Bit of a slog, this one, with huge numbers of “noise” words in the clues and a slight ambiguity in the final instruction.
The rubric (long and complex) read:
Half of the clues are “ Definition and Letter-Mixture”, in which a sentence containing the definition of the answer also contains a mixture of the letters (always beginning at the beginning or ending at the end of a word but also containing a superfluous letter) of the required entry. In the other half of the clues, wordplay yields an extra letter. One such clue consists of the wordplay for the eventual grid entry and two definitions. Numbers in brackets refer to the space available for each answer. In clue order, the extra and superfluous letters identify who was 18 by 1 and who appears in appropriate form in the completed grid but who must be taken from the scene.
I’m not sure what the instruction “Numbers in brackets refer to the space available for each answer” adds to our understanding. Surely that is normal?
Anyway, I started with 10A AMICI and followed it with a number of the Definition and Letter-Mixture clues. It was quite a while before I found a “normal” clue. I found it very tricky to find the extra letters and I would never have solved the grid without a lot of reverse engineering after I found the hidden sentence.
I had HEBR?U?HT?OB???O. . .POTA . . . My brain connected some of this as possibly being TOBACCO and POTATOES, both BROUGHT to this country by Sir Walter Raleigh. I am gong to a play at the Globe Theatre in late November called Raleigh: The Treason Trial, so I knew that the trial and beheading of Raleigh took place in 1618, 400 years ago as the play is written to mark the event. He was actually beheaded on 29 October, very close to the publication date of this puzzle and, as he was responsible for both TOBACCO (remember Bob Newhart?) and POTATOES, the theme of the puzzle was revealed.
The full sentence from the extra letters was “HE BROUGHT TOBACCO AND POTATOES INTO BRITAIN“. Roughly symmetrically placed were WALTER (row 3) and RALEIGH (row 10). I had ?A?ES?NE for 1D, and could make neither head nor tail of it, but now the answers to 1D and 18D made sense at last, Raleigh was BEHEADED (18D) by JAMES ONE (1D). Now any crossword solver knows that “beheading” means removing the first letter from a word, so the final grid entry is ALTER RALEIGH, not WALTER RALEIGH.
The clue to 13A was the one mentioned in the rubric with two definitions. Attractive place visited by our Jack Warren (6). I found the parsing of this (among others!) difficult. The first definition for BURROW is Warren (though strictly a warren is a set of connected burrows). There is also an &lit second definition, so a Jack (rabbit) would find a burrow an attractive place. The wordplay yields the “eventual grid entry ” after the beheading of Walter, i.e. BURRO: BRO is an attractive place which is placed round (O)UR.
What the final instruction “but who must be taken from the scene” entails, I am not sure, though I note that removing the rest of the letters of ALTER RALEIGH leaves all real words, so perhaps that is it – delete him altogether. This rather makes a nonsense of deleting the W of Walter in the first place!
I’m afraid I found it all a bit unsatisfactory. After the first PDM, unravelling the rest seemed hard work for little reward. One or two definitions initially seemed a bit inaccurate. e.g. 11A where the definition of HORSEY is an affectedly refined man when the dictionary specifically states “esp of a woman”; ETHYNE (24D) is a gas, but not CS gas, but on re-reading the rubric, the definition only had to be within the sentence, not (as in conventional clues) at the start or end. I also had trouble with ACRYLATE (3D) not because it is not a word (as a retired Chemist I was aware of it), but because it does not appear in Chambers.
As a final check I counted 38 clues of which 19 were Definition and Letter-Mixture. All in all a challenge and a nice topical theme, which I liked, but it left me slightly unsatisfied. However my dissatisfaction evaporated when I had a final PDM and realised that the title had the answer staring us all in the face from the start. ALTER EGO – I am beheaded Walter!!
