Hedge-sparrow makes a debut in the Inquisitor series with this puzzle. I have solved a few Hedge-sparrow puzzles before in the Listener series.
The preamble read: "In the completed grid, solvers must draw a continuous smooth curve through 24 cells which reveal the theme. The 5 unclued entries are examples of thematic characters. Each clue contains an extra letter, to be removed before solving (always leaving a real word, but with surface sense generally suffering as a result): in clue order these spell a part of what – according to a popular version of the theme (and given the right conditions) – characters like these will almost surely produce.
We have a fairly standard preamble telling us about missing letters spelling out a message or phrase plus a graphical endgame, so let’s start solving the clues and see what drops out.
A few of the additional letters stood out quite clearly. Os added to the end of a word were a case in point, as in secondo and capo in clues for APSE (37 across) and UBERTY (5 down, even although I had never come across the word UBERTY before). Having said that a couple of the other extra Os were not so obvious, as in olives at 20 across and brood at 27 down. Overall, I thought the extra letters were cleverly placed with my favourite being the U in misusing at 38 across. The only issue I had with removing letters and leaving real words was in 35 across where we had to take an E out of tea-set which would leave taset or teast, neither of which are real words. In the end I went for the first E and rewrote the clue with two words ta and set. However, it’s ‘almost surely’ an academic point for all but a blogger I think,.
After a slow start I gradually built up a head of steam and filled over half the grid fairly quickly.. It took a while for obvious words to appear in the ‘message’. I think it was seeing MONKEY towards the end when I already had a couple of unclued entries that provided the penny drop moment. I’d already solved the APISM clue with the reference to the entry’s thematic nature time as well.
In addition to the thematic reference in the clue just mentioned, there was also a hint to where to look for the 24 cells to be highlighted in the clue to ENDGAME at 1 down. Hedge-sparrow gave us plenty of information to help with the completion of the puzzle.
Once the clues were solved, or more correctly, about three quarters of the way through the solving process I had enough letters to help me deduce the full message as:
THE STRAIN OF MAN’S BRED OUT INTO BABOON AND MONKEY – extract from Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens, spoken by the character Apemantus
With the puzzle solved, it was then a question of looking for the twenty four cells. I suspect I wasn’t the only person who first entered 12 down as BOSS whilst muttering ‘how does that work?’ to myself. Using the hint in the clue at 1 down about the central area of the grid I started looking in the central three rows and columns.
Again it was seeing MONKEY that triggered the final thought process to dredge up the theory that one an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters would eventually bash out the works of Shakespeare. The message spelt out by the extra ;etters, of course, was a part of a Shakespeare work. Playing about with routes through the letters I got MONKEY THEOREM and the rest fell into place after adjusting BOSS to BOS’N (which did fit the clue). The full phrase THE INFINITE MONKEY THEOREM (24 letters) starts at the first T of ATHEIST in 17 cross and finishes on the M of ENDGAME at 1 down. To finish off a well integrated theme, the phrase is spelled out in the shape of the mathematical symbol for infinity.
The unclued entries were all apes or monkeys. In normal grid order (across then down) we have ENTELLUS, DOUC, SAKI, MAGOT and TEETEE.
The filled grid is shown below.
The title Almost Surely derives from probability theory where it is stated that an event happens almost surely if it happens with probability one.
