In memory of Schadenfreude … so, will #1700 be set by just PINK?
Preamble: Entries clash in four cells, to be filled digitally. Two other answers must each have a set of three non-consecutive letters removed to form the non-word entry. In each of the other 30 clues solvers must find the first appearance of any one of the set of three. Reading in clue order either the letter preceding or that following this letter (in the same or an adjacent word) gives two instructions explaining how to treat the clash cells. A phrase (5, 7) suggested by this treatment must be written under the grid. Apart from the two shortened entries, the final grid contains real words; numbers in brackets count the cells available.
1600 … hmm, that equals 40²; a phrase under the grid (5, 7) … that’s also FORTY SQUARED. Oh dear, have I reached the end before I’ve even started? Maybe – let’s see.
A smattering of answers go in during the first pass. It feels that there is little rhythm to the clues, probably owing to the variety of styles of the setters. After some while I write in 36a SALIVARY, obliquely defined by “slavery” with a short “a” – nice one – quickly followed by 27d MAR[TY]R – OK, so the nature of the clashes is not single letters. PER[FOR]M at 34a follows swiftly, and the clashes resolve to 40.
A bit later I get 28a THRIVINGLY whose G is enough to lead me to 6d [M]ETHO[D]OLOGI[C]AL, adulterated by removing MDC = 1600 in Roman numerals. The intersection of 8a A[X]IS with 9d seemed likely to produce XL = 40, and so it proved, the answer being [L]AROID. There’s 5d PRE[M]E[D]I[C]ATIONS as the other adulterated answer, and another clash occurs between 11a F[ORTY]ISH and 2d A[F]IRE. (I didn’t like “in” being used as a clue for “alight” when I first came across it, and I don’t particularly like it now – pet hate.) Symmetry led me to expect the final clash to be at the intersection of 21d & 35a – I thought it would be another XL but it turned out to be BE[FO]G & MORIA[RTY].
I probably put the puzzle away for the day as I couldn’t immediately face the trawl through the clues, hunting for M’s, D’s and C’s. When I got round to it, it didn’t take too long to find the instructions explaining how to treat the cells with clashes: BAR EACH OFF, CONNECT WITH FOUR LINES. Having followed them, I did a quick check for real words: clockwise from top left we have ISH & IRE, IS & AROID, PER & MAR, and BE & MORIA; and then wrote FORTY SQUARED under the grid, which is where I came in.
Finally, a little musing on the title, 4G … A quick check of obscure Roman numerals tells me that G is 400, and the interpretation of 4×400 indicating 1600 satisfied me. Thanks SPINK for a very accessible puzzle. And it’s a little sad …
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Entry | Wordplay |
| 1 | Gall shown by one of Bathsheba’s lovers apparently last in queue after Lambert (8, 2 words) | OAK APPLE | OAK (one of Bathsheba’s lovers, ref: Gabriel O., Far from the Madding Crowd) APP(arently) (queu)E after L(ambert) |
| 8 | Alliance accepted by retired cardinal (4) | A[X]IS | A(ccepted) SIX< (cardinal) |
| 11 | Chequered life history yields lie about middle age? (5) | F[ORTY]ISH | [LIFE HISTORY]* ¬LIE |
| 12 | Not the first to hamper judge (4) | RATE | (c)RATE (hamper) |
| 13 | Noisily perform song of old published by director (4) | RAND | RAN (published) D(irector) |
| 14 | Antiquated song is suitable, with some doubling of parts (4) | FITT | FIT (suitable) with double T |
| 15 | I have it each-way, but odds have been cut (3) | AHA | (e)A(c)H (w)A(y) – nice clue |
| 17 | Harpoon etc contaminated marine organisms (10) | CTENOPHORA | [HARPOON ETC]* |
