Haven’t blogged a puzzle by Pointer before.
Preamble: In the spirit of the theme, the seven shaded shapes should be carefully cut out from the filled grid, leaving holes, and assembled to form a single shape revealing an identity (three words) which must be written under the grid. Then, seven letters in the grid must be moved to share seven other cells, none containing a side that borders a hole, so as to reveal a phrase describing a thematic occupation. Competitors should not submit any cut-outs with their entries.
Asymmetric grid … OK. Cut out the seven shaded shapes and assemble … hmm. Move seven letters to share seven other cells … sounds tricky to me. But no extra/missing words or letters, all clues are ‘ordinary’, answers are entered as they are. (We’re probably being softened up for the endgame.)
As I had suspected, filling the grid didn’t take very long at all. After the first time through well over half the clues were solved, and once I’d gone through them a second time the grid was filled (with just one or two definitions/wordplays to verify). Although it wasn’t particularly late, I didn’t want to fiddle about with cutting out shapes just then, and I left it until after lunch on Sunday.
Got out my pad of quadrille paper and marked out a 5×5 grid, since there were 25 shaded cells in all. Outlined the 7 shapes and cut them out, and then wrote in the letters – I had to flip at least one shape, but I don’t know whether this was bad luck, or whether it’s just not possible to avoid. I also noted that 3 of the shapes (SI-O, O-NO, INN-W) could be rotated through 180° and still be OK, albeit with W becoming M in one case; and at a push, 2 of them would be OK with a 90° rotation, with N becoming Z, I becoming H, & W becoming E. 
I spent what felt like an hour or so trying to make sense of the shapes, and then a bit more time before dinner, with my partner chipping in with the occasional suggestion. The AE was causing me particular problems; I did dabble with PALAE- or PALAEO- but to no avail.
Monday came and went with no time for more fiddling, same on Tuesday, but I skipped my usual lunch with colleagues next day and decided to tackle phase 3: move seven letters … After a short while I noticed that the SW-NE diagonal read ON THE EA HORE, which could become ON THE SEA SHORE with the addition of two S’s. About the same time I put two of the shapes together (one rotated) to give M-ARY_ NNI__, so I Googled “mary on the sea shore” and, hey presto, up popped Mary Anning, fossil collector. Back to the shapes, and PALAE ONT.L O. etc was appearing, and going back to the grid I saw that the NW-SE could be converted from HEELLEAHELL to SHE SELLS SEA SHELLS with the addition of some more S’s.
So, all done apart the doubling up with those S’s. First thing to note – there were exactly seven S’s left in the grid. (There are 8 S’s in SHE SELLS SEA SHELLS ON THE SEA SHORE, but the grid’s central cell will contain the start of both SEA’s.) Initially there was some choice as to which cells to use for the doubled-up letters – for example we could have [SH]E [SE]L[LS] or [SH][E S]EL[LS] – but the preamble says share … cells, none containing a side that borders a hole, and amazingly (?) that resolves all ambiguity.
