Enigmatic Variations No. 1259: Address by Samuel

Location! Location! Location?…The title of ADDRESS, and three references to ‘locations’ in the preamble, suggest that there is some sort of geographical theme, or postcode lottery, going on…or are we being led up a blind (Kirstie) Alley? Another relevant mantra is ‘preamble, preamble, preamble’…read, re-read, and re-re-read, as I missed a vital step before submitting my solution…doh!

The preamble states that:

“Thirteen across clues contain a misprint in the definition part that must be corrected before solving. In clue order, the correct letters give an ADDRESS. Solvers must highlight two thematic locations (a total of 14 letters) and complete the two unclued entries to give a graphical representation of the theme. Five clues consist of wordplay only; four of these lead to locations within the ADDRESS, and the fifth to an associated location. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

The two unclued entries form an offset cross – middle column and a below-the-middle row. Nothing too obvious jumping out there yet, and there are five ‘wordplay only’ (i.e. undefined) clues that will give us some of the required ‘locations’. Given that there are also 13 misprints in across clues, it seemed logical to go for some down clues first, to get a foothold, if possible, and then work through the across-es and their misprints.

Suffice to say, after some concentrated solving and educated guesses on the wordplay-only clues, and finding some of the misprints in across clues, I had a fair few crossing letters in the two unclued entries, and was able to make a stab at ‘IRON CURTAIN’ and ‘THE CONTINENT’ (of Europe, presumably).

(At this point I had my first brief moment of déja vué, of which more later…)

Again helped by crossing letters, I managed to deduce a few of the undefined answers, which seemed to be four European capitals, all ‘behind’ (to the right, geographically) of the ‘Iron Curtain’. But I couldn’t find a fifth – unless it was 17A TUNIS…which wasn’t in Europe last time I looked, but was another capital, which maybe fitted with the four already found.

The PDM came with those corrected misprints – I ended up with most of SINEW near the first few across clues, and PEACE at the end, and a quick Wiki-oogle of SINEW, PEACE and PRAGUE and WARSAW came up with Winston Churchill’s ‘SINEWS OF PEACE’ speech, given in 1D FULTON Missouri on 6 March 1946, whilst he was Leader of the Opposition:

“…From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere…”

 

So, all well and good, except that I somehow neglected to highlight STETTIN and TRIESTE in my submitted copy, having not re-read the preamble as a final check (schoolboy error), probably caused by there being so much other thematic material that I probably felt I had highlighted enough with the curtain/continent, capitals and location of the speech. I think I did spend some time looking for MISSOURI in the diagonals, as FULTON plus MISSOURI would be 14 letters, but FULTON was already explicitly referenced in the preamble and therefore couldn’t be part of the 14 letters…

And as for the déja vué … I had a feeling during the solving and penny-dropping that this felt like a Raich puzzle – I have solved several (and blogged a couple of) Raiches which had similar feels to them – post-war Soviet/European/Cold War themes, and I think I did subconsciously see STETTIN and TRIESTE while getting towards the end game…so my solving copy has a CAPITALISED comment on it saying ‘this is Raich-esque, are you sure it is Samuel?’. I subsequently ran through my various spreadsheets and files, but only came up with EV 937 ‘UPHEAVAL by Raich’, from way back in 2010, which involved the ‘rise’ and ‘fall’ of Communism, graphically depicted in the solving/end game. (Goodness, have I really been blogging EV’s for nearly 7 years?…EV 909 only feels like yesterday!…)

At this point I assumed I was having a ‘senior moment’ and gave up and concentrated on doing this blog…but that niggling feeling didn’t go away, and a quick search for ‘Stettin’ on the 15×15 site, on the eve of publishing this blog, finally confirmed my suspicions – Inquisitor 1164, from Feb 2011, is Raich’s ‘Descent’, which uses much of the same thematic material – FULTON, TRIESTE, STETTIN, IRON CURTAIN (central column, unclued) ‘descending’ upon the CONTINENT (crossing row, unclued) – with some slight differences, in that it includes references to the BALTIC and the ADRIATIC and FULTON as extra/missing letters, but doesn’t have the European capitals used here. However it did have STETTIN and TRIESTE in the top and bottom rows, connected by the Iron Curtain.

