Inquisitor 1601: Terse by Chalicea

Chalicea’s name appears often as an Inquisitor setter.  I last blogged one of her puzzles in March this year.

 

 

 

The preamble was short (in line with the title; Terse) and stated: The wordplay for every clue leads to the answer plus an extra letter.  Read in clue order, the extra letters give an instruction.

I got off to a reasonably quick start on this and I suspect I wasn’t the only solver who confidently wrote in ROSE at 19 across on the first pass through, only to change it later on as the crossers clashed.

When you are looking for messages, there are some words that cry out when you only have a few letters.  COLOUR is one of them.  FOUR and WORDS were also deducible quite easily with only half the letters. The words CALDWELL’S and PLATYPUS were less obvious.  Deducing the message before solving all the clues helps identify the missing extra letters.  In the end the full message from the extra letters was:

COLOUR FOUR WORDS OF CALDWELL’S PLATYPUS TELEGRAM

It was a simple bit of research to track down the terse wording of the telegram and learn that he sent the message MONOTREMES OVIPAROUS OVUM MEROBLASTIC.  William Hay CALDWELL [1859 – 1941] was a very cost conscious scientist and well aware that the cost of telegrams often related to the number of words sent. The message translates as ‘monotremes lay eggs, and the eggs are similar to those of reptiles in that only part of the egg divides as it develops’

The four words of the telegram can be found in rows 3, 5, 7 and 9 of the grid and are highlighted in the image below.

The clues were not too difficult to solve. I solved the puzzle in two sittings.  The joy of the Inquisitor is the mix of difficulty and styles.  My previous blog was the puzzle by Wan which was very challenging and the two others since my previous Chalicea were somewhere in between in terms of difficulty.

There won’t be many crosswords containing a single word entry with three consecutive Ss as in HOSTESS-SHIP at 9 down.  As far as I can see, single words with three Ss are hyphenated.

The filled grid looked like this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The title, TERSE is self explanatory given the shortness of the telegram

Across
No.

Clue

Wordplay Letter Entry
1 Text message after ultimately painless stylish split-ups (7)

S (last letter of [ultimately] PAINLESS) + CHIC (stylish) + SMS (short message service, a service for sending text messages)

S CHI SMS

C

SCHISMS (breaks , especially in unity of a church; split-ups
6 Knockout since foremost of boxers augmented heavyweights in citadel area (6)

KO (knockout) + AS (because; since) + BAH (first letters of [foremost of] each of BOXERS, AUGMENTED and HEAVYWEIGHT)

K AS BAH

O

KASBAH (castle or fortress [citadel] in a North African town or the area round it)

10 11th US President emptied every US jail (5)

POLK (reference James POLK [1795 – 1849], 11th President of the United States) + EY (EVERY excluding the central letters [emptied] VER)

POK EY

L

POKEY (United States informal term for a jail)
11 Ordinary fellow experienced bit of success in fervent campaigns for cause (6)

JOE (an ordinary fellow) + HAD (experienced) + S (first letter of [bit of] SUCCESS)

JE HAD S

O

JEHADS (fervent campaigns [for a cause]; alternative spelling of JIHADS)
13 Moldovan currency unit, money old and new for fruit (5)

LEU (unit of currency in Moldova) + M (money, as used in categories of money supply, M0, M1 etc) + O (old) + N (new)

LE M O N

U

LEMON (fruit)
15 With foremost of sons absent, French gentlemen briefly bungle (4)

MESSRS (Messieurs, French gentlemen) excluding the final letter (briefly) S

MESS

R

MESS (bungle)
16 Tart‘s frisky baffling, big tumbling excluded (4)

Anagram of (frisky) BAFFLING excluding (excluded) an anagram of (tumbling) BIG

FLAN*

F

FLAN (flat open tart filled with a sweet or savoury mixture)
17 From when food mostly makes a comeback (4, 2 words)

AS (when) + FOOD (excluding the final letter (mostly) D reversed (makes a comeback)

AS OF<

O

AS OF (from [a specified time[)  I suppose the definition could be ‘from when’, but I reckon ‘when’ is part of the wordplay
18 Permission to be away for a night in sailor outfits (5)

AB (able seaman; sailor) + SUIT (a number of articles of clothing made to be worn together; outfits)

AB SIT

U

ABSIT (leave to pass one night away from college)

19 Circulating gorse plant (4)

Anagram of (circulating) GORSE

SEGO*

R

SEGO ( showy liliaceous plant)

22 Call forth situation of conflict on northern river (6)

WAR (situation of conflict) + OUSE (river in the north of England)

AR OUSE

W

AROUSE (evoke; call forth)
23 Own up to swindles involving enemies (7)

CONS (swindles) containing (involving) FOES (enemies)

CON (FES) S

O

CONFESS (own up to)
26 Nobel prize-winner‘s PA with volume and verse about incomplete lore (6)

PA + ([V {volume} + V {verse}] containing [about] LORE excluding the final letter [incomplete] E)

PA V (LO) V

R

PAVLOV (reference Ivan PAVLOV [1849 – 1936], Russian physiologist who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1904)
28 Sound of disapproval of concealed gutless sins (4)

