Shark provided the Inquisition this week.
The preamble told us that four clashes need to be resolved by producing real words in the final grid. In order to create this, solvers must adapt the grid in accordance with a line from the unclued 13 down [guided by 34 across] then highlight eight relevant symmetrically placed words
I found the clues in this puzzle quite difficult and there is still one I can’t parse. That’s the first one – which could be either SHARD or SHERD. I’ve plumped for SHARD based on a possible homonym [take in] of SHAR and CHAR (fish), but I’m not really certain.
I also struggled to find RAULIS as South American trees at 22 down but eventually found it on the internet. It took me long time here to latch on to element with atomic number 79 in the periodic table, but the penny finally dropped.
For a time I had DOLLY [Parton] as the American singer at 26 down, using D for district and OLLY for Olly Murs who I assumed had appeared on Pop Idol. It wasn’t until the endgame that I realised the clue was referring to [Buddy] HOLLY.
I got three of the clashes reasonably easily at WAHIGURU / DOGGO, BREVE / DIURNAL and OSSIS / THING. The fourth clash took longer to fall as I was fixated on the Welsh name for Snowdonia – ERYRI forming part of 15 across. I only know that as I ran the Snowdonia marathon a couple of times many years ago and the race is also known as the Eryri marathon.. I realised that the final clash had to involve 5 down for symmetry reasons., PURER and eventually on Google I discovered STYRIA as a mountainous region in Austria.
Other clues also proved tricky but I got there in the end.
The initial grid looked like this
The preamble seemed to hint that we would looking for the name of a poem or a play or a musical at 13 down and CABARET looked a good choice fairly early on. For some reason I thought 34 across was unclued and I didn’t notice until late on that it was clued. With the crossing letters I had, NICKEL was pretty clear and at that point the line MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND came to mind That wasn’t a great help initially as I was looking for words that would use the letters that obviously couldn’t be changed in the clashes. For instance, the U of WAHIGURU was going to stay, as was the A of DIURNAL and the O of OSSIS as well. I came up with BREAK, DOUGH and RHINO . I reckoned the eight words to be highlighted were going to be the eight five letter ‘words’ beginning or ending on the large blank square in the centre. I say ‘words’ as two of them involved crossing vertical bars.. I could see that ‘BLUNT‘ would fit with REGRET and OSCAR would fit with ORANTS. Then the inspiration came as I realised BREAK could be BREAD which has a monetary connotation, as do DOUGH and RHINO. A trawl through the dictionary came up with money associations for BLUNT and OSCAR.. We could have PURSE at 5 down to keep STYRIA intact and LONGA could go safely to WONGA and HOLLY could go to LOLLY to give us eight symmetrical money words.
It was only at that point that I noticed the phrase THE WORLD spelt out by the eight letters adjoining the central square and the penny finally dropped that to generate the eight money words we had simply rotated the letters THE WORLD three spaces clockwise from the original grid to get the final grid. We hadn’t had to guess the eight words they were there after that simple rotation. Indeed, to get final grid MONEY, had made THE WORLD GO AROUND.
The final grid looked like this. I’ve taken out the vertical bars constraining BLUNT and OSCAR but I’m not sure this is necessary. I’ve taken the phrase in the preamble ‘solvers must adjust the grid’ to mean that the bars should come out as well as changing the words. I’ve also kept in an indication of where the clashes were so you can see how everything now fits. I doubt if that particular highlighting is required in a submission.
This was a hard but very enjoyable puzzle, that kept me occupied off and on for two or three days. Thanks to Shark for the entertainment and grid construction.
