This is Chalicea’s thirteenth Inquisitor in seven year, so we see her puzzle every six months on average.
The preamble was fairly short, as follows: "A message relating to | || direct solvers towards a significant achievement embedded in the grid including two place, an agent and an object"
As with many preambles, this didn’t generate an immediate ‘Aha! moment’. I followed my usual practice and barrelled straight into the clues to see if filling the grid would help in understanding the preamble.
I found this one of the easier Inquisitors to get into and solved a good many clues on the first pass. The grid fill progressed quite quickly with only a few clues proving intractable.
The first unclued ‘words’ that shouted out at me from the checked letters in the grid at | and || were GREAT and EASTERN. "Aha!, Isambard Kingdom Brunel I said to myself", but a search of the grid revealed nothing related to the great man.
The penny drop moment came after I saw VALENTIA spelled out down the right hand column. Is that spelled right I wondered but a Google search revealed a place of that name in South West Ireland and look there is reference to a TRANSATLANTIC CABLE going from VALENTIA to a place called HEART’S CONTENT in Newfoundland. And … bingo! we have HEART’S CONTENT spelled out down the complete column 1 of the grid.
A bit more Googling found that the GREAT EASTERN was involved in more than one attempt to lay the CABLE successfully
Now is there a link in the grid between the two names. I didn’t find the full link immediately as ATLANTIC could be formed from adjacent cells in more than one way. However, experience tells me that symmetry will probably come into play and that concept allowed me to home in on the proper link.
So there we have two places – VALENTIA, HEART’S CONTENT, an agent – the GREAT EASTERN – and an object – TRANSATLANTIC CABLE – but what about a message?
The diagonals of a grid are often a home for messages, but not in this puzzle. The next place to look is often the first letters of the clues and here we have SHADE from the first five. Inquisitor and Listener crosswords often request SHADing in the endgame so the first letters looked worth progressing. The full message generated from the first letters of the clues as shown in the detailed blog below is: SHADE THIRTY NINE CELLS TO SHOW FIRST LAID BY UNCLUED LIGHT. Here we take the definition of LIGHT as a slight variant of: in a crossword, the word on the diagram that is the answer to a clue and home in on GREAT EASTERN at | || as the unclued light.
There are thirty nine cells in VALENTIA HEART’S CONTENT TRANSATLANTIC CABLE so that is what I have shaded in the grid below. I have used different colours to indicate land and sea items. I have also highlighted GREAT EASTERN for clarity. I note HEART’S CONTENT and VALENTIA are located correctly geographically with VALENTIA at the eastern end of the CABLE.
My final grid looked like this, almost certainly with more highlighting and / or shading than required.
As mentioned earlier, I thought the clues were toward the easier end of the Inquisitor spectrum although I am completely defeated trying to identify the definition for GAOL at 30 down. I am also unsure of the wordplay to derive TRIACT at 45 across.
I learned something new from this puzzle by reading quite a lot about the difficulties involved in laying the first TRANSATLANTIC CABLE.
