Due to Holy Ghost’s holidays and a swap of blogging duties this week and next week, I find myself blogging an Ifor Inquisitor for the second time in a few weeks. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
The preamble told us that "Eight clues contain a string of letters to be removed before solving; modified clues consist of real words, but surface reading suffers. Remaining clues each contain wordplay leading to an extra letter. In clue order, these explain how the strings can be individually treated, revealing a sequence. Two of the answers to these clues are one letter too short for their spaces; each must have the intended letter added to create a new word. Numbers in brackets give the cells available"
As is often the case, I took the view that the preamble would mean a bit more once I started solving and found some strings and / or the skeleton of an instruction.
I got a foothold in the NW corner and built up the grid from there. Experience of solving Inquisitors and Listeners over the years has taught me that common words in hidden instructions are REORDER, LETTER(S), CLUE(S) and ANSWER(S) so about half way through I could see each of these words appearing in the instructions. By this time I also had enough other letters to make a stab at the complete instruction as:
REORDER BEHIND FIRST LETTER OF CLUE ANSWER
Also by this time I had identified three strings of letters in clues – 12a LOCK MOTH, 20a R WENT P and 28a MS DREAMT
Applying the instruction generated the words STOCKHOLM, ANTWERP and AMSTERDAM. Given that this Inquisitor was published in the middle of the Olympics those three words cities were enough to identify the theme as places where the Summer Olympics have been held. A bit more solving generated the remaining strings and the cities of 36a BERLIN, 04d ST LOUIS, 08d LONDON, 24d PARIS and 32d LOS ANGELES
In clue order – STOCKHOLM to BERLIN didn’t seem to form a chronological sequence of Olympic cities. It wasn’t until I wrote down the clue numbers beside the strings that the penny finally dropped that they were all multiples of four and the clue number formed the xx in the year 19xx when the Olympics were held in those cities.
The two entries that were too short for the available cells were 16 down and 40 across with 1916 and 1940 being war years when Olympics were planned (intended) but never held, and a bit more research showed that the cities selected were BERLIN for 1916 (so the B gives us BRAININESS) and TOKYO for 1940. In fact, Helsinki was also mooted for 1940, but HSAR isn’t a word and TSAR is.
The clues were a bit of anagram fest with over 50% of them involving anagrams in the wordplay.
The filled grid looks like this
The title, INTENDED, has been explained above with the end game focusing on the INTENDED locations for the Olympics in 1916 and 1940.
I didn’t parse all the clues whilst I was doing the puzzle. Writing the blog gave me to time to fully appreciate all the clues and identify how the omitted letters were handled.
I’m glad that we stopped at the two additional letters at 40a and 16d. It would have been very challenging if we had been asked to compose two clues where anagrams of the strings ERLIN and OKYO had to be omitted. Congratulations to Ifor for writing the eight clues with the strings in.
Thanks to Ifor for another entertaining puzzle with the twist of identifying meaningful extra strings of letters in the clues
Where there are more than one occurrences of the letter to be omitted, it rarely matters which one is selected.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. |
Clue Amended |
Wordplay | Letter |
Entry Amended |
|
1
|
10,000 from Greece revolt against introduction of austerity (4)
|
RIOT (revolt) + A (first letter of [introduction of] AUSTERITY)
|
R
|
IOTA (Greek letter / word denoting 10000)
|
|
5
|
Doctor already taking your irregular pulse (4)
|
Anagram of (doctor) ALREADY excluding {taking) YR (your) DAAL* |
E
|
DAAL (pea-like plant [Cajanus indicus] cultivated in India and the tropics; pulse;
|
|
9
|
Reinforce pitched roof before start of tornado (4)
|
Anagram of (pitched) ROOF + T (first letter of [start of] TORNADO) FOR* T |
O
|
FORT (fortify; reinforce)
|
|
12
|
Forced apart broken padlock mother shut after leaving shed (6) Forced apart broken pad er shut after leaving shed (6) |
Anagram of (broken) PAD ER and S (SHUT excluding [leaving] HUT [shed]) SPREAD* |
