Enigmatic Variations No. 1539: Recovery by Eclogue

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Eclogue appeals to the Hercule Poirot/Inspector Clouseau within us, to determine a ‘stolen work’ and its creator – although happily the theft(s) led to eventual RECOVERY…

The preamble states that:

“This puzzle is based on a notable theft and RECOVERY (or two). 16 answers are too short for their allotted number of cells, leaving some cells empty. These empty cells must be filled with the title of the stolen work and its creator, resulting in real words and proper nouns throughout. Numbers in brackets refer to final entry lengths. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

My first reaction on reading ‘notable theft and recovery’ was to think of the stolen Jules Rimet trophy and the dog (Pickles?) who found it…based on some vague memory…maybe the empty cells will be in the (pixellated) shape of the Cup?

My second thought – no fancy tricks with the clues – extra letters, misprints, etc. ‘Just’ a few entries that are short for their slots, so there might be some ambiguities and erases/rewrites, until things start to fall into place.

And so it turned out…I made some reasonable progress with solving, and it soon became clear that the empty cells were going to be concentrated around the middle of the grid – SHEA, ALE, THRU, ARES, BEAU and IRIS all too short for the enumerations, and coming up just short of (or after) the centre.

So, no World Cup shape, but a 4 by 5 rectangle – enabled by the fact that the grid was 12 by 13, rather than the more ‘conventional/frequent’ square. And this looked like it might be a work of art – of which many have been stolen and (not quite as many!) recovered over the years.

After a fair amount of grid-staring and permutation grinding, helped by BEAUT and IRISH probably making the first word ‘THE’, plus THRU most likely ending with M, AIRN most likely starting with C, THOR with AU, etc., I eventually worked out that it must be THE SCREAM by EDVARD MUNCH – which all seemed to fit:

Some e-research confirmed that various versions of this painting have been stolen and recovered over the years – hence the title of the puzzle.

My only remaining loose ends, requiring a bit more research, were ERNANI – a Verdi opera; VARES – vare = a wand of authority, or a weasel?; and FAREED – an Arabic name, variation on Farid?

To sum up, an interesting and educational puzzle – certainly at the gentler end of the EV range (but a blogger will rarely complain about that on their turn!) – and my thanks to Eclogue for the challenge. I trust all is clear above and below.

 

Across
Clue No Solution / Entry Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/Parsing (extra letters in brackets)
1 CLIMBING BOYS Junior sweeps in symbolic novel about Great Britain (12, two words)

CLIMBIN_OYS (anag, i.e. novel, of IN SYMBOLIC) around GB (Great Britain)

[chimney sweeps…]
9 ANSWER Return fake news in letter (6)

A_R (phonetic for ‘r’, letter) around NSWE (anag, i.e. fake, of NEWS)
11 ACCOY Ed’s quiet account by company of soldiers (5)

AC (account) + COY (company, military)
14 GAIA Divine mother finally appointing nursemaid (4)

G (final letter of appointinG) + AIA (nursemaid, India)
15 APAY The old satisfy American plan indeed (4)

AP (American Plan) + AY (indeed)
16 RENNET Steep sum of money given back (6)

A TENNER (sum of money) given back = RENNET!
17 SHEA / SHEATHES Female active in African tree (8)

SHE (female) + A (active)
18 UNDE Wavy rounded bottles (4)

hidden word in, i.e. bottled by, ‘roUNDEd’
19 ALE / ALEC Brew leads to alcoholic liquid enjoyment (4)

leading letters of ‘Alcoholic Liquid Enjoyment’!
21 LOS / REALOS No longer praise abrupt defeat (6)

LOS(S) – defeat, finishing abrubtly, or before the final letter

[LOS being archaic for praise, or reputation]
22 THRU / THRUM Hurt badly because of American (5)

anag, i.e. badly, of HURT
25 ARES / VARES God of war involved in near escape (5)

hidden word in, i.e. involved in, ‘neAR EScape’
27 PET / PETARD Indulge fit of the sulks (6)

double defn. – to PET can be to indulge; and a PET can be a fit of the sulks
29 EAN / MEAN Elizabethan’s to bring forth each knight (4)

EA (each) + N (knight, chess notation – K is already taken by King!)
32 NAPE Name coarse person scruff (4)

N (name) + APE (coarse person)
33 ARMS / UNCHARMS Supports hostilities (8)

double defn – ARMS of chairs are supports – for the elbows; and ARMS in plural can refer to hostilities – e.g. taking up arms…
36 SPARTA Former city-state having role in South Africa (6)

S_A (South Africa) around PART (role)
38 SKEP Beehive made of straw stalks kept covers up (4)

hidden word in, i.e. covered up by, ‘stalkS KEPt’
39 NIGH Express dejection when section is replaced by new unfashionable approach (4)

(S)IGH (express dejection) swapping S – section – for N (new) = NIGH
40 RONEO Make copies of language on front page (5)