An enjoyable puzzle that I thought wasn’t too difficult overall.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. |
Clue Amended Clue |
Letter |
Wordplay |
Entry |
| 6 |
Almost able to reform millet for pain reliever (4) Almost able to reform mille for pain reliever (4) |
T |
Anagram of (to reform) ABLE excluding the final letter (almost) E + M (mille) BAL* M |
BALM (anything that heals or soothes pain) |
| 8 |
Noh expert’s lunchtime activity for Americans (6) No expert’s lunchtime activity for Americans (6) |
H |
NO + ONER (expert) NO ONER |
NOONER (American term for an activity undertaken during the lunch break) |
| 9 |
Book house on western side of Maine (5) Book house on western side of main(5) |
E |
HO (house) + SEA (main) HO is written on the left or western side of SEA HO SEA |
HOSEA (Book of the Old Testament) |
| 11 |
Old-timer’s carrying amateur prize fighters and associates across Black Sea (8) Old-timer’s carrying amateur prize fighters and associates across Black ea (8) |
S |
(A [amateur] + RING [prize-fighters or bookmakers with their associates collectively]) containing (across) (B [black, on lead pencils to indicate softness]+ EA) A (B EA) RING |
ABEARING (obsolete [old-timer] word for bearing, comporting behaving; old-timer’s carrying) |
| 15 |
Hill in path of juggernaut or truck (4) Hill in path of juggernaut or ruck (4) |
T |
TORR (hidden word in [in path of] JUGGERNAUT OR RUCK) TORR |
TORR (alternative spelling of TOR [rocky height or hill]) |
| 16 |
Without due revision, argued over what’s past (3) Without due revision, agued over what’s past (3) |
R |
AGUED* excluding (without) UED (an anagram of [revision] DUE) + O AG O |
AGO (gone; past) |
| 17 |
Dray carrying robber contracted to tail a non-believer (7) Dry carrying robber contracted to tail a non-believer (7) |
A |
A + (TT [teetotal; dry] containing [carrying] HEIST [robber] excluding the final letter [contracted] T) A T (HEIS) T |
ATHEIST (non-believer) |
| 18 |
Ikon misrepresented head of Terek sandpiper (4) Kon misrepresented head of Terek sandpiper (4) |
I |
Anagram of (misrepresented) KON + T (first letter of [head of] TEREK) KNO* T |
KNOT (snipe-like shore bird of the sandpiper family) A Terek is also a sandpiper native to the Russian river of the same name and elsewhere |
| 19 |
Mars finally seen vaguely in radio-astronomy signal amplifier (5) Mars finally see vaguely in radio-astronomy signal amplifier (5) |
N |
Anagram of (vaguely) MARS and E (last letter of [finally] SEE) MASER* |
MASER (device used to amplify long-range radar and radio astronomy signals [very small when not amplified] while generating little unwanted noise within itself) |
| 20 |
Start to pick olives in the morning for Carlyle, it’s thematic behaviour (5) Start to pick lives in the morning for Carlyle, it’s thematic behaviour (5) |
O |
(P [first letter of {start to} PICK + IS [lives]) contained in (in) AM (ante meridiem; morning) A (P IS) M |
APISM (a variant of APISHNESS [descriptive of activity associated with an APE], attributed to the essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle [1795 – 1881]) The theme of the puzzle is possible behaviour linked to APES or MONKEYS |
| 23 |
One by Frost, surprisingly [On Going Unnoticed] is the height of poetic inspiration (5) One by rost, surprisingly [On Going Unnoticed] is the height of poetic inspiration (5) |
F |
ONE excluding (going unnoticed) ON+ an anagram of (surprisingly) ROST E STRO* Robert Frost wrote the poem ‘On Going Unnoticed’ |
ESTRO (enthusiasm or height of poetic inspiration) second time I’ve come across this word as it was in an Independent crossword by Windsurfer that I blogged on 29th January. |
| 26 |
Scotswoman means to send data to first of members (5) Scotswoman means to send data to first of embers (5) |
M |
WI-FI (wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections. Apparently it is NOT an abbreviation for wireless fidelity) + E (initial letter of [first of] EMBERS) WIFI E |
WIFIE (informal Scottish term for a woman) |
| 28 |
Reactor overcome by enemy’s cutting tool (4) Rector overcome by enemy’s cutting tool (4) |
A |
FOE (enemy) containing (overcoming) R (rector) F (R) OE |
FROE (cutting tool with a blade at right angles to the handle, used especially for splitting wood.) |
| 30 |
Arsenate of copper nanna’s put in lake (7) Arsenate of copper nana’s put in lake (7) |
N |
NIT (idiot; fool; nana) contained in (put in) ERIE (one of the Canadian Great Lakes) ERI (NIT) E |
ERINITE ( basic arsenate of copper found in Cornwall and Ireland) |
| 31 |
