This will be the fourth out of seven Inquisitor puzzles from eXtent that I’ve blogged – the previous one was around the time of the first Brexit deadline.
Preamble: In accordance with the theme, 11 clues contain a letter that must be removed before solving. Having completed the grid, solvers must change the central unclued entry, highlight a relevant body (13, 3 words) and outline when the change was introduced (7 cells) using the replacement entry’s approximate shape.
As it turns out, after The Beatles & Abbey Road then Monty Python, we have yet another fiftieth anniversary.
Started very late on Saturday and managed only very few of the across answers on the first pass, but had more success with the down clues, including two or three of the ‘specials’, in each case removing an S. On Sunday morning, a brief return to the across clues and then the downs resulted in more solutions, again with the removal of an S here and there – most well-hidden, but a few quite easy to spot. (Brief because I had promised to re-alphabetise the books on the dozen or so yards of shelving in my partner’s study – the order had gone somewhat awry.)
I decided to grant myself an uninterrupted session after lunch, and by mid-afternoon I had completed the grid (apart from the thematic central unclued entry), found 10 clues where an S was redundant, and was scratching my head over an unresolved 35a Measure ant with chart (4).
Turning to the theme, I looked for the ‘relevant body’ and quickly found BANK OF ENGLAND in the top row, and saw that TEN SHILLING NOTE would fit neatly across the middle row. From there, it wasn’t much of a leap to test a CHANGE of that to FIFTY PENCE PIECE, noting that PENNY instead of PENCE wouldn’t work because SPUY for 16d isn’t a word but SPUE is.
Where’s the other clue with a redundant S and why 11 instead of 10? And there’s that niggling 35a to sort out. Time to go out and pick the last of the blackberries before the sun gets too low, and have a think.
Back home forty minutes later with a modest amount of fruit, it comes to me – the final letter to remove isn’t another S (for Shilling) but an N (for Note), with “ant” becoming “at” in 35a. Two birds, one stone comes to mind. A quick check reveals that the heptagonal 50p coin was introduced on 14-Oct-1969 and that provides the date we need to find in the grid. Pretty clearly not the whole date – there are only 7 cells involved – and since I’d noticed a cluster of roman numerals centrally located at or near the bottom of the grid it seemed natural to convert just the year … and out pops MCMLXIX.
Thanks eXtent – most enjoyable, lots to like, not too arduous once I got going, but not a stroll. It gave me enough time before dinner to embark on blackberry and pear compote with a hint of vanilla – mmm, very tasty.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue [✗] | ✗ | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | Raise barrier and make Britain’s borders unstable (6) | EMBANK | [MAKE B(ritai)N]* | |
| 6 | Offender smuggles Oriental piece of little value (3) | FEN | (of)FEN(der) | |
| 8 | Good win by opponents bearing fruit (7) | GLANDES | G(ood) LAND (win) ES (opponents, East & South in bridge) | |
| 14 | Boa[s]t of doctor with new treatment for greed (7) | S | DREDGER | DR (doctor) [GREED]* |
| 15 | Something that happens when entering church (4) | CASE | AS (when) in CE (church) | |
| 17 | Train that changes tracks (5) | POINT | double definition (train, aim) | |
| 18 | Blur sing number live – Roy Orbison’s Crying (9) | SNIVELING | [SING N(umber) LIVE]* {US spelling} | |
| 21 | Experimental German band cover North American ballad (9) | CANTILENA | CAN (experimental …) TILE (cover) NA (North American) | |
| 23 | Car damage reduced by parking instrument (8) | AUTOHARP | AUTO (car) HAR(m) (damage) P(arking) | |
| 24 | See preamble (15, 3 words) | |||
| 27 | Strange tale about returning du[s]ty edition of four texts (8) | S | TETRAPLA | [TALE]* around PART< (duty) |