Thanks Pointer – clearly very neat, but my grid-fill/endgame ratio felt like 20%/80%, which took some of the shine off for me.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | Spooner’s pocket shed an old weapon (6) | HAGBUT | BAG (pocket) HUT (shed) ‘spoonerised’ |
| 5 | Ancient weights are found in pit (5) | MINAE | A(re) in MINE (pit) |
| 9 | A thrush – not very scary! (4) | EERY | VEERY (thrush) − V(ery) |
| 12 | With time this part of bud could produce petals (5) | SEPAL | [PETALS − T(ime)]* |
| 13 | Perch in river increase with bass departing (5) | ROOST | R(iver) BOOST (increase) − B(ass) |
| 14 | Wild animals took company back (7) | OCELOTS | STOLE (took) CO(mpany) all rev. |
| 16 | Abatement Society abandons motto after all (8) | ALLAYING | ALL SAYING (motto) − S(ociety) |
| 18 | A republican settles in city not in US (4) | NARY | A R(epublican) in NY (New York) |
| 20 | Cut, but not pasted, is allowed in document (7) | DELETED | LET (allowed) in DEED (document) |
| 22 | Stripped of gold, a vessel on the Seine is moderate (5) | ABATE | A BATEAU (vessel on the Seine) − AU (gold) |
| 25 | Trash is bad; one of these animals could be made worse (5) | THARS | [TRASH]*; def. SEROW = [WORSE]* |
| 28 | He may cut easily – it’s in his blood (4) | HAEM | [HE MA(y)]* |
| 29 | Behold, running water is this! (6) | NOTICE | NOT ICE (running water) |
| 30 | Lion King turns cuckoo (4) | KOEL | LEO (lion) N(ing) all rev. |
| 31 | Shock from Musselburgh: Local was first, though last to start (6) | DINNLE | INN (local) LED (was first) with last letter moved to start |
| 32 | Shop shows all the French cycling (6) | OUTLET | TOUT LE (all the, Fr) with letters cycled |
| 33 | Recent letter is in post (5) | NEWEL | NEW (recent) EL (letter) |
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | Long-legged bird doubling over in house of prayer (6) | HEROON | HERON (long-legged bird) with double O(ver) |
| 2 | Welcomed by doorman, wanting note; it gets him wanting and wanting (5) | GREED | GREETED (welcomed by doorman) − TE (note) |
| 3 | Leads and terminals from battery pull away, as part of drama (6) | BY-PLAY | B(atter)Y P(ul)L A(wa)Y |
| 4 | A cheese, but not second on list (4) | TILT | STILTON (cheese) − S(econd) − ON |
| 5 | Sadly, hard stuff turns up as wine (7) | MARSALA | ALAS (sadly) RAM (hard stuff) all rev. |
| 6 | Line joining places on map – strangely they may follow one south (7) | ISOHYET | [THEY]* after I (one) SO(uth) |
| 7 | Mineral providing iodine in no small amount (7) | NIOBITE | I(odine) in NO BITE (small amount) |
| 8 | Poisonous gas remains dispersed while money is spent (6) | ARSINE | [REMAINS]* − M(oney) |
| 10 | Can blood types switch in dream? (4) | GAOL | GOAL (dream) with A & O (blood types) switched |
| 11 | Stillness when people leave game, perhaps (4) | STAG | STAGNATION (stillness) − NATION (people) |
| 15 | Continue protecting a British wood (6) | GABOON | GO ON (continue) around A B(ritish) |
| 17 | Rejected date not at dance stared disrespectfully (6) | LEERED | DATE − AT REEL (dance) all rev. |
| 19 | Sailing event for example cancelled start of trials in sound (6) | RAT-TAT | REGATTA (sailing event) − EG (for example) T(rials) |
| 21 | What goes with Lamb and belle for rhymist and his girl (6) | DAMSEL | DAM & SEL (rhyme with “Lamb” & “belle”) |
| 22 | Piece of ammo in man’s back – medical procedure needed (5) | AMNIO | (amm)O IN MA(n’s) rev. |
| 23 | “Left, right, turn”; no good drill for some people (5) | THIRL | L(eft) RIGHT all rev. − G(ood) |
| 24 | Look around outskirts of Liverpool for old place to sit (5) | SELLE | SEE (look) around L(iverpoo)L |
| 26 | Dicky came top (4) | ACME | [CAME]* |
| 27 | Hide note supporting runner (4) | SKIN | N(ote) after SKI (runner) |
| 28 | Stone sparkled with surface scratched (4) | HONE | (s)HONE (sparkled) |
|
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I loved this. I made my shapes by printing them from a spreadsheet and got my break when looking for an I to go with the NG and accidentally turned the W piece upside down. This gave me M…ANNING who I recognised immediately as the lady from Lyme Regis in Dorset who “invented” fossil hunting, and about whom the tongue twister was written.
I never did understand the THARS clue (25A), and I’m not sure that “could be made worse” is actually a definition. I think that the definition is “animals” and it has double wordplay. Unusual but clever.
Thanks HG and Pointer. No double misdirection this time (Pointer is the Fedora and Boot setter) but a great grid.
Fans of Pointer may like to know that he is the setter of the currently “live” Listener puzzle “Ocean-going Vessel”. Do mail me if you’d like a copy (nimrod1 at jetdoc dot co dot uk).