|
SPREAD (forced apart)
|
|
13
|
Poet’s behind theatre floor (4)
|
AREAR (Spenserian [poet’s] spelling of ARREAR [behind]
|
R
|
AREA (theatre floor)
|
|
14
|
Disc that’s tipped used to be hip, ignoring one criticised as cover (10, 2 words)
|
SLATED (criticised) containing (cover for) (WAS [used to be] + HIP excluding [ignoring] I [one]) S (WAS H P) LATE |
D
|
SWASH PLATE (engineering term for a disc set obliquely on a revolving axis)
|
|
15
|
Welsh assembly without action after heading to the far right (6)
|
SEN (musical term [senza] for without) + (DEED [action] with the first letter [heading] D moved to the end [far right] of the word) SEN ED D |
E
|
SENEDD (The Welsh Assembly)
|
|
17
|
Cut the corners off, turning right on edge (4)
|
RT (right) reversed (turning) + RIM (edge) T< RIM |
R
|
TRIM (cut the corners off)
|
|
18
|
Acquire support for women when reversing into small space (4)
|
(BRA [brassière; support for women] reversed [when reversing]) contained in (into) EN (printing term for a small space ; half an em) E (AR)< N |
B
|
EARN (acquire)
|
|
19
|
Foot is free to wander (5)
|
Anagram of (to wander) IS FREE SERIF* |
E
|
SERIF (short decorative foot at the end of a stroke on a printed character)
|
| 20 |
Deputy ruler went pale with half of attendance out of control (9) Deputy rule ale with half of attendance out of control (9) |
Anagram of (out of control) R (rule) and ALE and ATTEN (five of the letters of [half of] ATTENDANCE) ALTERNATE* |
|
ALTERNATE (deputy) |
|
23
|
Pedantry is downright silly when it obscures place and time (13)
|
Anagram of (silly) IS DOWNRIGHT containing (obscures) (PL [place] and T [time]) WORDS (PL) IT (T) ING* |
H
|
WORDSPLITTING (pedantry)
|
|
26
|
Served up beside regularly carving beef (9)
|
Anagram of (served up) EIE (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of BESIDE) and CARVING GRIEVANCE* |
I |
GRIEVANCE (ground of complaint; beef)
|
|
28
|
Teams dreamt press release is rewritten more appropriately (5) Tea press release is rewritten more appropriately (5) |
Anagram of (is rewritten) TEA and PR (press release) APTER* |
|
APTER (more appropriately)
|
|
29
|
See an invalid become less critical (4)
|
Anagram of (invalid) SEE AN EASE* |
N
|
EASE (become less critical)
|
|
30
|
Tried out volley (4)
|
Anagram of (out) TRIED TIRE* |
D
|
TIRE (broadside; volley)
|
|
33
|
Hair coming from over hoof spoiled corn once again (6)
|
Anagram of (spoiled) CORN + EFT (obsolete word for again) CRON* ET |
F
|
CRONET (the hair growing over the top of a horse’s hoof)
|
|
35
|
Man briefly incites new revolutionary, completely clued up (10)
|
IOM (abbreviation for [briefly] Isle of Man) + (an anagram of (revolutionary) N [new] and INCITES) OM NISCIENT* |
I
|
OMNISCIENT (all-knowing; completely clued up)
|
|
36
|
Stakes set originally bringing nil returns (4) Stakes set originally bringing turns (4) |
Anagram of (turns) (SET and B [first letter of {initially} BRINGING) BETS* |
|
BETS (stakes)
|
|
37
|
Familiar problem of fitter seating ends of gas pipes (6)
|
HALER (sounder of body; fitter) containing (sealing) (S and S (last letters of [ends of] each of GAS and PIPES) HA (S S) LE |
R
|
HASSLE (informal [familiar] word for bother, fuss, problem; familiar problem)
|
|
38
|
Most of all, this language is a lesser evil (4)
|
Anagram of (evil) LESSER excluding the first letter (most of all) L ERSE* I’m not 100% sure of this parsing but it makes some sort of sense even though the definition is in the middle of the clue. |
S
|
ERSE (formerly, and still occasionally, the name given by Lowland Scots to the language of the people of the West Highlands)
|
|
39
|
Blast furnace door starts off at empty, mistakenly (4)
|
Anagram of (mistakenly) (AT and EMPTY excluding [off] the first letters [starts] of each word A and E) TYMP* |
T
|
TYMP (plate of a blast-furnace opening; blast furnace door)
|
| 40 | Fish caught in Rosslare (4) | SAR (hidden word in [caught in] ROSSLARE) |
L |
SAR (sargus [sea bream]; fish) TSAR |
| Down | ||||
| No. |
Clue Amended |
Wordplay | Letter |
Entry Amended |
|
1
|
Distinctive theories of sexism abandoned after losing vote (4)
|
Anagram of (abandoned) SEXISM excluding (losing) X (mark made when voting) ISMS* |
E
|
ISMS (distinctive theories)
|
|
2
|
Harry Potter, I’ve made my choice (5)
|
Anagram of (harry) POTTER OPTER* |
T
|
