Vagans seems to be a new setter (or collaboration?) on the block – a quick search of this site shows a single Vagans Inquisitor (1716) back in September this year. So this may be a first ENCOUNTER with Vagans for many EV solvers, your blogger included…
The preamble states that:
“Extra letters generated by the wordplay of each clue spell out part of a thematic journal entry. Having completed the grid, solvers must highlight 22 cells (in three straight lines) which show the ENCOUNTER of two men and their meeting-place. Two answers are abbreviations; Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
(My first instinct on reading that second sentence was ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume…‘, but time would tell if my hunch was right…)
I made fairly stilted progress on the first couple of runs through – my notes indicating that it was all a bit ‘bitty’, with the odd solution here and there, but no significant footholds made in any particular area of the grid. With perseverance, the grid started to fill up, and the extra letters started to take shape – a ‘priest’, a ‘Levite’ and a ‘good Samaritan’ – which started me thinking about Paul on the road to Damascus, but I may have been mixing up my biblical encounters there!
Now, as any EV fule no, it is usually beneficial to keep an eye on the main diagonals and there, hoving into view down the leading one, was the good Dr David LIVINGSTONE himself! A little further searching found Henry Morton STANLEY crossing his path – confirming my initial hunch.
However, although the encounter, the names and the (apocryphal?) phrase are deeply embedded in my memory, it took a little Wiki-oogling to tease out the journal entry (…I COULD NOT HOPE FOR PRIEST, LEVITE, OR GOOD SAMARITAN…’, written by Livingstone in the depths of his despair, as his mission gradually failed) and also the location (UJIJI, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika).
(I probably should have known the latter, because I was born in Zambia and we lived in Tanzania for four years, during which time we must have been to the place and seen the monument, but I was only between 2 and 6 years old at the time, and much water (and beer) has flowed under the bridge since then…)
There seem to be a variety of dates (and alternative locations) for the famous meeting, but it seems to have happened around October/November 1871, which would mean this puzzle marks the approximate 150th anniversary – which gives it some nice context.
Looking back, I would say the clueing was towards the harder end of the EV scale, with the extra letters adding to the general difficulty, and quite a few new/obscure (to me) words: JIGAMAREE, TETRI, BASEEJ, TUPAIA and NICU, to name but a few. CATALOGUISING was a variant I hadn’t met before, and POLYP as an octopus was new to me as well.
My last two in (and last two parsed) were MINERVA and URSA – they both had to be that from the definitions (‘immortal’, and ‘stellar groups’) and crossers, but the minutiae of the parsing kept me going for a while.
Many thanks to Vagans (I’m pronouncing that ‘Vay-ganz‘ in my head, but it could be a harder G – ‘Vaggans‘?), look forward to crossing (s)words with you again soon, and I hope all is clear below (and that I haven’t missed anything else hidden in the grid…)
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Extra letter | Clue (definition underlined, extra letter in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
|
| 1 | PSYCHICAL | I | Physical high holds Curie back about the mind (9) / PSYCH(I)_AL (anag, i.e. high, of PHYSICAL) around (holding) (I)C (Ci, Curie, back) – either I could be the superfluous one? |
|
| 7 | ETUI | C | We’re told you and I must follow continental time in French case (4) / (C)ET (Central European Time) + U (homophone, i.e. we’re told, U for you) + I |
|
| 10 | ILKA | O | A kilo nuts for each Glaswegian (4) / anag, i.e. nuts, of A KIL(O) |
|
| 12 | TAVERT | U | Scots muddled new Catholic standing behind Cross (6) / TA(U) (cross) + VERT (Catholic, shortening of ‘convert’) |
|
| 13 | INERTLY | L | Cruise-ship starts to tilt, leaning and yawing sluggishly (7) / (L)INER (cruise ship) + TLY (initial letters of ‘Tilt Leaning and Yawing’) |
|
| 15 | SPIVS | D | Document signed after big shots overturned conmen (5) / SPIV (VIPs, or big shots, overturned) + (D)S (document signed) |
|
| 16 | AEONIAN | N | Ian after a Scotch on way to being drunk for ever (7) / A(N)E (a, Scottish) + ON (on the way to being drunk) + IAN |
|