HID (concealed) + SS (letters remaining in SINS when the central letters, IN, are removed [gutless])

HI SS

D

HISS (sound of disapproval)
29 Pretentious fraud prosecutes in retrospect within police department (5)

SUES (prosecutes at low) reversed (in retrospect) contained in (within) PD (Police Department)

P (SEU)< D

S

PSEUD (pretentious fraud)
30 Accepted segmental division of brain even if no longer in use (4)

A (accepted) + LOBE (a division of the brain)

A LBE

O

ALBE (archaic [no longer in use] word for albeit; even if)

32 Purposes of electrical safety devices (4)

FUSES (electrical safety devices)

USES

F

USES (purposes)
33 One who arrives for period between Passover and Pentecost (4)

COMER (one who arrives)

OMER

C

OMER (the seven-week period between the second day of Passover and the first day of Shavuoth [Pentecost], at the start of which an OMER [alternative meaning as a Hebrew dry measure] of grain or sheaf of corn is offered as a sacrifice.

34 Church pursuing Indian funeral custom in line of verse (5)

SATI (suttee [an Indian widow who burned herself on her husband’s funeral pyre; the Hindu custom of so doing) + CH (church)

STI CH

A

STICH (a line of verse)
35 Regularly jumpily, groper with hint of sleaziness moves upwards (6)

UPLGOE (letters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12  [regularly] of JUMPILY GROPER) + S (first letter of [hint of] SLEAZINESS)

UPGOE S

L

UPGOES (moves upwards)
36 Taste of lively dance cut short in Slovakia (5)

Anagram of (lively) DANCE excluding the final letter (cut short) E contained in (in) SK (International Vehicle Registration for Slovakia)

S (NAC*) K

D

SNACK (taste)
37 Casual wear of thirty, almost going round south-west (6)

THIRTY excluding the final letter (almost) Y containing (going round) SW (south west)

T (S) HIRT

W

T-SHIRT (example of casual wear)
38 Following second letter bizarrely keeps straw insect home (7, 2 words)

BEE (the letter B, the second letter of the alphabet) + an anagram of (bizarrely) KEEPS

BEE SKEP*

E

BEE SKEP (a beehive, properly of straw; straw insect home)

Down

1 Promote sale of strong drink (fortified wine) for autarky (11)

SELL (promote) + F (forte; the strong part) + SUP (drink) + PORT (a fortified wine)

SEL F SUP PORT

L

SELFSUPPORT (autarky [self sufficiency])
2 Acknowledgement of superiority of rich, flat land over time (6)

HOLM (rich flat land beside a river) + AGE (time)

HOM AGE

L

HOMAGE (anything done or rendered as an acknowledgement of superiority)

3 Symbol of hapless pinkos, lacking power (4)

Anagram of (hapless) PINKOS excluding (lacking) P (power)

IKON*

S

IKON (picture or symbol in a graphic display)
4 Lengths of wall put up for army (4)

PANES (lengths of walls) reversed (put up; down clue)

SENA<

P

SENA (in India, an army, especially used of paramilitary political organizations representing various castes)

5 Extremes of misery on mostly failing to keep muscle protein (6)

MY (first and last letters of [extremes] MISERY) + LOSING (failing to keep) excluding the final letter (mostly) G

MY OSIN

L

MYOSIN (a protein that contributes to the process of contraction in muscles)

6 Eccentric turning over single layer of cut turf (4)

FREAK (eccentric) reversed (turning over)

KERF<

A

KERF (single layer of hay, turf, etc cut)

7 Type of wrestling – combatants miserably dropping sadly can’t (5)

Anagram of (miserably) COMBATANTS excluding (dropping) an anagram of (sadly) CAN’T

SAMBO*

T

SAMBO (form of wrestling using judo techniques)

8 A person considered effeminate turning up on time with touch of spirit lends a hand (7)

A + SISSY (cissy [effeminate man] reversed (turning up; down clue) + T (time) + S (first letter of [touch of] SPIRIT)

A SSIS< T S

Y

ASSISTS (lends a hand)
9 Quality of female entertainer, she principally handles pisspots surprisingly (11)

Anagram of (surprisingly) SHE and H (first letter of [principally] HANDLES) and PISSPOTS

HOSTESSSHIP*

P

HOSTESSSHIP (quality of female entertainer)
12 Clamour over arrestee oddly found in funeral wagon (6)

HUE (clamour) + ARSE (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [oddly] of ARRESTEE)

HE ARSE

U

HEARSE (funeral wagon)
14 Halt! Complete! Almost brimming over according to Will (7)

STOP (halt) + FULL (complete)

TOP FULL

S

TOPFULL (Shakespearean [Will] word for ‘filled to the top or brim’; almost brimming over)
20 Renaissance scholar‘s what shouldn’t be missed after periods of time(7)

ERAS (periods of time) + MUST (something that shouldn’t be missed, as in it’s a MUST)

ERAS MUS

T

ERASMUS (reference Desiderius ERASMUS [1466 – 1536], Dutch Christian humanist who is widely considered to have been the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance)