| 18 | Australian leaves inner chamber with stripped bow instrument (5) | CELLO | CELLA (inner chamber) ¬ A(ustralian) (b)O(w) |
| 19 | Confusion left after singular story (5) | SPIEL | PIE (confusion) L(eft) after S(ingular) |
| 21 | Set off on road from London, not being match-fit? (9) | MISALLIED | SALLIED (set off) after M1 (road from London) |
| 23 | Exotic fruit plants soon taken to America (5) | ANONA | ANON (soon) A(merica) |
| 25 | Large yard contains nothing in the morning like brickclay (5) | LOAMY | L(arge) Y(ard) around 0 (nothing) AM (in the morning) |
| 28 | Thrilling to welcome staff experts I see promising continued growth? (10) | THRIVINGLY | TINGLY (thrilling) around HR (human resources, staff experts) I V (vide, see) |
| 30 | On cycle, I left in poetic style (3) | GOE | EGO (I) with letters cycled |
| 31 | Spurrey and milfoil polled cow ignored (4) | YARR | YARROW (milfoil) ¬ (c)OW |
| 32 | Special girlfriend’s overcome waste of mine (4) | SLAG | S(pecial) GAL< (girlfriend) |
| 33 | Historic corner-post: question leaving amounts here (4) | ANTA | QUANTA (amounts) ¬ QU(estion) |
| 34 | Do for punching a Master (5) | PER[FOR]M | FOR in PER (a) M(aster) |
| 35 | Dim English fellow taken in by preposterous US sailor (4) | BE[FO]G | E(nglish) F(ellow) in GOB< (sailor, US) |
| 36 | 1000 quitting irregular Islam transform slavery (8) | SALIVARY | [ISLAM]* ¬ M (thousand) VARY (transform) |
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Entry | Wordplay |
| 1 | Soured with spies probing Italian, European is to take charge (9) | OFFICIATE | OFF (soured) CIA (spies) in IT(alian) E(uropean) |
| 2 | In a tree, close to catastrophe (5) | A[F]IRE | A FIR (tree) (catastroph)E |
| 3 | It appears in Biblical book, cut down after springing up? A palm-tree (5) | KITUL | IT in LUK(e)< (Biblical book) |
| 4 | Stern-looking soprano taking violent pictures (6) | PHOTOS | SOP(rano)< around HOT (violent) |
| 5 | Types of drug will see me involved in claims, perhaps … (11) | PRE[M]E[D]I[C]ATIONS | ME in PREDICTIONS (claims) |
| 6 | …suspect claim describing good hotel in a bad way is using the system (11) | [M]ETHO[D]OLOGI[C]AL | [CLAIM]* around [GOOD HOTEL]* |
| 7 | Shape changes a lot (5) | HEAPS | [SHAPE]* |
| 8 | Top lifted from sinister coffer (3) | ARK | (d)ARK (sinister) |
| 9 | Picked up golden colour in face of seabirds (6) | [L]AROID | OR (golden colour) in DIAL (face) all< |
| 10 | Constitutional note one placed over warning signal (6) | INBRED | NB (note) after I (one) RED (warning signal) |
| 15 | Oily liquid underneath cuckoo’s front (7) | ANILINE | ANI (cuckoo) LINE (front) |
| 16 | Host supports crack religious organisation (9, 2 words) | SALLY ARMY | ARMY (host) after SALLY (witty remark, crack) |
| 20 | Take in the air of old pub with a modicum of heavy beer (6) | INHALE | IN (pub, obs) H(eavy) ALE (beer) |
| 21 | People seeking opinions on cultured Professor of Literature (6) | MORIA[RTY] | MORI (people seeking opinions) ARTY (cultured) {ref: Sherlock Holmes} |
| 22 | Tree from India I draw after climbing half of it (6) | ILLUPI | I PULL< (draw) I(t) |
| 24 | Orlando’s fuel volume used to feed ranges (5) | AVGAS | V(olume) in AGAS (ranges) |
| 26 | Tree farmer half cut down is surrounded by jagged rock (5) | AFARA | FAR(mer) in AA (jagged rock) |
| 27 | One suffers two ways of travelling back (5) | MAR[TY]R | R(ailwa)Y TRAM (two ways of travelling) all< |
| 29 | Schwarzenegger pockets a bomb (3) | EGG | (Schwarzen)EGG(er) |
|
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A good puzzle, and a fitting tribute to Schadenfreude – nice to see the mention in the editorial too.