I think the title EMBEDDED refers to two elements of the puzzle, firstly the CABLE is EMBEDDED in the sea bed and there is much information EMBEDDED in the grid.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Message | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Silver in one’s residence gets public respect (6)
|
S |
AG (chemical symbol for silver) contained in (in) HOME (one’s residence) HOM (AG) E |
HOMAGE (reverence, especially shown by outward action; public respect)
|
|
6
|
Having blossoms, a bush primarily with mirage like appearance (6)
|
H
|
A + B (first letter of [primarily] BUSH) + LOOM (appear indistinctly or as in a mirage) A B LOOM |
ABLOOM (having blossom)
|
|
11
|
Ascetically solitary period recalled, possessed by obligation to atone for murder (8)
|
A
|
TIME (period) reversed (recalled) contained in (possessed by) ERIC (blood-fine paid by a murderer to his victim’s family in old Irish law; obligation to atone for murder) ER (EMIT<) IC |
EREMITIC (descriptive of a recluse or ascetic who lives alone; ascetically solitary)
|
|
12
|
Development sites for spores discovered by parascience (4)
|
D
|
ASCI (hidden word in [discovered by] PARASCIENCE) One rare meaning of ‘to discover’ is ‘to exhibit’ ASCI |
ASCI (enlarged cell, commonly elongated, in which usually eight spores are formed)
|
|
13
|
Endless comparisons relating to land fit for ploughing (6)
|
E
|
PARABLES (comparisons) excluding the first and last letters (endless) P and S ARABLE |
ARABLE (descriptive of land fit for ploughing or crop production)
|
|
15
|
These Danish settlers mostly disoriented writer before noon (6)
|
T
|
LOST (disoriented) excluding the first letter (mostly) L + ME (the writer) + N (noon) OST ME N |
OSTMEN (Danish settlers in Ireland)
|
|
17
|
Having no desire to work, move unobtrusively, not starting (4)
|
H
|
SIDLE (move unobtrusively) excluding the first letter (not starting) S IDLE |
IDLE (disliking work; having no desire to work)
|
|
18
|
Informal expression for tough spread (3)
|
I
|
TED (informal expression for TEDdy boy or girl [unruly adolescent], originally in the 1950s Tough can be defined as rowdy, like an unruly adolescent) TED |
TED (spread) double definition
|
|
21
|
Retiring gypsy girl from the Fens? (3)
|
R
|
ROM (gypsy man) reversed (retiring) MOR< |
MOR (variant of mauther [in East Anglia [area of the Fens] a big awkward girl)]
|
|
22
|
The staff here might say "Come over and Sir will be sorted" (11, 2 words)
|
T
|
Anagram of (will be sorted) COME OVER and SIR SERVICE ROOM* |
SERVICE ROOM (a ROOM in a club or hotel where visitors’ requirements are attended to)
|
|
25
|
You solve this or follow it through a labyrinth (4)
|
Y
|
CLUE (someone attempting this puzzle [you] solves) CLUE |
CLUE (variant of clew [a thread that guides through a labyrinth])
|
|
27
|
No longer necessary in Umbria, seed cover returned (4)
|
N
|
ARIL (covering or appendage of some seeds) reversed (returned) LIRA< |
LIRA (former currency [money; necessary] of Umbria [part of Italy] where the euro is now used)
|
|
30
|
Involved in Barcelona it’s relating to lowest hereditary title (11)
|
I
|
Anagram of (involved in) BARCELONA IT BARONETICAL* |
BARONETICAL (relating to a BARONET [the lowest British hereditary title])
|
|
33
|
Niggle at poor horse (3)
|
N
|
NAG (annoy continually; niggle at) NAG |
NAG (inferior horse) double definition
|
|
34
|
Exceptionally penetrating rain this on-site security provider scorned? (7, 2 words)
|
E
|
Anagram of (exceptionally) PENETRATING excluding (scorned) RAIN i.e an anagram of PEETTNG TENT PEG* |
TENT PEG (strong notched PEG driven into the ground to fasten [provide security] a tent)
|
|
35
|
Calm close of day for poets (3)
|
C
|
ENE (poetic variant of EVEN [evening; close of the day]) ENE |
ENE (variant of EVEN [calm]) double definition
|
|
37
|
Endemic Central American, laid back old citizen (4)
|
E
|
(O [old] + CIT [citizen]) all reversed (laid back) (TIC O)< |
TICO (of or relating to Costa Rica or its inhabitants; endemic can mean ‘confined to a particular area, in this case an area of Central America)