The title Circulation has two meanings I think – one to ciculate THE WORLD and secondly as a reference to money or currency in circulation.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Take in fish n’ chip (5) |
I’m struggling with the parsing of this and I’m not very happy with what I’ve come up with. SHAR (sounds like [take in] CHAR [small fish of the salmon family]) + ‘D (abbreviation for AND (?), as is ‘N) It’s also possible that the entry should be SHERD I think I’m missing something here – sorry! SHARD |
SHARD (broken piece of pottery; chip) |
|
5
|
Examine front of period piece of furniture (5)
|
P (first letter of [front of] PERIOD + ‘ROBE (shortened form of WARDROBE [piece of furniture]) P ROBE |
PROBE (examine)
|
|
9
|
Wet dock? (4)
|
WEED (urinated; wet) WEED |
WEED (dock is a polygonaceous WEED) double definition
|
|
11
|
Map used in overcoming Dutch hilly area (6)
|
PLAN (map) contained in (used in) DU (Dutch) reversed (overcoming) U (PLAN) D< |
UPLAND (hilly area)
|
|
12
|
Temple housing Buddhists briefly welcoming guiding light for God (8)
|
WAT (Buddhist temple) excluding the final letter (briefly) T + HI (a term of welcome) + GURU (spiritual leader; guiding light) WA HI GURU |
WAHIGURU (Wonderful Lord, a popular designation for God)
|
|
14
|
Push to include brick with a glassy experience for city (6)
|
JOG (push) containing (to include) BUR (partly vitrified brick; brick with a glassy experience) JO (BUR) G |
JOBURG (Johannesburg, major city in South Africa)
|
|
15
|
Streak around east of snowy mountainous state (6)
|
STRIA (fine streak) containing (around) Y (last letter of [east of] SNOWY) ST (Y) RIA |
STYRIA (mountainous region of South East Austria)
|
|
16
|
Acquainted with a subject following Academy (5)
|
A (academy) + W (with) + A + RE (Religious Education; school subject) A W A RE |
AWARE (acquainted)
|
|
18
|
Lead wraps around computer network – it’s not taking the optimum route (5, 2 words)
|
PB (chemical symbol for lead) containing (wraps around) LAN (local area network) P (LAN) B |
PLAN B (second choice of route; usually not the optimum route)
|
| 20 | Classic note cycling through … (5) |
ALONG (through) with each letter cycled one to the left and the first letter going to the end LONGA |
LONGA (an obsolete note equal to two [in ‘perfect’ time three] breves) |
|
21
|
… part of which locally is encapsulating canon? (5)
|
BE (dialect [locally] word for exist; is) containing (encapsulating) REV (reverend in the church, who could be a canon) B (REV) E |
BREVE (as mentioned in definition to the previous clue, a BREVE is a shorter note and constituent part of a LONGA)
|
|
25
|
In the morning, close to, but not noon (5)
|
NEARLY (close to) excluding (not) N (noon) EARLY |
EARLY (in the morning)
|
|
28
|
Stargazer’s unclad in old province (5)
|
DREAMER (one lost in abstraction; stargazer) excluding the first and last letters (unclad) D and R REAME |
REAME (Spenserian [old] word for REALM [kingdom, region, province])
|
|
29
|
Modified rhythm of beaten tabour (6) |
Anagram of (beaten) TABOUR RUBATO* |
RUBATO (modified or distorted rhythm) |
| 31 | Highland white-faced young mammal’s after fruit (6) |
HAW (fruit) + KIT (the young of various small fur-bearing mammals) HAW KIT |
HAWKIT (Scottish [Highland] word for white-faced) |
| 32 | Inclination of short rocky outcrop area alongside rock pillars (8) |
CLINT (any exposed outcrop of flinty rock on a hillside or stream bed) excluding the final letter (short) T + A (area) + MEN (rock pillars) CLIN A MEN |
CLINAMEN (inclination) |
|
34
|
Nearly caught left bit (6) |
NICKED (arrested; caught) excluding the final letter (nearly) D + L (left) NICKE L |
NICKEL (5 cent coin in America where bit is also a term for money. For a bit this is 12.5 cents, so a quarter is known as 2 bits)
|
|
35
|
After informal acknowledgement, finally Sturgeon sent across to old Holyrood (4)
|
YO (a word used to acknowledge one’s presence or understanding of an order) + NT (last letters [finally] of each of STURGEON and SENT) YO N T |
YONT (obsolete [old] Scottish[ Holyrood] word for YOND [across or through])
|
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36
|
Secretive about hotel yard being somewhat secluded (5)
|
SLY (secretive) containing (about) (H [hotel] + Y [yard]) S (H Y) LY |
SHYLY (somewhat secluded)
|
| 37 | Old Germans stripping domination of political party by leaders (5) |
BOSSISM (domination of a political party by leaders) excluding the outer letters (stripping) B and M OSSIS |
OSSIS (citizens of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) before reunification with the Federal Republic in 1990; old Germans) |
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Pull here and there clutching each paddle in Loch Ness (6, 2 words)
|
SOWL [dialect [here and there] word for pull) containing (clutching) EA )(each) S (EA) OWL |
SEA OWL (lumpsucker fish; PADDLE is a Scottish [Loch Ness] word d for lumpsucker)
|
|