21 Dispensing with limits avow god’s son does magic (6)

VO (central letters of AVOW after removing the outer letters [dispensing with limits] AW) + OD (central letters of GOD‘S after removing the outer letters [dispensing with limits] GS) + O (central letter of SON after removing the outer letters [dispensing with limits] SN) + OE  (central letters of DOES after removing the outer letters [dispensing with limits] DS)

VO OD O O

E

VOODOO (any form of magic)
24 Bring down lunar module on place that is centre of operations (6)

LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) + BASE (place that is centre of operations)

EM BASE

L

EMBASE (lower or bring down)
25 Restrict unhealthy cough in Shakespeare’s Globe  (6)

TIE (restrict) + SICK (unhealthy)

TI SICK

E

TISICK (Shakespearean [reference Globe theatre] word for a cough)
27 Disease of endless slurs on pop group performance (5)

SLURS excluding the first and final letters (endlessly) S and S + GIG (pop group performance)

LUR GI

G

LURGI (non-specific disease)
30 Incite to commit offence, removing head from tropical bird (4)

BARBET (tropical bird with bristly beak) excluding the first letter (removing head from) B

ABET

R

ABET (incite by encouragement to commit an offence)
31 Slave‘s rest from work around noon (4)

EASE (rest from work) containing (around) N (noon)

ES (N) E

A

ESNE (domestic slave in Anglo-Saxon times)

32 After expression of hesitation sat up for end of festival (4)

UM (expression used by speakers when momentarily hesitating or in doubt) + SAT reversed (up; down clue)

U TAS<

M

UTAS (the octave [the last day of eight beginning with a church festival] of a festival)

10 comments on “Inquisitor 1601: Terse by Chalicea”

  1. Yes, a welcome change of pace, and Chalicea’s offerings are of course always enjoyable. I had a brief moment of doubt on putting the letters together for the instruction when I reached the sender of the telegram and the beast in question, the combination together looking unlikely until I put the spaces in the right place, but elsewhere there were few if any issues. Phew.

  2. Agreed Jon_S. I had not heard of Mr Caldwell but the internet research required was not demanding, so a welcome balance from some previous puzzles where I complete the grid but rapidly lose interest when the research time threatens to take longer.

    An enjoyable solve. Thanks to Chalicea and Duncan.

  3. My favoured style of puzzle is one where, if the theme is an unfamiliar subject, it is an interesting one which can easily be verified without testing one’s internet skills. The endgame should be a final step to confirm the theme, rather than a process that takes ten times as long as solving the clues. The clues should be fair and challenging without being so convoluted or obscure that all the fun goes out of them.

    This puzzle fulfilled all those requirements. Chalicea’s puzzles – IQ, Listener and EV – always do. That’s why she’s one of my favourite setters, I guess!

  4. This was indeed a crossword rather than a Google search game. Very pleasant and a relief to be able to completely finish for a change!

    Thank you Chalicea and Duncan.

  5. I think that duncanshiell summed things up perfectly in his comment that ‘The joy of the Inquisitor is the mix of difficulty and styles”. It was pleasant to have a weekend with a straightforward set of clues and an equally straight forward end game. But I have to say that I felt a little let down at just how quickly the puzzle was finished. If they were all as untaxing as this then I fear that they would lose the very essence of their attraction. The very best IQ puzzles involve a seriously testing solve and an equally testing problem solving requirement with a satisfying PDM or two. Often this can involve very little, if any, internet searching. Equally if the reward for some fairly detailed searching is a brilliant denouement then I, for one, feel that It is worth it.

  6. Mang, thanks so much for your post. Much of what you said echoed my feelings about this puzzle, but I was reluctant to comment as the earlier posters were all  so appreciative and enthusiastic. This is not to belittle the puzzle in any way – it was well-crafted and had an interesting theme – but I’m sure a few solvers  would have preferred something a little more challenging. When tackling puzzles and when reading crosswords blogs, I always remind myself that tastes vary.

     

    Thanks for the blog, duncanshiell.

  7. I agree with Mang@5 and Caran@6. We need a variety of puzzles to meet different tastes, and this one was interesting, fair and polished. But if the endgame were always as straightforward as here the attraction of the Inquisitor brand would – for myself – be significantly reduced.

    Many thanks to Chalicea and Duncanshiell.

  8. I concur with those @5, 6 & 7: just one not very long session and I was done, held up only briefly by 38a BEE-SKEP being hyphenated in my dictionary, as opposed to 2 words.

    Nevertheless, thanks Chalicea and Duncan. (Sorry I’m late – been very busy getting exam results out.)

  9. Many thanks to Duncan and all.  I am in the school that feels that actually solving the clues and completing the grid should be the solver’s main task, not a long, head-scratching struggle to suss the endgame. I do recognise that there was very little Internet searching to do to learn about Caldwell’s terseness – if he was new to you. My apologies to those who found the puzzle too easy but I know John likes to balance the very tough ones with a crossword that can be solved with more ease and mine will always be that, here and elsewhere.

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