In the year, sold off aged Scottish widow’s half-year’s stipend (3) In the year, old off aged Scottish widow’s half-year’s stipend (3) |
S |
ANNO (in the year) excluding (off) O (old) ANN |
ANN (from 1672 to 1925 [aged] the half-year’s stipend payable after a parish minister’s death to his widow or next of kin) |
| 32 |
Formally qualified Maitre joins French Band (4) Formally qualified Maitre joins French and (4) |
B |
ME (Maitre) + ET (French word for ‘and’) ME ET |
MEET (be suitable to or satisfy, eg a demand or requirement; formally qualified) |
| 34 |
Oliver truly wild, taking Circle Line to festival (8) Olive truly wild, taking Circle Line to festival (8) |
R |
O (circle shape) + L (line) + EASTER ([religious] festival) O L EASTER |
OLEASTER (properly the true wild olive; extended to the so-called wild olive,) |
| 35 |
Try ornate tea-set (5) Try ornate ta set (5) |
E |
Anagram of (ornate) TA SET TASTE* |
TASTE (try) |
| 36 |
Band around base and sides of inexpensive hat (6) Ban around base and sides of inexpensive hat (6) |
D |
(BAN containing [around] E [the based of natural logarithms]) + IE (outside letters of [sides of] INEXPENSIVE) B (E) AN IE |
BEANIE (type of small close-fitting hat) |
| 37 |
Primate taking secondo in church choir’s recessional feature (4) Primate taking second in church choir’s recessional feature (4) |
O |
APE (primate) containing (taking) S (second) AP (S) E
|
APSE (semicircular or polygonal recess, especially at the east end of a church choir, and where, in the Roman basilica, the praetor’s chair stood) |
| 38 |
Paying guest, misusing gin cocktail, upset mythical king (8) Paying guest, missing gin cocktail, upset mythical king (8) |
U |
Anagram of (upset) PAYING* GUEST excluding (missing) ING (an anagram of [cocktail] GIN) AEGYPTUS* |
AEGYPTUS (mythical king of Egypt) |
| Down | ||||
| 1 |
Closet play of Shakespeare in this case, it’s performed around central area (7) Close play of Shakespeare in this case, it’s performed around central area (7) |
T |
END (close) + GAME (a Shakespearean definition of ‘play’ is GAME) END GAME |
ENDGAME (the final stage of a game of chess or certain other games /puzzles) The last bit of the clue tells us that the ENDGAME for this particular puzzle (in this case) takes place around the central (area of the grid) |
| 2 |
Easier, essentially, to access push-button telephone system with special criteria (11) Easer, essentially, to access push-button telephone system with special criteria (11) |
I |
S (central letter [essentially] of EASER) contained in (to access) TOUCH TONE [a telephone system that cause distinct tones to sound at the exchange. (a term descriptive of telephones having push buttons [rather than a dial]) Some of our younger solvers may not have come across telephones with dials, or even telephone exchanges) + S (special) TOUCH (S) TONE S |
TOUCHSTONES (any criteria) |
| 3 |
Chaplain (not Genevan) entertained by engineer’s old-fashioned console (7) Chaplain (not Geneva) entertained by engineer’s old-fashioned console (7) |
N |
ENGINEER containing (entertaining) CH (chaplain), but also excluding (not) GIN (Geneva [a spirit distilled from grain and flavoured with juniper berries, a gin, made chiefly in the Netherlands [also called Hollands or Hollands gin]) EN (CH) EER |
ENCHEER (archaic [old-fashioned] word meaning cheer, comfort or console) |
| 4 |
Trace local source of lamb and pig? (4) Race local source of lamb and pig? (4) |
T |
L (first letter of [source of] LAMB) + EAT (pig is defined as eat greedily) L EAT |
LEAT (dialect [local] word for trench for bringing water to a millwheel,; mill race) |
| 5 |
Capo‘s lacking in sexual maturity and fruitfulness (6) Cap’s lacking in sexual maturity and fruitfulness (6) |
O |
PUBERTY (beginning of sexual maturity) excluding (lacking) the first letter (cap) P UBERTY |
UBERTY (fruitfulness) |
|
6 |
Boz’s banter starts to rile author participating in book fair (5) Oz’s banter starts to rile author participating in book fair (5) |
B |
(R [first letter of {start to} RILE] + A [first letter of {start to} AUTHOR]) contained in (participating in) (B [book] + OK [okay; satisfactory; fair) B O (R A) K |
BORAK (Australian [Oz] word for nonsense or banter) |
| 7 |
Delicate fabric Uniat put up below edge of lectern (4) Delicate fabric unit put up below edge of lectern (4) |
A |
L (first letter of [edge of] LECTERN + (ONE [unit] reversed [put up; down clue]) L ENO< |
LENO (thin muslin-like fabric) |
| 10 |
It’s important if I can to follow indication on bend in street (11) It’s important if I can to follow indication on end in street (11) |
