As trailed by Nimrod in his review of last year, we are kicking off this year with a puzzle from Schadenfreude. The last time I saw a title like that was about a decade ago – also by Schadenfreude – …
Preamble: Answers to eleven clues lacking definitions must be encoded before grid entry such that the nth letter of the alphabet (ignoring Z) is replaced by the nth letter of a 25-letter phrase. The spelling at 40ac is justified in (S)OED.
… and that puzzle was about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (26 letters).
I solved only two ‘specials’ the first time through: 19a CURIO and 5d MARIA, but no connections came to mind. However, I had a few crossing entries and so could see, for example, that O was encoded as W. This led me to assume that the entry at 25a W?YI?W had been encoded from O??I?O, especially as the clue started “Pair of ducks crossing”. That soon fell out as ORSINO, which did ring a bell – he is one of the main characters in Twelfth Night, which coincided with the date of publication.
A quick check, and Curio & Maria are also in the play, the full title of which is Twelfth Night, or What You Will, which has the required 25 letters thus providing the replacements for ABC…XY. I had at this point become fixated on all the encoded T‘s & W‘s coming from R‘s & O‘s which was making the answer at 20d ?R?OOR?O impossible to fathom. Then I realised my foolishness – there are quite a few T‘s & W‘s in Twelfth Night, or What You Will, and the encoding is obviously not one-to-one. Anyway, the title of the puzzle turned out to be SHAKESPEARE PLAY when encoded, and good old Schadenfreude has managed to accommodate almost all of the main characters – but TFYOF was nowhere to be found.
Thanks Schadenfreude – not as taxing as the other puzzles over the holiday period, which certainly takes the pressure off the blogger. (There was a moment of alarm when I was writing up the table below, as I had no wordplay for 8d SANTUR – I think I was working on the TU coming from “Note raised” and that was leading me nowhere – but a few minutes of concerted effort resolved matters.)
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | Fibre we found in fishing-net (9) | SEBASTIAN | BAST (fibre) I (we) in SEAN (fishing-net) |
| 8 | Peght’s bound to surrender fyrd’s last weapon (4) | STEN | STEND (bound, Scot) ¬ (fyr)D |
| 11 | Title of prince, masculine in appearance (4) | AMIR | M(asculine) in AIR (appearance) |
| 12 | An essential oil not using right colouring matter (6) | ANATTA | AN ATTAR (essential oil) ¬ R(ight) |
| 14 | Chestnut tree at the front (5) | BELCH | CH(estnut) before BEL (tree) |
| 15 | Join a large number getting drunk (5) | TENON | TEN (a large number) ON (getting drunk) |
| 16 | Past Spanish aunt possessing silver pair of scales (7) | PATAGIA | PA(st) TIA (aunt, Sp) around AG (silver) |
| 17 | Part of the digestive system lacking established inner membrane (6) | INTINE | INTESTINE (part of the digestive system) ¬ EST(ablished) |
| 18 | Earth deposit obscured greenish minerals (8) | EPIDOTES | E(arth) [DEPOSIT]* |
| 19 | I love chasing lowly bred canine (5) | CURIO | I O (0, love) after CUR (lowly bred canine) |
| 21 | Badger perhaps welcoming new winter (4) | SNOW | SOW (badger perhaps) around N(ew) |
| 23 | Poker mistake by Troy (6) | TERROR | ERROR (mistake) after T(roy) |
| 25 | Pair of ducks crossing river go astray (6) | ORSINO | OO (00, pair of ducks) around R(iver) |
| 28 | Over fifty on island road (6) | OLIVIA | O(ver) L (fifty) I(sland) VIA (road) |
| 31 | Plant team probing heartwood (9, 2 words) | SCREW PINE | CREW (team) in SPINE (heartwood) |
| 32 | In a west-facing cave women sheltered (5) | AWNED | A DEN< (cave) around W(omen) |
| 33 | Books penned by academy head out of Norway (7) | ANTONIO | NT (books) in A(cademy) ONION (head) ¬ N(orway) |
| 35 | Blast repressing week old female measuring six hands (7) | TWO-FOOT | TOOT (blast) around W(eek) O(ld) F(emale) |
| 37 | Australian bird badly nourished in the year (5) | LOWAN | LOW (badly nourished) AN (anno, in the year) |
| 38 | Runner badly lost, definitely not retiring (6) | STOLON | [LOST]* NO< (definitely not) |
