Be careful what you wish for! A couple of EV blogs ago, during ‘gentle September’, I pondered that there might soon be a ‘backlash’ in the form of an ‘impenetrable Ifor’ or a ‘horrible Harribobs’…and along one duly came!
The preamble states that:
“All clues whose answers occupy 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9-letter slots contain an extra word of four or more letters. In the first two types the word contains only one letter not found in that clue’s answer; collectively these letters give a confused person. Extra words from the latter three types can be grouped into four sets of three, each set having a common synonym; the four synonyms can then be paired to give two locations in a film. The initially-completed grid contains 19 empty cells and the surnames of a partnership to be highlighted (nine cells in two groups). It represents the view of one partner at the WINNING location, to be written under the grid. Solvers must modify the grid to show how the other saw things. Changes create new words; numbers in brackets count cells available. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Got that?! One of the more complex preambles I’ve seen in a while, and it certainly merited a few initial re-reads and several revisits, to keep me on the straight and narrow… I hope that some of the ‘recent recruits’ stayed the course…
The emphasis on ‘slots’ in the first sentence, and the ’19 empty cells’ suggests that there are going to be some solutions that don’t match their enumeration, which effectively means you can’t trust any of the enumerations to start with, at least until you have an idea roughly where the gaps are going to be.
Other initial observations were the 14×12 grid, and the lack of overall symmetry, which often implies that there must have been a lot of thematic material to fit in…
Enough thinking…on with the solving to see what transpired…which was a slow but steady grid fill, and a few likely gaps. First of these was 29A SCONE needing to fit into a 6, and then 21A MES, 18A WET, 25A TAE and 8D TAM all being 2 or 3 short of their slots. So it looked like there might be three columns of gaps over in the top right quadrant.
After a few not-too-short and not-too-sharp(!) sessions I kind of had most of the top half filled in – no gaps over on the left – but the bottom half was proving a bit chewier.
I also had a stock of some superfluous words from clues, and tried to at least separate them into the ‘all but one letter match’ type and the other types – so DAH and HAND left N, NONSENSE and ENS left O, etc.
And so things progressed, over several sessions and several days, with a gradual whittling down of remaining clues and filling up of the grid.
I spotted HUNDRED, FASHION and WEIGHT as possibly meaning TON, but the main PDM came care of the residual letters, which seemed to form JOHN NASH, and a residual memory associated that with mathematics and the film A BEAUTIFUL MIND…and then a series of Wiki-go-ogles narrowed things down to JOHN NASH being originally associated with PRINCE-TON and winning a Nobel prize in STOCK-HOLM.
I have to confess to never having watched the film. but being aware of it, and my method-acting research as a blogger does not quite extend to sitting and watching it (other things have been busy this week). I did originally wonder if the three columns/empty spaces were going to end up resembling Pi, but I eventually decided that the ‘partnership’ was LARDE and NASH in the left-side columns, and the empty spaces needed to be filled with the other protagonists – MARCEE, HERMAN and PARCHER, all making new words:
So, in the end, not a completely impenetrable Ifor, as I got there…eventually…I think – the proof of the pudding will be in the published solution on Sunday.
Quite an obscure subject and a complex set of devices to help us get to the conclusion…many thanks to Ifor for a tough challenge, and some cinematic (re)education along the way.