I was expecting to find clashes leading to FORTY in the NE corner too, even though AXIS was never going to be anything else. My square looks a little different to yours, but as the instruction only said to join with four lines, and not how, I’m going to claim mine is correct as well. 🙂
I got the “XL” clash in the NE corner first, so I thought the other clashes would be the same. I wrote down all the possible letters in the instructions and I thought the 2nd instruction was “connect with four ninas”.
An enjoyable puzzle. I seem to remember being a bit baffled by it all, but possibly because I’d assumed Fortyish was the other word that needed three consecutive letters removing, along with Methodological, thinking that the clashes were going to be single letters. Looking for letters either side of T, I and O unsurprisingly gave gibberish, however I tried to select the pairs.
I particularly enjoyed SALIVARY, having not enjoyed it for quite a while.
It’s a measure of how high the standard of setting is that I felt a tiny twinge of discontent at the asymmetrical three ‘FORTY’s and one ‘XL’.
Thanks to both SPINK and HG.
I thought that this was an excellent puzzle and a fitting tribuite to Schadenfreude. I wonder if it was he who did the grid construction on behalf of the team? Like OPatrick@3 I too thought FORTYISH was one of the words needing three letters removing. “Non consecutive” in the preamble after another read eventually eliminated this possibility. I missed the significance of MDC (1600 in roman numerals) and of 4G until Holy Ghost pointed them out in his blog. Mental note to self; must continue to nag away at these little unresolved points even when the grid and end game is complete. Another thought to keep in mind for the future, clashes are an opportunity for all sorts of setting mischief, not just single letters. IQ 1592, the PACMAN crossword, was another recent example. All in all a really satisfying crossword.
I filled the grid (apart from 9dn which I couldn’t solve) but then failed again on the end game. I wasn’t aware that this was puzzle number 1600 and mistakenly assumed that the numbers appearing in the grid would be something to do with John Harrington/Schadenfreude. I seemed to me that there could be two possibilities for the three letters: MDI or MDC. The MDI combination made no obvious words when applied to the clues but I later thought of the MDC option which gave some possibilities for words though without understanding the theme they didn’t mean much to me. I also mistakenly assumed that MDI/MDC would form another number (as a Roman numeral) and mean something related to Schadenfreude.
I only have myself to blame as I usually work on a home-made computer printout of the puzzle. I have an online subscription to the paper and make a hard copy by cut-and-pasting the grid/clues/instructions into a document that I can then enlarge to a size I can actually read. In the process the surrounding logos and other chaff get lost. For two weeks running the key to solving the puzzle has been in the red circle logo in the top-left corner.
Thanks SPINK for an entertaining puzzle and to HG for explaining it all.
I also spent a long time trying to work out a connection between the four 40s and Schadenfreude as I assumed from the message under the title that there was some sort of tribute in the puzzle, not realising that he was part of SPINK. A great puzzle nonetheless
HG – out of interest what is annoying about using “in” for “alight”? I have memories of people who would “put slack on the fire to keep it in overnight”. When I met my wife she had a Raeburn and keeping the fire in overnight meant a warm breakfast next morning. These days most people have gas, but I don’t think the meaning is obsolete yet.
I mean Rayburn not Raeburn.
Nothing to add really. All thanks to SPINK and HG. Enjoyed. Still very sad that the great Schadenfreude has gone, though pleased that (as noted at @1) there was a tribute in the editorial.
Having noticed FORTY breaking three ways as F/ORTY, FO/RTY and FOR/TY, I spent some time trying to torture the NE corner clues to yield FORT/Y, and was suitably chastened on finally seeing XL.
Still haven’t adjusted my body clock to look for the IQ post on Tuesdays; but at least this month I managed to date a cheque with 2019 instead of 2018, so there’s hope for the future.
Just about the same comments as David Langford apart from the cheque signing.
A fitting tribute to Schadenfreude who is sadly missed.
Thanks to SPINK with very fond memories of S. Thanks also to HolyGhost.