| 17 | TUPAIA | O | Shrewish family grimace back in front of maid (6) / TU(O)P (pout, or grimace, back) + AIA (Indian nursemaid) |
|
| 20 | SNYE | T | Following nature local pasture produces side channel across pond (4) / SN (Latin, secundum naturam, according to nature) + (T)YE (dialect, i.e. local, for pasture) |
|
| 21 | SNORTIER | H | More likely to take offence in shorter game (8) / anag, i.e. game, of IN S(H)ORTER |
|
| 22 | SARSAT | O | Way to protect rowers, a boat-rescue system (6) / S_T (street, or way), around (protecting) (O)ARS (rowers) + A |
|
| 23 | YTTRIA | P | Compound back salary when dry religious teaching introduced (6) / Y_A(P) (salary, back) around (having introduced) TT (teetotal, dry) + RI (Religious Instruction) |
|
| 25 | HATBRUSH | E | Detest impetuous movement on second-rate tile cleaner (8) / HAT(E) (detest) + B (second-rate) + RUSH (impetuous movement) |
|
| 28 | ERST | F | First of oaks missing from mixed forest in former times (4) / anag, i.e. mixed, of (F)( |
|
| 30 | AT LAST | O | A liberal entertained by Brown, finally (6, two words) / A + T(O)_AST (brown) around L (Liberal) |
|
| 31 | ANOESIS | R | Tuscan river energy stirs oddly uncomprehended emotion (7) / A(R)NO (Tuscan river) + E (energy) + SIS (odd letters of StIrS) |
|
| 33 | POLYP | P | Paraguay is gripped by plump contrary old octopus (5) / (P)_LOP (plump) around (gripping) PY (Paraguay), all contrary, or reversed, gives POLYP |
|
| 35 | EDITION | R | Print run of translation omitting first name (7) / (R)E( |
|
| 36 | OCHREA | I | A heroic patterned sheath (6) / anag, i.e. patterned, of A HERO(I)C |
|
| 37 | KOEL | E | Narrow ridge traversing start of ozone layer (4) / K_(E)EL (narrow ridge) around (traversing) O (start of Ozone) |
|
| 38 | FUJI | S | Mountain condition restricting legal right after reversal (4) / I_F (condition) around (restricting) JU(S) (legal right) = IJUF, reversed = FUJI |
|
| 39 | JIGAMAREE | T | Jerk end of antenna to spoil support for gadget (9) / JIG (jerk) + A (end of antennA) + MAR (spoil) + (T)EE (support, for golf ball) |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Extra letter | Clue (definition underlined, extra letter in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
|
| 1 | PILS | L | Doctors lager (4) / subtractive double defn. – PIL(L)S is slang for doctors; and PILS is a lager! |
|
| 2 | SLIP-UP | E | Error when supplier runs short and gets mixed up (6) / anag, i.e. mixed up, of SUPPLI(E)( |
|
| 3 | CANVASS | V | Civil Service impounds vehicle duct for close examination (7) / C_S (Civil Service) around (impounding) (V)AN (vehicle) + VAS (anatomical duct or tube) |
|
| 4 | HOES | I | Books disappearing from hobbies for weeds (4) / HO( |
|
| 5 | CATALOGUISING | T | Making systematic list of many drawn into strange act, dressing-up in Perth (13) / CAT (anag, i.e. strange, of ACT) + GUISING (dressing up, in Perth – Scotland, not Australia!), around A LO(T) (many) |
|
| 6 | LAYOUT | E | Yob constrains parliamentary vote plan (6) / L_OUT (yob) around (constraining) AY(E) (partliamentary vote) |
|
| 7 | EVENS | O | Odds that are very likely, nevertheless (5) / subtractive double defn. – EVENS(O) are odds that are very likely – 50-50); and EVEN SO can mean nevertheless |
|
| 8 | URSA | R | Original savour north of border for stellar groups (4) / UR (prefix, original, primitive) + SA(R) (savour, Scottish, i.e. north of the border) |
|
| 9 | ITINERANT | G | Sex and alcohol lead to sinning when rector is away for Methodist preacher? (9) / IT (euphemism for sex) + (G)IN (alcohol) + ER( |
|
| 11 | ERRANTRY | O | Knight’s rambling entrance across river followed by row on return (8) / E_NTRY (entrance) around (across) R (river) + RA(O) (oar, or row, returned) |
|
| 14 | MINERVA | O | Immortal exploit by snubbed bygone sage (7) / MINE (exploit) + (O)RVA( |
|
| 17 | TO SPEAK OF | D | Old French chasing foxes reach height worth mentioning (9, three words) / TO(D)S (foxes) + PEAK (reach height) + OF (Old French) |
|
| 18 | PARASOL | S | Skymen shielding sun to give shade (7) / PARA(S) (paratroopers, ‘sky’ men) over (or shading, for a down clue) (S)OL (sun) – again, either S could be the superfluous one |
|
| 19 | DRY-SALTS | A | Cures involving sabbath off booze, unfortunately? About time (8) / DRY (off booze) + S (Sabbath) + AL(A)_S (unfortunately), around T (time) |
|
| 24 | TALOOKA | M | Indian tax district about to take a dekko inside Rabbie’s cap (7) / T_A(M) (Tam O’Shanter, Scottish hat, i.e. Rabbie’s) around A + LOOK (take a dekko) |
|