Most likely coincidence – great minds do often think alike – or possibly an EV tribute/nod to a classic IQ, but it seems strange that no-one involved in the editing and/or test-solving spotted the similarity between these two puzzles. Maybe the passage of time had affected brains other than mine, or it was seen as a large enough gap to put something similar out there.

Either way, this was an enjoyable solve and clever grid construction and extra letters/denouément – if slightly marred for me by the niggling déja vué of similarity to the Raich puzzle. Thanks to Samuel, and a Happy New Year to you all.

 

(NB. A lesser-spotted (recently) EV gremlin seems to have affected 12D, which is given as (8), but I thought should have been (MESS TIN – 4 3), although my ancient Chambers gives MESS TIN as MESS-TIN, which these days counts as a (7).)

 

Across
Clue No	Corrected letter	Solution / Final entry	Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing
1	gaSper	FAG	Gawper runs from kill (3) / F(R)AG (fragment, kill with a grenade) – losing R – runs
6	gIant	ETTIN	Endlessly receiving grant (5) / (G)ETTIN(G)
10	gleN	CWM	Country & Western music’s heading for Glee (3) / CW (Country & Western) + M (first letter, or heading, of Music)
13		UNREEL	Perhaps wind down international body before dance (6) / UN (United Nations, international body) + REEL (dance)
15	wEights	MINAE	Wrights are in tunnel (5) / MIN_E (tunnel) around A (are)
16	Workers	SURFACERS	Nearly prosecute head of railway with problems – porkers on the line! (9) / SU(E) (nearly prosecute) + R (first letter, or head, of Railway) + FACERS (informal, sudden problems or difficulties)
17		TUNIS	Desperate nudist spending a penny? Capital! (5) / anag, i.e. desperate, of NU(D)IST (excluding, or spending, D – penny)
19		LOSE ONES SEAT	Looseness in reform? Upset, fail to win election (12, three words) / LOSE ONES S (anag, i.e. reform, of LOOSENESS) + EAT (upset)
21	reSort	NEST	Maybe report tense bulletin without women up front (4) / NE(WS) (bulletin, without W – women) + T (tense)
22		RACE	Scratch groove (4) / double defn. to RACE can mean to scratch, derived from RAZE, and a RACE can be a channel or groove.
24		ERA	Age during funeral (3) / hidden word, i.e during. In ‘funERAl’
25		SABURRA	Bursar arranged a deposit (7) / SABURR (anag, i.e. arranged, of BURSAR) + A
27		LIN	Elderly stop zip being pulled back (3) / LIN (Spenserian, or elderly, for cease, desist) = NIL, or zero, zip, pulled backwards
30	zOne	AREA	Zane’s One Direction covered by artist (4) / A (one) + R_A (Royal Academician, artist) around (covering) E (East, direction)
31	File	RISP	About to abandon neat pile in Perth (4) / (C)RISP (neat), abandoned by C (circa, about)
33		THE CONTINENT	See preamble (12, two words) / thematic deduction
36		SOFIA	Independent holding seat? Quite the opposite (5) / undefined European capital – SOF_A (seat) holding I (independent)
38		ELAEOLITE	Knocked over booze before game, then low-calorie mineral (8) / ELA (ALE, or booze, knocked over) + EO (game) + LITE (low-calorie)
40	Pump	AORTA	Regularly aboard, cheers vessel supplying dump? (5) / AOR (regular letters from AbOaRd) + TA (thanks, cheers)
41	treE	ACAJOU	Accountant and judge cut short our trek (6) / ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant) + J (judge) + OU(R) (our, cut short)
42	cAn	TIN	Con fool from the East (3) / TIN (can) = NIT (fool), turned around, or from the East
