Across the Board by Opsimath
Clues are listed in alphabetical order of their answers, which are to be fitted into the grid wherever they will go. Ten thematic answers (two of 2 words)
are unclued.
I have mixed feelings about crosswords like this. On the one hand, solving the clues becomes a little easier when you can narrow down the possible starting letters. On the other hand, I’m intimidated by the jigsaw aspect.
Nowadays I rely on my daughter elmac to, metaphorically, hold my hand and start filling the grid.
I found a lot of the clues to be on the gentler side and I had cold solved about half of them when elmac started sticking them in the grid (as I hid behind the sofa).
The nature of the ten unclued entries means that 78 of 169 squares are thematic so we had to wait till we had a fair amount filled in before we could start guessing at the unclued answers.
As it happens, when I first looked at the title, “Across the Board”, I thought that we might be looking for cheeses. And the first one down confirmed this as DANISH BLUE was a likely candidate. The rest of the cheeses weren’t difficult to identify and here’s a list of them:
| Location | Cheese |
| f1:m1 | EMMENTAL |
| e3:m3 | JARLSBERG (Probably the best cheese in the world!) |
| f5:j5 | EDAM |
| e9:h9 | BRIE |
| a11:i11 | LIMBURGER |
| a13:h13 | BEL PAESE |
| a1:a10 | DANISH BLUE |
| d2:d9 | HALLOUMI |
| m4:m13 | CAERPHILLY |
| j5:j13 | CHESHIRE |
After my initial misgivings, this was actually at the easier end of the Inquisitor spectrum and I hope that a few novices and beginners were able to complete it.
But wait – no Venezuelan Beaver Cheese?? What would Mr Wensleydale’s esurient, post-prandrial, customer think of that?
Many thanks to Opsimath for a nice, fun, gentle puzzle.
| Clue | Entry | Wordplay |
| • A study with zero papers about secreting structures (7) |
ADENOID | A+DEN (study)+O (zero)+ID (papers) |
| • Oddly ignored hare-brained poet’s visionary (5) |
AERIE | [h]A[r]E[b]R[a]I[n]E[d]
(ignoring odd letters) |
| • Wholesome lass seen in real theatre (6) |
ALTHEA | reAL THEAtre (hidden: seen in) |
| • Tree house with large empty hollow where remains gather (7) |
ASH-HOLE | ASH (tree)+HOuse+L[arg]E (empty) |
| • Eastern neighbour to steal back (3) |
BOR | ROB (steal; rev: back) |
| • British often at first feel at home here (3) |
BRO | BRitish+O[ften]
(at first) |
| • Swindler in Australia following Greek character (6) |
CHIAUS | CHI (Greek character)+AUStralia |
| • Declare erroneous of belief (7) |
CREEDAL | DECLARE (anag: erroneous) |
| • Denounce with no written words about exam cheat (4) |
CRIB | [pros]CRIB[e]
(denounce; minus PROSE |
| • Chambers, say, short with unknown snobbish American (5) |
DICTY | DICTionary
(chambers)+Y (unknown) |
| • Style shown by last of the local network … (4) |
ÉLAN | [th]E (last of)+LAN (local area network) |
| • … not even enlisted and not mentioned before (4) |
ELSE | E[n]L[i]S[t]E[d]
(not odd letters) |
| • Record Early English weapon (4) |
ÉPÉE | EP (record)+EE (early English) |
| • Bloody fine chap! (4) |
ERIC | (double
def) |
| • It indicates space for a little pot (4) |
HASH | (double
def) |
| • Sharpen garden implement around noon (4) |
HONE | HOE (garden implement) around Noon |
| • Theories demolished geographer’s line (8) |
ISOTHERE | THEORIES (anag: demolished) |
| • Not all rejected a RC version of Bible (5) |
ITALA | I just can’t see how this one works |
| • This country’s over US city exchange (4) |
KULA | UK (this country; rev: over)+LA (US city) |
| • The old glow from Emma Peel, turned off and on (4) |
LEAM | [e]M[m]A [p]E[e]L (rev: turned; alternate letters: off and on) |
| • Moon vehicle, down to earth, left to get metal dust (5) |
LEMEL | LEM (moon vehicle)+Earth+Left |
| • GC recipient beat up volunteers (5) |
