If Only, If Only … by Ifor
Down clues and entries are normal. All across answers must be modified in one of two ways, alternating row by row; numbers in brackets give the cells available. Their clues each contain an extra word capable of modification in one of the same two ways. Solvers must deduce a relevant three-word phrase, to be written under the grid. All modifications result in real words; one grid entry is part of a foreign-language phrase.
Well, let’s start with the DOWNs, shall we? A great many of them fell fairly easily whereas one or two hid their definitions and/or wordplay quite well.
With enough of them filled, it was time to start tackling the ACROSSes.
Often, when we see, “… must be modified …” it means that the answers have to go in backwards so that’s how I approached things at first, whilst wondering what the other method might be. Having extra words to contend with made things trickier, of course.
With many of its crossers in place, 23a was crying out to be ZAREEBA but I couldn’t quite make it work. Similarly, 20a wanted to be UTES but again, it was being stubborn.
Then I solved 14a, LABO[U]R which made me wonder if American spellings were coming in to play. The extra word is GUESTS, so I dutifuly wrote a G (its first letter) next to the clue.
Very soon after, I solved 15a LIMBO[U]S but that doesn’t fit in with the American idea. BUT they both lose a U – significant??
Of course it is, as I see that there are two answers in every row and that 16a and 17a both gain a B. Taking a bit of a wild stab, I “solve” 11a and 13a – both gaining an O.
Having given up on the idea that extra words in clues are going to spell anything meaningful, I decided to see if the displaced/inserted letters spell anything and _OUB, etc. looks promising. With this in mind, 1a and 8a soon fall, giving DOUB, which leads to DOUBLE OR QUITS. The letters from the odd-numbered rows are all removed from the original answer (QUIT) and the letters in the even rows are DOUBLEd.
As for the title, I’m not really sure. I wonder if it’s an allusion to the toss of a coin that can either make you or break you. What do others think?
What a grid! What a puzzle – many, many thanks to Ifor.
PS After seeing Serpent’s comment @2, I have updated things. Extra words in the twenty-six across clues, either lose or gain the appropriate letter of the alphabet. The losses/gains also alternate between – and +.
Even more impressive than I thought!
WOW!
| Across |
|||||
| Clue [extra/substitution] |
Dodgy letter | Entry |
Original |
Generated letter |
Wordplay |
| 1 Delay, as a [manAger/manger] called in sick (8) |
-A |
ALLIANCE | DALLIANCE | D |
A CALLED IN (anag: sick) |
| 8 [Noble/nobBle] duke objects to words of songs (3) |
+B |
ITS | DITS | Duke+ITS (objects) | |
| 11 Trump’s [Chosen/hosen] guy that is to guard golf trolley (6) |
-C |
BOOGIE | BOGIE | O |
BO (American guy)+IE (that is) around Golf |
| 13 I’ve become aware of [ladies/ladDies] completely occupying house (6) |
+D |
HALLOO | HALLO | ALL (completely) inside HOuse | |
| 14 [GuEsts/gusts] left party in a blur over dancing (5) |
-E |
LABOR | LABOUR | U |
A BLUR Over (anag: dancing) |
| 15 Overlapping length confused Mobius [aficionados/afFicionados] (6) |
+F |
LIMBOS | LIMBOUS | Length+MOBIUS (anag: confused) | |
| 16 [Gas/as] turning stomach with trash inside pipes (7) |
-G |
TUBBING | TUBING | B |
GUT (stomach; rev: turning) around BIN (trash) |
| 17 [Wahabi’s/wahHabi’s] cloak, part of drab apparel (4) |
+H |
ABBA | ABA | drAB Apparel (hidden: part of) | |
| 19 [PatIently/patently] felt active wriggling of unborn child (4) |
-I |
FETA | FETAL | L |
FELT+Active (anag: wriggling) |
| 20 [Haji/hajJi] stops half-hearted tussle after travelling (4) |