Across |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay/Jumble [extra letter] | X |
| 2 | Judge had to ignore his lying under oath (4) | EGAD | judGE [H]AD to | H |
| 5 | Depressed guy embraced by master (7) | ACCABLÉ | CABL[E] (guy) in ACE (master) | E |
| 10 | In a minicab, I’m going to see Latin friends (5) | AMICI | minICA[B]IM going | B |
| 11 | Worry he’s now become an affectedly refined man (6) | HORSEY | wOR[R]Y HES now | R |
| 13 | Attractive place visited by our Jack Warren (6) | BURROW/BURRO (see text above) | [O]UR in BRO (attractive place) | O |
| 14 | Is it convenient to ride in a landau? Yes it is (4) | EASY | landA[U] YES it | U |
| 15 | Unduly sanguine retreat floors men (7) | ROSEATE | ÉTA[G]ES (floors) + OR (men) all reversed | G |
| 16 | He shaped this ship’s culture and morale (8) | SCULPSIT | this S[H]IP’S CULTure | H |
| 17 | Naval vessel stores dry grub (4) | STUB | SUB (naval vessel) tound T[T] (dry) | T |
| 20 | Art lover in LA set the terms for a new Dali exhibition (7) | ESTHETE | SE[T] THE TErms | T |
| 22 | Acceptable behaviour grabbing attention in early holiday (7) | NON-TERM | NORM(acceptable behaviour round N[O]TE | O |
| 25 | Bird seen in capital (4) | ERNE | [B]ERNE (or Bern – capital of Switzerland) | B |
| 26 | Physician to treat Eurocrat in Brussels (8) | TOURETTE | TO TRE[A]T EURocrat | A |
| 27 | They cunningly avoid scoundrel in not quite all meetings ultimately (7) | EVADERS | [C]AD (scoundrel) in EVER(y) (not quite all) + (meeting)S (finally) | C |
| 30 | A cat hid a dead bird under a fern (4) | TAHA | {“under a fern” is a reference to New Zealand} A [C]AT Hid | C |
| 31 | Injury almost stops bloodstained taxi (6) | GHARRY | HAR(m) (injury almost) in G[O]RY (bloodstained) | O |
| 32 | Excellent teacher backs National Guard’s revolt (6) | RISING | [A]I (excellent) SIR (teacher) | A |
| 33 | In the open, lone African rhino can be vulnerable (5) | LEONE | opE[N]LONE | N |
| 34 | Jock’s trimmed and cut the hair of son at the front after vacation (7) | SNODDED | S[o]N (son after being vacated) + [D]ODDED (cut the hair of) | D |
| 35 | Nearly always powdered (4) | SEME | SEM[P]E(r) (almost always) | P |
Down |
||||
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay/Jumble [extra letter] | X |
| 1 | See preamble | JAMES ONE | ||
| 2 | In battle, Ed’s to lower mace (obeying orders) (6) | EMBACE | {Ed = Spenser} MACE [O]BEying | O |
| 3 | Old salt wields a real cat tyrannically (8) | ACRYLATE | A REAL CA[T] TYrannically | T |
| 4 | Artist once tried painting mud for kids (7) | DIRT-PIE | TRIED P[A]Inting | A |
| 5 | Are those yobs ripping old hat up? (6) | AHORSE | ARE [T]HOSe | T |
| 6 | Athlete is too casual to succeed easily in a race (5) | COAST | T[O]O CASual | O |
| 7 | The old pay deposit for beer about to be consumed (4) | ARLE | ALE round R[E] (about) | E |
| 8 | A little local bad weather (4) | LEET | [S]LEET (bad weather) | S |
| 9 | Old-timer’s journey from stronghold (4) | EYRE | EYR[I]E (stronghold) | I |
| 12 | Put most of drink in vat (6) | STATED | TE(a) (most of drink) in STA[N]D (tub or vat) | N |
| 17 | It helps footwear and wetter hose dry out (8) | SHOETREE | wE[T]TER HOSE | T |
| 18 | See preamble | BEHEADED | ||
| 19 | Australian politician finally loans out yearbooks (6) | ANNALS | A(ustralian) + (politicia)N + [L[O]ANS]* | O |
| 21 | US senate at last bars Republican hawks (7) | TARSALS | at LAST [B]ARS | B |
| 23 | Lifted unusual hut and turned to pulp (6) | MUSHED | [R]UM (unusual) reversed + SHED (hut) | R |
| 24 | CS gas can hurt when going straight in eye (6) | ETHYNE | straigHT [I]N EYE | I |
| 26 | Minister pockets appeal money collected for kirk (5) | TEIND | TEND (minister) round I[T] (sex appeal) | T |
| 27 | Some bad sins are rare – so don’t worry (4) | ERRS | R[A]RE So | A |
| 28 | Thoughtless sailor went to Santorini via Delos (4) | VAIN | SantoriNI V[I]A | I |
| 29 | Rejected European ignored Glaswegian’s death (4) | DEID | DE[N]I(e)D (rejected minus E(uropean)) | N |
I thought this was interesting, a little bit diffferent, but very very tricky. Without spotting Raleigh’s name I’m not sure I would have finished. Surely the “in appropriate form” bit refers to the first and last names being separated? I didn’t see any instruction to behead the name, only to erase it?
