Myth by Dysart
The three unclued entries (one of two words) are names linked by a thematic film whose main character is hidden in the grid (11 cells, to be highlighted). In five clues a word must be reversed before solving; arranging the first and last letters of these words will provide the character’s nemesis (two words). Four thematic answers (including an anachronism) are clued without definition, three of them clashing with crossing entries. The thematic title hints cryptically how clashes must be resolved, with two other cells changed for consistency; as a result the four partially clued entries become non-words. Finally, solvers must change two letters of a normally clued entry to reveal the creator of an earlier musical work featuring the character as its title (making new words or proper nouns in crossing entries).
Last week (Inquisitor 1622) we had the shortest possible preamble and this week we have one long enough to rival any UK political party’s election manifesto.
As a 152 blogger, it’s inevitable that there will be times when the puzzle to be blogged won’t float my boat and I’m afraid that this is one of them 🙁
During the solve, I found some weapons, RIFLE, REVOLVER and then led myself up the garden path. I saw the makings of TERMINATOR using most of the letters of 5d. TERMINATOR is only 10 letters so I wondered if we needed to put a number 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6). I know almost nothing about TERMINATOR so I had no idea who his nemesis is – if he even has one.
I was looking at the first and last letters of the reversed letters, I could see the makings of PETER so I went in search of “TERMINATOR PETER” and found nothing worthwhile.
Time to start looking at the unclued entries. Knowing we’re looking for a movie, I spotted NEWMAN as a likely candidate for the top-right entry and, maybe, PENN in bottom-right. And, maybe GORE VIDAL in bottom-left. Paul Newman was one of my favourite actors, never heard of Penn (or Pann or Pinn or Ponn or Punn) and I thought Gore Vidal was a hairdresser!
The other thing I’d noticed was that the two clashes that I had were L/R but that meant nothing to me, yet.
Another internet search, this time for “NEWMAN PENN VIDAL” led me to The Left Handed Gun, a movie starring Paul Newman, directed by Arthur Penn from a teleplay by Gore Vidal (not a hairdresser.)
So, that explains the L/R clashes. The Left has to be retained in favour of the Right.
The protagonist of The Left Handed Gun is William Bonney known as Billy the Kid, who was said to be left-handed although that appears to be a myth. MYTH is the title of the puzzle, is this the myth it refers to? I’m not sure.
Lastly, we had to change one normal entry. Another search, this time for “BILLY KID MUSICAL” revealed a 1938 ballet, Billy the Kid, written by Aaron Copland. So, changing two letters of 14a NORLAND gives COPLAND.
These are the five reversals:
| Clue | Original | Reversal | Letters/positions |
| 1a | AIR | RIA | R6, A2 |
| 17a | TUG | GUT | G4, T3 |
| 29a | PUT | TUP | T9, P1 |
| 40a | AJAR | RAJA | R7, A5 |
| 4d | TIDE | EDIT | E8, T10 |
P1A2T3 G4A5R6R7E8T9T10
So, PAT GARRETT is our protagonist’s nemesis.
So, that’s that. Apologies if I’ve missed anything and thanks to Dysart.