|
|
38
|
Like faint-hearted person very pale (5)
|
L
|
AS (like) + HEN (faint-hearted person) AS HEN |
ASHEN (very pale)
|
|
41
|
Leader of choice moved to close returns (6)
|
L
|
SELECT (exclusive; choice) with the first letter (leader) S moved to the end (close) ELECTS |
ELECTS (returns to parliament,for example)
|
|
42
|
Serpent twisted round headdress on king (6)
|
S
|
K (king) + (TIARA [richly jewelled semicircular head-ornament; headdress] reversed [twisted round]) K ARAIT< |
KARAIT (variant of krait [deadly S Asian rock snake])
|
|
43
|
Tropical plant among garden onions (4)
|
T
|
NONI (hidden word in [among] GARDEN ONIONS) NONI |
NONI (small evergreen tropical plant)
|
|
44
|
Oriental dish produced by recycled Indian equipment (8)
|
O |
(ORIYA [a member of the Orissa people of India] + KIT [equipment]) with every letter moved three to the left and letters at front cycling to the end YAKITORI |
YAKITORI (Japanese [oriental] dish of boneless chicken pieces, grilled on skewers and basted with a thick, sweet sauce) |
|
45
|
Semi conductor device, electrode essentially with three radial arms (6)
|
S
|
A TRIODE is a semi conductor, but I don’t see how the wordplay gets us to the entry of TRIACT. I can see that one of Ts can be related to the middle letter (essentially) of ELECTRODE but that’s as far as I get. TRIACT |
TRIACT (three-rayed.; with three radial arms) |
|
46
|
Having no words prepared, just like politicians intermittently (6)
|
H
|
À LA (in the manner of; like) + LIA (letters 3, 6 and 9 [intermittently] of POLITICIANS) A LA LIA |
ALALIA (loss of speech; having no words)
|
| Down | ||||
|
1
|
Organ that’s vital: handle first and last with skill (5)
|
O
|
HE (outer letters of [first and last] of HANDLE) + ART (skill) HE ART |
HEART (vital organ)
|
|
2
|
Worthless Shetland-style marrow peeled and served up (4)
|
W
|
ARRO (letters remaining when the outside letters, M and W are removed from [peeled] MARROW) reversed (served up; down clue) ORRA< |
ORRA (Scottish [Shetland] word for worthless) |
|
3
|
Flour in Virginia‘s lunch? (4)
|
F
|
MEAL (maize flour in America [Virginia]) MEAL |
MEAL (lunch is an example of a meal) double definition
|
|
4
|
In Perth a waterhole, small ravine mostly on Mac’s trimmed triangular bit of land (6)
|
I
|
GILL (small ravine) excluding the last letter (mostly) L + GAIR (Scottish variant spelling of GORE [triangular piece of land) excluding the final letter (trimmed) R GIL GAI |
GILGAI (In Australia [Perth] saucer-shaped depression forming a natural reservoir; waterhole)
|
|
5
|
Running amok, then an eminent Aussie Rules substitute (13, 2 words)
|
R
|
Anagram of (running amok) THEN AN EMINENT NINETEENTH MAN* |
NINETEENTH MAN (first substitute player in an Australian rules football team)
|
|
7
|
Small bars, maybe French, so Brits unrestrained (7)
|
S |
Anagram of (unrestrained) SO BRITS BISTROS* |
BISTROS (small bars or restaurants, particularly common in France)
|
|
8
|
This designation’s inappropriate for characters raised among Boston Italians (6)
|
T
|
LATINO (reversed [raised; down clue] hidden word [among] BOSTON ITALIANS) LATINO< |
LATINO (of Latin-American descent, particularly in North America [Boston], so not of Italian descent) |
|
9
|
Leopard-like animal curiously close to but not primarily serval (6)
|
L
|
Anagram of (curiously) CLOSE TO excluding (but not) S (first letter of [primarily] SERVAL) OCELOT* |
OCELOT (an American cat [Felis pardalis], like a small leopard) |
|
10
|
Athene for a Roman setter’s trivia, off and on (7)
|
A
|
MINE (belong to the setter) + RVA (letters 2, 4 and 6 [off and on] of TRIVIA) MINE RVA |
MINERVA (MINERVA is the Roman goddess equivalent to ATHENE in Greek mythology. Both are goddesses of wisdom)
|
| 14 | Issued by Pope, brief or longish note (5) |
I
|
BREVE (a papal brief) BREVE |
BREVE (an obsolescent musical note, twice as long as the longest now generally used [the semibreve], but half (or in perfect time one-third) as long as the obsolete long) double definition |
|
16
|