There were some new/obscure (to me) words, in PEKAN, TROADE, KETUBAH, BOSHTA (great surface read!) and K’RI (for IRK). FAX and (CEE)FAX recalled some wonderful old-tech memories, although fax will come back into my vocabulary when the Grauniad Saturday Prize crossword springs back to life, post-Covid…
Hopefully all is clear below…
**Update – There is a very detailed and informative setter’s blog over on the BD site, where Ifor explains the development of this puzzle, as well as giving a lot of insights into his general modus operandi…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Entry (-> Final Entry) | Extra word (and type) | Clue (definition underlined, extra word in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
|
| 1 | PADRE | Priest cut away superficial elements of welcoming God (5) / PA_RE (cut away superficial elements of) around (welcoming) D (Deus, god) |
||
| 6 | KETUBAH | SOVEREIGN (PRINCE) | Airline in the UK breaking sovereign contract before union (7) / KETU_H (anag, i.e. breaking, of THE UK) around BA (British Airways, airline) |
|
| 13 | ORIENTAL | ISLET (HOLM) | Relation abandoned islet in the east (8) / anag, i.e. abandoned, of RELATION |
|
| 14 | ADORES | Loves switch in degree of roughness from the right wing (6) / SE_A (sea, a given height of swell or roughness) around ROD (rod, or switch), all written backwards – i.e. from the right wing = ADORES! |
||
| 16 | SHRIMP | Respectable male member’s bright pink (6) / SHRI (India, respectable address to a man) + MP (Member of Parliament) |
||
| 17 | LINE FEED | WEIGHT (TON) | Control character if needle breaks weight (8, two words) / anag, i.e. breaks, of IF NEEDLE |
|
| 18 | WET -> WHEAT | Local excitement over allowing beer to be sold (5) / TEW (dialiect, i.e. local, for worry or excitement) over = WET (allowing beer to be sold) |
||
| 19 | ALARM | Warning of cheek with marks on the other side (5) / ( |
||
| 21 | MES -> AMEERS | Former master starts to study every mark in retrospect (6) / reversed, i.e. in retrospect, initial letters of Study Every Mark = MES |
||
| 23 | SNARE -> SNARER | Catch near ground, to slip’s left (6) / S (slip’s leftmost letter?) + NARE (anag, i.e. ground, of NEAR) |
||
| 25 | TAE -> TRACE | Cheers English until at Murrayfield (5) / TA (thanks, cheers) + E (English) |
||
| 27 | DAH | HAND (remainder = N) | Hand held back heavy knife (3) / HAD (held) backwards = DAH (Burmese, heavy knife) |
|
| 29 | SCONE -> SCONCE | Leader of Scots once put in place here? (6) / &lit-ish? S (leading letter of Scots) + CONE (anag, i.e. put in place, of ONCE), ‘here’ being Scone, where Scottish kings used to be crowned |
||
| 34 | EPARCHS | PLAIN (HOLM) | Plain records masking cunning in governors (7) / EP_S (EPs, Extended Play records) around (masking) ARCH (cunning) |
|
| 36 | PRO -> PAREO | One advocating support relieved of later pressure (5) / PRO( |
||
| 37 | DEMON | Ace show without treats, sadly (5) / DEMON( |
||
| 39 | WAES -> WEANERS | LEADER (PRINCE) | Calamities at Holyrood saw end of one disgraced leader (7) / anag, i.e. disgraced, of SAW + E (end letter of onE) |
|
| 41 | AGRAFFE | HUNDRED (TOM) | Clasp acting manager, having run in pursuit of hundred grand (7) / A (acting) + GRAFFE (gaffer, or boss, with R – run – moved to just after, or in pursuit of, G – grand) |
|
| 43 | RADDLE | Hurdle race, day before date left for clubs (6) / RA( |
||
| 44 | GLASNOST | BLOCK (STOCK) | Block slogan developing quiet openness when abroad (8) / GLASNO (anag, i.e. developing, of SLOGAN) + ST (interjection, be quiet!) |
|
| 45 | KNEE-DEEP | FASHION (TON) | Fashion fully involved in requirement to split guard (8) / K_EEP (guard) around (split by) NEED (requirement) |
|
| 46 | SABHA | Objects to help when praying hard, clutched by elderly Yemenis (5) / SAB_A (ancient, or elderly, Yemenis) around (clutching) H (hard) |
||
| Across | ||||
| Clue No | Entry (-> Final Entry) | Extra word (and type) | Clue (definition underlined, extra word in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
|
| 1 | POLLARDED | HOLLY (HOLM) | Holly with its top missing, cut back on wobbly ladder (9) / POL (lop, or cut, back) + LARDED (anag, i.e. wobbly, of LADDER) |
|
| 2 | ARMILLA | HANDLE (STOCK) | Handle bracelet in box, before stopping abroad regularly (7) / AR_A (regular letters of AbRoAd) around MILL (archaic, or from before, for to beat with the fists, or box) |
|