OPTER (one who has made a choice)
|
|
3
|
Painting metal backing in commonplace class of chemical (10)
|
(ART [painting] + TIN [metal])all reversed (backing) and contained in (in) TRITE (commonplace) TRI (NI TRA)< TE |
T
|
TRINITRATE (nitrate with three nitrate groups in the molecule; class of chemical)
|
|
4
|
Criminal society is outlawed over right flattery (6) Criminal society awed over right flattery (6) |
Anagram of (criminal) (S [society] and AWED) + R [right]) SAWDE* R |
|
SAWDER (flattery)
|
|
6
|
Neighbours’ idiom simulates an air that’s relaxed (13)
|
Anagram of (relaxed) SIMULATES AN AIR AUSTRALIANISM* |
E
|
AUSTRALIANISM (idiom used in Australia where the TV soap opera Neighbours is set)
|
|
7
|
Lots of concurrent events opposing Ghanaian (7)
|
RASH (large number of instances of anything happening at the same time or in the same place) + ANTI (opposing)
|
R
|
ASHANTI (Ghanaian people)
|
|
8
|
Maroon DNA splice leaving coloured enzyme (6) Mar a splice leaving coloured enzyme (6) |
Anagram of (mar) A SPLICE excluding (leaving) C (coloured) LIPASE* |
|
LIPASE ( enzyme that breaks up fats)
|
|
9
|
Fatal to die unexpectedly after cutting independent personal cover (8)
|
Anagram of (unexpectedly) FATAL TO DIE excluding (cutting) I (independent) FALDETTA* |
O
|
FALDETTA (Maltese woman’s combined hood and cape; personal cover) |
|
10
|
Rush to stock alien goods sold directly (6)
|
FRAIL (botanic term for rush) containing (to stock) ET (extraterrestrial; alien) R (ET) AIL |
F
|
RETAIL (sale of goods directly to the consumer)
|
|
11
|
Cheers celebrated token of value in Hong Kong (4)
|
TA (thank you; cheers) + CEL (celebrated)
|
C
|
TAEL (in China, originally a 38 gram weight of pure silver; token of value in Hong Kong)
|
|
16
|
Old cloak turned into cape for wet conditions (10)
|
RAIL (obsolete [old] word for a cloak) + IN (into) reversed (turn) + NESS (headland; cape) RAI NI< NESS |
L
|
RAININESS (wet conditions) BRAININESS |
| 17 | Strap foreign character over empty words (4) |
TAU (Greek letter; foreign character) + WS (letters remaining in WORDS when the central letters are removed [empty] ORD) For a while I thought the foreign character was ETA, until I realised that I needed a U) |
U |
TAWS (strap,an instrument of punishment beloved of many Scottish schoolteachers in the 1950s and 1960s as I remember) |
|
21
|
Await developments after wedge half-in hammered sideways (8)
|
Anagram of (hammered) (WEDGE and I [half of the letters of IN]) + SEE (await further developments) EDGEWI* SE |
E
|
EDGEWISE (sideways)
|
|
22
|
Recovering drinkers with guidance system kept partly open for locals in Speyside (4)
|
GEE (a radio-navigation system) contained in (kept) AA (Alcoholics Anonymous; recovering drinkers) A (GEE) |
A
|
AGEE (Scottish [Speyside] word for ajar; partly open for locals in Scotland)
|
|
24
|
Moralising repairs running sore (7) Moralising rep running sore (7) |
Anagram of (running) REP + ACHY (sore) PRE* ACHY |
|
PREACHY (given to tedious moralising)
|
|
25
|
Chiral molecule remains different, not as subsequent to record (6)
|
EP (extended play record) + an anagram of (different) REMAINS excluding (not) AS EP IMER* |
N
|
EPIMER (isomeric compound, differing from its corresponding isomer only in the relative positions of an attached hydrogen and hydroxyl; CHIRAL refers to the property of a chemical, esp a crystal, of existing in left-handed and right-handed structural forms) |
|
26
|
Fruit from Tayside grows ready for onset of winter (6)
|
GROWS with SET (ready) replacing (for) W (first letter of [onset of] Winter) GRO SET |
S
|
GROSET (Scottish word [Tayside] for gooseberry)
|
|
27
|
Beetles from here learn to fly, appearing in spring (6)
|
VW (Beetle cars are made by VW [Volkswagen] + an anagram of (to fly) LEARN V ERNAL* |
W
|
VERNAL (appearing in Spring)
|
|
31
|
Repeal finishing two overturned divisions (5)
|
REPEAL with the final two letters (finishing two) AL reversed (overturned) REP LA< |
E
|
REPLA (partitions [divisions] in a fruit)
|
|
32
|
Left orderless age – nothing that’s a feature of the brain, for example (4) Left order thing that’s a feature of the brain, for example (4) |
L (left) + OBE (Order [of the British Empire])
|
|
LOBE (a division of the brain)
|
|
34
|
Test level (4)
|
TRIER (test)
|
R
|
TIER (level) double definition
|
An enjoyable solve – thanks to Ifor and to Duncan for the blog.