B |
SIGN (indication) + IF I CAN + T (last letter of [end in] STREET) SIGN IF I CAN T |
SIGNIFICANT (important) |
| 12 |
One having responsible position in obos heading north? (4) One having responsible position in bos heading north? (4) |
O |
BOS + N (north; compass direction; heading) BOS N |
BOS’N (bosun; boatswain [foreman of a crew [warrant officer in the navy] who looks after a ship’s boats, rigging, flags, etc; an OBO is a vessel designed to carry oil and bulk ore, together or separately) |
| 13 |
Ore found in volcanic rock region (4) Re found in volcanic rock region (4) |
O |
RE contained in (found in) AA (type of scoriaceous volcanic rock with a rough surface and many jagged fragments) A (RE) A |
AREA (region) |
| 14 |
Formerly one doing menial work in Japan and elsewhere scrubbing linen (3) Formerly one doing menial work in Japan and elsewhere scrubbing line (3) |
N |
ET AL (and elsewhere) excluding (scrubbing) L (line) ETA |
ETA (especially formerly, a member of the lowest Japanese class, which did work considered menial or degrading) |
| 21 |
Fleshy US perennial herb pains ape when raising tail (7) Fleshy US perennial herb pins ape when raising tail (7) |
A |
PINS APE with the final letter (tail) E moved up (down clue) to form PINESAP PINESAP |
PINESAP (herbaceous perennial plant native to North America) |
| 22 |
Ultimately damn hostile forces ignoring Nationalist’s fit of hysterics (7) Ultimately dam hostile forces ignoring Nationalist’s fit of hysterics (7) |
N |
M (last letter of [ultimately] DAM) + ENEMIES (hostile forces) excluding N (nationalist) M EEMIES |
MEEMIES (fits of hysterics) |
| 24 |
Dover providing cover for HMS Resistance? That’s what they tell us (4) Over providing cover for HMS Resistance? That’s what they tell us (4) |
D |
O (over) + HMS O HMS |
OHMS (derived SI units of electrical resistance) |
| 25 |
Extricate arm gripped by ancient cattle (4) Extricate ar gripped by ancient cattle (4) |
M |
R (ar) contained in (gripped by) FEE (obsolete [ancient] word for cattle) F (R) EE |
FREE (extricate [FREE from entanglements])) |
| 27 |
Roman perhaps ignoring what might be brood climbing palm tree (3) Roman perhaps ignoring what might be brod climbing palm tree (3) |
O |
ITALIAN (a Roman is an example of an ITALIAN) excluding (ignoring) LIAN [NAIL [a brod is a kind of NAIL] reversed [climbing; down clue]) ITA |
ITA (the miriti palm) |
| 28 |
Commercial fleet sent to blockade Florida (5) Commercial fleet set to blockade Florida (5) |
N |
LOT (set of things offered for sale) contained in (to blockade) FA (abbreviation for the State of Florida) F (LOT) A |
FLOTA (commercial fleet) |
| 29 |
Coming up in surge tank, eelwrack’s growing out (5) Coming up in surge tan, eelwrack’s growing out (5) |
K |
ENATE (hidden word reversed in (coming up [down clue] in) SURGE TAN EELWRACK ENATE< |
ENATE (growing out) |
| 31 |
Introductory section of raga, initially all the rage in Durban (4) Introductory section of raga, initially all the rag in Durban (4) |
E |
A (first letter of [initially] ALL) + LAP (South African [Durban] term for a rag or piece of cloth) A LAP |
ALAP (introductory section of a raga) |
| 33 |
Three in dicey attempt to circumnavigate earth (4) Three in dice attempt to circumnavigate earth (4) |
Y |
TRY (attempt) containing (to circumnavigate) E (earth) TR (E) Y |
TREY (term for a three in a game of dice) |
Much enjoyed: thanks to Hedge-sparrow (who I hadn’t met before) and to duncanshiell for the blog. Generous of the setter, I thought, to mention Shakespeare in the clue for 1D and to flag APISM as thematic — I was wondering about the monkeys with typewriters long before getting any of the (rather obscure) unclued apes and monkeys. One of my favourite short stories by SF author R.A. Lafferty, “Been a Long, Long Time”, sees the theorem being tested in real time over uncountable aeons.
For some lunatic reason I first wrote S as the extra letter in 10D and was hoping for a bassoon (it seemed entirely plausible that Shakespeare might spell it with only one S), which offered spurious confirmation from another literary source:
There once was a brainy baboon,
Who always breathed down a bassoon,
For he said, It appears
That in billions of years
I shall certainly hit on a tune.
The instruction to draw a line though 24 cells without any other indication of where to look seemed daunting. My first thought was this was word-search endgame gone mad, but actually all was obvious once I had got over my fixation on Timon of Athens.