| 3 | REVERS | Right side originally around on record turn-up, say (6) / R_S (original letters of Right Side) around EVER (on record, as in best ever!) |
||
| 4 | ENS | NONSENSE (remainder = O) | Madmen sent packing, being nonsense (3) / hidden word in, i.e. packed by, ‘madmEN Sent’ |
|
| 5 | ATHENA | Object of veneration accepted twice, around at another time (6) / A_A (accepted, twice) around THEN (another time) |
||
| 7 | ELIDE | Suppress former magistrate when retiring (5) / EDILE (magistrate in ancient Rome) reversed (retiring) = ELIDE |
||
| 8 | TAM -> TAMMAR | Head covering half of drum (6) / TAM( |
||
| 9 | BOT -> BOTHER | Parasite’s profit, missing nothing (6) / BO( |
||
| 10 | ARLE | HERE (remainder = H) | Put down a deposit for length here in land measure (4) / AR_E (land measure, 100 sq. m) around L (length) |
|
| 11 | HE -> HEPAR | I’m surprised about that man (5) / EH (interjection of surprise) reversed (about) = HE (that man) |
||
| 12 | TSETSE | Vector of disease contracted illness twice (6) / TSE (abbreviation, or contracted, for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy, or illness) twice! |
||
| 15 | UNASHAMED | TRUNK (STOCK) | Remains in trunk can be seen by everyone designated without embarrassment (9) / U (film classification, can be seen by everyone) + N_AMED (designated) around ASH (remains) |
|
| 20 | EROS | ASSESSORS (remainder = A) | Assessors wound up personification of love (4) / SORE (wound) up = EROS (personification of lurve) |
|
| 22 | EAGRES | Agrees with promotion of eccentricity in bores (6) / AGRE( |
||
| 24 | ENEW | WHEN (remainder = H) | Plunge into water, beginning to exercise when fresh (4) / E (beginning to Exercise) + NEW (fresh) |
|
| 26 | ISH -> CHERISH | MUSICIAN (PRINCE) | This topless musician lost freedom to go out on Lewis (7) / anag, i.e. lost, of ( |
|
| 28 | TROADE | Track in lines once predator discovered bucks (6) / anag, i.e. bucks, of ( |
||
| 30 | CHOREE | Feature of verse repeating ending in routine (6) / CHORE (routine) with the end letter repeated = CHOREE |
||
| 31 | FAX -> CEEFAX | Messaging system active for one in difficulty (6) / F( |
||
| 32 | ANA -> MANANA | Table talk, endlessly banal (6) / ( |
||
| 33 | BOSHTA | Very good for Waugh brothers, both as bats (6) / anag, i.e. bats, of BOTH AS. (The Waugh brothers being former Australian Test cricketers – both very good as bats! – indicating an Australian slang word – BOSHTA!) |
||
| 35 | PEKAN | Pelted animal’s cage, cramping spirit (5) / PE_N (cage) around (cramping) KA (spirit) |
||
| 38 | RAGE | JEER (remainder = J) | Jeer end of the cause, overturning something in fashion (4) / E (end of thE) + GAR (cause, Scottish), all overturning = RAGE |
|
| 40 | IRK | RISKS (remainder = S) | Turning up marginal reading risks distress (3) / K’RI (marginal reading in Hebrew bible), turning up |
|
| 42 | ESS | SEEN (remainder = N) | Letter seen without missing line (3) / ( |
|
mc-rapper 67 congratulations. We have seen the very impressive film and remembered NASH (but not LARDE or the names of his imaginary child and spies) but this was still one of the toughest we have solved. It was indeed a real Ifor challenge – Magpie D level, I woud say.
Agreed – the toughest of the year for me so far. My progress pretty much mirrors mc-rapper’s – I managed to extract John Nash from the jumble and his name rang a very distant bell. Even having got that far it took a lot of googling to get to the finish line. Part of the problem for me was forgetting that the number in brackets was for the space available for the answer – and not necessarily its length. I have mixed views as to whether setters/editors do this just to add to the difficulty level and make things tougher for the solver – I can’t see that it adds anything to the puzzle otherwise. Definitely agree with Chalicea – a D grade Magpie without doubt – I actually think it took me longer than Ifor’s latest Listener puzzle. I will say that the clues were great – especially KETUBAH which was the last one I got (a hard clue for an obscure word!).
Thanks for the blog mc-rapper 67 – and thanks for the puzzle Ifor.
This made me wish they’d kept on with the easier ones! I love Ifor’s puzzles, but this was the first of his that I finished with relief rather than satisfaction. It didn’t help that I had never heard of the film so it was Wiki all the way. That probably says more about my shortcomings as a solver than anything else!
