PINK is back for this centenary puzzle.
Preamble: Answers to several clues lose a thematic word or abbreviation to yield the relevant entries, which are also words. Lengths indicate the number of cells available while ‘2 words’ relates to the initial answer. Solvers should indicate the current time, after considering the amount there is to go. Fifteen other clues need to lose a letter before solving – the fifth letters of these clues spell a phrase describing both what is in view and what has been going on. Solvers must highlight a word in the grid identifying an associated activity.
The long word across the middle row was almost the only across answer I got the first time through, but the downs proved more tractable; in particular I solved four hanging down from the top row straight away, including my first two specials: 5d where the t needed to be lost from “stay” before solving, and three letters had to go from 10d TRANSECTED, to be entered as TRA…D. Soon after that I had 25d CARMINE also with three letters to lose, and then with 28d AFTER HOURS the first penny dropped – what had to go from them was SEC, MIN, & HOUR. (Even so, sorting out 9d RO[SE-C]UT took quite a while.)
It was when I solved the fifth of the 15 clues that had to lose a letter that I twigged that all of them were t (so far), so my hunch was that the other ten would be likewise, and this helped identify which some of those others were. Once I finally parsed 19a DONAT I had my eighth of the 15 and with the letters KNOC_I__ OFF ____, penny #2 dropped: that must be KNOCKING OFF TIME – that’s both what has been going on (removing the letter t from 15 clues), and also, with a hyphen, what is in view, namely the puzzle no. 1700 (aka the 5 in 9-to-5).
Selecting those clues whose fifth letter would complete the phrase meant they were now much easier to solve, and before long the grid was filled apart from four entries in the bottom left quadrant which held me up – last ones in were 42a STRIP [MIN]ES and 22d [HOUR]GLASSES. All that was left to do was indicate the current time, after considering the amount there is to go and
highlight a word in the grid identifying an associated activity.
The second of these didn’t take long: on the main diagonal we find
CLOCK-WATCHING. Now to consider the other: what has to go is 2 HOURs (22d, 28d) 4 MINs (1a, 42a, 25d, 36s) & 3 SECs (41a, 9d, 10d), so taking that away from 17:00:00 means it must be 14:55:57 now.
Thanks PINK – a work-out, but not as tough as I feared. I think that the HMS in the title is now self-explanatory; and Conquer is synonymous with KNOCK OFF, as in Edmund Hillary’s well-known quote when he returned to base camp after reaching the summit of Everest. (See IQ1285, The B*stard by Chalicea.)
| No. | Clu[t]e | Answer | Wordplay |
| Across | |||
| 1 | Threaten Communist comrade harbouring elected politician (6) | COM[MIN]ATE | COM(munist) MATE (comrade) around IN (elected politician) |
| 6 | Shock a[t] probing corporation in Indian state (7) | GUJARAT | JAR (shock) A in GUT (corporation) |
| 11 | Literary giant ruined participating in legal action (8) | LITIGANT | LIT(erary) [GIANT]* |
| 12 | Rowing accessory taken to river offering [t]rout as Scots say (4) | ROAR | R(iver) OAR (rowing accessory) |
| 13 | They wind ropes about aboard ships making return trip (8) | SPOOLERS | RE (about) in SLOOPS (ships) all< |
| 14 | Recalled a scoundrel seen around university town in the Netherlands (5) | GOUDA | A DOG (scoundrel) all< around U(niversity) |
| 15 | Freshwater fish heads for sea eventually? Possibly, but not now (7) | PERCASE | PERCA (freshwater fish) S(ea) E(ventually) |
| 18 | Legal document in English perfectly acceptable? (6) | ELEGIT | E(nglish) LEGIT (perfectly acceptable) |
| 19 | Introductory language text once go[t] at nationalist (5) | DONAT | DO (go at) NAT(ionalist) |