MALTA | LAM (beat; rev: up)+TA (volunteers) |
| • Smear test in prime locations only (4) |
MERE | [s]ME[a]R [t]E[st] (positions 2, 3, 5, 7 – primes) |
| • Small child who’s given power by dictator (4) |
MITE
|
Sounds
like (by dictator) MIGHT (power) |
| • Mounted police spoil Albanian ruler (5) |
MPRET | MP (mounted police)+RET (spoil) |
| • Would you believe piano lesson covers this? (6, two words) |
NO LESS |
piaNO LESSon (hidden: covers) |
| • Scandinavian right to invade calls subject to rising (8) |
NORSEMAN | NAMES (calls)+ON (subject to) around Right – rev: rising |
| • Insect eyes collie let loose (6) |
OCELLI | COLLIE (anag: let loose) |
| • Mushroom heads I put on heap (5) |
PILEI | PILE (heap)+I |
| • Ferry cut – that’s making Scots noisy (5) |
RORIE | RO-R[o]
(ferry; cut)+IE (that is) |
| • Mixed greens with drug in old helmet (6) |
SALADE | SALAD (mixed greens)+E (drug) |
| • Addled lush in synagogue (4) |
SHUL | LUSH (anag: addled) |
| • Such little volume shown by Queen in game (6) |
SOCCER | SO (such)+CC (little volume)+ER (queen) |
| • Vary base after second shot (5) |
SPICE | Second+PIC (little shot)+E (base) |
| • Very small actor needs new manly style, essentially (5) |
TEENY | [ac]T[or]
[ne]E[ds] [n]E[w] [ma]N[ly] [st]Y[le] (essentially) |
| • In Turkey he initially managed something like a hammam once (5) |
THERM | TR (Turkey) around HE + M[anaged] (initially) |
| • Join with sun-god in compound (7) |
URANITE | UNITE (join) around RA (sun-god) |
| • Call for effort with little time about 8 miles from Bombay (5) |
YOJAN | YO (call for effort)+JANuary (little time) (If I have this one correct then I don’t really like it) |
I quite enjoyed this one – I like the fact that if you get stuck, then the fact that the clues as alphabetical as per their answers gives you a little bit of a hand. I also enjoy having to deduce where things have to go.
For ITALA I had : A LATIN (a Roman Catholic) mostly (truncated) and reversed
Overall an enjoyable one for me, finished relatively quickly (which made a pleasant change), on a subject matter close to my heart (and stomach)!
Thanks all round.
Word jigsaws are what I like least, but I can enjoy them if the jigsaw phase itself is relatively easy and most of the pieces are known. In this puzzle, the built-in deficit of 10 jigsaw pieces was somewhat off-putting, but I simply concluded that I would need to solve nearly all of the clues before I would be ready to put the pieces in. Most of all I would need to have both the 8-letter words and all four 7-letter ones.
In three sessions I built up my critical mass of solutions and ended up with just six unsolved, which when added to the 10 missing pieces we were ‘given’ at the start left me 16 entries short of a full grid. I was relieved, therefore, when I found likely places for all the 8-letter and 7-letter words that I had, with just the two central 7-letter words interchangeable.
Other likely placements in the top left gave me the little bit of luck that I needed in order to make progress. The possibility of DANISH BLUE appeared, hinting at a possible theme. HALLOUMI followed soon after.
Towards the end I was left with three unsolved clues, all of them crossing the two cheeses LIMBURGER and BEL PAESE, but all of them yielding with their help.
The gridfill was remarkable. By the time the grid was half-filled I could see that the ten thematic entries were going to be in symmetry, and I was impressed that so much thematic content was somehow accommodated.
I noted the setter likes to use ‘little’ to indicate an abbreviation or contraction rather than the size of something: ‘little pot’ for ‘hash’, ‘little volume’ for ‘cc’ and ‘little time’ for ‘Jan’, the last of these misleading me for a while (but that was a good thing!).