| 32 | Removing sovereign ring in river (9, 2 words) | TAKING OFF | KING (sovereign) O (ring) in TAFF (river) | |
| 37 | Million new coins to secure person ostentatious property (9) | MCMANSION | M(illion) [COINS]* around MAN (person) | |
| 38 | Swines stripped swimmer (5) | OTTER | (r)OTTER(s) (swines) | |
| 39 | Compound comprising carbon, aluminium and unknown quantity (4) | CALX | C(arbon) AL(uminium) X (unknown quantity) | |
| 40 | Shade depressed on drug (7) | ICE-BLUE | BLUE (depressed) after ICE (drug) | |
| 41 | Bit of skin caught carrying barrel (7) | NAIL-BED | NAILED (caught) around B(arrel) | |
| 42 | In ice-skating jump, learner dropped and fell (3) | AXE | AXEL (ice-skating jump) ¬ L(earner) | |
| 43 | Audibly condemned ho[s]t given smack after starter’s shunned (6) | S | HISSED | H(ot) (k)ISSED (given smack) |
| Down | No. | Clue [✗] | ✗ | Answer | Wordplay |
| 1 | Training due one that’s been charged for training (9) | EDUCATION | [DUE]* CATION (one that’s been charged) | |
| 2 | People working together to close new nuclear plant (5) | BENNE | BEE (people working together) around N(ew) N(uclear) | |
| 3 | University fails to check passage of mine (4) | ADIT | AUDIT (check) ¬ U(niversity) | |
| 4 | Sailors abandoning core part of ship (4) | KEEL | KERNEL (core) ¬ RN (Royal Navy, sailors) | |
| 5 | Ring close to edge going round sides? (4) | ORLE | O (ring) (edg)E around RL (Right & Left, sides) &lit. | |
| 6 | Poet’s glad devotee reins in ego (4) | FAIN | FAN (devotee) around I (ego) | |
| 7 | I[s] this snake wriggling about again? (4) | S | NAGA | [AGAIN]* ¬ I |
| 9 | Fast yet interminably slow (4) | LENT | LENT(o) (slow) | |
| 10 | Type of theatre containing special [s]eats (4) | S | NOSH | NOH (type of theatre) around S(pecial) |
| 11 | Curbing source of Kingston’s financial support reversed growth in Jamaica (4) | DIKA | K(ingston) in AID< (financial support) | |
| 12 | Holding bu[s]t for short time to harden (5) | S | ENURE | TENURE (holding) ¬ T(ime) |
| 13 | Deputies fine disorderly drunk? (9) | STUPEFIED | [DEPUTIES F(ine)]* | |
| 16 | Drew out last exi[s]ting guts (4) | S | SPUN | SPUN(k) (courage, guts) |
| 19 | Tourists may need these [s]tops primarily to get lost in views (5) | S | VISAS | VISTAS (views) ¬ T(ops) |
| 20 | Directs steering, changing east to north in volcanic hills (5) | CONNS | CONES (volcanic hills) with E(ast) replacing N(orth) | |
| 22 | High [s]tone in church structure overlooking a rector (3) | S | ALT | ALTAR (church structure) ¬ A & R(ector) |
| 24 | Critically examine a hard shell (5) | TESTA | TEST (critically examine) A | |
| 25 | Start to isolate most of vault passages in gu[s]t (4) | S | ILEA | I(solate) LEA(p) (vault) |
| 26 | Seat with lowered head and arms (5) | TOOLS | STOOL (seat) with S moved later | |
| 28 | Monkey dug on island (4) | TITI | TIT (nipple, dug) I(sland) | |
| 29 | Picked up substantial rock (4) | REEL | homophone: REAL (substantial) | |
| 30 | Top room rate (4) | PACE | (s)PACE (room) | |
| 31 | Wild animal scratching back in Indian tree (4) | AMLA | [ANIMAL ¬ IN<]* | |
| 33 | With best clothing, this lover would be most radiant (4) | AMIE | BEAMIEST (most radiant) ¬ BEST | |
| 34 | Antique tribute of a similar nature exalting king (4) | KAIN | AKIN (of a similar nature) with K(ing) moved earlier | |
| 35 | Measure a[n]t with chart (4) | N | INCH | IN (at) CH(art) |
| 36 | Metal fastenings great mounted on top of shelf (4) | GIBS | BIG< (great) S(helf) | |
|
|
||||
Ah, so there weren’t 11 S’s after all. That subtlety passed me by as true to form I failed to / didn’t quite parse everything, generally trusting in whatever gods watch over crossword solvers, and got away with it. I did though get a full grid, duly highlighted bank, went decimal (the actual event being before my time, just, I’m happy to say), and sketched something that looks like a 50p, so job done, sort of.