RO (recto, printing, front page of a leaf) + NEO (artificial language)
41 RUSTIC Old contemptible townsman over in France returns for peasant (6)

CIT (slang, contemptible, for citizen, or townsman) + SUR (on, or over, in French) – all returning to give RUSTIC
42 ENTHRONEMENT Ten Northmen with English wasted investment (12)

anag, i.e. wasted, of TEN NORTHMEN + E (English)
Down
Clue No Solution / Entry Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/Parsing (extra letters in brackets)
1 CAVASS Turkish attendant having sparkling wine on steamer (6)

CAVA (sparkling wine) + SS (steam ship)
2 ISRAEL Hands, perhaps, edited serial (6)

anag, i.e. edited, of SERIAL

[Israel Hands being an 18th C pirate, second-in-command to Edward Teach (Blackbeard); which led to the name of a pirate character in Treasure Island]
3 BEAU / BEAUT Blade to remain unchanged by gold (5)

BE (remain unchanged) + AU (Aurum, gold)
4 IRIS / IRISH Rising star, not American, makes appearance like rainbow (5)

SIRI(US) – star, without US – not American – and rising would give IRIS!
5 GANE / GANESA Scots removed sport taking large number for money (6)

GA(M)E (sport) removing M (money, economics) and replacing it with N (unspecified large number) gives GANE

[GANE being a Scottish form of GONE]
6 O’CONNOR Officer in charge concerned with northern gold for Irish clan (7)

OC (Officer Commanding, officer in charge) + ON (concerned with) + N (northern) + OR (heraldic, gold/yellow)
7 YOKE It’s acceptable being involved in the old union (4)

Y_E (the, archaic) around OK (acceptable)
8 SYSTEMS Plans of action initially stop your sobbing over that which strains locally (7)

SYS (initial letters of Stop Your Sobbing) + TEMS (dialect, i.e. locally, for a sieve, or strainer)
10 FAR / FAREED Regularly taking part in affairs, to a great degree (6)

regular letters from ‘aFfAiRs’
12 CANULAE Lacunae, in a way, which drain bodily cavities (7)

anag, i.e. in a way, of LACUNAE
13 EPHAH Dry measure record hard to follow in this year (5)

EP (Extended Play, vinyl record) + HA (hoc anno, in this year) + H (hard)
20 EUTERPE Musical inspiration getting evangelical union to peter out (7)

EU (Evangelical Union) + TERPE (anag, i.e. out, of PETER)

[Euterpe being the muse of music and lyric poetry]
22 TONSURE Style of cutting hair certain to adhere to people of fashion (7)

TON (people of fashion) + SURE (certain)
23 REPAINT Freely pertain to putting on of another coat (7)

anag, i.e. freely, of PERTAIN
24 ANI / ERNANI Cuckoo occasionally found in rain-hit environment (6)

occasional letters of ‘rAiN hIt’
26 ENMEW Confine criminal men with shorn sheep (5)

ENM (anag, i.e. criminal, of MEN) + EW(E) (sheep, shorn of last letter)
28 THOR / AUTHOR Hill maintaining height for mythical hero (6)

T_OR (hill) around (maintaining) H (height)
30 ARKITE Ham, say, with junior US airman on RAF aircraft (6)

AR (US, airman recruit) + KITE (RAF slang for aircraft)

[Ham being a son of Noah, who travelled on the Ark, hence an Arkite]
31 ASPECT Face god with muscle over time (6)

AS (Norse god) + PEC (pectoral, muscle) + T (time)
34 AIRN / CAIRN Scottish club before hosting Ireland (5)

A_N (ante, before) around (hosting) IR (Ireland)

[AIRN being a Scottish variation of IRON, so example of a golf club]
35 AGUE / HAGUE Hazy, not very fit (5)

(V)AGUE, losing V – very
37 PEON Power corrupting one minor pen-pusher (4)

P (power) + EON (anag, i.e. corrupting, of ONE)

2 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No. 1539: Recovery by Eclogue”

  1. I had a great tussle with this while I was trying to fill in the top half. I made a good start with CLIMBING BOYS, but, partly because of the short answers, especially GANE and SHEA, it was quite slow going. It all got more tractable when the word SHEATHES stood out as the only possibility to make valid words and names in that region.

    On seeing THES I think I was rather fortunate in coming up with The Scream. I made a reasonable guess that it was an artwork, and I remembered a little bit about the theft and recovery of that painting. The names of the work and the artist were of material help in tackling the bottom half.

    I enjoyed the clues throughout, and I had to admire the way that the central rectangle was incorporated.

    Thanks to Eclogue and mc_rapper67.

  2. A nice idea, with some neat construction to accommodate the words required to reveal the work. Usually only one extra letter is involved, so having to deal with up to four must have been challenging for the setter. The clueing was generous, allowing for a rapid grid fill – I liked the definition of Arkite. Thanks to Eclogue and mc-rapper.

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