| Across |
||
| Clue |
Entry |
Wordplay |
| 1 Mexican diner thanks queen with eastern air (8) (AIR becomes RIA – see preamble) |
TAQUERIA | TA (thanks)+QUeen+Eastern+RIA |
| 8 Bonnie’s snug dresses in western (4) |
SNOD | DONS (dresses; rev: in western) |
| 11 Sailor abruptly splits up old Japanese coins (6) |
OBANGS | O[s] (ordinary seaman: sailor; abruptly)+BANGS (splits up) |
| 13 Ancient Egyptian measure carried around by wine merchants (5) |
REMEN | wiNE MERchants (hidden: carried; rev: around) |
| 14 Lecturer ran unexpectedly into retired fellow coming from Scotland’s upper reaches (7) |
NORLAND | Lecturer+RAN (anag: unexpectedly) inside DON (fellow; rev: retired) |
| 15 Accepted speaker’s vocal confession (6) |
AVOWAL | Accepted+VOWAL (homonym of VOWEL which is a synonym for VOCAL) |
| 16 Call again when fanatic gives up acting for Spain (5) |
REBID | R[a]BID (fanatic) Acting is changed to E (Spain) |
| 17 Frozen tug leaning over by a jot (5) (TUG becomes GUT) |
GLACÉ | L[eanin]G (GUTted; rev: over)+ACE (jot) |
| 18 See outwardly deprived capital of Europe, and Asian capital (5) |
LAARI | LA (see)+[p]ARI[s] (European capital; outwardly deprived) |
| 19 Make a noise by opening warrant (4) |
OINK | I think that it’s OK (warrant) containing IN (by) |
| 21 Shogun’s ready to face central duo in outlaw movie (5) |
YENTL | YEN (money in Japan)+[ou]TL[aw] (central duo) |
| 23 Stay working with this Indian tenant and judge – you might see Satyajit Ray (6) |
RAIYAT | [saty]A[j]IT RAYin minus the letters of STAY+Judge – anag: working |
| 24 Bending another hollow stick out of line (6) |
ARCING | A[nothe]R (hollow)+C[l]ING (stick; minus Line) |
| 29 Put in iron casing (5) (PUT becomes TUP) |
FRAME | RAM (tup) inside FE (iron) |
| 30 Stop vessel heading for Elat (4) | OBOE | OBO (stop)+E[lat] (first letter) |
| 31 There you are independent in very old Californian city (5) |
VOILÀ | Very+Old+Independent+LA (Calif. city) |
| 33 Old horse’s power limited by antiquated headgear (5) |
CAPUL | CAUL (antique headgear) around Power |
| 34 President takes one local over to St Andrews (5) |
ABUNE | ABE (Abraham Lincoln: president) around UN (one local) |
| 37 Arthur Miller’s words about success (attributed) (6) |
DIALOG | I can’t see how this one works. Any suggestions? |
| 38 Love stifled by a pious inability to speak (7) |
APHONIA | Nor this one 🙁 |
| (no def) 39 Origins of Rumpelstiltskin, imp and spinning fairy (5) |
LIFLE (originally RIFLE) |
R[umpelstiltskin]+I[mp] (origins of)+ELF (fairy; rev: spinning) |
| 40 Via the rear passage in college, entrance to exhibition may be ajar (6) (AJAR becomes RAJA) |
PRINCE | I can see IN+College+E[xhibition] but I’m struggling to see the rest |
| 41 Cat forms attachment, we’re told (4) |
LYNX | Sounds like LINKS (forms attachment) |
| (no def) 42 Learner getting into revision again (8) |
REVOLVEL (originally REVOLVER) |
REVision+OVER (again) around Lecturer |
| Down |
||
| 1 People of fashion ultimately drink to hit (4) |
TONK | TON (people of fashion)+[drin]K (ultimately) |
| 2 Inability to make decisions about endless trouble from the south (7) |
ABOULIA | ABOU[t] (endless)+AIL (rev: from the south) |
| 3 Upset couple regularly belted by druggie off his head might be thus described (7) |
UNLUCKY | C[o]U[p]L[e] (regularly; rev: upset) inside [j]UNKY (druggie; minus first letter) (I think this one is &lit but I admit I’ve never really understood the term and I usually get it wrong) |
| 4 Curse once half of tide covers half of gate (4) (TIDE becomes EDIT) |
EGAD | ED[it] (half of) containing GA[te] (half of) |
| 5 Liberal internet media continuing indefinitely (13) |
INDETERMINATE | INTERNET MEDIA (anag: liberal) |
| 6 According to lyricist Yemen, Oman etc may bar alcoholic drinks recurrently (5) |
ARABY | mAY BAR Alcoholic (hidden: drinks; rev: recurrently) |