Defensive structure perched on high, intangible for poets (5)
|
D
|
AERIE (variant of EYRIE [ house or stronghold perched on some high or steep place]) AERIE |
AERIE (poetic variant of AERY [incorporeal; spiritual;intangible]) double definition
|
|
18
|
Back-tracking river for Spenser revealing fish (3)
|
B
|
LEE (Spenserian word for river) reversed (back-tracking) EEL< |
EEL (example of a fish)
|
|
20
|
Youngster’s ultimate in reggae beat (4)
|
Y
|
R (last letter of [ultimate] YOUNGSTER) contained in (in) DUB (type of reggae music) D (R) UB |
DRUB (beat)
|
|
23
|
Units of value in East Switzerland, Ohio and Northern Sweden (5)
|
U |
CH (International Vehicle registration for Switzerland) + O (abbreviation for the American State of Ohio) + N (northern) + S (international Vehicle Registration for Sweden) CH O N S |
CHONS (Korean [East] monetary units)
|
|
24
|
New leaves to chop fine for local beef cuts (4)
|
N
|
MINCE (chop) excluding (leaves) N (new MICE |
MICE (parts of a hindleg of beef, next to the round; beef cuts)
|
|
25
|
Capacity satisfied (7)
|
C
|
CONTENT (capacity) CONTENT |
CONTENT (satisfied) double definition
|
|
26
|
Letters recollected by Cistercian rejecting sin of the flesh (7)
|
L
|
Anagram of (recollected) CISTERCIAN excluding (rejecting) SIN leaving CTERCIA CREATIC* |
CREATIC (relating to flesh) * |
|
27
|
Upshot of crossbreeding lively girl with dunce ultimately (5)
|
U
|
Anagram of (lively) GIRL and E (last letter of [ultimately] DUNCE) LIGER* |
LIGER (offspring of crossbreeding between a lion and a female tiger)
|
|
28
|
Executed programme, say network having changed hands (3) |
E
|
LAN (Local Area Network) with the L (left hand) changed to R (right hand) (having changed hands) RAN |
RAN (executed a computer program)
|
|
29
|
Deliverer of legal surety, court securing its lawful origin initially (6)
|
D |
BAR (court) containing (securing) ILO (first letters [initially] of each of ITS LAWFUL and ORIGIN) BA (ILO) R |
BAILOR (a person who provides surety for someone on BAIL)
|
|
31
|
Lack of fertility of mismanaged American coati (6)
|
L
|
Anagram of (mismanaged) A (American) and COATI ATOCIA* |
ATOCIA (sterility in a female)
|
|
32
|
Irregularly let in a defensive siege fortification outwork (6)
|
I
|
Anagram of (irregularly) LET IN A TENAIL* |
TENAIL (an outwork in the main ditch in front of the curtain; defensive siege fortification)
|
|
36
|
Guts of potentiary beings (5)
|
G
|
ENTIA (hidden word in [guts of] POTENTIARY ENTIA |
ENTIA (beings or existences)
|
| 39 | Hearts reshuffling what effective defence might have avoided? A first! (4) |
H |
GOAL (Heart of Midlothian [Hearts] are an Edinburgh football team in the Scottish Premier League. If they organised their defence properly they may have avoided their opponents scoring a GOAL) with A coming before O (first) That parsing might be complete rubbish and alternative is simply reshuffling the OA (central letters) of GOAL which is what any effective defence should have avoided. I can readily accept that both of these suggestions are total nonsense as I really have no idea what is going on given that I can’t see any definition in the clue GAOL |
GAOL (prison) What prison has to do with the clue, I have no idea/ However we need the AOL bit as the three letters cross with other entries in the grid.. As far as I can see G is the only letter that can precede AOL to form a word in a dictionary.. I really can’t see a definition in this clue. |
|
40
|
Tuberous-rooted plant raised for mild stimulant (4)
|
T |
IRIS (plant with tuberous roots, long tapering leaves and large showy flowers) reversed (raised; down clue) SIRI< |
SIRI (betel [the leaf of the betel pepper (Piper betle) which is chewed in the East along with the areca-nut and lime as a mild stimulant])
|
I suspect the intended parsing of the clue for GAOL (at 39D) is that gaol is something you could hope to avoid with an effective defence (lawyer). I’m not sure it quite works, but I appreciate the intention. I thought I’d parsed TRIACT at 45A, but I can’t work out how now, if I did.