| 21 | Corn-coloured? In retrospect, not [t]old about something often portrayed as red (7) | WHEATEN | NEW< (not old) around HEAT (… often portrayed as red) |
| 22 | Had a child – a get, in translation for Scottish speakers (13) | GAIDHEALTACHD | [HAD A CHILD A GET]* |
| 26 | Endless chaos in club? Took care of issue (7) | BABY-SAT | ABYS(s) (chaos) in BAT (club) |
| 29 | Sticker from Myanmar blocked by even[t]s in minor US state (5) | IDAHO | DAH (Burmese knife) in (m)I(n)O(r) |
| 32 | Verse aroused endless acclaim (6) | ALCAIC | [ACCLAI(m)]* |
| 37 | One living in Durham [t]hen later moved, abandoning North (7, 2 words) | TAR HEEL | [HEN LATER]* ¬ N(orth) |
| 38 | Tablet returning votes (but not Conservative) (5) | STELE | ELECTS< (votes) ¬ C(onservative) |
| 39 | Bass notes from this deal[t] out in support (8) | PEDALIER | [DEAL]* in PIER (support) |
| 40 | Will’s the same in law without first line (4) | EGAL | LEGAL (in law) ¬ L(ine) |
| 41 | Ruin of sacred item, leaving marks on? (8) | DE[SEC]RATION | [SACRED ITEM]* ¬ M(arks) ON, &lit |
| 42 | Sources of ore without spades pulling in mostly rubbish money (7, 2 words) | STRIP [MIN]ES | SINE (without) S(pades) around TRIP(e) (rubbish) M(oney) |
| 43 | What gets into hot water, perhaps idle talk going around following cha[t] (6) | TEABAG | GAB< (idle talk) after TEA (cha) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Spittoon in Dodge City hiding gold tooth (6) | CUSPID | CUSPIDOR (spittoon, N Am) ¬ OR (gold) |
| 2 | Greek vessels discharged oil over piers at regular intervals (5) | OLPES | O(i)L P(i)E(r)S |
| 3 | Inability to reproduce until surrounded by anonymous foreign spies (6) | ATOCIA | TO (until) in A(nonymous) CIA (foreign spies) |
| 4 | Initially the type to embrace a spot of religion? (5) | TILAK | T(he) ILK (type) around A |
| 5 | Following s[t]ay, orderly set to clear out (5) | EGEST | EG (say) [SET]* |
| 6 | Bony fish the weird Welsh cove[t]? (6) | GARETH | GAR (bony fish) [THE]* |
| 7 | Nuts sprinkled on fish reduce toughness (7) | UNSTEEL | [NUTS]* EEL (fish) |
| 8 | Lustful old man taken to heart by do[t]ing French writer (6) | AROUET | ROUE (lustful old man) in AT (doing) |
| 9 | Maybe like Little Gem lettuces, orders stacking up? (4) | RO[SE-C]UT | (let)TUCES OR(ders) |
| 10 | Cut across what’s left of track and secret ground (7) | TRAN[SEC]TED | T(rack) [AND SECRET]* |
| 14 | Joe cherishes story about Venetian refreshers (6) | GELATI | GI (Joe) around LATE< (story) |
| 16 | Princess stepped in for Oliver Duff? (4) | RANI | RAN I (ref.: editor of the i) |
| 17 | Function of troops’ [t]in hats (4) | SINH | (troop)S IN H(ats) |
| 20 | Base discounting central mass of tree (6) | THYINE | THYMINE (base) ¬ M(ass) |
| 22 | Timekeepers take naughty gals into pubs (7) | [HOUR]GLASSES | R (take) [GALS]* in HOUSES (pubs) |
| 23 | RN sailors could be[t] this drink takes a bit of beating (4) | ABLE | ALE (drink) around B(eating) |
| 24 | He breaks out of key area to go (7) | ESCAPEE | ESC (key) A(rea) PEE (go) |
| 25 | Red-coloured egg laid underneath crate perhaps (4) | CAR[MIN]E | MINE (egg) after CAR (crate perhaps) |
| 27 | Law imposer from Paris giving s[t]ick – mostly in exotic holiday destination (6) | BAILLI | IL(l) (sick) in BALI (exotic holiday destination) |
| 28 | Our fathers worked later than usual (6, 2 words) | AFTER [HOUR]S | [OUR FATHERS]* |
| 30 | Author starts to imagine arboretum in bloom (6) | DAHLIA | DAHL (author) I(magine) A(rboretum) |
| 31 | Top of shelving removed from dirty American artic’s moveable platform (6) | OIL RIG | SOIL (dirty) ¬ S(helving) RIG (artic, N Am) |
| 33 | Unhappy with former president (5) | SADAT | SAD AT (unhappy with) |
| 34 | Unpleasant person infiltrating church cas[t]e (5) | CRATE | RAT (unpleasant person) in CE (church) |
| 35 | Instrument hidden in plane eventually turned up (5) | VEENA | (pl)ANE EV(entually)< |
