Hi everybody. I hope you are having a rocking Saturday!
The preamble reads:
Clues are given in alphabetic order of their answers. Most clues, whose answers must be entered where they will fit, contain an additional word to be removed before solving; the first letters of these words when read in entry order give an instruction. Answers to the remaining clues must be made ROCK SOLID on entry.
My first barred puzzle jigsaw! Well, there was nothing to do but start in the normal way, by trying to solve some clues. Fortunately, enough fell on the first pass to dispel initial nerves, including the very first clue — it’s always nice when that happens. It also helped that a very early answer was LOITERED. With no extra words in the clue, it didn’t take me (*cough* my Chambers app) long to dig up the DOLORITE. So, everything crystal clear except for what may be contained in the final message. Oh, and the small matter of solving and placing the majority of the clues.
There was a slow period of chipping away to fit the early entries in the grid. First letters in were the Es in the two ten-letter words, not that that was much help! My first word in was GREENSAND, because I’d solved enough to rule out a four-letter N; those ten-letter words went in in full once it became clear there were no five-letter Is, so SLOGANISED couldn’t fit in at 18a. Of course, there could have been hidden rocks to shipwreck any of these grid-filling deductions, but fate (or Jaques) was kind here and nothing rocked the boat. Once things hit critical mass it was all pretty much plain sailing. A couple of grains of sand left in the bathing suit with one or two I had to scratch away at to parse fully, but I was able to save the endgame until the end, waiting until everything else was done before putting the clues into entry order and finding the message:
HIGHLIGHT SEVENTEEN CELLS ROCKING ROCK PLUS PIVOT
Hmm. I had thought it was all but over, but found myself starting at the grid, hoping this wasn’t going to be another Two Questions, One Answer … Panic over: the FULCRUM (PIVOT) showed itself, and furthermore it had a STONE balanced on top. I puzzled for a while longer over the remaining five letters, until I thought to look up LOGAN. Aha! A Logan stone, or rocking stone, is a large finely-balanced stone which will rock when a relatively small force is applied. So that’s our ROCKING ROCK. Rock on!
Thanks, Jacques, for a rocking puzzle! For convenience, the grid and clues below are numbered.
| Clue No | ANSWER GRID ENTRY (if different) |
Clue with [word to be removed] and definition | First Letter |
| Explanation | |||
| Across | |||
| 1a | ADAGIO | Slow, endless goodbye taking silver [heirlooms] (6) | H |
| Most of (endless) ADIO[s] (goodbye) containing (taking) AG (Ag, silver) | |||
| 5a | SWAGE | Depression [inducing] drug is a groovy instrument (5) | I |
| SWAG (depression) + E (ecstasy, drug) | |||
| 12a | QUEEN | Monarch for want of one equine’s lost [governance] (5) | G |
| Without (for want of) I (one), EQU[i]NE is anagrammed (‘s lost) | |||
| 13a | GLUT | Gorge [hedonistically] and stomach’s gained {a} pound (4) | H |
| GUT (stomach) has inserted into it (‘s gained) L (a pound) | |||
| 14a | TANGIER GRANITE |
No good society missed by satire, viciously it’s more biting (7) | |
| NG (no good) and S (society) removed from (missed by) [s]ATIRE, all rearranged (viciously) | |||
| 15a | UVAE | Grapes and posh bay [leaves] in Shetland (4) | L |
| U (posh) + VAE (in Orkney and Shetland, a bay or creek) | |||
| 16a | INN | Put up elderly at home and note [improvement] (3) | I |
| Elderly refers to an archaic definition. IN (at home) and N (note) | |||
| 17a | ENDANGERS GREENSAND |
Risks destroy old afflictions (9) | |
| END (destroy) + ANGERS (afflictions, old meaning) | |||
| 18a | CONSTABLES | Police officers’ [guile] tricks legal codes (10) | G |
| CONS (tricks) + TABLES (legal codes) | |||
| 21a | DOTAGE | Age-old weakness [hunting] deer without identifying mark (6) | H |
| DOE (deer) outside (without) TAG (identifying mark) | |||
| 23a | NYSSAS | Trees back in Arkansas [transforming] synfuel (6) | T |
| Reversed (back) in ArkanSAS SYNfuel | |||
| 25a | SONE | Sound unit and second [sound] unit (4) | S |
| S (second) and ONE (unit) | |||
| 27a | TORR | Intensely passionate having lost identity making rocky [emotional] height (4) | E |
| TORR[id] (intensely passionate) without (having lost) ID (identity) | |||
| 29a | FLORID | Flushed state not having a [valium] (6) | V |
| FLORID[a] (state) without (not having) A (from the clue) | |||
| 31a | NEARBY | Close to barney [extremely] agitated (6) | E |
| BARNEY anagrammed (agitated) | |||
| 33a | SLOGANISED | Repeated catchphrase in [national] ads and legions led astray (10) | N |
| ADS and LEGIONS anagrammed (led astray) | |||
| 35a | SEROTONIN IRONSTONE |
Number rushed back in anger to find compound (9) | |
| NO (number) and TORE (rushed) together reversed (back) inside SIN (anger is one of the seven deadly sins; the definition by example here threw me) | |||
| 37a | PAW | Old obscene [tactic] to grope (3) | T |
| Two definitions, the first an obsolete (old) one | |||
| 39a | RIVO | Bill’s [extraordinary] cry when drinking volume in port (4) | E |
| A Shakespearean drinking cry. V (volume) in RIO (port) | |||