| 7 Capone’s recklessness continued to rise before trial (8) |
DEVILTRY | LIVED (continued; rev: to rise)+TRY (trial) |
| 9 Early botanist’s designation for plants cultivated in Aragon (6) |
ONAGRA | ARAGON (anag: cultivated) |
| (no def) 10 Spitting Image using queen for advertisement (9) |
DELRINGEL (originally DERRINGER) |
DE[ad] RINGER (spitting image) ER (queen) replaces ADvertisement |
| 12 Heretic spurning nationalist song (4) |
ARIA | ARIA[n] (heretic) minus Nationalist (almost the same clue as last week’s 30 across) |
| 16 Arty hotel displayed Greek drinking horns (5) |
RHYTA | ARTY+Hotel (anag: displayed) |
| 20 A ball lifted high in an arc, a strike rising in a curve (8) |
PARABOLA | A+LOB (ball lifted high in an arc)+A+RAP (strike) rev: rising |
| 22 Still upset about trace of annoying old birthmark (5) |
NAEVE | EVEN (still; rev: upset) around A[nnoying] (trace of) |
| 25 Ohio occasionally flourished with local petroleum there (7, 2 words) |
COAL OIL | O[h]I[o] (occasionally)+LOCAL (anag: flourished) |
| 26 French resort visited by our old nurse (7) |
NOURICE | NICE (French resort) around OUR |
| 27 Rejoicing around prey – one left out for fun (6) |
JOKILY | JOY (rejoicing) containing KIL[l] (prey; minus one of it’s Lefts) |
| (no def) 28 Gods and idols primarily depicted in almost comic lines penned by bard (6) |
DIZAIN | DI (gods)+ZAN[y] (comic; almost) containing I[dols] (primarily) |
| (no def) 32 Runs following ride on snow vehicle (5) |
LUGER | LUGE (ride on snow vehicle)+Runs |
| 35 Cast endlessly from side to side (4) |
THRO | THRO[w] (cast; endlessly) |
| 36 India’s thorny growth after central Britain leaves chaos (4) |
BAEL | BA[b]EL minus its central Britain |
Rather a lot to get through this week! Thankfully we had a fairly easy grid fill to compensate… The only garden path I led myself up was assuming that PENN was the actor, but as he appears not to have been in any films with NEWMAN I didn’t wander too far astray. Good fun anyway, throughout.
Gore Vidal as hairdresser to the stars is an intriguing image I’m going to struggle to shake.
I don’t know much about films, but I enjoyed a puzzle by this setter about a year ago and was keen to try this one.
When the grid was about half complete, I had the three interlocking firearms in the bottom left and four of the five pairs of letters needed for the character’s nemesis. I also guessed GORE VIDAL (from the G and the V) and wondered if NEWMAN (with the W) was another thematic name.
The first breakthrough came with solving JOKILY and BAEL, revealing two clashes. They helped me to get DERRINGER, and all the clashes were thereby resolved in favour of the solutions that were not the firearms. I also got the final letter pair, GT, from the clue to GLACE. I should have got PAT GARRETT at that point, but I failed to see it and was left with GREAT PRATT until I sorted it out later.
With the Gore Vidal connection, I first tried Judah Ben-Hur (11 letters) for the main character, but that name was clearly nowhere to be seen in the grid. Rather than guess, I then sought a film that could connect Vidal, Newman and (possibly) Penn. The Left-handed Gun came up, with Billy the Kid, the main character, having 11 letters. That name was readily found, and (Arthur) Penn made the third unclued entry. The myth that Billy was left-handed accounted for the title of the puzzle.
The clues were good and contributed to the satisfaction of completing this puzzle. Some of them were very tricky, but all the more enjoyable for that. There was just one detail that jarred a bit: “Scotland’s upper reaches” for NORLAND at 14a. In Chambers the word is Scots or poetic for ‘the north country’.
kenmac, for DIALOG I had the definition as ‘words’ (US) and the wordplay as a reversal of GO (success) + LAID (attributed). For APHONIA I had HON (‘love’) inside A + PIA.
Many thanks to Dysart and kenmac.