Overall, I thought this was a crossword for solvers who like obscure words. The structure of the clues tended to be quite obvious, but you had to have a pretty comprehensive vocabulary to solve them without searching through a dictionary. This is not my favourite style, but the variety of Inquisitors is one of its great strengths. I had a bit of a problem with trying to find another agent, aside from the Great Eastern, as I thought the preamble was suggesting there should be another one in there. I probably should have counted cells at some point! Having said that, this raises another problem, as the 39 shaded cells don’t include the Great Eastern.
At 45a, the semiconductor device is TRIAC with the t from elecTronic essentially.
I wondered about the (wiggly) appearance of Trinity (Bay) between the first letter of 45a and the first letter of 44a.
I completely missed the instruction hidden in the initial letters of clues, though my highlighting would have matched Duncan’s if I sent my entry in (not that keen on the chocolate prize).
Thanks to Chalicea and Duncan.
John Lowe @ 2
Thanks – following your comment I started looking in other dictionaries and I now see TRIAC as a semi-conductor in Collins and the Oxford Dictionary of English. I hadn’t been able to find it in Chambers.
Having found CABLE, VALENCIA etc I completely forgot to look for the message. I don’t think I would have found it even if I had tried.
Not knowing I was looking for only 39 cells I had also shaded TELEGRAM in the top left corner too. I took this to be the object . From top left (letters across and numbering down) the cells are a5 b5 c4 d5 e4 d4 c3 and d2. I thought it might be supposed to look like a frayed end of the cable after it had broken.
All in all a super puzzle. Thanks to Duncan and Chalicea.
On the easy side as far as Inquisitors go, but no less enjoyable for it. The grid fill was pretty quick, but it took me a while to spot the message. The locations to the east and west were pretty easy to find, but not the cable joining them, I suspect just because I’m not very good at looking for things in grids…
39d
I liked it – I see it as a kind of double definition.
What effective defence might have avoided: on a football ground, it would avoid a GOAL; in a law court, it would have avoided GAOL.
So, which one? Swap the hearts OA so that A is first.
Enjoyed this despite slowness in spotting the “embedded” acrostic message, and wondered on reaching the endgame whether it’s cheating to have a friend who runs the History of the Atlantic Cable site!
The usual thanks to Chalicea and Duncan.
Like others, I whizzed through the clues, having got GREAT EASTERN very early, but the end game had me beaten for days. I found an undulating E to W ATLANTIC on the bottom two rows and desperately looked for CABLE near it as the object. I was also diverted by the contiguous TRINITY (BAY). It never occurred to me that GREAT EASTERN could be the “agent” … I wondered if BARON might have been the early backer, e.g financier, Baron D’Erlanger. Even more bizarrely, I wondered if the agent might have been the man who arrested Crippen, thanks to info arriving via the cable before the murderer reached America.
At that stage I gave up and spent three days contending with a very difficult Listener, and only then went back to “Embedded”, finally finding the whole “object” far less embedded, and much more catenary, than I thought it would be. I had no problem with GAOL … thought it was a wonderful conjunction of meanings, … football defence and legal defence, Hearts, the team and hearts the two central letters.
For two years at the end of the ’80s, I worked for a company called Extel, which started life in 1872 as The Exchange Telegraph Company, making use of the Atlantic cable to get financial news and then disseminate it to companies and gentlemen’s clubs. Probably worked faster than some of our broadband networks do today !
Brava !, Chalicea, as always, and thanks DS.