+J |
UTES | LUTES | TU[s]SLE (half-hearted; anag: after travelling) | |
| 22 Wise guy taken [abacK/abac] by questioners (5) |
-K |
ONEER | ONER | E |
questiONERs (hidden: taken by) |
| 23 Be back in hazard, unfenced and desperate for [paling/PalLing] stockade (7) |
+L |
ZAREEBA | ZAREBA | BE (rev) inside [h]AZAR[d] (unfenced; anag: desperate) | |
| 25 Juicy chapters, [sMoothly/soothly] sensuous without being crude (6) |
-M |
SUCCUS | SUCCOUS | O |
CC (chapters)+S[ens]OUS (minus ENS: being) anag: crude |
| 28 [Twinings’/twinNings] New Jersey tea brewed to order (6) |
+N |
RED ROT | REDROOT | TO ORDER (anag: brewed) | |
| 29 Succession [spOilt/spilt] heiress rotten after divorcing husband (7) |
-O |
SERRIES | SERIES | R |
[h]EIRESS (minus Husband; anag: rotten) |
| 32 Vessel’s weight [taped/tapPed] in recorded career (5) |
+P |
TARRE | TARE | Sounds like TEAR (career) | |
| 34 Contemptible fellow abandons origin to sell [Qat/at] to the West (4) |
-Q |
SUIT | SQUIT | Q |
QUITS (abandons) S (origin to Sell) moves to west end |
| 35 Squeezy bits? The prime parts for [siring/sirRing] Galloway heifers (4) |
+R |
UEYS | QUEYS | [s]QU[e]E[z]Y [bit]S (positions 2, 3, 5, 7, 11: prime numbers) | |
| 37 [Selectively/electively] reported one or other result (4) |
-S |
SUUM | SUM | U |
sounds like SOME (one or other) |
| 39 Former cricket writer anyone can see [later/latTer] in books (7) |
+T |
CARDUUS | CARDUS (never heard of him) |
CARDS (books) around U (anyone can see) | |
| 41 Conclude brief stroke limited [continuoUs/continuos] thinking ability (6) |
-U |
AMENTA | AMENTIA | I |
AMEN (conclude)+TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) I don’t classify TIA as a stroke – maybe a mini-stroke but not quite a CVA. |
| 42 Small vessel in Faslane [navy/navVy] base is positioned towards the port side (5) |
+V |
TASSE | TASSIE | E (base)+IS+SAT (positioned) rev: towards port | |
| 43 [DWindling/dindling] group of players content to leave names out (6) |
-W |
OCTETT | OCTET | T |
CO[n]TE[n]T (missing NN: names; anag: out) |
| 44 [Exon/ExXon] affected pattern after cropping vegetable (6) |
+X |
TATTER | TATER | [p]ATTER[n] (cropped; anag: affected) | |
| 45 [UnderlYing/underling] peace remains (3) | -Y |
RET | REST | S |
(double def) |
| 46 Fell race including very [razed/razZed] session over splits in glacier (8) |
+Z |
CREVASSE | CREVASSES | RACE+Very (anag: fell)+SESSion (rev: over) | |
| Down | Wordplay |
||||
| 1 Skilled gambler – not gamer, oddly (4) |
ABLE | [g]A[m]BLE[r] (missing odd letters of G[a]M[e[R] | |||
| 2 Small part of lung left over and turning blue (6) |
LOBULE | Left+Over+BLUE (anag: turning) | |||
| 3 Look from partner after lead is ignored (3) |
AIR | [p]AIR (partner) minus first letter | |||
| 4 Fruit remains not finished earlier (6) |
NELIES | LIES (remains) NE (not; obsolete: finished) is placed earlier | |||
| 5 Covering of hot zinc galvanised material (6) |
CHINTZ | H[o]T (covering of)+ZINC anag: galvanised | |||
| 6 Drums beat out extremes of rhythms to order (9) |
TABOURETS | BEAT OUT+R[hythm]S (extremes of) anag: to order | |||
| 7 Swollen and finally able to burst (7) |
BLOATED | [an]D (finally)+ABLE TO (anag: to burst) | |||
| 9 Rings lifted, perhaps, originally before vault (4) |
TOMB | I can’t see how this one works. I can see B[efore] (originally) but nuttin’ else. I thought that, maybe, MOT tests were identified by rings but it’s triangles. Totally different for NCT in Ireland. |
|||
| 10 Splash sorry tears around with trouble turning up (9, 2 words) |
SODA WATER | TEARS (anag: sorry) around With+ADO (trouble) rev: turning up | |||
| 12 Suckered fish turn aside (4) | GOBY | GO BY (turn aside) | |||