@2 Chris Edwards: Funny you should bring up that Listener. I finished it two weeks after release — and two days before this EV appeared. Not again, I said with a smile. I was proud of myself for understanding this one except for the parsing of AGRAFFE and finishing in a couple of days, whereas in the Listener I wasted time trying to parse the stray words in clues that gave the etymologies of the noble gases. I finished only after I gave up on that part and found it unnecessary to know in the end. The synonyms for Prince ton and Stock holm were much easier to figure. So … I have two puzzle for which to salute Ifor. The way he did the theme here — with the three characters appearing or not appearing depending on whose vision we believed — was a master stroke. And thanks to mc-rapper 67 for the usual fine blog and fancy grid.
Thanks for the various comments and feedback – looks like this was a tough one for most, but we are all masochists and took our Ifor punishment willingly!…
I have no idea why I thought three uprights would be pi, which only has 2 – with three ‘stumps’ and talk of a ‘partnership’ I’m surprised I didn’t go down a cricketing blind alley.
There is a very detailed and informative setter’s blog over on the BD site, where Ifor explains the development of this puzzle, as well as giving a lot of insights into his general modus operandi…
He explains that he likes to occasionally inject a bit of schoolboy smuttery – hence the Cyclops-ean 16A, which I forgot to mention in the blog as bringing a smirk to my lips…oooerrr matron…
My thanks to all, especially MC for another of his wonderfully detailed (and accurate) blogs.Chris – the Listener setters’ notes (and those of other editors by implication) specifically state that artificially increasing the difficulty level (let’s say by a carte blanche presentation that isn’t thematically justified) is unacceptable. In this case, had I given answer lengths some simple analysis based on mismatches would have given any solver so inclined the empty cell positions before any solving needed to be done, and so spoiled the endgame.
My thanks also for the steer towards the Big Dave site; like other setters I’m very encouraged by the interest in the EV that it’s engendering.
I absolutely loved this, and agree with other folks’ earlier comments up thread about its difficulty. Magpie D-ish indeed. Certainly a tougher Ifor than the recent Listener too.
This took several sittings as I slowly gained ground. Once it looked likely that the blank cells made vertical lines things started to accelerate for me.
Although I’ve not seen the film I was aware of it and the story.
Bravo to Ifor for managing to for in so much material into the puzzle and grid. I absolutely loved the endgame and how it matched that of the film. Genius.
One of the puzzles of the year for me across all the barred crosswords I’ve tackled
Thanks Ifor and mc for another super blog . Off to the setter’s blog now
Thanks, Ifor at #6.
And Phil R at #7 for your enthusiastic précis, and glad to see the symbiosis with the setter’s blog in action.
I have to admit I am not au fait with the Magpie and its ratings – is there an E?…an F?…any higher?!
Thanks Ifor – I can see that giving answer lengths would have reduced the enjoyment factor in this case.
mc_rapper67 – E grades do come along now and again and are very tricky. Pieman used to be responsible for a lot of these in the early Magpie years. I can recall the odd occasion where a puzzle is ungraded as the editors couldn’t agree on it’s difficulty level.
mc_rapper67, as Chris says above, Magpie E grades do come along now and then but they are beyond the solving ability of most of us. The Magpie C grade is at about the level of a Listener puzzle (which was what prompted my comment at number 1 above that I reckoned this was more difficult than the ‘average’ Listener and like a Magpie D). There is usually one A (never in my experience two) – a relatively gentle thematic cryptic, then one or two Bs, also usually fairly gentle and always one or two Ds which are very challenging (there have been four absolutely stunning puzzles in the October and November Magpies – worth the year’s subscription!)
There is always a numerical puzzle which is usually rated B, C or D.
That was the hardest in the EV in at least the last couple of months and a very satisfying challenge for me. The extra word devices were neat, and the grid cleverly constructed around the initially blank cells. While I had seen the film some time ago, I didn’t spot the connection when thinking Marcee and Herman were looking plausible so Google had to point me in the right direction. The clue to 16 gave me a smile too. Thanks Ifor for an entertaining puzzle.
Thanks to Chris Edwards at #9 and Chalicea at #10 for the information on the Magpie scale. I have never subscribed – maybe I should give it a try…if I could find the time to fit yet more puzzle solving into my week!…
Stick Insect at #11 – sounds like you enjoyed it!…