| 36 | Prince upset over female artist’s discussion group (4) | SE[MIN]AR | RAS< (prince) around EMIN (ref.: Tracey E, female artist) |
To my surprise, it appears that my solution is correct. 🙂 The grid fill was a lot less fearsome than I’d suspected it might be, helped no end by an early spot of the likely item to highlight. What I was less certain about was the hours, etc, to knock off the time, because I was expecting the resultant time to be something significant looking. It appears not though. Was I the only person to make a mess first time through of removing the minutes and seconds without considering the numbers as a true clock, and so reducing the next column appropriately? Or was everybody else awake and functioning at that point?
I failed at one hurdle with the second sentence from the preamble proving incomprehensible for this person of little brain. Otherwise, not too difficult a solve and a partially successful endgame. The extra letters were fairly easy to spot: there’s no present like the time.
I am happy to say that it was HMS Victorious for me (which I joined but never got to sea on due to a serious fire in dry dock). Very enjoyable, thanks to all.
Did you mean the third sentence, Norman? The second seems fairly standard.
Yes, enjoyed this. It was nice to read that your final time, HG, was the same as mine. I wasn’t entirely convinced!
Thanks to S&B
John#3 Yes, I did. Proof that I have a little brain if proof were needed.
A quality crossword from, presumably, the same collaboration as the one that created the P I N K puzzle just over a year ago. (We even have, as then, a thematic word going along the diagonal from top left to bottom right.) It was a pleasure unravelling and solving clues of three different types.
The only clue I could possibly call ‘vague’ was the one beginning “Solvers should indicate the current time …”, but my answer 14:55:57 seems to be what was intended, having read the blog this far.
The long foreign word across the middle (which is in Chambers) was among the last of mine to go in, the excellent and tricky ROUT actually being the last.
Thanks to PINK and HolyGhost.
Kicking myself for not seeing ‘clock watching’; not so much for failing to get the right time (I suffered NormanJL’s problem with third, and fourth, sentences). But the really amazing thing is I solved 95% of the grid and never noticed that all the unwanted letters were ‘t’s. Still, very enjoyable challenge, and grateful for the blog!
I saw CLOCKWATCHING and KNOCKING OFF TIME I got the hours minutes and secs but didnt realise that I had to subtract from the number of the puzzle
Thanks for blog and thanks Pink.
Did anyone else discover that HMS Conqueror was the name of the British submarine which sank the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano on 2 May 1982? According to Wikipedia the fatal torpedos were fired at 15.57 Falkland Islands Time and for a while I though this might be the time we were being led towards.
My interpretation of the title was that time conquers all! (and indeed with enough time was able to solve the puzzle)
I was aware of that, Terrier, but I didn’t check the time as I couldn’t imagine the setters using the sinking as a theme.
Nothing to add really, but lots of thanks to HG and the PINK quadrumvirate. The steady pace of revelations worked very pleasurably here, and I even ended up with the right time. A moment of sadness, though, remembering the days when Schadenfreude was still with us and the team was SPINK …
David @12
Going back over previous puzzles and their blogs, I see that nos. 1500 and 1600, both by SPINK, were also blogged by HolyGhost, whose opening remark on the blog for no. 1600 said
“In memory of Schadenfreude … so, will #1700 be set by just PINK?”
There was a further puzzle in between two of these ‘century puzzles’, no. 1643, which was set by P I N K (and blogged by kenmac). That also was undoubtedly the same quadrumvirate.