2
|
Hands over electronic letter (3)
|
HH (hands [for measuring the height of horses]) containing (over) E (electronic) H (E) H |
HEH (fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet)
|
|
3
|
Almost feel bad about having cut tail off – before week sprouted again (6)
|
REGRET (feel bad about) excluding the last letter (having tail cut off) T + W (week) REGRE W |
REGREW (spouted again)
|
| 4 | Success follows scoundrel remaining undercover (5) |
DOG (scoundrel) + GO (success) DOG GO |
DOGGO (remaining quiet and hidden) |
| 5 | Express pleasure about drug that is less contaminated (5) |
PURR (express pleasure) containing (about) E (ecstasy; drug) PUR (E) R |
PURER (less contaminated)
|
|
6
|
Psycho, perhaps murdered dolly heartlessly (4)
|
Anagram of (murdered) DOLLY excluding the middle letter (heartlessly) L OLDY* |
OLDY (film, song, etc produced or popularized, etc a considerable time ago. e.g. the film Psycho)
|
|
7
|
Bolt sprinted about Grand Canyon? (8)
|
BAR (rod, fastener,bolt) + RAN (sprinted) + CA (circa; about) BAR RAN CA |
BARRANCA (deep gorge; e.g. the Grand Canyon)
|
|
8
|
Without cover, repair curtains (6)
|
MENDING (repair) excluding the first letter (without cover) M ENDING |
ENDING (closing or ENDING of a play or event)
|
|
10
|
Run around cutting face open during the day (7)
|
Anagram of (around) RUN contained in (cutting … open) DIAL (face) DI (URN*) AL |
DIURNAL (belonging to the daytime)
|
| 13 | See preamble (7) |
No wordplay for this entry which has to be deduced CABARET |
CABARET |
|
14
|
More than one boxer yaps (7)
|
JABBERS (a boxer jabs at his / her opponent) plural (more than one) JABBERS |
JABBERS (gabbles; yaps)
|
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17
|
Painter, chemist and composer – they all spoke German (8)
|
AUER (reference Carl AUER von Welsbach [1858 – 1929], also known as Carl AUER, was an Austrian scientist and inventor) + BACH (reference Johann Sebastian BACH [1685 – 1750], German composer) AUER BACH |
AUERBACH (reference Frank AUERBACH [born 1931], English-German artist) All three people spoke German
|
| 19 | Getting stitch in bed when engaging love, slow down (7, 2 words) |
SEW (stitch) contained in (LAY [bed] containing [when engaging] O [love score in tennis]) L (O) (SEW) AY |
LOSE WAY (lose speed [of a boat]; slow down)
|
|
22
|
South American trees more or less grow around lake – about 79 periodically (6)
|
(RISE [grow] excluding the final letter (more or less) E containing [around] L [lake]) all containing [about] (AU [chemical symbol for gold, which has atomic number 79 in the periodic table]; 79 periodically) R (AU) (L) IS |
RAULIS (South American beech trees)
|
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23
|
Countryside drones: pretty much uninteresting insects (6)
|
DRY (uninteresting) excluding the final letter (pretty much) Y + ANTS (insects) DR ANTS |
DRANTS (dialect [countryside] word for drones)
|
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24
|
French girlfriend (non-smoker) maybe born here (6)
|
AMIE (French for a female friend; girl friend) + NS (non-smoker) AMIE NS |
AMIENS (town in France, where perhaps the girl friend was born)
|
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26
|
Iconic singer from American district? Idol, perhaps no more (5)
|
HOLLYWOOD (American district, the most famous of which is in Los Angeles) excluding (no more) WOOD (idol made of WOOD) HOLLY |
HOLLY (reference Buddy HOLLY [1936 – 1959], American rock and roll singer killed in a plane crash)
|
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27
|
Poor German piece of writing (5)
|
THIN (poor) + G (German) THIN G |
THING (piece of writing)
|
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30
|
Tosspot‘s pale having dropped child (4)
|
CHALKY (ashen, pale) excluding (having dropped) CH (child) ALKY |
ALKY (alcoholic; tosspot)
|
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33
|
Practically defile me, facetiously (3)
|
MOIL (defile) excluding the final letter (practically) L MOI |
MOI (me, often used facetiously in mock affectation, eg in the form of a question to express surprise at an allegation against one)
|
I found this a bit frustrating to solve – a dictionary hunt (and one that failed in the case of RAULIS [which like you, Duncan, took me far too long to spot the gold] so becoming a google hunt), but I’ve learnt to expect a spectacular denouement in such cases and I wasn’t disappointed. A brilliant end game and incredible construction – was it worth it? Possibly – looking back at it now I’d say yes, but too much of the irritation with the solve was lingering at the time to appreciate it fully. I also hadn’t noticed that 34A was actually clued for a long time, and I’m still not entirely happy with it – as far as I can tell, a bit and a nickel aren’t actually synonymous.
I suspect you’ll be kicking yourself over 1A, which is presumably just R (take) in SHAD, the ‘n not contributing.