The Krautrock reference I got straight off, but I wonder how much confusion it caused elsewhere.
1969 was a vintage year, wasn’t it?
I almost completed the grid, but had quite a few question marks against answers I hadn’t fully parsed. I still don’t see how CAN equates to an experimental German band in 21 ac, for example. In addition, I had removed I rather than S at 7 down. As a result I never started the endgame. But when I picked up the puzzle a few moments ago. Bank of England leapt out at me from the top row before reading the blog, so perhaps had I persevered I might have finished it after all. Kudos to those who succeeded.
Bridgesong, Can was the name of an experimental German band.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. It was well-crafted and clever and fun.
I enjoyed the theme very much: the idea behind it, the way the central phrase was seamlessly replaced with another, the clever way in which the date was cotained in a 7-cell shape the size of a 50p piece and, finally, the symmetry of it all.
I got the central phrase first – but only when I had solved my last clue (BENNE). The Bank at the top then ‘appeared’, having sat there for most of my solving time. The date was easy enough to find after that. I made a note of the redundant letters in 11 clues but made no use of them (they were mostly S’s, but not quite ten of them as intended).
As with my two previous puzzles by this setter, the clues were to a high standard, and I enjoyed solving them. I was just a little surprised at the choice of Can, an ‘experimental German band’, as part of the wordplay in 21a. The rest of the clue pointed me to the answer CANTILENA, and I used that to find and confirm the band.
Many thanks to eXtent for a clever puzzle and to HolyGhost for the blog.
Like Bridgesong, I wanted ‘I’ for 7 down, which messed that side of things up a little.
My quibble with Can isn’t their obscurity – in my neck of the woods they’re highly celebrated, but whether a band that sounds the same for forty odd years can really be called ‘experimental’.
But overall, an excellent puzzle (Bank of England appearing helpfully early) – and how thoughtful of the Bank to replace the Ten Shilling Note with a coin with the same number of letters.
Thanks to eXtent and HolyGhost.
i still miss the ten bob note, Great puzzle and blog.
I’m afraid my list of experimental German bands had only one band on it: Kraftwerk, but I could have done some research had not the answer been pretty clear.
A solid and enjoyable puzzle which showed many of the best features of the IQs, in my view. It took me a while to convince myself of all the answers, but there were no doubts left in the end. What I particularly liked was the way the various elements of the theme helped me to finish off the clues as they gradually emerged. Spotting the Roman numerals for example confirmed the improbable, I thought, McMansion. I had the N and a spurious I (from 7D) early on, with only 2 or 3 Ss, so it wasn’t until I was well through the solve that I started hunting down those Ss in earnest.
Thoroughly enjoyable. Some lovely clues and, for me, some new words in the across entries. McMansion being my favourite.
It took a while for the 50 pennies to drop, it was seeing Bank of England in the top row which did it for me.
What a great grid construction and associated blog, thanks once again to HolyGhost and eXtent.
I needed Google to confirm the German band. I’d never heard of them.
Bridgesong @7: my brain switched tracks – what I said about Can re being experimental in fact refers to Kraftwerk. But I do recommend Can’s albums Ege Bamyani and Soundtracks.
As copmus@6 has already said – great puzzle and blog.
Took us a while before the ‘50p dropping moment’!
Thanks to HolyGhost and eXtent.
Very enjoyable puzzle. I couldn’t manage to see how to get a 7 sided shape out of the Roman Numerals. Having seen HG’s solution (well done) this last shape bit seemed a bit too contrived, there wasn’t really a heptagon there to be found. Perhaps better just to have asked us to highlight the date and leave it at that.
Thanks to all.