| 40a | CENTIMO | No time lost after canine [extraction] to get part of colon? (7) | E |
| NO TIME anagrammed (lost) after C (canine). The colon of the definition is a monetary unit | |||
| 41a | ETEN | Giant’s fed without acting [naturally] (4) | N |
| E[a]TEN (fed) without A (acting) | |||
| 42a | ULURU | Australian rock in dull surround, occasionally without [cut] diamonds (5) | C |
| Alternate letters of (… occasionally) dUlL sUrRoUn[d] without D (diamonds) | |||
| 43a | AFTER | More inclined to stern and sillier [expressions] having lost daughter (5) | E |
| [d]AFTER (sillier) without (having lost) D (daughter) | |||
| 44a | YOMPED | Through [long] yards miserable mope trudged laboriously (6) | L |
| Inside (through) YD (yards) goes an anagram of (miserable) MOPE | |||
| Down | |||
| 1d | ANGICOS | [Loving] South American trees start to clear ngaios out (7) | L |
| The first letter of (start to) Clear with NGAIOS, anagrammed (out) | |||
| 2d | DARN | Swear American lawyer [sued] Royal Navy (4) | S |
| DA (American lawyer, District Attorney) + RN (Royal Navy) | |||
| 3d | ASTRINGE GANISTER |
Account executive grasping cord to pull tight (8) | |
| AE (account executive) containing (grasping) STRING | |||
| 4d | OUTRAGE | [Relatively] atrocious act to argue violently (7) | R |
| TO ARGUE anagrammed (violently) | |||
| 5d | SEE | Look at [open] letter (3) | O |
| Two definitions, the second being the letter C | |||
| 6d | WEDELN | Abandoned [chance] to wager oddly missing decline in skiing action (6) | C |
| WED — an obsolete (abandoned) meaning of which is to wager — plus even letters of (oddly missing) [d]E[c]L[i]N[e] | |||
| 7d | ANON | Soon [knocking] support to fire missing director (4) | K |
| AN[dir]ON (support to fire) missing DIR (director) | |||
| 8d | NAVEL ELVAN |
Cut short leather over central point (5) | |
| LEVAN[t] (a kind of morocco leather) without the last letter (cut short), reversed (over) | |||
| 9d | QUANDARY | Heartless reality [instantly] following question and answer’s confusion (8) | I |
| R[ealit]Y without its central letters (heartless …) following QU (question) AND (and) A (answer) | |||
| 10d | STEDES | Helps for Ed’s horses if day’s [nutrition’s] moved earlier (6) | N |
| STEEDS (horses) if D (day) is moved earlier in the word. Stede is an obsolete Spenserian form (for Ed) of stead | |||
| 11d | CANN | Girl’s after [guard’s] compliance in navigating station (4) | G |
| ANN (girl) is after C (compliance, physics symbol) | |||
| 19d | BEING | [Rich] Edinburgh’s comfortable and good existence (5) | R |
| BEIN (Scottish word for comfortable) and G (good) | |||
| 20d | EYRA | Wildcat’s essential to prey [on] rats (4) | O |
| Contained in the centre of (essential to) prEY RAts | |||
| 21d | LOITERED DOLERITE |
Dawdled, tore idle asunder (8) | |
| TORE IDLE, anagrammed (asunder) | |||
| 22d | ARIL | Covering [championship] for seed, Rex gets into trouble (4) | C |
| R (Rex) goes inside (gets into) AIL (trouble) | |||
| 24d | STRIATUM | Sign of hesitation after abstract artist’s nerve centre [knocked] in brain (8) | K |
| UM (sign of hesitation) after an anagram of (abstract) ARTIST | |||
| 26d | BEANERY | One [parties] in drink-stained greasy spoon in Nashville (7) | P |
| AN (one) in BEERY (drink-stained) | |||
| 28d | RED-WOOD | [Lobster’s] mad to court in a salmon’s nest (7) | L |
| WOO (to court) in REDD (a salmon’s nest) | |||
| 29d | FAIRED | Cleared up [unjustified] resentment in passing fancy (6) | U |
| IRE (resentment) in FAD (passing fancy) | |||
| 30d | DOTTLE | Residue in [sewer] pipe’s dry in small portion (6) | S |
| TT (teetotal, dry) in DOLE (small portion) | |||
| 32d | FOVEA | Depression of Eva [Peron] faked (5) | P |
| OF EVA anagrammed (faked) | |||
| 34d | SPIT | Initially shallow grave [isn’t] a spade’s depth (4) | I |
| The first letter of (initially) Shallow + PIT (grave) | |||
| 36d | SCUT | Tail special constable before [vice] do (4) | V |
| SC (special constable) goes before UT (do, musical note) | |||
| 38d | AMIE | [Organised] soul in Paris concealing one mistress (4) | O |
| ÂME (soul in Paris, French word for a soul) containing (concealing) I (one) | |||
| 40d | CUR | [Tidal] current is a low one (3) | T |
| CUR (cur. Is an abbreviation for current, i.e. this month) | |||
Impressive graphics there, Ms Kitty! And a ‘rock solid’ blog…
A daunting jigsaw, which I nearly put aside in a busy week, but I persevered and my way in was TANGIER->GRANITE, having already got LOITERED, but not spotted the lack of additional word.
I eventually had CONSTABLES and SLOGANISED meaning that BEING had to connect them, and from there, as you say, it was all a case of luck, momentum and critical mass…although I am still a little disturbed by your analogy of ‘grains of sand in the bathing suit’…TMD?!
Great puzzle from Jacques – and educational to learn about the said stone…
Hello, mc_rapper1 (the top mc_rapper of all the mc_rappers I know). 🙂 The animation was fun to do. I’m glad you’re here as it is to you I owe thanks for that: I use the animator you told me about at one of the London S&Bs. So, thanks!
Apologies for the grains of sand. Popped into my head, and I couldn’t not say it! (Now that I’m more awake, I realise they could have been in a shoe. Oh well.)
One of these days I’ll get around to doing an EV that I’m not down to blog …