| 39 | Male academician and lecturer confronting each other (6) | HEAD-ON | HE (male) A(cademician) DON (lecturer) |
| 40 | A downy cover returned on least spreading weeds (9) | PANATELAS | A NAP< (downy cover) [LEAST]* |
| 41 | Excessively sentimental material abandoned by director (4) | TWEE | TWEED (material) ¬ D(irector) |
| 42 | Fit the ring at the end of the bit (9) | AGUECHEEK | AGUE (fit) CHEEK (ring at the end of the bit) |
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | Elizabethan’s to weigh up a barker (6) | YAWPER | WAY< (weigh, Spens) PER (a) |
| 2 | Northbound Yankee settled with God in an amusing fashion (7) | WITTILY | Y(ankee) LIT (settled) TIW (god) all< |
| 3 | Time to study special trades in Edinburgh (6) | TREADS | T(ime) READ (study) S(pecial) |
| 4 | Source of timber close to old capital city (6) | YANGON | YANG (timbrt tree) ON (close to) |
| 5 | Uplifting light breeze in the morning (5) | MARIA | AIR (light breeze) AM (in the morning) all< |
| 6 | Plan that’s keeping department active (4) | IDEA | IE (that is) around D(epartment) A(ctive) |
| 7 | Chief’s heir remains protected by tense soldier (6) | TANIST | IS (remains) in T(ense) ANT (soldier) |
| 8 | Note raised in alchemist’s lead instrument (6) | SANTUR | SATURN (lead, alchemy) with N(ote) moved earlier |
| 9 | Fine sailor at work outside Austria (6) | FABIAN | F(ine) AB (sailor) IN (at work) around A(ustria) |
| 10 | One leaving artless Welsh turnip (5) | NAVEW | NAIVE (artless) ¬ I (one) W(elsh) |
| 13 | Idiot at sea hugging nurse like a ribbon! (7) | TENIOID | [IDIOT]* around EN (nurse) |
| 20 | Sickness shown by Victor prior to variety entertainment (8) | MALVOLIO | MAL (sickness) V(ictor) OLIO (variety entertainment) |
| 22 | There you are in Paris turning over attention seeker (5) | VIOLA | VOILÀ (there you are, Fr) with O(ver) & I (attention seeker) reversed |
| 24 | Blanch stalked missing pastor (8) | ETIOLATE | PETIOLATE (stalked) ¬ P(astor) |
| 25 | Is that whiskey relaxing thingy? (7) | WHATSIT | [IS THAT W(hiskey)]* |
| 26 | One fancy short fleece covering ordinary frozen sheet (7 …, 2 words!) | ICE FLOE | I (one) [FLEEC(e)]* around O(rdinary) |
| 27 | How Anne spoilt the mother of Longfellow’s hero (7) | WENONAH | [HOW ANNE]* |
| 29 | Underground Nazi working with lower force (7) | WERWOLF | [W(ith) LOWER F(orce)]* |
| 30 | Rather urban wife restricted by fashion, quiet after independence (7) | TOWNISH | W(ife) in TON (fashion) + SH (quiet) after I(ndependence) |
| 31 | Siesta son disrupted on Australian base (6) | SNOOZE | S(on) [ON]* OZ (Australian) E (base) |
| 34 | God without a place of retreat (5) | WODEN | WO (without) DEN (retreat) |
| 36 | Rising English river swamping last of the grass (4) | LEAF | FAL< (river, Cornwall) around (th)E |
|
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I was stuck on the undefined ones for ages, with only 3 of them solved and no belief that they would be enough, untill some kind soul suggested that google might help, which of course it did. I also looked at the title but it meant nothing. Thanks for explaining that.
Coded titles always strike terror into me, so I didn’t set about this with much confidence. Fortunately inspiration/a lucky guess occurred early on after solving a couple of the themed answers (also ORSINO and MARIA, I think), and all fell neatly into place after that. So not as fearsome as it first appeared, and a very enjoyable puzzle. It’s worth mentioning that Schadenfreude’s clues are always top-notch, and would be a pleasure to solve with or without all the thematic stuff. Bravo.
Lovely puzzle. I saw Mark Rylance (Olivia) and Eddie Redmayne (Viola) in the Globe all-male production in Middle Temple Hall, where the work was first performed, in 2012. What a treat!
I found Curio and Orsino and was already onto the theme. Counted the letters in the title – 25 and was up and running. I did have to Google for some of the characters and initially entered Belch at 22D instead of Viola which delayed me somewhat. I loved the encoded title. Excellent from Schadenfreude.
