This was the second in a potential series by Eclogue, but the connection with the previous puzzle was tenuous to say the least. The previous Comings and Goings puzzle was the relativistic one about Miss Bright. This theme could not have been further from that light-hearted limerick.
The rubric read: Extra letters generated by the wordplay in each clue provide, in order, three cryptic indications, the solutions to which (respectively 4; 1; and 2 words) provide a date. Three names associated in a specific way with the date should be removed from the initial grid and replaced in conventional order by a birth name (including an abbreviation) similarly, but differently, connected with the date. After this replacement, all crossing entries will still be real words and proper nouns.
I managed to fill the grid in a couple of sessions (though with some questions outstanding) and derived the extra letters, which led me to THE LETTER Y: UNFINISHED COFFEE: WILL SMITH MOVIE. The last one seemed the easiest to follow up, and led me to INDEPENDENCE DAY a typically American jingoistic Sci-Fi romp with one of the most stupid plot devices I’ve come across (insertion of a virus into an alien computer!). Now the fourth letter of julY is The Letter Y – clue 1! Is the coffee Americano – unfinished to give American for clue 2? Reading the cryptic indications together we have two (not three – which confused me a lot) clues “The letter Y, American Independence Day”. The solution is THE FOURTH OF JULY. So we are looking for Americans with a connection to the fourth of July.
It was difficult to miss the first name – JEFFERSON – at the top of the grid and a brief search revealed two other Founding Fathers in the grid – John ADAMS and James MONROE. I was initially dubious about Monroe as he didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence, being away at the war. However the linking facts were that the all three were presidents and all died on the fourth of July – two of them (Jefferson and Adams) on the same day, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the document. These, then, were the GOINGS of the title.
What of the COMINGS? Only one president was born on the fourth of July, Calvin Coolidge, or, to give him his full name JOHN CALVIN COOLIDGE JR – 20 letters – as is Jefferson (9) + Adams (5) + Monroe (6). So we replace the three names with the one and check on the new words produced and all is as advertised.
Very neat, Eclogue.
| Across | |||
| Clue definition | Answer | Wordplay [extra letter] | X |
| 1 Enjoin staffer to get organised regarding Democratic principles (12) | JEFFERSONIAN | [ENJOIN S[T]AFFER]* | T |
| 10 She succeeds age that’s harsh (6) | HOARSE | HOAR (age) + S[H]E | H |
| 11 Erstwhile letter from forgotten uncle to mother (4) | EMMA | EM[E] (uncle) + MA (mother) | E |
| 12 Half cheerful eating the whole stew (5) | SALMI | SMI(ley) (half cheerful) round AL[L] (the whole) | L |
| 13 Happening to score plug (7) | VENT-PEG | [E]VENT (happening) + PEG (to score) | E |
| 14 Lucerne encountered detective (6) | MEDICK | ME[T] (encountered + DICK (detective) | T |
| 15 Scottish market-place gets thanks for chemical mixture (5) | TRONA | TRON (Scottish market place) + [T]A | T |
| 16 Note poet’s evening in Somerset watercourse (4) | REEN | RE (note) + [E]EN | E |
| 17 Vandalising deriders cracked corners (7) | DIÈDRES | [DE[R]IDERS]* | R |
| 18 Greys out areas of sand dunes (4) | ERGS | [GRE[Y]S]* | Y |
| 19 Waving at a round aquatic mammal (7) | ONDATRA | [AT A RO[U]ND]* | U |
| 20 Self-assertive jokes on item losing time (7) | PUSHING | PU[N]S (jokes) + (t)HING (item) | N |
| 24 Wild fans at hotel for songwriter Graham? (4) | NASH | [[F]ANS]* + H(otel) | F |
| 27 Nut with shelter that is understanding (7) | ENTENTE | EN (nut – printing) + TENT (shelter) + [I].E . (that is) | I |
| 28 Housewife perhaps playing iTunes endlessly (4) | ETUI | [ITU[N]E(s)]* | N |
| 29 Plug intentions of Canadian singer, say (5) | ADAMS | DAM (plug) in A[I]MS (intentions) | I |
| 30 Son in more trouble with Marilyn? (6) | MONROE | [S]ON in [MORE]* | S |
| 32 Surface road using a slather that’s bubbly (7) | TAR-SEAL | [A SLAT[H]ER]* | H |