| 16 Right to position, not right to bearing (5) |
TENUE | TENU[r]E (right to position) minus Right | |||
| 18 Keeper in position caught shot before returning crosses (9) |
POSSESSOR | POSition+[c]ROSSES (without Caught; rev: returning) | |||
| 19 Some berries suit trifle without one being bothered (9) |
FRUITLETS | SUIT TR[i]FLE (without I; anag: being bothered) | |||
| 21 Free to lose head, turning ever more briefly (3) |
E’ER | [f]REE (minus head) rev: turning | |||
| 24 Committees overheard poet’s conversations (5) |
BORDS | Sounds like BOARDS (committees) | |||
| 26 Vintage car run in regular stages (3) |
CRU | C[a]R [r]U[n] (regularly) | |||
| 27 Blubber supporting skin of medium dark fur (7) |
CRIMMER | CRIER (blubber – one who blubs) around M[ediu]M (skin of) | |||
| 30 He puts down Easter riots (6) | SEATER | EASTER (anag: riots) | |||
| 31 Spin generally empty value (6) | GYRATE | G[enerall]Y (empty)+RATE (value) | |||
| 33 Stirs up sections both during and after defeat (6) |
ROUSTS | ROUT (defeat) containing Section and followed by Section | |||
| 36 Queen returning cross to rural spot (4) |
QUAT | Queen+TAU (cross; rev: returning) | |||
| 38 Handgun ceasing to carry weight for Lewis (4) |
UNCE | handgUN CEasing (hidden: to carry) | |||
| 40 Audible alarm sound from Barlinnie (4) |
FERE | Sounds like FEAR (alarm) | |||
| 42 Letter from abroad meant availability restricted (3) |
TAV | meanT AVailability (hidden: restricted) | |||
I did get many of the down clues for this one and a good handful of the across clues, but couldn’t work out what the modifications to them would be. Having two sets of these modifications was a bridge too far and the extra complication of the extra word meant that I gave up after one sitting.
Ifor has achieved something rather more spectacular with the extra words in the 26 across clues: letters that may be added or lost are in alphabetical order, A to Z. Hugely impressive grid-fill and clues. Thanks, Ifor.
The title is If(or) only… I.e. 2x ‘or’ quite. At least, that was my take on it.
Sorry for the typo, quits not quite.
Very impressive construction Ifor, thank you.
A very good puzzle that I found to be reasonably challenging. At the close it took working out what the phrase must be to complete the grid, which is certainly doing things backwards but is sometimes the only way I mange to crack an Inquisitor.
Serpent @2
Wow! How did you notice that? I see it now and, of course, I realise that I have some of them wrong.
I have updated the blog, accordingly.
Jon_S @5
MANGE?? Deliberate or a sort of Freudian Slip??
A trademark of Ifor’s puzzles is that they are difficult, but also entertaining and never a slog. This was no exception. Brilliant.
I agree with Kippax about the title.
@kenmac @7 Whoops! 🙂
Yes, very impressive.
It stayed surprisingly hard even when you knew what was going on. Maybe mostly because of the additional words. I failed to spot the alphabetical business, because I had the wrong additional word in the third clue.
Thanks to Phi and kenmac.
When we see Ifor’s name on a puzzle we know we are in for a treat and this was no exception – everything we like about the IQ puzzles.
We agree with Kippax about the title. We completely missed the fact that the letters were in alphabetical order so thanks to Serpent for spotting that.
Thanks kenmac for the blog.
Ifor – Thanks so much for another great puzzle to brighten up our weekend.
Fabulous puzzle! A great idea expertly executed. I noticed the extra word modifications were in alphabetical order and this helped spot the words that had to be omitted. This greatly helped solving the clues.
I am still at bit confused by title. Someone is going to have to explain it to me in simple words.