Thanks for the blog, Ken. It might be helpful to have a row of alphabet (A-Y) with the title linked to them in the blog. I certainly had to write one to solve the grid!
I quite liked the coded entries thing, though it did hold me up for an age. Solving CURIO and ORSINO was the key here – a quick Google to confirm the play, and with a list of characters to hand the remainder of the grid fell pretty easily. Fun throughout. 🙂
My experience was virtually identical to HG’s. First undefined answer was MARIA, which suggested West Side Story or The Sound of Music but then I found ORSINO and the P D’d. My copy of The Complete Works of… lists exactly 11 single word characters and I spent ages trying to find FESTE & VALENTINE until I lighted on the surnames of the 2 knights. At first, I guessed a more traditional title but it did not encode properly, instead requiring LFEWTTIOWRY LWIR – does this ring any bells?
Sch’s usual excellent clues although I did not like 15A – it’s all relative but I do not regard TEN as a large number. I wondered about an anagram of TONNE but my Chambers only gives TON to mean a large number.
Harder than Sch’s usual offering but good fun. Thanks to him and to HG.
My Chambers (2003) offers used indefinitely, a large number among the definitions of TEN. Perhaps it isn’t in later versions? In these days of hyperbole, people are probably more likely to say “a million”!
Much enjoyed — all thanks to Schadenfreude and HolyGhost. I expected a hard slog with the cipher, but as luck would have it the first undefined clue to fall gave MALVOLIO, leading straight to Shakespeare and Twelfth Night = 5 January. I even remembered the subtitle, but like others spent a long time looking for TFYOF (whose absence is presumably Schadenfreude’s little jest).
DaveW @5: I think you’ll find your alternative should be LFEWTTOIWRY LWIR – that is with the IO swapped.
And Hi of Hihoba @3: I am not Ken.
By the way, before the PDM I kept beating my head against O R ERR O rather than O R SIN O as the construction for 25A. Presumably HG did the same because it says ERR not SIN in the explanation above …
I quite enjoyed this, Schadenfreude appears to be baring his teeth a bit more with recent puzzles, which is no bad thing. I got lucky early on with the phrase and from then on it was relatively straightforward but certainly not easy
David Langford @9: Your presumption is wrong – the typo crept in as I was writing up the table, possibly because of the ERROR in the wordplay for the previous clue. Now fixed, so thanks for the alert.
@11 My apologies for the presumption!
Hihoba@3 – We also saw the same production at Middle Temple Hall – as you said, a real treat. We still however had to check the names of the different characters despite seeing other productions at Stratford and the Globe.
A treat of a puzzle too, so thanks to Schadenfreude – not quite as terrifying as we first expected.
Thanks HolyGhost.
Seems I’m going against the flow on this one – I found it really tough and didn’t enjoy it all that much, unusually for a Schadenfreude. Too many obscure answers clued with obscurities for my liking.
A Schadenfreude toughie for me, I don’t seem to have found this as easy as most solvers on here. Fabian was first to drop for me, which didn’t ring any immediate bells. I soldiered on and the next to drop were a Maria and Curio. I have to admit to entering those three answers into google which immediately got me on the path I needed to be. Regarding Ten, I’ve seen this defined as a large number in crosswords past, and it always jars with me too DaveW.
I do enjoy a coded challenge. Thanks once again to blogger and setter.
Re my comment #3, First, apologies for referring to you as Ken, HG! Second, our Globe Twelfth Night was the earlier one in 2002, not 2012. It was still amazing, and Eddie Redmayne was clearly a star in waiting!
Thanks HG@8, you are, of course, right. Looks like we are quits on typos.
Hihoba – we missed the fact that the year was wrong. Bert and I were sitting apart and he was convinced that the ‘twins’ were one and the same person and was quite worried about what would happen when they were both on stage together. The two actors were not even related – as you said – one was a very young Eddie Redmayne. Mark Rylance seemed to glide across the stage on rollers.
Sorry to be off topic Gaufrid but it brought back amazing memories!
I thought this was fabulous, but I found it very very hard. My problem was that I couldn’t solve enough of the definition-less clues and so had no idea how to untangle the encoding. I only had FABIAN and CURIO which wasn’t enough to link together to get the play. Eventually after much sweat and tears I got MALVOLIO, tigged immediately what the connection was and after that everything fell out.
Thanks to HG and Schadenfreude
Bertandjoyce – I think experiences of Twelfth Night definitely count as relevant to this puzzle. No problem with the site rules at all.