| 33 Jock’s eye on the road after Donal’s beginning to worry local … (5) | DEAVE | D(onal) + [E]E (Scot’s eye) + AVE(nue – road) | E |
| 34 … aged giant amidst increased tension (4) | ETEN | Hidden in increasE[D] TENsion | D |
| 35 Soprano dressed in very Scottish helmet (6) | SALADE | S(oprano) + [C]LAD (dressed) in AE (Scots very) | C |
| 36 Sisters solely wandering in a passive manner out of the ark (12) | RESISTLESSLY | [SISTERS S[O]LELY]* | O |
| Down | |||
| Clue definition | Answer | Wordplay | X |
| 1 American energy contributing to swaraj, if smooth (4) | JISM | Hidden in swaraJ I[F] SMooth | F |
| 2 Directory switching off lethal dosage with little hesitation (6) | FOLDER | F[F]O (reversed) + LD (lethal dosage) +ER (hesitation) | F |
| 3 Rarely reporting feminine enigma that puzzles (6) | FAMING | [F [E]NIGMA]* | E |
| 4 Penalties of old early English strains (6) | ERICKS | [E]E (early English) + RICKS (strains) | E |
| 5 Oozing spirits weep in glass bottles (7) | SEEPING | Hidden in spiriS [W]EEP IN Glass | W |
| 6 Poet’s smeared in malign edition (6) | OINTED | [EDIT[I]ON]* | I |
| 7 Proceed with difficulty once before with troy weight (6) | IMPORT | [L]IMP + OR (before) + T(roy) | L |
| 8 Merry earl with men is rarely more pleasant (6) | AMENER | [EAR[L] MEN]* | L |
| 9 Eastern port cobras I ask about (8) | NAGASAKI | NAGAS (cobras) + [I A[S]K]* | S |
| 16 Perhaps Winchester theatre getting local channel on time (8) | REPEATER | REP (theatre) + EA (channel) + TER[M] (time) | M |
| 19 Aware of a perch served atop grilled item, perhaps (7, 2 words) | ON TOAST | ON TO (aware of) + A + S[I]T (perch) | I |
| 21 With a wave head is up on a certain day (6) | UNDATE | NU[T] (head) reversed + DATE | T |
| 22 She rats on feathered mimics (6) | STARES | [S[H]E RATS]* | H |
| 23 Gores with jagged mess-tin (6) | INSETS | [[M]ESS TIN]* | M |
| 24 Stupid tailless Indian camel turns on wild dog, losing height (6) | NOODLE | OON(t) (camel) reversed + [D(h)[O]LE]* (wild dog) | O |
| 25 An archdeacon reduced rest for hero of old (6) | AENEAS | A [V]EN (archdeacon) + EAS(e) (rest) | V |
| 26 Casually, fiddles are buried in soil being turned over aboard ship (6) | STRADS | A(re) in D[I]RT (soil) reversed all in SS (aboard ship) | I |
| 31 Water-pump protects railroad that’s slippery (4) | EELY | EY[E] (interesting definition!) round EL (railroad) | E |
Oh, so not Arabic Independence Day after all. I found this an easy grid fill, but I couldn’t see how to replace the three very evident American Fathers (plus I couldn’t ‘get’ The Letter Y, though 4th of July was evident. Now it’s explained it’s all very brilliant. Thanks Eclogue and Hihoba
A lovely puzzle with an extremely interesting theme – who knew that 3 American presidents died on the 4th of July and one was born then? The statistical likelihood of the latter is under 20% and the former surely <1% so I found it fascinating.
Like @1 I did not see the twig that The Letter Y was the 4th of July (I went down a “Yankee” route) but by then I had “American Independence Day” so was happy enough.
The endgame replacement was very neat. I thought “JR” must be the abbreviation, it being American and creating the word RELY, and found the answer from that.
My only very minor – and overly perfectionist – niggle was that the final grid contained JOHNCALVIIAN (not a word); I thought this could have been avoided by inserting a bar before IAN and clueing it separately.
However, very enjoyable so many thanks.
An enjoyable, fairly straightforward solve. I failed to make much sense of the extra letters (my parsing skills having let me down somewhat once more), but the presidents and what linked them was pretty evident, and there was enough in the preamble to not have to finish “properly”.
Arnold#2 The problem with a bar where you suggest is that Jefferson has to be clued directly without giving the theme away immediately. Not so easy.
I couldn’t work out the final ‘coming’ bit, despite googling the right answer. Like Arnold at #2 I was looking for a proper fit. I don’t think that’s being perfectionist.
@4 & @2: another problem with a bar after JEFFERSON is that a symmetrically placed bar in the bottom row would produce RES|ISTLESSLY.