| 26 | BASEEJ | A | Vigilantes in East London master early English judge (6) / BA(A)S (South African, i.e. East London, for boss, or master) + EE (Early English) + J (judge) |
|
| 27 | ASYLEE | R | Someone given refuge in America before winds up owning hostel there (6) / A (America) + S_LEE(R) (reels, or winds, up) around Y (US abbreviation for YMCA, or hostel) |
|
| 29 | TETRI | I | Money from Georgia to unite secret society without publicity (5) / T(I)E (unite) + TRI( |
|
| 32 | NICU | T | Popular uprising over reduced size of NY baby unit (4) / NI (in, or popular, uprising) + CU(T) (reduced size) |
|
| 33 | PIUM | A | Fly more, mother! (4) / PIU (musical, more!) + M(A) (mother) |
|
| 34 | PELE | N | Write the French for famous footballer (4) / PE(N) (write) + LE (the, in French) |
|
It was good to know at the start that all clues were subject to the same manipulation. Some of the generated extra letters were tricky to identify, and a handful of them had to wait until the message became clear.
When my grid was half complete I stopped to give some thought to the thematic ‘encounter of two men’, and for some reason Livingstone and Stanley first came to mind (great minds, mc_rapper!). It was still a pleasant surprise to find LIVING… in one diagonal and …NLEY in another, and they helped me to clean up. FUJI made UJIJI a cert in that position.
Livingstone’s journal entry took some finding, but it turned up with help from Google, and I was pleased to have ‘encountered’ it for the first time.
Thanks to Vagans for an enjoyable, satisfying puzzle, and to mc_rapper67 for the interesting blog and for parsing AEONIAN and MINERVA for me (I ‘solved’ them but would never have been able to parse them).
The preamble made me think of the theme straight away but of course that didn’t help with the solving (and I didn’t know the place). A steady solve ensued, with the occasional difficulty in parsing the wordplay to produce the extra letter, sorted out when I had enough of the message to make educated guesses. Only then did I look at the diagonal and spot the names, but needed Google to confirm the quote and identify the place. Nicely entertaining and challenging. Looks like an EV debut for Vagans so congratulations to him/her on that, and thanks to mc-rapper for the blog.
Enjoyable puzzle and illuminating blog! Like others, the preamble led me to strongly suspect the usual suspects upon first read — turned out this didn’t really help until the endgame, especially since the quote was (for me) rather obscure – only really have been aware of “… I presume…”
Thanks for the comments and feedback so far – much appreciated. Looks like most of us had at least an educated early guess at the theme, but all seem to have enjoyed the remaining challenge.
Just to add that there is a setter’s blog over on the BD site, where Vagans gives a bit of background to the puzzle, and confirms the (approximate) anniversary…also describing his/her/them/self as a ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’, i.e. a solver who turned to setting during the enforced isolation and ‘extra leisure time’ of lockdown…
mc_rapper67
This is just to point out how devilish the clue to AEONIAN was. I didn’t understand it either when I solved it or when I studied your solution, and when I worked it out today I thought it worthy of this further comment.
First, ‘a Scotch’ can be either AE or ANE, and the only way to decide between them is to know you need the N. Second, either ‘on way to being drunk’ or ‘on way to’ can generate ON, in the latter case ‘being drunk’ indicating that it goes inside what you have already have, viz. ANE+IAN.
Many thanks for the kind and thorough review and congratulations to all who managed to find a way through my love of obscure words and complicated clues to ensure Livingstone and Stanley met up. And yes: Vayggans is right: my cover was (by agreement) blown in the IQ as a retired bishop at a loose end, so Episcopus Vagans – a term used in the Middle Ages for validly consecrated bishops who did not have a see of their own, so were either a useful extra pair of hands or a real nuisance. Or both ….
Thanks, Alan B – yes, AEONIAN was a little tricksy…and maybe just a bit naughty, having ‘on’ in the clue, as part of the wordplay for…’on’. Never mind, I think we all got there in the end…
Vagans – thanks for popping in, your honour, or your grace, or whatever we are supposed to call you (I am curtseying as I type this, just in case…). Congratulations on your EV (and IQ) debut(s) – I’m sure those idle hands will already be crafting a few more for our enjoyment…