For me this was not an easy puzzle, and, partly because of that, it was very enjoyable. Thanks to Opsimath and kenmac.
Alas, I didn’t get far with this one — hardly any further than staring at a couple of squared-paper grids showing the two possible orientations of ADENOID and URANITE. Too many other things on my mind that week; clearly I need a helpful daughter! Nothing special to add except that I liked the construction of CRIB and was also vaguely unhappy with YOJAN.
Thanks anyway to kenmac and Opsimath, whose theme is very much to my taste.
kenmac
[The shading in your diagram shows CHESHIREE, which rather spoils the symmetry. Also, Jarlsberg is possibly not the best cheese in the world: Appenzeller is, although it’s hard to find – in the jigsaw and indeed elsewhere.]
Finished (for once), but I don’t understand the definition for BRO. Can someone explain what I’m missing please?
For a while, I felt that the ‘easy clues – hard entry’ balance was off – too easy, too hard. But eventually, with all the 8s but only three of the 7s, I made a semi-reasoned stab and didn’t have to erase. Once Emmantal loomed, the board slowly fell into place, and a satisfying end-game ensued.
Thanks to Opsimath & knnmac.
Ryaaaaan @5
From Chambers:
bro² – A place for which one feels great affinity because of birth, upbringing, long residence, etc there
I’m not a big fan of the jigsaw ones as it can take forever getting enough (most) clues but once one or two fit in the grid, then everything follows.
So you often end up staring at the same definitions over and over again with only the first letter as potential new information.
Having said that it was very enjoyable and not too tricky in the end, so thank you !
Alan B@4
Oops! Too Cheshiree for you? Fixed now – thanks.
Jigsaws always fill me with a feeling of dread, but, well, I persist and end up enjoying the experience. This was no exception, except that it took perhaps longer than usual to start making in-roads into the grid with loads of false starts. Getting enough crossing letters to guess Jarlsberg was key here, with the rest then falling into place. Nice puzzle that was satisfying to finish.
This was a puzzle that looked as horrendous as reading Rogue Herries at the start, but once I’d curtailed my Walpoling activities and the bouzouki player had shut up, I got a hold (SW corner, if I recall correctly) and it all fell into place. Until then my grid had been uncontaminated by cheese. DANISH BLUE was the first to fall, probably because the cat had eaten the Camembert (I didn’t care how excrementally runny it was) and there apparently wasn’t much call for Cheddar around these parts. It was my recent visit to Mr Wensleydale’s shop that helped me get the cheeses, especially Jarlsberg – but Mr W didn’t have any of that, so I had to shoot him. What a senseless waste of human life.
Thanks Opsimath – this was the ideal puzzle: one that looks intimidating but is fun and straightforward once you get going. Shame the van broke down, though, as I’d have fancied some red Windsor.
Like others, DANISH BLUE was my way in (with “board” being the titular thematic hint) — I found it fairly easy once I had the scandi-cheese in the top-left column.
Filling a jigsaw grid is probably the thing I can do best, but I was making slow progress until I had a think about the title and what comes on a board. Like others I spotted DANISH BLUE and it was plain sailing from there.
Super puzzle, thanks to all.
Unlike several of the above commenters, I love alphabetical jigsaws (and the ordinary sort), but I do agree that this one was hard to get a start on. After cold solving about half the clues I eventually located NORSEMAN on the grounds that the other three places for it left words starting with impossible letters. I confess to failing to spot the “Across the Board” reference until well into the cheeses, of which my first was Caerphilly. Thanks Kenmac for the explanation to CRIB – which I couldn’t parse. An excellent crossword I thought.
I noticed that there were two 7 letter words crossing in the middle so printed both was as only one was right-first guess worked with URANITE horizontal and ADENOID downward-gradually chipped away until I saw a likely EDAM and took it from there.