I would love to see DLM clues go the way of the unlamented direct quotation clue. They go against the rules of fairness in that they contain loads of padding which contribute nothing towards the solving of the clue. The same could be said for Printer’s Devilry clues, of course, but at least PD clues can provide some amusement when the penny drops.
That’s not a criticism of Kruger, as DLM clues are the same whoever writes them. In every other respect this was a sound and well-crafted puzzle, as we have come to expect from this setter. That said, I didn’t see the point of removing Sir Walter from the grid, as it meant it was possible to submit a completed grid without understanding the special clue at 13 and the subsequent beheading. Perhaps highlighting would have been better, even if it wasn’t as accurate in historical terms?
I think the entry is originally BURROJ Such that WALTER is beheaded by JAMES ONE (ie J).
I share the dislike of DLM clues and I thought the whole was just a bit unsatisfactory
Sorry I meant to say BURROJ is the eventual entry since that’s what the wordplay leads to.
Another tricky puzzle ground out over a few days, entering a few more solutions at each sitting.
I didn’t understand the final instructions at the time and after reading the blog I still don’t understand them now. I don’t understand BURRO/BURROW/BURROJ either.
Does anyone have a definitive answer to what he final grid should contain?
Thanks to Hihoba and Kruger.
I’m fairly sure (by process of elimination) that 13 is the clue which consists of the wordplay for the eventual grid entry and two definitions. Attractive place visited by our is the wordplay for BURRO, as explained in the blog. JACK is the first definition, which according to Chambers is a jackass or jack donkey, and thus is the definition for BURRO. WARREN of course defines BURROW. So the eventual entry is BURRO, leaving a space where the W of WALTER should be.
I may be hopelessly wrong about this…
Thank you cruciverbohile – if the entry for 13 across is BURRO why is the letter count 6 not 5? Perhaps this accounts for the strange wording mentioned by Hihoba in the blog? There letter counts show the space available for the answers, not the lengths of the actual answers.
That must be right PeeDee – there are 6 letters available for a 5-letter entry. I’ve seen similar wording in Listener preambles when bits of answers aren’t entered in the grid.
I mean 6 spaces available, sorry.
Regarding 13ac, and my first comment, can you tell it’s one I didn’t / couldn’t parse? 🙂
Just a question about 30A please. How is “under a fern” a reference to New Zealand? According to my google search a taha is a South African bird. Maybe “under a fern” is just superfluous padding like “CS” in 24D?
John – I think you are right, but for the sake of completeness the Silver Fern is a symbol of New Zealand – see wkipedia entry
I had a similar experience and quibbles to the blogger and several commenters – ACRYLATE not being in Chambers; HORSEY referring specifically to women; why is the positioning ‘appropriate’; should I just behead (W)ALTER?; etc.
In the end I decided to remove the whole body – as the setter seemed to have gone to the effort of making real words around the gaps left when all was removed.
I now think the key is BURRO(W) – I lazily assumed it was just BURROW, with Jack suggesting a Jack rabbit in the warren, so WALTER appeared in its entirety. But if 13A is BURRO, then Walter has already been beheaded before entry, as alluded to by cruciverbophile at #6 above, and removing the rest of the body is the next step.
Unless the setter (or IQ editor) makes an appearance here, the definitive answer will be in black-and-white, or rather black and slightly off-white, when the ‘i’ drops onto my doorstep on Saturday am.
I forgot to mention that I enjoyed the Definition and Letter Mixture aspect of the puzzle. Cruciverbophile is correct @2 in that they go against many of the established traditions of fairness, but I like to have some variation from time to time. Maybe not every week but now and again such deviations from what is strictly fair make for a more varied and interesting puzzle series.
John @11. My mistake. I assumed that the taha was a New Zealand bird without checking carefully. So the fern stuff is just padding as you say.
I don’t entirely agree with the Jack = Jackass = BURRO, though it is possible, and I have no idea where the BURROJ answer came from! I think, according to the rubric, that there are two definitions for BURROW and wordplay for BURRO. That’s how I read it anyway.
From your comments, there was clearly sufficient ambiguity for my dissatisfaction with the endgame though!
