Kcit (Phi’s EV alter ego, if an alter ego can have an alter ego? Discuss…) has us doing some Geometry homework this week, as well as the usual English Language test…
The preamble states that:
“Five clues each have three surplus consecutive letters, to be removed before solving; in clue order, these groups spell out what every other clue has at least one of (amended clues may not make literal sense). In the final grid a number of cells will be blank – lengths in brackets give the spaces available. Solvers must place a dot in one such cell, DRAWING PARALLELS by connecting it with lines to the four corners of the puzzle. The correct choice of blank cell will reveal a four-word phrase in the cells crossed by two of the four connecting lines. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Fairly complex – every clue is going to have ‘something’ done to it before solving (or to aid solving, as it may be possible to solve some on a hunch or from a definition, without applying the changes) … five in one way, the rest another.
In addition, there are ‘a number of’ blanks, so enumerations can’t be fully trusted either, which adds another dimension of difficulty.
Balanced against that, there is a 12 by 11 grid, compared to 14 by 12 for the last EV I blogged, so < 132 cells to fill (depending on the number of blanks), rather than 168…this puzzle should be at least 27.2727…% easier?! (Some Maths homework thrown in on the side, there…)
I employed my usual approach to a complex preamble…having read it several times I trust that something has been absorbed subconsciously and resort to staring at clues, in this case to see if any of those hunches or definition-jump-outs occurred … and gradually they did. First up was 28A, where it looked like a word ending in ISH, and Ira could be Iran (IR in the IVR list), making IRISH, ‘from a land in Europe’. So two ‘N’s to be reinstated there.
Quite early on I also found another ISH – at 22A, if you take ISH out of BANISH in 22A you can get PE (Peru, IVR again) and N (end of baN) giving PEN (writer). But 22A is a (4), so maybe one of the blanks here as well. So, one of the 5 special clues found. The next of these was NTS at 19D – I suspected the definition was the French ARRIÉRE (old-fashioned, backwards), leading to ERA backwards around RI(D)ER, and an era can be an age, got by removing NTS from AGENTS.
Things moved on at a reasonable pace now, with missing letters gradually becoming easier to find as crossing letters started to help things along. AUNT at 7D also looked like a blank candidate, as did CONCHS at 29A, once I had convinced myself that this was a word – I have always thought it was CONCHES, but Chambers allows both plurals…
After about an hour, in a couple of sessions, I had about 3/4 of the grid – with the top left quadrant still fairly empty – and a good idea where four possible blanks might be. I also had ING and POI to add to my specials, giving ??? ISH ING POI NTS, which lead to the VAN of SAVANT making VANISHING POINTS, which links to the ‘parallel’ reference in the title.
What I hadn’t twigged, but did gradually as I attacked that top left corner, was that all the missing/reinstated letters were N, S, E or W – compass points which were vanishing from the clues! A-ha!
After another 30 minutes or so, I was left with just EAS_ at 2D, and pace could became peace (EASE), but I spent ages trying to get a ‘leader’ who I could remove the top from to get EASE…interim PDM was realising the leading letter of stop was the culprit – one of many clues with double vanishing letters.
But that wasn’t it – I was left with those four blanks, and some detective work to do. I probably should have done something electronic – since I was going to have to produce a grid for the blog – and failing that I should have used a ruler, rather than hand-drawing a few not-quite straight lines, which didn’t help with the dénouement. After much grid staring and line erasing (on my working copy) I finally worked out that the dot had to go in the square numbered 22, and the four-word phrase was ‘A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE’, running not quite diagonally from top left to bottom right.
Again, all in keeping with the geometric aspects of the title and the ‘vanishing points’ device:
(Are the lines disappearing into the screen, to the dot at the end of a very long corridor, or coming out at you like a slightly off-centre pyramid from above?!)
Wow – a good two hours’ (plus) work there, but all achieved on the Sunday of publication, which is unusual for me, as I often leave the harder/more interesting EV/IQ/Listeners for later in the week, while I mop up the weekend’s other prize cryptic and GK puzzles. I guess it helped that the Grauniad/Observer and FT still have their prize puzzles ‘on furlough’, leaving me a bit of slack!
There were a few new/obscure (to me) words, in COBIA, TERTIA, MOPEHAWK (although that appeared somewhere fairly recently, so was in my short-term memory), CLY (to get to ICILY), and IPECAC – another one I vaguely recognised but had to look up).
SEA OWL at 11A also hurt the brain a bit – I wondered whether ‘ill-favoured’ was indicating some sort of archaic usage, but I eventually realised it was literal – the sea owl, or lumpsucker, being a particularly unattractive, or ill-favoured, specimen (although I am sure their mothers think they are beautiful!)
I’d say Kcit has ‘tick’ed back many of the boxes for a classic EV here – clue manipulation, doubts over enumerations, hidden words (or parts of words) in clues, a bit of entry massaging (with those blanks), and then some visual/spatial manipulation with the grid itself, to complete the endgame.
