATTLEE | A + TT (dry) + LEE (sheltered) | O |
| 31A | Nobleman and spy crossing river in London where a train (trail) can be picked up (10, 2 words) | EARLS COURT | EARL (nobleman) + SCOUT round R(iver) | N |
| 33A | Time and space ride (rife) for a couple (6) | TANDEM | T(ime) + AND + EM (space) | D |
| 1D | Restrict a former measure for oats (hats)? (6) | HEMINA | HEM IN (restrict) + A | O |
| 3D | Forgotten earth development programmes or concerns (concerts) (9) | INTERESTS | INTER (earth is a forgotten word for bury) + ESTS (development programmes) | N |
| 5D | Stevedore has tons for river tag (tug) (6) | DOCKET | DOCKER (stevedore) with R(iver) replaced by T(ons) | A |
| 6D | Rust (Runt) to stray in fog drifting round university (7) | FERRUGO | ERR (stray) in [FOG]* all round U(niverstity) | S |
| 7D | You might keep this in a tank (bank) for English criminal (4) | ORFE | [FORE]* | T |
| 8D | Reversals for (fox) a Victorian unionist elevating the old society (4) | UEYS | Victorian = Australian: U(nionist + YE (the old) reversed + S(ociety) | R |
| 16D | Unseen (Unsewn) cape I see partly coloured (9) | CRYPTICAL | [C(ape) + I + C (see) + PARTLY]* (coloured is anagram indicator) | E |
| 24D | Meaner (Moaner) at no time accepting absolute rule (6) | NEARER | NEER (never) round A(bsolute) R(ule) | E |
| 29D | Biblical hunter (hunger) partly illustrates austerity (4) | ESAU | Hidden in illustratES AUthority | T |
Ignored Letter clues |
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| No. | Clue – definition | Answer | Wordplay | |
| 14A | Big story abound the end of Troy, possibly a playwrights great one (6) | ONEYRE | ONER (big lie) round (= abound) (Tro)Y, ignored E | E |
| 18A | A poet’s never the more anonymous in new refurbished home (7) | NATHEMO | A in N(ew) + [HOME]* (refurbished), ignored T | T |
| 23A | Priest restricted by holy man showing wisdom (7) | SAPIENT | P(riest) in SAINT (holy man), ignored E | E |
| 25A | Wine house so far back (6) | BARSAC | BAR (public house) + AS (so far) reversed, ignored C | C |
| 28A | Losing interest interns felt awfully bitter (9) | RESENTFUL | (INTERNS minus INT(erest) anagrammed [ERNS FELT]*, ignored U | U |
| 32A | Colour I put into periodical with US city academician (8) | MAGNOLIA | MAG (periodical) + NO (New Orleans) + A(cademician) all round I, ignored L | L |
| 2D | Earl seen in Scottish river crying (5) | TEARY | E in TAY (Scottish river), ignored R | R |
| 4D | Article (ordinary grade one) concerning the origin and descent of deities (9) | THEOGONIC | THE (article) + O(rdinary) + GON (grade) + I (one), ignored C | C |
| 12D | Sensitive tissue to slow up acceleration (6) | RETINA | REIN (slow up) + A(cceleration), ignored T | T |
| 15D | Carol’s hybrid flourished on top like a small flower (9) | FLOSCULAR | FL (flourished) + [CAROL’S]*, ignored U | U |
| 17D | Rascals beginning to languish in defeat (6) | LOSELS | L(anguish) in LOSS (defeat), ignored E | E |
| 20D | King in Somerset ditches shelters (7) | SKREENS | K(ing) + REENS (Somerset ditches) | S |
| 22D | Cross over following man about (6) | CATALO | O(ver) after CAT (man) + A(bout) | L |
| 27D | Husband goes in for new beachwear (5) | THONG | H(usband) in TO (for) + N, ignored G | G |
| 30D | Local soaks heading for gin on board (4) | SOGS | G(in) in SS (on board) | O |
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A masterful grid from Schadenfreude, and one which I managed to complete without too much difficulty (in comparison with many previous puzzles from this setter which have provided days of angst).
The way in for me was my bottom row starting to take shape from which ‘glorious summer’ looked like a good fit. The rest followed as did the thematic information which nicely and cleverly tied everything together. Popped my entry in the post this week but of course I once again failed to read the question and after reading Hihoba’s blog realise I didn’t highlight the letters of Gloucester. Inexcusable oversight strikes again; I really must learn to triple check my entries.
Last one in for me was Earls Court. Kick myself moment there.
Many thanks to Schadenfreude and Hihoba.
As with Phil, my PDM came with spotting ‘glorious summer’ and just at the point most needed, as I was grinding to a halt elsewhere in the grid. Other than a fair amount of time wasted trying to parse Rockcress, it all then fell rapidly into place. Presumably the six cells that needed altering were just an attempt to disguise the message, or was there something else going on?
A good quality, enjoyable and accessible puzzle (and blog).
Thanks
The same experience as other posters – good status but had ground to a halt… Until Ispotted first summer, then glorious summer as potential words, at which point the quote jumped out and of course made many other clues easier.
Good stuff, thanks.
I’d put this at the easier end of the spectrum – in no way a complaint. I also surmised glorious summer, and discontent, long before I’d worked out the London Street etc. It’s still news to me that bank can be pottery, though I can see that tank can be a pool. I ended up looking for a lottery. Thanks to setter and blogger.
Another very enjoyable puzzle from Schadenfreude that was just the right side of difficult, and with a genuine PDM. Unlike others,T didn’t spot the glorious summer in the bottom row but got the quote, eventually, from the misprints and Gloucester…I actually managed to take in and follow the instructions to the letter (literally) this time instead of charging bull at a gate style into the puzzle and forgetting part of the preamble !
Many thankd to Schadenfreude and to Hihoba.
I don’t recall having too much difficulty with this one, on a plane then train to Bern via Zurich so I was glad that the internet wasn’t needed. I did use Google at my journey’s end to check the “SCENE I. LONDON. A STREET.” and skim the quote. All these years I had been hearing Made glorious summer by this son of York when it is in fact the more figurative sun – well, that’s Shakespeare for you.
My thanks Schadenfreude & Hi.
I was dismayed to lose my smugness at having successfully completed this most enjoyable challenge from S when I discovered above that I should have written “sun” and not “son” in the quote. So I rechecked my source – a hard copy of The Complete Oxford Shakespeare, by Wells & Taylor, Guild Publishing, 1990. Sure, enough, it definitely said “son”!
In the introduction, Mr Taylor states that the play was first printed in 1597, with 5 reprints before its inclusion in the 1623 Folio. Which presumably is the version he has offered.
Wikipedia gives “.. the sun (or son) of York” but no further explanation.
I waited till Saturday to find that I was still outnumbered, but I hope that either version was acceptable and that no-one lost their chocs by making the “wrong” choice.
Thanks to H and S.
DaveW @7: When I read your comment I went and checked in my Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (7 ed.) and also the 8th ed. online: they both say “some editions prefer ‘son of York’”, so I reckon you have a strong case.