Finally, I was pleased to see the deadly KARAIT … in 1953, at a rifle range in W. Africa I saw a small one moving slowly a couple of feet from me. Then, with some relief, I realised it was dead, and being transported by hundreds of muscular ants to their nearby anthill. Nobody ever believed me, but a recent Attenborough TV film showed a similar happening.
#8 – You may have seen a snake in W Africa, but not a krait, which is in the Asian genus Bungarus.
Thanks, Vipera @9. Google confirms your herpetological expertise. The snake concerned was only about six inches long, and blackish in colour, I don’t remember stripes. When I described it to my company commander he said “it must have been a krait”. Like many of our more senior officers in the RWAFF at that time, he had transferred from the Indian Army, hence his mistaken guess ?
Someone did once put a dead cobra in my bed, as a not very good joke.
I ripped through the clues pretty quickly and found Great Eastern and Googled its Transatlantic Cable-laying task. Then found the start and finish points (who calls a town Heart’s Content?). But the cable eluded me for some time. I also spent a lot of time worrying about the “agent” as I thought “Great Eastern” had already been covered and I looked for Cyrus West Field ( a name to conjure with!), Brunel, James Anderson and some other possible agents to no avail.
Nice puzzle and I enjoyed 39d like kenmac @6.
Thanks to Chalicea and DS.
On the first pass I solved most of the clues, and a quick second time through left me with a completed grid. I found the TRANSATLANTIC CABLE plus the two end-points, but there was no way I’d have found the acrostic without external help. I assumed the “message” would be one of the first to be transmitted by the new cable rather than an instruction to solvers. And the phrase “including two places, an agent and an object” led me to ask: “and anything else?” Like others, I wasn’t convinced that “agent” simply referred to the ship, and hunted for something/someone that fitted the bill better. Echoing OPatrick @1, not my favourite.
Still bemused by the use of the roman numerals to label the entries GREAT EASTERN; and do those two entries form a single unclued light?
I’m pretty certain that there is something in John Henderson’s Rules of Engagement to the effect that all answers except very well known words should be in Chambers, or else the compiler should say where they can be found. As a one-time electronics buff I was able to insist that TRIAC was a semiconductor device – even though my partner couldn’t find it in the dictionary, but it doesn’t seem to be really fair.
We, also, had trouble searching for the “agent”. After a few days of fruitless hunting and in despair I turned to TSTMNBM where there was a suggestion that 21a and the first 2 letters of the following line spell MORSE – which was of course the “agent” used to transmit those early messages. But then of course that wrecks the letter count…
Chalicea, where are you? Please put us out of our misery!
I usually stick to the “if you can’t say something nice” school of commenting, but this one wound me up a bit. A trivially easy gridfill followed by more questions than answers.
To echo others’ questions: what is the agent? What is the object? Why does the “39 letters” only cover three of the four items to be shaded? How were we ever to know there was an acrostic with zero indication to look for it? Where does MOR/SE fit in, since it cannot possibly be a coincidence?
Not a vintage Inquisitor, to say the least.
Oh dear, here I am. Very grateful to Duncanshiell for the wonderful clarity of his review and the encouraging comments that came from so many solvers. I think the problem some of you had and that was debated on TSTMNBM came from last minute adjustments to the preamble. My initial preamble had simply ‘Solvers are directed towards a significant first which is embedded in the grid.’ This was intended to prompt about the first letters and the cable and places, as spelled out by them. The editor was not happy with it as he pointed out that an earlier cable was laid by two ships (US and British) that began mid-Atlantic and worked briefly – so the adapted preamble came about where it was intended to say that the grid included the two places, the agent and the object. Since 39 letters were ‘spelled out’, we didn’t expect or intend to cause any confusion. We discussed TRIACT which is in the ODE and OED but felt that the clue spelled it out so clearly that more would be unnecessary. Apologies for trouble caused.
As a long time electronics fiddler TRIAC was a very familiar word to me. I’m amazed that it is not in Chambers, maybe an oversight on their part?