Many thanks to Kcit, and hopefully all is clear below. (I suspect I may have missed the odd extra letter/point…)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Entry (with blanks as ‘_’) | Surplus letters in CAPS/ vanishing ‘points’ | Clue (definition underlined, affected word(s) in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
|
| 1 | AHEMS | when -> he | Sounds to attract attention he deployed around border (5) / A_S (as, when) ‘deployed’ around HEM (border) |
|
| 5 | PSALTER |
VAN |
Savant accepting learner probing a song-book (7) / P_ER (a, as in per) around (probed by) SA_T, itself around (accepting) L (learner) |
|
| 11 | SEA OWL | shut -> hut | Ill-favoured swimmer, nothing won, hiding in hut (6, two words) / SEA_L (shut) around (hiding) O (zero, nothing) + W (won) |
|
| 12 | SOAY | Speak -> Peak | Peak is home to old sheep (4) / S_AY (speak) around (home to) O (old) |
|
| 13 | UNSNAP | shag -> hag | A French hag keeping entry to sanctum open? (6) / UN (indefinitie article, French) + NAP (shag, surface on cloth) around S (entry letter of Sanctum) |
|
| 14 | ONCUS | curse -> cure | Working form of cure mostly for Australian with disorder (5) / ON (working) + CUS( |
|
| 16 | MO_GGIE | Manx -> Max | Old guy initially aboard sports car – that is Max, perhaps (7) / M_G (sports car) around (boarded by) OG (initial letters of Old Guy; or O – old – plus G – initial letter of guy?), plus IE (id est, that is) |
|
| 17 | DELFS | Sweden -> Swede | Swede rushed when going over digs (5) / S (Sweden, IVR) + FLED (rushed), all going over to give DELFS |
|
| 18 | OKTA | sanction -> action | Assessment of weather action will get thanks (4) / OK (sanction) + TA (thanks) |
|
| 21 | ETUI | East -> Eat | Eat, getting sources of the usual ingredients in case (4) / E (East) + TUI (sources, or first letters of, ‘The Usual Ingredients’) |
|
| 22 | _PEN |
ISH |
Peru last to banish writer (4) / PE (Peru, IVR) + N (last letter of baN) |
|
| 24 | RYE_ | Wheat -> What | What relative runs, colliding with you once? (4) / R (runs, cricket) ‘colliding with’ YE (archaic, i.e. once, for ‘you’) |
|
| 26 | LIER | Story -> Tory | Tory minister ultimately a Remainer (4) / LIE (story) + R (ultimate letter of ministeR) |
|
| 28 | IRISH | Iran -> Ira; land -> lad | Ira is heading for home from lad in Europe (5) / IR (Iran, IVR) + IS + H (first letter, or heading, of Home) |
|
| 29 | C_ONCHS | shell -> hell | Studies around church revealing more than one hell (7) / CON_S (studies) around CH (church) |
|
| 31 | COBIA | wall -> all | Stuff to build all, I accepted, is something like mackerel (5) / COB (building materiual, e.g. for a wall) + I + A (accepted) |
|
| 32 | IPECAC | bowels -> bowls | One chef initially brought in mostly silent clearer of bowls (6) / I (one) + PE_AC( |
|
| 33 | AERO | seaweed -> sawed | Indicating aircraft a regressive local sawed (4) / A + ERO (ore, dialect, or local, for seaweed, regressive) |
|
| 34 | TERTIA |
ING |
Caledonian regiment tie rating up (6) / anag, i.e. up, of TIE RAT |
|
| 35 | VANDYKE | wall -> all; beard -> bard | Carriage leading all Scots to see bard (7) / VAN (carriage) in front of (leading) DYKE (wall, Scottish) |
|
| 36 | REAVE | Rage -> Rag; Eastern -> Easter | Rag held around Easter getting loot as before (5) / R_AVE (rage) around E (Eastern) |
|
| Across | ||||
| Clue No | Entry (with blanks as ‘_’) | Surplus letters in CAPS/ vanishing ‘points’ | Clue (definition underlined, affected word(s) in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
|
| 1 | ASUNDER | schilling -> chilling | Article, chilling, classified as appearing in parts (7) / A (indefinite article) + S (schilling) + UNDER (classified as) |
|
| 2 | EASE | stop -> top; peace -> pace | Leader abandoning top pace (4) / ( |
|
| 3 | MONOFIL | line -> lie | Angler’s lie: no source of fish in historic water (7) / MO_IL (archaic, or historic – to wet, or water), around NO + F (first letter, or source, of Fish) |
|
| 4 | SWAGS_ | Sways -> says | Says truant is on board (6) / S_S (steamship, so the letters within are ‘on board’) around WAG (slang, play truant) |
|
| 6 | SNOOKERS | Quiet -> Quit | Quit place in South-East – openings in Runcorn’s skyscraper blocks (8) / S_E (South-East) around NOOK (quiet place), plus RS (opening letters of Runcorn’s Skyscraper) |
|
| 7 | AUN_T | niece -> nice | Someone with a nice salad of tuna (5) / anag, i.e. salad, of TUNA |
|
| 8 | TOUGH | Violent -> Violet | Violet, admitting bumping off first husband (5) / T( |
|
| 9 | EASINESS |
POI |
English poison bearing poisonous compounds, taking out King – no difficulty here (8) / E (English) + S (son), around A( |
|
| 10 | RYKE | hand -> had | Scots had emptied Rothesay and Kelvingrove (4) / emptying out R |
|
| 15 | CETA_CEA | Whales -> Hals | Hals, etc at work – excellent art at the outset (8) / CET (anag, i.e. at work, of ETC) + ACE (excellent) + A (first letter, or outset, of Art) |