A big thanks to thanks to Ifor and kenmac.
Clever and very fun. I did notice the alphabetical modifications of words (I think it was the combination of qat/at and exon/Exxon that put me on to it), which helped tie up almost all the loose ends. The parsing of 9d, TOMB, still niggles at me though – I was hoping someone would have explained it.
PeeDee @12, I read the title like this: Ifor without the or is If, so when ‘or quits’ Ifor it’s If only. Write it twice and ‘double or quits’.
OPatrick @ 13
TOM is the name for a large bell (something which ‘rings’), usually in a bell tower so ‘lifted’, followed by B[efore] (originally before).
When I first read the title, the poem that begins with those very words popped into my head and refused to leave until I’d verified that, yes, I was remembering correctly, it came from Holes and so probably wasn’t what’s being referenced. When the first penny dropped courtesy wahabi and AB(B)A, another thought came to me – in logic, iff is used as shorthand for “if and only if” (I learnt it at uni, but it’s also in Chambers), which is just IF with a double F. This made enough sense that I never really questioned the title again, but I do like the idea of the ORs leaving IFOR IFOR too – maybe the iff connection was complete coincidence!
As for 9d, my best guess is that “rings lifted, perhaps” = TOM as in a bell, which is indeed a lifted item that rings. Suffice to say that that didn’t go in until I had all its crossers…
There’s nothing much more to say that hasn’t already been said – I noticed the alphabetical nature of the letters in the extra words because, having been told that I would have to “deduce” a message, I was keeping track of everything that could possibly form it, and that filled me with a degree of awe at the construction that stayed with me until the very end. To my mind, the Q and U rows were especially impressive, so kudos to Ifor!
Gaufrid (and Panthera) – thanks, I’m just about convinced. I think I considered TOM being a synonym for a bell, but couldn’t see how the clue worked, perhaps assuming that it would have to be a plural, as in many rings (=bells) lifted, rather than a lifted thing that rings. Yup, I’m definitely there with it now.
Am I alone in feeling slightly disappointed by this puzzle? I managed to solve it and deduce the required phrase without ever fully identifying the extra words in the across clues, much less realising that their modifications were in alphabetical order. My problem was that the instructions referred to the extra word being capable of modification in one of the same two ways. At first I thought that this must mean that the same letter as in the answer would have to be added or subtracted, but that proved swiftly not to be the case. Once that was established, there was little incentive to identify the extra words. Furthermore, although the instructions referred to “extra” words, many are in fact integral to the surface reading of the clue (e.g. 1 ac, which makes no sense without the extra word).
OPatrick @13 – Thanks. I sort of get it now, but it still seems a bit woolly to me.
Really enjoyed this, very impressed by the grid and the alphabetical pattern in the superfluous words.
As always, my thanks to blogger and commenters, especially those who elucidated sundry issues. You’ve all been charitable enough to ignore the fact that both sequences start with a quit rather than a double, presumably recognising that the reverse would impossibly require three (non-existent) QQ-words, two in the grid. I can confirm the interpretation of the (rather self-indulgent) title.
Bridgesong – I take your point to some extent. Maybe “superfluous” rather than extra is preferable. In more general terms my view is that once a clue is modified it is then a coded instruction in which the operand (“a called in” in the example you give) becomes a letter-string without meaning but assumed nounal; the only requirement is then that the normal rules of cryptic grammar then apply.
I don’t think the editor would have passed TOM = bell = “rings (when) lifted”, ingenious though it is. Chambers will confirm TOMFOOLERY = TOM = Jewellery, often stolen = rings, lifted perhaps.
Ifor
Ifor
Thanks for your considered response to my post. I’ll bear it in mind when approaching similar puzzles in future!
This helped pass the time whilst I was travelling by marshrutka from the Black Sea to Tbilisi – few aids so I’m glad the puzzle wasn’t very difficult. But so elegant …
Not sure if I got the wordplay for TOM(foolery) as I couldn’t take my usual notes – all I had was a small iPhone and a grid transcribed onto squared paper in a filofax.
Anyway, thanks to Ifor for another marvelous offering, and to kenmac for the blog.