John
I thought this was an excellent puzzle, thoroughly enjoyable. The grid fill was pretty straightforward, but it took me a while to arrange the pieces to form the name / title. I found that a Stanley Knife was ideal for cutting out the pieces, after making a hash of hacking away at the first with a pair of scissors. A very nice change of pace.
Technically a DNF as I had to resort to a hint from a cheat site to “complete” the final stages. Not only did it not occur to me to invert some of the pieces, but I took special care to keep them the right way up!
My grid-fill/endgame ratio was more like 5%/95%, which I consider to be way out of balance, though that’s just my opinion – judging by comments so far I may well be in a minority.
If I were you I would have chosen to go for lunch with your colleagues…
I filled the grid in no time flat and then got stuck. This was not my favourite type of puzzle: essentially I am a crossword solver and having filled the grid the rest of the puzzle didn’t have much to do with crossword solving. The cryptic crossword part seemed to be included solely to get something that the setter could then play with.
I’m not moaning here: the IQ is a mixed bag and some weeks the puzzle is more to my taste than others. They are all good in their own way, every single one of them.
Hats off to all who finished and thanks to Pointer.
It’s more than ingenious, but I bowed out at the Blue Peter stage when I couldn’t make anything of the cut-outs, despite the help of a partner much more attracted to such tasks. Frustrating, because I once did a little work on a Mary Anning related project.
Am I the only one who had, and still just about has, niggling doubts about this being the intended solution? Given Pointer’s last two outings the slightly untidy final grid, which didn’t contain real words, suggested to me that perhaps we ought to be looking for an alternative. Of course it would take a superhuman effort to construct so elaborate a red herring and who could possibly achieve that…? I spotted the potential for ‘she sells seashells…’ before I’d succeeded in piecing the 7 shapes together and Googled from there, though I think I did know the name and feel I ought to have spotted it. But I’ve spent the last week halfheartedly shuffling these pieces around trying to find an alternative arrangement that makes some sense. I’m almost certain now that there isn’t another hidden theme.
But… no.
…though there are 7 Ls.
… but surely there would be a clearer indication that all isn’t quite what it seems.
Wouldn’t there?
OPatrick @8: No, you’re certainly not alone! Given this setter’s track record I was fully expecting there to be more than one solution to be made from shuffling the shapes. However, getting more than one message into the grid with the two diagonals being a red herring surely isn’t possible? Construction of the year if it is!
I eventually spotted Mary Anning by shuffling the pieces around to try and make a coherent word or two, but it still took a nudge from Terrier to realise that the remaining letters would make an occupation (I had mistakenly assumed that the three word identity would include a title or be a three part name). Completing that part of the process then allowed me to return to the grid to fill in some remaining gaps in the bottom left.
Many thanks Pointer
Cruciverbophile@4 – you are not alone.
But, as PeeDee says – the IQs are a mixed bunch, always good but some more satisfying than others. We have enjoyed Pointer’s other puzzles and no doubt we will enjoy the next, right the way through to the PDM and beyond. We’re even prepared to be be misled by red herrings as we have been in the past. We were annoyed with ourselves at the end for being so careful about keeping the shapes the correct way up!
Anyway, thanks to HolyGhost and Pointer.
Hi @1 – I just noticed your comment on THARS. You are correct, the definition is “animals” and the second wordplay is a reference to the fact that until the crossers are in there could be two possible solutions: THARS and TAHRS. The second anagram is a disambiguation for the definition rather than a double wordplay.
HG, #1, #11 – the clue is : ‘Trash is bad; one of these animals could be made worse (5)’.
Convention is that definition and wordplay do not overlap, so if the definition was ‘animals’ that rule would be broken.
The wordplay is the anagram indicator ‘Trash is bad’.
The rest of the clue is the definition: ‘one of these animals could be made worse (5)’. Another name for the Thar is the Serow, so 1 Thar = 1 Serow, which could be ‘made’ WORSE.
The Tahr/Thar is a confounding thing, but Tahr (another animal) is not a Serow, so checked cells are not necessary.
Unusual, but clever, and sound.