Fun puzzle but favourites like Roquefort and Port Salut were missing, I expect the cat ate them
Thank you kenmac and Mr Wensleydale
Quite gentle I’d say (despite first appearances – 10 unclued in a jigsaw!). Armed with all 6 six-letter words (2 pairs intersecting) and all 4 seven-letter words (2 of which intersected one of each of those pairs), the start of the grid-fill was forced. Then with HALLOUMI popping up, soon followed by DANISH BLUE, I was done fairly soon – and no need to Google!
Thanks to setter & blogger – I had a similar problem parsing ITALA but the explanation @1 from M_s_h_a_h seems fine, so another thankyou there.
HG @16
I was interested to see that it would have been possible to start the jigsaw with all the 7s and 6s (I relied on the 8s and 7s). Judging or working out how to get going with a word jigsaw when there are several missing pieces is exactly the sort of thing I’m not much good at (and don’t enjoy much), and I often fail on such puzzles, relying on some luck for the occasional success.
I enjoy reading the blogs on puzzles like this (always noting how much PeeDee enjoys grappling with them!), and I will try to keep an open mind. I will always prefer proper picture jigsaws, though, which have no missing pieces!
None of us noticed that the cheeses are from ten different European countries. Even more impressed with the grid now.
Mmm…cheese.
Pardon my asking, but does anyone know how to best gain access to the Inquisitor overseas? I know there are a couple different online subscription options for the i newspaper, but is one better than the other if I’m just interested in a pdf copy the Inquisitor? Or is there another route that I’m completely ignorant to? I’d love to add the IQ to my rotation of puzzles!
Yarom@19
I have a digital subscription at £4.99 per month – which is cheaper than buying a print edition every Saturday. The Weekend digital edition is usually available by about 5am (though one weekend a few months ago it was about 9am). I haven’t found a way of downloading a PDF, but I use the option provided to download a jpeg of the whole page, which I trim (using Adobe Photoshop) and then import the result into Adobe Acrobat for printing.
If anyone knows how to get a PDF copy of a page from the digital edition, I would be interested to learn the method.
John Lowe @20
Thanks, this is helpful!
Yarom@21
The option I mentioned is from right-clicking the page in question.
Many thanks to Opsimath for an enjoyable and satisfying solve – I agree with Kenmac that in general the clues were on the gentle side (which was fine by me!), but even so I got stuck at one point with nearly all clues bar most of the 5-letter ones solved, and only the NW part of the grid tentatively filled in. I nearly threw in the towel after making no headway for a day or so, then I gave in and looked online for a clue. That bit of cheating gave me one answer, and the theme became clear from then on and all fell into place. I too was puzzled by “bro”, especially as it means “region” or “country” in Welsh, sometimes with the implication that it’s your native land – I wonder if there’s a historical linguistic connection with the word in the puzzle? – the English meaning isn’t in my 1970s Chambers though. The cheeses were a fun theme, and I like a good alphabetical jigsaw from time to time, so all good – I won’t enter the “which cheese is best?” debate!
PS I don’t like to cheat, but sometimes just getting a little push on can be great if you’re enjoying a crossword and don’t want to have to abandon it. I guess it’s not that different from having a helpful family member 😉 !
Absolutely loved this, being a fan of jigsaw crosswords and cheese. Great combination. Cheshire was my way in to the theme after the left side of the grid started to fall first. Lovely stuff thanks Opsimath and my thanks also to kenmac.
Sorry, that should have said right side (from memory). Oops
I thought Edam and Limburg were both in the Netherlands, but today I learned Limburger cheese is from Belgium.
Today I also learned “pic” means shot, and “yo” really is a call for effort (still not convinced).
I think ITALA parsing, strictly, is A LATIN (a Roman) truncated (not all) and reversed (rejected), with the definition being “Catholic version of Bible”. (The reason I came here was I had no ideas for parsing this, nor SPICE.)
I too started with adenoid and uranite (although I had only 25 clues solved then) but I had assumed “across the board” referred to companies or games until Cheshire popped out – quickly followed by Caerphilly, Danish Blue, Brie, Edam, Halloumi and Emmental. At one point the grid was filled in except the SW corner that was empty apart from LEAM and OCELLI!