Enigmatic Variations No.1474 – The Mover and the Lover by Ifor

10 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No.1474 – The Mover and the Lover by Ifor”

1. The preamble was an encouraging start! It was clear and gave useful, relevant information, without giving anything away. It also seemed to indicate that the theme would not be a complex one.
   Unfortunately, though, I missed the best part, through not paying due attention to the phrase in the preamble about the ‘effect’ of the movement being ‘undone’, and also through being not familiar enough with the story. I got and did everything except change COACHHORSES to PUMPKIN|MICE.
   On completing the grid I had identified all but two of the extra words, and the 12 pairs of letters I had were enough to reveal both the Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming. I changed ‘OPENE D’ to OPEN|END, but that was not what was intended.
   I had queries with the wordplay in two clues (SENTE and WRATH), which are both readily resolved if one accepts that ‘impressing’ and ‘overwhelming’ indicate, respectively, ‘containing’ and ‘replacing’.
   Thanks to Ifor for a well-constructed puzzle that I was not able to appreciate fully, and for an excellent set of clues. And thanks to Mister Sting for showing me the denouement.

2. 42a WRATH is WITH, with the I (ego) replaced (overwhelmed) by RA.

3. Thanks, Mister Sting and Ifor – lots of fun – a nice device with the waving wand!

   I had 42A as W(I)TH with RA (Rear Admiral) replacing (overwhelming) I (ego).

4. [Apologies to Alan B – I dithered too long before submitting!]

5. A good fun puzzle on a nicely accessible theme. The grid was impressive with so many entries needing to remain real words after changes – a clever piece of construction. Appropriate to the publication date, though Cinders losing her head and the inclusion of “snot” and “ureter” was perhaps not so romantic!
   Thanks to Ifor for the entertainment and to Mister Sting for the review.

6. Enjoyed this, classic Ifor. Plenty to admire in the grid, with the the thematic entries and maintaining real words throughout. I initially thought that usefully could become use|fully until I spotted what had to be done. Thanks again Ifor for the fun and Mister Sting for the blog.

7. Thanks to all, as usual. I’ve commented elsewhere that I thought this was from the more straightforward end of my range, and that its appearance on Feb 14 was the editor’s idea.

   Alan – I know you weren’t registering disagreement, but for the record Chambers has impressing as seizing (as in a press-gang). And maybe “solving without due care and attention (to the preamble)” should be an indictable offence? Do please continue with reporting your solving experiences.

8. Ifor @7
   It’s true I queried ‘impressing’ at the time, but your response has cleared up any doubt I might have had.
   When I encountered ‘overwhelming’ in the clue for WRATH it is likely I was conditioned into interpreting it another way because that exact phrase ‘overwhelming ego’ was used a while ago to indicate containment rather than replacement. (The answer was something like PATIENT, in which PATENT is ‘overwhelming ego’.)
   Which proves that flexible thinking is every bit as important as reading the instructions carefully. If I had an issue with the clue for WRATH I don’t any more.

9. That’s a helpful reference, Alan, and suggests that “overwhelming” may be too open-ended to be fair. My usage was not so much replacement as overwriting; the I of WITH being hidden by the upright of R, so is of limited applicability under that interpretation.

10. I thought this a great puzzle, only the second Ifor EV that I have completed (the first being the “If” one). Nice clues and all fair. Clever title and appearance date. Amazing to have all real words in final grid. Thanks Ifor and Mr Sting.

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