Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 1, 2017
This puzzle was a doozy! Solving the clues was mostly easy but putting everything together proved tricky even after figuring out that certain pairs of answers could be placed interchangeably in the grid. The obstacle is that there are 32 entries in the grid (16 across and 16 down) but 34 clues (18 numbered and 16 unnumbered). In the end I concluded that two of the unnumbered clues are superfluous. I tried to find some clever reason why Gozo might have deliberately included these extra clues, considering even that it might be an April Fools’ Day prank. But in the end I think it has to be simply a mistake. What is more, according to one report I came across but was unable to verify, two different versions of the crossword were published.
My clue of the week is Gozo’s “Bank of Scotland” one (BRAE) and I also love 5d (ELEVENS). As we have seen before, Gozo puts a lot of work into his puzzles!
Here are what were published as unnumbered clues with grid numbers added:
10a/2d Dispute Petruchio’s aim, do you say? (9)
ALTERCATE – homophone (do you say?) of “alter Kate”. This clue relates to Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
10a/2d A dead seabird enters interchange (9)
ALTERNATE – A (a) + TERN (seabird) in LATE (dead)
25a/26d Bank of Scotland adventurous? Not very (4)
BRAE – BRA[v]E (adventurous, not very)
25a/26d Short set of instructions to make cheese (4)
BRIE – BRIE[f] (short set of instructions)
4a/18d Beaten by one exploit in another (8)
DEFEATED – FEAT (one exploit) in DEED (another)
4a/18d Damaged trees in dead area left abandoned (8)
DESERTED – anagram (damaged) of TREES in DE[a]D (dead area left)
8d/21d Medical condition having liquid medication put on middle of eye (6)
DROPSY – DROPS (liquid medication) + [e]Y[e]
8d/21d Democrat, hopeful, hugging wife, nodding (6)
DROWSY – D (Democrat) + W (wife) in ROSY (hopeful)
14d Plants from the marsh appearing sky-high? (5-5)
MARES TAILS – double definition (the second referring to a type of cirrus cloud)
22d Space traveller encountered Roe climbing (6)
METEOR – MET (encountered) + ROE (Roe) backwards (climbing)
28a/17d Run round vestries for terrier (9)
RESERVIST – R (run) + anagram (round) of VESTRIES
28a/17d Controlling influence of coach during time-off (9)
RESTRAINT – TRAIN (coach) in REST (time-off)
28a/1d Music in D sharp – nothing unusual to young beginner (8)
RHAPSODY – anagram (unusual) of D SHARP O (nothing) + Y[oung]
29a/1d African pioneer moaned audibly by the way (8)
ROADSIDE – homophone (audibly) of “Rhodes sighed”
13a A nuisance tests out woven designs (10)
TAPESTRIES – A (a) + PEST (nuisance) together in TRIES (tests)
19a Face north-east – turn ship around (6)
VENEER – NE (north-east) in VEER (turn ship)
ACROSS
1 Join together again — you don’t say! (6)
REALLY – RE-ALLY (join together again)
11 Good boss making thick soup (5)
GUMBO – G (good) + UMBO (boss). An umbo is a boss on the centre of a shield. (I had to look this up.)
12 Irritated about love (4)
SORE – EROS (love) backwards (about)
15 Sound device is loud and very good, not working outside (4-3)
DEAF-AID – F (l0ud) + AI (very good) together in DEAD (not working)
16 Drink for small German gentleman at end of party (6)
SHERRY – S (small) + HERR (German gentleman) + [part]Y
21 Valley encompassing setter’s territory (7)
DEMESNE – MES (setter’s) in DENE (valley)
23 High estate in which larks gather (10)
EXALTATION – double definition. The collective term for larks is exaltation. And An Exaltation of Larks is the title of a wonderful book of collective terms by James Lipton.
27 Resin some fuel emits (5)
ELEMI – hidden word
30 Impassioned male getting date wrong (6)
HEATED – HE (male) + anagram (wrong) of DATE
DOWN
3 Learning that the art gallery is empty (4)
LORE – LO[uv]RE (art gallery is empty). Well, partly empty.
5 Apparently singular snack for groups of sportsmen (7)
ELEVENS – would-be singular form of ELEVENSES (snacks)
6 Score minus two with second book (10)
EIGHTEENMO – EIGHTEEN (score minus two) + MO (second). I was unfamiliar with this word which, according the the definition I found, identifies a certain paper size, not a book.
7 Note representative, beginning to improve speeds (5)
TEMPI – TE (note, a variant of TI) + MP (representative) + I[mprove]
9 Gratitude to Eisteddfod winner for knight’s coat (6)
TABARD – TA (gratitude) + BARD (Eisteddfod winner)
14 Plants from the marsh appearing sky-high? (5,5)
MARES TAILS – double definition
20 Pulled out or turned in (7)
RETIRED – double definition
22 Alternative to dole is cosmic waste (6)
METEOR – METE (dole) + OR (alternative). I wonder if it is really appropriate to call a meteor cosmic waste?