43	sCores	TRIES	Stores finally import wine, not fish (5) / T (final letter of imporT) + RIES(LING) (wine, without LING – fish)
44	ragE	IRE	Some fireman’s rags (3) / hidden word, i.e. some, in ‘fIRE’man’
Down
Clue No	Corrected letter	Solution / Final entry	Clue (definition underlined) / Logic/Parsing
1		FULTON	Almost perfect fashion (6) / undefined – thematic location – FUL(L) (almost full, or perfect) + TON (fashion)
2		ANT	Worker that’s half of presenting duo? (3) / double defn.(?) – an ANT can be a worker; and ANT (Antony McPartlin) is one half of Ant & Dec, the (inexplicably!) popular and longlasting presenting duo, with Declan Donnelly.
3		GRIN	Show pleasure and call when German goes to the summit (4) / RIN(G) – call – with G (German) moving from the bottom to the summit = GRIN
4		SEXISTS	Bigots live on board steamship (7) / S_S (SS – steam ship) around (boarded by) EXIST (live)
5		TESSERAE	Girl accepted entering before getting tickets (8) / TESS (girl) + ER_E (before), around A (accepted)
6		ELUL	Period of time in cruel ultimatum (4) / hidden word in ‘cruEL ULtimatum’ (a month, or period of time, in the Jewish calendart)
7		TOFFEE	Posh type with limitless beef? Humbug! (6) / TOFF (posh type) + (B)EE(F) (beef, without limiting letters)
8		IMAM	Leader’s lame when one’s promoted (4) / MA(I)M (make lame, injure), with I (one) ‘promoted’ to the start)
9		NICEST	Most agreeable part of the union? It is in France (6) / NI (Northern Ireland, part of the Union, the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland) + CEST (c’est, it is, in French)
11		WARSAW	Struggle with proverb (6) / undefined European capital – WAR (struggle) + SAW (saying, proverb)
12		MESS-TIN	Did their business, we hear, wearing part of soldier’s kit (8) / MESS-T (homophone, sounds like MESSED, or did their business, as in an animal urinating or excreting) + In (wearing)
14		IRON CURTAIN	See preamble (11, two words) / thematic deduction
18		BERLIN	Queen enters unable to see daughter leaving (6) / undefined European capital – B_LIN(D) (unable to see, leaving out D – daughter) entered by ER (Elizabeth Regina, queen)
20		OSAGES	Plant eaten by large Oklahoma natives (6) / O_S (outsize, large) around (eating) SAGE (plant, herb)
23		TRANSECT	Sample greens, say, with new secretary in restaurant (8) / TRA_T (trattoria, Italian restaurant) around N (new) + SEC (secretary)
24		ENTREAT	Beg nurse to nurse (7) / EN (Enrolled Nurse) + TREAT (nurse, tend to)
26		AREOLAE	Revolutionary drug injected into gammy ear leads to spots (7) / AR_E (anag, i.e. gammy, of EAR) around (injected by) EOLA (aloe, drug or plant extract)
28		THOLOI	Hot oil flowing round tombs (6) / anag, i.e. flowing, of HOT OIL
29		OCTETT	Jock limited festival time for group (6) / (J)OC(K) (jock, limited, removing outer letters) + TET (Vietnamese festival) + T (time)
30		ANELLI	Sloth eating most of goat’s food (6) / A_I (sloth) around (eating) NELL(Y) (most of NELLY, weak or foolish person, or goat)
32		PRAGUE	Fit pair on top (6) / undefined European capital – PR (pair) on top of AGUE (fit, fever)
34		ROAR	Start to row … and row … and shout (4) / R (start to Row) + OAR (row)
35		UTAS	Henry deserts state’s historic end to festival (4) / UTA(H)S (US state’s), deserted by H – Henry
37		FIJI	Punch face when brother leaves both for island (4) / FI(B) (punch) + JI(B) (dialect, the face) – both losing B (brother)
39		TOR	Damn, this peak erupting could be dormant! (4) / partial anagram (i.e. erupting) of (D)OR(MAN)T without the letters of DAMN