I really enjoyed this, I thought it was a brilliant puzzle. Hunting in the dictionary is one the reasons I do crosswords in the first place so that bit for me was a bonus. I got everything except RAULIS which I couldn’t find. I had the majority of the grid filled but then came to a complete halt for a while. The next day I noticed CABARET as a possibility and realised that the “line” I was looking for was not cells or bars in the grid but a line from a song or film. After that everything fell into place and I was left with a big grin on my face and full of admiration for the spectacular transformation in the grid. I didn’t think to remove the bars from OSCAR and BLUNT but I think Duncan is correct to do so. If you don’t send in the solutions then it doesn’t matter much either way.
A big thanks to Duncan and Filbert.
As per all the above really. An enjoyable, slightly tricky solve with a satisfying denouement. RAULIS needed a trawl through Google, but it was 27d that gave me real trouble at the close, and that I needed to reverse engineer from RHINO to be sure I’d got it right.
My apologies @2 – I should be thanking Shark.
Certainly tricky in parts – for ages the only clash I had was the THING/OSSIS one. The revelation leading to the end was wonderful.
I assumed that the direction to “adapt the grid in accordance with a line from” CABARET referred to making THE WORLD go round, and not to removing bars – words to be highlighted often span more than a single entry.
Agree with OPatrick‘s parsing of 1a SHARD @1. As to NICKEL, “bit” in the sense of coin rather than specifically 12 1/2 cents is passable (as given in the blog).
I haven’t come across H for “hand” (as in 2d) before.
What I wasn’t sure of was the wordplay for 16a AWARE: RE being clued as “subject” seems rather poor, but I have no suggestion of my own.
Thanks Shark for a really neat puzzle, and to Duncan for the blog – I hadn’t thought of both meanings of Circulation.
OPatrick @ 1
Ah! – the dreaded Latin R [recipe] for ‘take’. I was completely fixated on a homophone and never even thought about SHAD for the fish – thanks!
Holy Ghost @ 5
I don’t think it’s H for a single hand; I think it’s HH for hands describing the height of a horse.
HG, as a timetabler I’d have to say that RE, Religious Education, is very much alive and well as a subject.
Duncan @6: looking back at my notes, I did eventually realise that HH = “hands” – I should have said that that was what was new to me.
OPatrick @7: I didn’t imply that RE is no longer on the school curriculum, but said that clueing it as “subject” seems rather poor. In that sense, “subject” could be Art, Music, ICT, …
HG @8 – out of curiosity – why is RE not OK as an example of a subject because it could have been Art, Music etc, but shad is OK as a fish even though it could have been cod, hake, haddock etc?
PeeDee @9: if you look up cod, hake, haddock etc in a dictionary, the entry will include “fish”; if you look up Art, Music, ICT etc, the entry will (probably) not include “subject”. In Chambers, the entry for subject includes “a topic; a matter of discourse, thought, or study; a department of study;” – so, if you can study it, it’s a subject, which makes the scope of “subject” rather broad.
To give Shark the benefit of the doubt, I concede that the entry for RE includes “religious education (in schools)”.
Thanks HG – I see your distinction now.
I was hugely impressed by this one despite the embarrassing fact that it was possible to finish without even noticing the rotating THEWORLD. Oops!
@12 But despite my embarrassment I HAVE CHOCOLATE!
Thank you for the blog Shark – I got about two thirds of the way through this, which is good going for me with the Inquisitor. I was puzzled by the answer SHYLY – in what sense can that mean “secluded”? I can’t think of an instance where you could substitute one word for the other. I wanted to put SHADY but the wordplay didn’t work.
amateur @14 – I wondered the same thing. I thought the definition might be “being somewhat secluded” rather than just “somewhat secluded”. I thought there was more opportunity to coerce this into an adverb, but I was far from convinced.
Can anyone else explain this?
Duncan – can you explain why SHYLY means “somewhat secluded”
PeeDee @ 16
I’m just a simple blogger – you should really direct that question at Shark.
However, I’m always up for a challenge, even when I don’t know what I am talking about!
SHY is defined as an adjective in Chambers as secluded.
SHYLY is noted as an adverb which Google defines as a word or phrase that modifies the meaning of an adjective, verb, or other adverb, expressing manner, place, time, or degree Chambers defines an adverb as a word added to a verb, adjective or other adverb to express some modification of the meaning or an accompanying circumstance.
The word ‘somewhat’ is defined in Chambers as ‘in some degree’, so SHYLY can be seen to be adverb meaning SHY (secluded) to some degree (somewhat)
That’s the best I can do!
Thank you Duncan. That was about the best I could do too!
Hmm maybe!Thank you both for trying -it still seems a very strained nuance of meaning. I’ll remain unconvinced till I see SHYLY used that way in a sentence. To me, a place could be “somewhat secluded”, a person could stay “shyly” in the background, but you couldn’t substitute one for the other. Though I suppose a person could “stay somewhat secluded” ?? One’s an adverb and one’s an adjective. I think I need to do something else now!