I never understood the fascination with this idea: if you can believe in the existence of an infinite number of monkeys then anything else seems trivial by comparison.
Thanks to all.
Completing the grid was my first objective, but I was slowed down by a few clues in the top left. After finally forcing out 20a and 23a I had nearly all the letters of the message (in which I had just one letter wrong) and was able to look it up. By then it was clear what the shaded names related to, and I looked those up too – the two in the top left helping me to solve my last two clues (1d and 3d) and thus complete the grid.
I wondered whether this was going to be yet another Inquisitor without an endgame, as I have had little luck lately with themes. However, there were enough hints in the clues (1d and 20a), the grid (the word MONKEY helpfully appearing) and the quotation for me to come up with what had to be the theme for this puzzle. It was then a straightforward task to find the 24-letter phrase making a symmetrical shape, centrally placed, in the grid.
The shape I had just drawn came as a revelation. What a marvellously simple idea, and how well executed! I thought for a moment that the reason for drawing a curve rather than shading cells was to show letters being used twice, but this didn’t happen, and simply by doing what we are told we draw the recognisable thematic shape ourselves.
I appreciated very much the way that a literary theme was cleverly combined with a mathematical one. (The ‘works of Shakespeare’ are invariably invoked when the theorem is explained.) As a mathematics enthusiast, I should have remembered the significance of the title ‘Almost Surely’, but I did not. It has come back to me now, of course.
Last week I made a (light-hearted) plea for themes “that I am lucky enough to recognise and can find or work out,” and this puzzle by Hedge-sparrow came right on cue. Congratulations to the setter, and thanks to Duncan for a comprehensive and interesting blog.
An enjoyable puzzle. I feel sure I’ve drawn the infinity symbol at the end of a puzzle not that long ago but maybe it was a Listener – anyone else or am I losing it?
I enjoyed this. I missed the reference to central area in 1d, so thanks for explaining that clue Duncan. I wonder if anyone else was struck by the fact that the speaker of the quotation was Ape-man-tus? If you are interested in how really unlikely the Infinite Monkey Theorem actually is, this Wiki article is interesting!
I was delighted to see Hedge-Sparrow’s name at the top of this puzzle. I have enjoyed all of the Listener puzzles I have seen from this setter, which struck the right balance between difficulty and enjoyment by relying on ingenious implementation of the theme, rather than fiddly obstacles to impede the solver’s progress or long, frustrating grid-staring. Hedge-Sparrow’s first IQ was in the same mould – great fun and a worthy challenge.
I saw no problem with 35 across. My copy gives TEA SET as two words (not hyphenated) so removing the E leaves TA SET, which are both real words. The preamble states that the surface sense generally suffers after removal of letters.
Bingybing – the puzzle you refer to is Listener 4502 “Never-ending?” by KevGar, published May 11, 2018.
I liked that. Not too tricky, and with a very generously signaled theme, a nice contrast to some of the trickier puzzles we’ve had of late.
Yup, nice puzzle. I was distracted by the letters of ‘a typewriter’ and ‘Timon of Athens’ appearing jumbled in the central part of the grid, so found the end-game frustrating for a time … until I saw the correct solution at which point it suddenly stopped being frustrating and became highly satisfying.
I couldn’t find PINESAP in Chambers, though it was obviously correct.
PeeDee @2: the ‘theorem’ refers to one monkey randomly hitting keys on a typewriter for an arbitrarily long time …, so no-one has to “believe in the existence of an infinite number of monkeys”.
Bingybing @4 & cruciverbophile @6: there was also In Clue Order, On and On by Loda (Listener #4018).
Nice puzzle (the first Hedge-sparrow I’ve attempted) but I thought that the clue at 1 down was clumsy, couldn’t see it as an &lit, and considered that it might be referring to the play by Samuel Becket. Anyway, thanks for the blog.
… Beckett
OPatrick @8
Re: PINESAP. It’s not in Collins either. I found it in Bradford’s lists under Plants. That’s also where I got all five of the monkeys – not under Plants, of course, but under Monkeys. But I did check the monkeys in Chambers – they are all there.
HG @9 – there are numerous variants but all of them have the same basic premise: imagine an abstract scenario that is impossible to realize and then make statements about it. If you don’t want to believe in the existence of an arbitrarily large number of monkeys then you have to believe the existence of a monkey that can type for an arbitrarily long period of time. Whatever variant you choose as you introduce the word “monkey” it becomes meaningless in real terms.