Same explanation as Alan B above for 37a: GO + LAID reversed, and 38a A+PI/HON/A. The PR in 40a is per rectum.
In the grid, more R’s need to be replaced by L’s: LIFLE, LUGEL, LEVOLVEL, DELLINGEL, two of which don’t come from clashes.
Really enjoyed the challenge of this one, but thought that changing to COPLAND was an unnecessary extra flourish. And I didn’t understand ‘anachronism’. Thanks to all involved, & sympathies to Ken.
HolyGhost – Was the anachronism the Luger, as it wasn’t manufactured until after William Bonney’s death?
I got my films confused and thought (misled perhaps by the reference at 8ac) that it was Bonnie and Clyde (director Arthur Penn, writer David Newman) that was the theme. I misread something in Wikipedia to suggest that it was based on a work by Gore Vidal. Eleven letters suggested Clyde Barrow: unsurprisingly I couldn’t find him in the grid. Nor could I form Frank Hamer (Bonnie and Clyde’s nemesis) from the available letters. At that stage I gave up.
I also couldn’t parse DIALOG or APHONIA (I saw HON in API, but isn’t there still an A unaccounted for?)
In 40ac PR stands for per rectum which explains the rear passage.
Thanks to both.
All thanks to Dysart and kenmac. Yes, a bit of a struggle this time, and I managed to lead myself up two different garden paths. Firstly, seeing L/R clashes and hints of Westerns in some clues (“outlaw film” etc), I jumped from MYTH to PRINT THE LEGEND — L being one end of LEG — and wasted time trying to find links with The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Then, having found all the reversed words except in 10D, I saw that the nemesis was obviously WYATT EARP if only I could find a reversible word giving W and Y. More futile staring. Not sure whether either of these was just me, or whether an evilly cackling Dysart had intended such blind alleys along with red herrings like “snug” and “Elat” — so obviously “guns” and “tale” backwards; but hey, “guns” is an authentic hint. I assumed the Luger (sorry, Lugel) was anachronistic but didn’t bother to check.
As I made a good start, and know my films, I tried to solve without help, which of course led me down several rabbit holes. Gore Vidal was the first to introduce himself, which led to the Ben Hur rabbit hole (except I remembered it as Spartacus), but then the guns turned up so that made no sense; and then Penn appeared (I assumed Arthur not Sean), which led to the Bonnie & Clyde rabbit hole (and I note the cheeky use of Bonnie in 8a) – and at that point Beatty could still go where Newman turned out to live. But with the L/R clashes, a light-bulb flashed, though I still don’t get the Aphonia definition, for bridgesong@5’s reason). And I still had to go to imdb for the hero / nemesis of the film.
But I liked this much more than kenmac… and is that a hat Billy’s wearing?
38a Love stifled by a pious inability to speak (7)
HON (short for honey as a term of endearment = “love”) in A + PIA (“pious”, Latin feminine adjective).
A very daunting preamble which finally became perfectly clear as the pennies dropped one by one. Some clever but sound wordplay although I am another who could not parse 37A. I am not a film buff but when GORE VIDAL & NEWMAN jumped out at me it was a thankfully straightforward bit of surfing needed to lead to The Left-handed Gun. Good fun and a satisfying completion.
Thanks to Dysart and to Kenmac, who, at the time of writing, still needs to up REVOLVER, please (come on, now, you can’t be that disgruntled!)
Ooops, DW @9, should be update REVOLVER
Dave W @9&10
Grump, grump, grump … done now.
@11 Alas, the grid still shows JOKIRY / RIFLE …
Thanks, Ken@11
I enjoyed this. I am a bit of a film buff but this was a hinderance rather than a help as I spent an age mentally going through films with guns (lots of these!) and films associated in some way with someone called Newman (lots of these too!). Eventually I gave up and Wikipedia filled in the details. Better to have known nothing and then I would have gone to Wikipedia straight away.
Thanks to Dysart & kenmac and to HG@8 for explaining PIA