More laziness from me – re-reading the preamble it is the ‘form’ that is appropriate – i.e. ALTER not WALTER – not the ‘position’… Still not happy with ACRYLATE and HORSEY though!…but otherwise an enjoyable challenge, and DLMs in strict moderation are OK with me…
@H of Hihoba
BURROJ comes form Jack =J being part of the wordplay (as well as one of the definitions)
Why bother with the J at all if it didn’t have some part to play in the final act? Kruger could just as easily have clued BURRO(W) ignoring W in the wordplay
But is BURROJ a word? Not in my dictionary. All other entries are real words.
Assuming one erases all of Walter Raleigh, as surely we were supposed to, it’s true it wouldn’t matter whether or not you noticed the trickery at 13a (I didn’t, lazily entered burrow).
But I enjoyed this one, was happy to see this form of clueing for a change (it’s true, you wouldn’t want it too often), and was grateful the extra letters gave us a clear steer.
Thanks to Kruger and Hihoba.
I’m with cruciverbophile @6 in that 13a has definitions to two words, BURRO (“jack”) and BURROW (“warren”, albeit loosely), and wordplay for the former, so that is what we enter, thereby not using all the space available for the answer (else why put that bit in the preamble).
But then, as mc_rapper67 @13 says, echoing cruciverbophile @2, we need to remove the beheaded _ALTER RALEIGH from the scene, leaving real words as others have noted – else why would have Kruger gone to the trouble. (Yes, highlighting might have been better.)
And I agree/sympathise with a number of the quibbles: extraneous words in the DLM clues that had nothing to do with either the D or the LM, HORSEY, ACRYLATE, … but fair game. Thanks Kruger & Hi for the blog – enjoy the play.
But it doesn’t say all entries are real words?!
The usual thanks to Kruger and Hihoba. I got there in the end after much struggle with deadwood in many DLM clues, and am glad to have company there. I’m used to such clues in the Oldie “Genius” crossword (a gentle themed puzzle with black squares rather than bars), where the setter Antico always offers a tight letter-mix construction with the traditional surplus letter but no redundant words; it can still be tricky working out which is D and which LM.
There are some weeks where I consider it a triumph to have solved a handful of IQ clues – and this was one of those weeks!
I’m mystified by the lack of clarity in the preamble, which left me unsure if I’d finished or not. I was happy enough with the solve itself, though it was certainly tricky and I echo the complaints about ACRYLATE not being in Chambers (though I don’t see the problem with HORSEY – I quite liked that the definition could be disguised within a longer sentence). But when I eventually got to the end I spent a fair bit of time looking for an alternative solution, perhaps involving Thomas Harriot, as the Walter/Alter Raleigh one did seem to fit, quite. I had assumed that the two definitions in 13A, mentioned in the preamble, were Burro = jack(ass) and Burrow = warren, but I’m far from certain.
Thanks for the comprehensive blog, Hihoba. This was the first time I can remember coming across ‘Definition and Letter-Mixture’ and am afraid to say that I was baffled and abandoned this. It’s only through reading the solution above that I now understand what is involved. Oh well, made for a quiet week.
This is the sort of IQ we like with the PDM coming near the end but it was difficult with the extra ‘padding’ of the DLM clues. The bottom left hand corner was the first to open up on the way to York for the S&B. Good to se you there Kruger. Amazingly we finished it on the return train journey just as we pulled into the station.
We were ignorant of Raleigh’s fate although we are also going to the play at the Globe based on his trial. Completing the puzzle actually inspired us to book tickets after we received a flyer last week by email.
Thanks to Hihoba and Kruger.
I finished all but the NE corner, where I struggled in vain. Part of the problem was not realising that some French words are indeed acceptable – I was familiar with accable and etage (can’t put in the accents here) but it wouldn’t have occurred to me to consider them. Yet on checking Chambers, they are indeed listed. Personally I think people who use such words when speaking English might be a bit “horsey”! (I thought that just meant people – often posh and usually women – who ride a lot). Ah well, some you win…! I agree with those defending the DLM style – wouldn’t be my favourite but it’s good to have variety. I enjoyed finding the Walter Raleigh theme – thanks to Kruger and many thanks for the blog Hihoba.
I’m a bit late arriving on the scene here as I’ve been away – so probably nobody will read this.
Thanks as always to blogger and those leaving comments. This was always meant to be something “different” for an IQ puzzle and it would seem that although bloggers always claim to like novel challenges, when they do get one that is (as far as I’m aware) a first for IQ, they don’t particularly like it!
As for comments re “noise words” and “padding”, I suggest taking a look at Don Manley’s excellent Crossword Manual.
Kruger