|
| 16 | MOPEHAWK | sale -> ale | Listless fellow to offer ale for nocturnal type (8) / MOPE (listless fellow) + HAWK (to offer for sale) |
|
| 19 | ARRIERE |
NTS |
Old-fashioned French agents upset about heartless addition to contract (7) / AR_E (era, or age, upset) around RI( |
|
| 20 | T_HECAE | sheaths -> heaths | Article on investigation overlooking Southern heaths (7) / THE (definite article) + CA( |
|
| 23 | NIPPER | small -> mall | Kid’s mall drink in America (6) / double defn. a NIPPER can be a child, or kid; and is also American slang for a small quantity of alcoholic spirits |
|
| 25 | DOORN | Thorn -> Thor | God willing to accept men? Thor, in another country (5) / D (Deus, Latin, god) + ON (willing), around (accepting) OR (Ordinary Ranks, ‘the men’) |
|
| 27 | ICILY | steal -> teal | One old teal circling island with a sense of chill (5) / I (one) + C_LY (steal, archaic slang) around I (island) |
|
| 29 | CHAV | China -> Chia; chain -> chai | Chia or chai supported by a very vulgar character (4) / CH (China, or chain, abbreviation) over (supported by) A + V (very) |
|
| 30 | ACTA | Show -> How | How are proceedings? (4) / ACT (show) + A (are, metric measure of land) |
|
Thanks, mc_rapper67, for the thorough blog and an extra kudo for making the moved-up deadline. The longer I wait for the blog, the more I forget about the puzzle and the less likely I am to read the blog and/or comment. I think I got the missing points theme when I had VAN ISH and POI written in the margins. And I remember not understanding the parsing for IPECAC. Otherwise I felt I got lucky, especially with the endgame, which I feared would be too fussy given how the lines would not cross every cell right in the middle. I looked at the diagonal first because the EV uses it often enough, but it still took the right synapses connecting in my head for me to see all the letters that the lines touched. Thank you to Kcit for a fine challenge and an idea I had not seen before.
A nice challenge and a neat bit of construction. The amendments in clues must have taken some working out and were admirably smooth – I spotted letters needing to be added early on, but didn’t realise they were all “points” until much later. Nice final stage too – all very enjoyable. Thanks Kcit and mc_rapper.
Very nice animation.
There’s a setter’s blog at http://phionline.net.nz/setters-blogs/drawing-parallels/
This was mostly very slow going. I was finding that it took me too long to unravel each clue while trying to solve it. The clues became generally more tractable after the first dozen or so when I realised exactly what letters might be missing, but the fact that ‘at least one’ letter (a limitless number, in fact) was missing from most of the clues still made this a bit of a slog.
The top left corner of eight entries remained blank because all of their clues needed crossing letters from each other in order to solve them. More time and patience might have done the trick (if only!). I had completed all other parts of the grid, blank cells included.
The clues. when they revealed themselves, were very good. The best moment came when my grid was nearly half full, and I found my first triplet, in fact the first of the five: VAN from the clue to PSALTER, which I had ‘solved’ long before. Immediately, VANISHING POINTS came to mind, remembering PARALLELS from the title, and the other four triplets then became possible to find, helping enormously with some tricky clues. It was easy to work out (from the preamble) that a perspective drawing would ensue, but I didn’t embark on the endgame. I just saw the possibility of PERSPECTIVE forming itself towards the bottom right.
Despite having the particular problem that I have described, I admired the complex and clever design of this puzzle and can understand why some others would (and did) enjoy it more than I did. It is the quality of the clues that I value most, and this puzzle delivered.
Thanks to Kcit and mc_rapper67.
Thanks for the various comments and feedback – much appreciated.
ub and Stick Insect – sounds like your solving experiences were pretty similar to mine.
Alan B – sorry you didn’t get to the endgame, but thanks for your observations and your appreciation of the puzzle.
Kcit – glad you liked the animation! Thanks for the setter’s blog link – sorry to hear of the demise of Dot.
Another great blog thank you mc_rapper67. Wow, this was very hard. It took me quite a while to get any serious foot in. The NE corner was the first to take shape and the grid gradually, albeit rather slowly, began to make sense. I hit lucky with choosing the correct empty square first….Phi has used a lot of the setter’s toolbox here. Fiendish but fun. Thanks for the link to the setter’s blog too – always great to read any back story associated with the creation of a puzzle. Sad though this one is.
Thanks to setter and blogger – one of the toughest EVs this year for me.