Enigmatic Variations No. 1276: XXXX by Ifor

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Here we had Ifor opening his soul to us, but obviously in code. The preamble read:

An exhausted and destitute Ifor says “I’m XXXXX and on my XXXXX, so I’m going to stop working and XXXXX. I’m not coming back – you won’t see XXXXX.” The four redactions are two-word phrases; one is hyphenated, and one can be found in the completed grid. Their eight initial letters make up the redacted title, which must be written under the grid. Ifor’s complaints affect nine symmetrically-placed answers on entry; Chambers (2016) is recommended, and 25ac is in Collins.

It’s a shame that I hadn’t heard of GOALBALL, otherwise I’d have been off to a roaring start — albeit with the second half probably entered incorrectly! As it was, PROFILES was the first clue I solved, an 8-letter entry for a 4-letter space. A quick scan of the clues revealed only one other such clue, and if I’d solved 40ac straight off, I’d probably have known how to enter those two.

As it was, the solve was fairly slow, mainly because of Ifor’s typically devious clueing, but partly because those seven other answers requiring modification weren’t obvious, and also because there were some words or phrases that were new to me. Among these were WOMAN POST, ALL MY EYE and ON MY BEAM-ENDS. And so it took about 2¼ hours to complete the grid, and then some final endgame resolution. What Ifor was actually telling us was:

“I’m ALL IN and on my BEAM-ENDS, so I’m going to stop working and DOWN TOOLS. I’m not coming back — you won’t see IFOR’S RETURN.

Two entries had ROFI removed, two had BEAM moved to the end, and three had tools (SAW, HOE, GAD) drop to the bottom. The true title of the puzzle was DIATRIBE.

Great fun, thanks Ifor, but I hope we do see your return sometime soon.

Solving time: about 2½ hours.

Legend:
Definition in clue
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden

ACROSS
No Entry Clue and Explanation
2 GOALBALL
entered as
GOALALLB		 Game for those not seeing global appeal emptied pitches (8)
(GLOBAL A[ppea]L)*; anagram indicator ‘pitches’
8 PROFILES
entered as
PLES		 Side views professionals holding record (8)
PROS (professionals) containing FILE (record)
11 AIR-SAC Display as swapping round coloured cell in lights (6)
AIR (display) AS< (swapped round) C (coloured); ‘lights’ as in lungs
12 ECUELLE Vagrant feels well after uncovering copper in bowl (7)
(EEL EL ([f]EEL[s] [w]EL[l] uncovered) CU (copper))*
13 LIFT-MAN One-time floor-changing servant? (7)
cryptic definition (I T FL)* MAN (servant), &lit; see @3 below
14 BEAMON
entered as
ONBEAM		 Long jumper may be unravelling, missing bit of yarn allowing connection (6)
(MAY BE – Y (bit of Yarn))* + ON (allowing connection); reference to Bob Beamon, an American long-jumper
15 ONE OR TWO A few more hours every now and again won’t hurt (8, three words)
(OEOR (mOrE hOuRs, every now and then) WONT)*
19 REVEALING Disclosure always comes back accepted, good to include nothing revolutionary (9)
EVER< (always, reversed) A (accepted) G (good) including NIL< (nothing, reversed)
21 D-DAY Critical period ultimately recorded in regular diary entries (4)
D (recordeD, ultimately) in DAY (regular entries of DiArY)
23 FLENSE Flinch from following casual shot, dropping dead (6)
F (following) LENSED (shot, informal, cinema)
25 ANCHOR-WOMAN One who runs discussion with a monarch on broadcast (11)
(W (with) A MONARCH ON)*
27 ALEGAR Answer’s lager that’s gone off, maybe (6)
(A (answer) + LAGER)*; semi &lit.
30 SHOE Pedal wear, so he’s wobbly (4)
(SO HE)*
31 WOMAN POST She delivered messages in acts that hurt, backtracking after embracing follower (9, two words)
OW< (that hurt!, reversed) POST (after) around MAN (follower)
35 LECTURER Speaker with reference to hiding in alien culture, rejecting upper-class (8)
RE (with reference to) in (CULTURE – U (upper class))*
36 BEAMER
entered as
ERBEAM		 Bribe a merchant warehousing illegal delivery (6)
in briBE A MERchant
37 PRODRUG Perk up game that’s lost by precursor to narcotic, say (7)
PROD (perk up) RUGBY (game) – BY
38 REISSUE Small branches use fuzzy duplicated publication (7)
REIS (small branches) USE*
39 ORGANA Methods of investigation retrospectively ran aground to some extent (6)
reversed in rAN AGROund
40 RETROFIT
entered as
RETT		 Tire of changes, keeping transactions as improved substitute (8)
(TIRE OF)* containing TR (transactions)
41 ALL MY EYE
entered as
MYALLEY		 Ridiculous shopping area with everyone at the front – the elderly doubling up (8, three words)
MALL (shopping area) with ALL at front + YE YE (the, old form, twice)
DOWN
No Entry Clue and Explanation
1 BALSAWOOD
entered as
BALOODSAW		 Light material a sad blow to less tense sports (9)
(A SAD BLOW TO – T (tense))*; anagram indicator ‘sports’
3 ORFES Fish swimming for seashore (but not onto the land) (5)
(FOR SEASHORE – ASHORE (onto the land))*
4 ASTONY Shock once nasty criminal pinches ring (6)
NASTY* containing O (ring)
5 ACATES Bought provisions earlier; before food, tea’s drunk (6)
AC (ante cibum, before food) TEAS*
6 LEN Loan from RBS in fast period, saving time (3)
LENT (fast period) – T (time); ‘from RBS’ (Royal Bank of Scotland) denotes Scottish word
7 BUNGALOW Speaker’s gross mistake to concede to lower house, perhaps (8)
sounds like BUNGLE (gross mistake) OWE (to concede)
8 PEBBLE Decline for Guido’s heart in pile of gunpowder (6)
PILE – with EBB (decline) instead of I (guIdo’s heart)
9 ELAN Zip code’s last blank uncovered (4)
E (codE, last letter) LAN ([b]LAN[k], uncovered)
10 SEME Powdered snow not immediately upsetting me with closure of lane (4)
SNOW – NOW (immediately) ME< + E (lanE, last letter)
16 NODAL Concerned with rising pulse of nerve centre (5)
ON< (concerned with, upwards) DAL (pulse, ie lentil)
17 WHOEVER
entered as
WVERHOE		 Any one that he won over fraudulently (7)
(HE W (won) OVER)*; anagram indicator ‘fraudulently’
18 VINA Instrument that’s blown in vain (4)
VAIN*; anagram indicator ‘blown’
20 GADGETEER
entered as
GETEERGAD		 He likes new devices tagged after assembly, always underneath (9)
TAGGED* + EER (always)
22 PHANTASM Counterfeit map has outskirts of town all wrong (8)
(MAP HAS TN (outskirts of TowN))*
24 SNORE Casual bore starting from scratch and not stopping for tea (5)
S (start of Scratch) NOR (and not) E (stopping for tEa, ie what’s plugged)
26 NEMO Captain of troops in retreat (4)
(O (of) MEN (troops))<
28 GAYEST Brightest visitor having positive response for university (6)
GUEST (visitor) with AY (positive response) instead of U (university)
29 ESCROL Deed caught in reassignment of sole right (6)
C (caught) in (SOLE R (right))*
30 SMUDGE Mark guess, failing to conclude vacant mind wanders (6)
(GUES[s] MD (MinD, vacant, ie empty))*
32 ARRAY Look after annual return, imposing arrangement (5)
RAY (look) after AR (annual return)
33 SERR Press close series with support of editor, finally (4)
SER (series) + R (editoR, finally)
34 TREE Cross from centre half-cleared, allowing Everton’s header in (4)
TRE (cenTRE, half-cleared) containing E (Everton’s first letter)
37 PEA Lost appetite after passing insignificant small stone (3)
(APPETITE – PETITE (insignificant))*; anagram indicator ‘lost’

 

3 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No. 1276: <em>XXXX</em> by Ifor”

  1. There was a Labour Party election manifest that was described as ‘the longest suicide note in history’…is this the most complicated resignation letter in history?…let’s hope not..

    Is Ifor asking for a pay rise? He must be worth it…

    A lovely puzzle, and my solving experience pretty much the same as our blogger’s here, if slightly longer…I thought maybe POSTWOMAN had to be changed to WOMANPOST as part of the theme, and I guessed at the last bit as ‘you won’t see ME BACK’, so I was looking for words with ‘EM’ in them, to remove…but got there in the end…

    (And, slightly off topic, I see a certain Dave H is due some IQ chocolates this week!…)

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