I had some problems with the strings to be removed – I removed too many letters to begin with. For example in 20a I removed “uler went p” which left a clue which worked, but I couldn’t make anything of the anagram. Some of the shorter strings helped me back onto the rails.
At 38a I think that ‘A LESSER’ is an anagram of AL (most of ALL) and ERSE and the missing letter S.
A nice fun puzzle from Ifor. I managed to go down a wrong path when I assumed that the extra letter in 40a would be A (ÅSAR is a word) thus we were taking some sort of journey “from A to B”.
AMSTERDAM was my first city to fall and it didn’t take long to conclude that we were looking for Olympic host cities. The subtlety of the clue numbers reflecting the year number took a while to filter through but what a wonderful PDM!
Thanks for the explanation of 33a – I just couldn’t see the F anywhere.
Thanks to both S&B.
Just finished. Only started this last Friday flying back from West Africa, having downloaded the puzzle onto my iPod (9cm display) and transcribed the grid onto a blank page of my Filofax. (Then had to take time out over the bank holiday weekend for hosting guests & tackling the next puzzle, which I’ll be blogging – so thanks to Duncan for the swap.)
Severely held up by failing to identify FIRST until late on (the F was hard, the T was troublesome, and I had HOM(o) for “Man briefly” in 35a instead of IOM), and by not identifying all the strings to be removed. And despite noting that the numbers of those 8 clues were divisible by 4, I didn’t make the connection with the year of those Olympic hosts. (One reason for my going away to somewhere remote for a two-week chunk of August was to get away from the games: 2012 in Laos & Cambodia, 2008 in the foothills of the Himalayas, 2004 …)
Thanks again to Duncan for swapping blog weeks, and to Ifor for another testing puzzle.
I absolutely loved this puzzle, one of my favourites this year. Like others I twigged the Olympic connection (Antwerp was my way in), but couldn’t understand the sequence until the PDM of the clue number/year association. Brilliant by Ifor. 27D made me smile too
Many thanks Duncan for the blog.
A
This turned out to be one of those puzzles where the PDM made up for us not enjoying the solve as much as usual. As Duncan pointed out, there were rather a lot of anagrams which may have contributed to that feeling.
However, when Bert realised the relevance of the clue numbers all was forgiven – quite an achievement Ifor.
Thanks for the blog Duncan – we’re away at the moment and can’t quite remember whether we had any problems with any of the parsings but we still appreciate being able to add our comment!
I completed the puzzle correctly, having guessed at B and T as being the added letters … but had absolutely no idea what the letter strings yielded, nor how they related to each other, not having completely solved the “explanation”.
Great puzzle indeed, but on this occasion the bar a bit ALTIUS for me to clear at all, let alone CITIUS.
With no final twist, like something additional and appropriate to be highlighted, I would have felt a bit guilty had this been a Listener.
I went to four days of the 1948 Olympics athletics and still have the programmes … our seats were overlooking the home straight and cost 7/6 !
I missed the link between the clue numbers and the year of the Olympics. So I was worried about what the ‘ intended’ meant. Superficially I registered the O & G of Olympic Games as the letters intended for completing ‘raininess’ and ‘sar’ and coincidentally graininess and osar work.
Once again (for I think the third in a row) I must thank Duncan for his usual comprehensive blog. Thanks also to those who commented – feedback is always welcome.
Picking up on Murray’s point about highlighting, there are two reasons why this wasn’t a feature. First I’d chosen the thematic entries and written their clues before building the grid (with a view to managing the strings as well as possible), so with these fixed plus the necessary ambiguities at 16 and 40 there was no room for manoeuvre. And, more importantly to the solver, you have to understand what’s going on (or have Murray’s luck!) to complete those two correctly. Highlighting would then amount to just a bolted-on wordsearch, something that would annoy me as a solver.
Ifor
Thanks Ifor, the linking of clue numbers to the theme was a masterstroke. Like Murray, we were able to complete the grid (apart from the last 2 cells) without identifying many of the extra letters or the strings. We then went through all the clues with the proverbial ftc to work out what was going on and fill in the blanks. Murray did not need too much “luck” actually, as there were only a few options for each missing letter.
On a different matter, has anyone on here won the Listener recently? Mrs Terrier and I were lucky enough to do so a few weeks ago and the prize arrived today. We were surprised to find it is the Chambers 2014 edition, the one we have but which is starting to fall apart so the replacement is welcome. As their “primary reference” is now the 2016 ed, it seems strange that that is not given as the prize. I can only assume they have a cupboard full of old ones to get rid of first!