HolyGhost @9
Re: one monkey. Indeed – the simplest and best statement of the theorem is as given in the first paragraph of the Wiki article to which Hihoba gave us a link. But that article mentions variants of the theorem, one of which uses an infinity of monkeys – while explaining that the monkey is merely a metaphor.
That same paragraph also introduces the term ‘almost surely’, which has its own Wikipedia entry.
PeeDee @12
Sorry – we crossed.
A highly enjoyable crossword. Restored my faith in the IQ.
I didn’t lose faith in the IQ, I lost my faith in myself.
I agree with all the positive comments., though I found a couple of the monkeys rather elusive.
‘The unclued entries were all apes or monkeys. In normal grid order (across then down) we have ENTELLUS, DOUC, SAKI, MAGOT and TEETEE’.
Sorry for being pedantic, but if you can’t be pedantic in the IQ forum what hope is there for the world? There are no apes in the list. Three Old-world mpnkeys and 2 New-world monkeys. A monkey is not an ape, nor v.v. The apes are the tail-less chimpanzees, gorillas, Orang-utan and gibbons. Oh – and Homo, the ape that is rather good at doing the IQ!
Thanks to Duncan and Hedge-sparrow
My first Inquisitor and I enjoyed it very much, but I have a couple of questions:
@12d A bos’n is a responsible position but if we are to dispose of the extra letter before solving then the clue reads:
One having responsible position in bos (wild cattle) heading north. Any reference to ore-bulk-oil carriers is lost and the N must be inferred from HEADING NORTH, i.e (I take it) the first letter of NORTH – a device I had assumed was frowned on in barred puzzles.
I can’t find N = NATIONALIST in any of my dictionaries but perhaps it’s in Chambers.
@32a I can’t quite see MEET = FORMALLY QUALIFIED, I wonder if we are to take MEET in it’s older (Shakespearean even) sense of PROPER or CORRECT?
As a fellow blogger on this site…maybe an infinite number of bloggers with an infinite number of keyboards can produce the perfect blog…but of course we’d need an infinite number of setters to provide the subject material in the first place…
Dansar, my interpretation of 12 across is that the N is the standard abbreviation for north and the “heading” is just a link word to show that the BOS heads/goes in front of the N.
N = Nationalist is indeed in Chambers.
The second definition of MEET in Chambers is
meet (archaic or formal)
adj fitting; qualified; even…
Hope this helps
cruciverbophile@20
Yes it does thanks, that clears it all up. I should have spotted the heading/goes ahead of/on top of in a down clue myself but I didn’t.
I’m not sure how I posted twice but while I’m here – something I forgot to mention re 28d – I’d have thought a BLOCKADE was specifically designed to keep things out.
Dansar @22
I think you’re right about the use of ‘blockade’ in 28d – instead, ‘invade’ would make the cryptic grammar work, but not the surface. (A fleet invading Florida is not a convincing mental image.)
It is not often I find anything like this to query in an Inquisitor puzzle, and I missed this one.
[And welcome to the Inquisitor. Having tackled 32 of these puzzles, I’m a relative newbie myself. I’m also an occasional commenter on the Guardian blogs, where I see your contributions from time to time.]
BLOCKADE = “obstruct”?
Violet @24
With your suggestion I think the cryptic grammar does work after all. As ‘blockade’ can mean block or obstruct, as of a passageway, LOT can fairly ‘blockade’ FA as required.
Violet@24, and Alan B@25
I do see what you are both saying, but what I am militating for is the retention of some vestige of MEANING in language, even, or perhaps especially, in cryptic language.
I appreciate that BLOCKADE has a subsidiary meaning of OBSTRUCT, but even in this sense how does that signify inclusion? Surely a more obvious way for LOT to OBSTRUCT i.e. “restrict the movement of” FA, would be to encircle it. Is OBSTRUCT then to mean “infiltrate”, or “cover”, at the whim of the setter?
That way madness lies. Or at least my cancelled subsciption.
BTW I saw LOT as in film set/lot
Dansar @26
Obstruction can be but does not have to be by encircling. It can be on the inside, e.g. of a passageway (as I suggested) or a pipe. I think the setter might have had that imagery in mind when deciding that ‘blockade’ (meaning block or obstruct) was ok. In the cryptic language of the clue it is not Florida that is blockaded (that’s only for the surface) – it is FA.