24 New in district, found place of entertainment (5)
ARENA – N (new) in AREA (district)
What a pity that this nice idea was spoiled by probably mixing up different versions of this puzzle.
14d and 22d should just been left out from the ‘numbered clues’.
Confusing to see 14d being replicated in the unnumbered section while having 22d an alternative clue.
As to EIGHTEENMO, the one I really had to check, Collins tells us:
1.Also called octodecimo. A book size resulting from folding a sheet of paper into 18 leaves or 36 pages. Often written 18mo, 18°.
2.A book of this size
So, fair enough.
I liked the fact that couples were interchangeable – and that Gozo didn’t tell us!
Credits to Tom but the whole thing tasted a bit like 16ac.
I struggled my way through most of this; didn’t get either of the 10 letter answers, 13ac and 14d. Also didn’t get the “face NE” clue but instead inserted the “space traveller encountered….” which was also “Meteor” and was my first clue in at 19ac. With so many almost similar answers which were interchangeable it seemed quite possible that there would be two identical answers to different clues. More frustrating than enjoyable.
I await the official solution with interest.
Before everyone joins in arguing about what the correct solution to the puzzle has to be, may I
confirm that there is no single all-correct solution. We will publish one possible arrangement of
the solutions, but any arrangement of them all within the grid is permissible. That was the April Fool.
Thanks Gozo and Pete
Loved the concept of the puzzle … was less enamoured with the April Fool duality (of the two clues and the available lights). It did take two longish sessions to finally nut out one possible arrangement of the answers.
Lots of very clever clues with my two favourites being ROADSIDE and EIGHTEENMO (have seen it defined as the book made from this sized paper).
Finished with EXALTATION, VENEER and MARE’S TAILS.
Was it also part of the April Fool joke to have superfluous clues and a misleading rubric?
If this combination of misdirection and lack of direction was indeed intended to be a joke then I for one did not find it at all funny.
I think I remember reading somewhere that a fair while back there was an April Fool puzzle in the Times with plausible clues which had no (intended) answers. Can anyone confirm this? If it’s true, it’s just as well it was before t’interwebs came to be, as I can imagine the vituperation that would have come from the people who take these things ever so seriously.
I’d have thought that given the date, the doubling up of some clues and the multiple permutations of the entries would have shouted APRIL FOOL louder than Brian Blessed with a megaphone. The one person I do feel sorry for is the person who’s got to check the prize entries.
Nice one Tom!
I expected more, and was disappointed to read in the FT on Saturday that any of 32 (or 64, I can’t remember) possible solutions were acceptable. Surely there was something that produced a unique solution, I thought, but no.
While I admire Gozo for the cleverness of the idea, it wasn’t my idea of fun.
Thanks to Gozo for a puzzle I found really entertaining. And thanks to Pete for his analysis. I too was at a loss as to why the extra 14D and 22D had appeared.
The FT solution says 12 answers would fit into either of two positions, giving 64 solutions- and Pete doubles these up.
But to my mind Mares Tails/Tapestries and Meteor/Veneer also double up- giving 256 possible solutions. And before anybody says that was an April Fool I should point out that the FT solution was published April 15.
Crikey!
I worked from the PDF version which at least had the right number of clues, but I had identical clues – and hence answers – for MARES TAILS – at both 13ac and 14dn.
Great concept. Shame about the execution.
The solution published in the FT of April 15 states:
This makes sense: There are actually 8 pairs of answers that are potentially interchangeable (2d/10a, 25a/26d, 4a/18d, 8d/21d, 19a/22d, 17d/28a, 1d/29a, 13a/14d). However two of these pairs have one numbered clue (14d and 22d) and therefore fixed places in the grid meaning that there are actually six interchangeable pairs and thus 64 possible solutions. But these two numbered clues could have been given as unnumbered clues so, as Stephen Meldrum points out, there could have been 256 possible solutions (“griddings”?).
And now my brain wants to put this to bed!
Thanks to Gozo for a clever idea which I largely enjoyed solving. Whether it’s a form of OCD or a dislike of things unfinished, I had trouble accepting that there wasn’t a unique solution and tried in vain to find some meta-clue that would cement the positions — but that’s my personal hang-up I suppose. I did guess that it was deliberate given the date, although if the answer “ambiguous” could have been fitted in there somewhere it would probably have eased my mind considerably. 🙂
But I appreciated the effort and recognise that the issues were my own. Thanks also to Pete for the blog.