After five weeks of the recent ‘Elementary’ themed EV series, we are back to normal…or whatever constitutes ‘normal’ in an EV! My OPINION on seeing it was a Chalicea this week was that it should be at the ‘gentler’ end of the EV spectrum, and would probably be educational and/or entertaining in some measure…
The preamble states that:
“An extra letter is produced by the wordplay of every clue in addition to those required for the answer. In clue order, these give an OPINION about the five unclued entries (three to be read in conjunction with one another) offered by the person whose name must be highlighted in the grid. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
And that opinion was largely borne out. The five unclued entries had plenty of crossers, once the grid started to fill up, with 1A looking likely to be THE. However, I did grind to a bit of a crawl, not helped by quite a few obscure/new to me words that needed some checking once parsed/fitted/guessed.
The unclued entries were taking shape – RELIGION, GUNPOWDER and PRINTING, which meant that across the top was probably THE PROTESTANT plus RELIGION, for the three items to be read in conjunction.
These didn’t make any particular connection, until I redeemed myself by remembering the second rule of ‘EV Club’ – ‘always check the diagonals’ – and there, down the main one, was something that looked most likely to be ‘THOMAS CARLYLE’.
And a little Wiki-oogling threw up his quotation: ‘…THE THREE GREAT ELEMENTS OF MODERN CIVILIZATION…GUNPOWDER, PRINTING and the PROTESTANT RELIGION…’, with the extra letters from wordplay making up the first part of that:
So: enjoyable, certainly; and educational, definitely…not just widening my ‘quotational’ knowledge, but also those obscure words have broadened my vocabulary – OGGIN, TELPHERAGES, HIRI MOTU, SAKAI, AEOLIPILE and the heraldic term LIONEL (as opposed to Lionel Blair!).
Many thanks to Chalicea for the challenge, and I trust all is clear below.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Extra Letter | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing (extra letters in brackets) |
|
| 10 | T | BEMOANER | Person lamenting gamble on mare going wrong (8)
BE(T) (gamble) + MOANER (anag, i.e. going wrong, of ON MARE) |
|
| 12 | H | LIONEL | Small animal in arms of hellion cycling around (6)
(H)ELLION cycling round by two letters gives LION(H)EL [‘in arms’ referring to heraldry] |
|
| 14 | E | GLOOP | Sloppy liquid glob of scruffy police dog (not CID maybe) (5)
subtractive anagram, i.e. scruffy, of POL( |
|
| 16 | T | PRIM | Strait-laced, quiet and neat (4)
P (piano, music, quiet) + (T)RIM (neat) |
|
| 18 | H | AEOLIPILE | A hole I melted down in Hero’s engine (9)
AEOLI(H) (anag, i.e. melted down, of A HOLE I) + PILE (down, fluffy surface of fabric) [a steam turbine, described by Hero of Alexandria, in the first century CE] |
|
| 20 | R | EMEND | Make alterations to clear-up, engaging male employees (5)
(R)E_D (clear up) around (engaging) MEN (employees) |
|
| 21 | E | SIGN | Gesture of Italian ladies after gold goes missing (4)
SIGN( |
|
| 23 | E | OWED | Outstanding old wild herb (4)
O (old) + WE(E)D (wild herb) |
|
| 24 | G | DESECRATE | Disrespect damaged edges on box of perishable goods (9)
DESE(G) (anag, i.e. damaged, of EDGES) + CRATE (box of breakable or perishable goods) |
|
| 27 | R | ATOM | Something very small in piece of artillery almost backfiring (4)
almost all of MO(R)TA( |
|
| 30 | E | CARTA | Sign showing something’s missing before document of political rights (5)
CAR(E)T (proofreading, sign that something is missing) + A (ante, Latin, before) |
|
| 34 | A | TALPIDAE | Taken in by story, handed over money advanced for digging mammals (8)
TAL_E (story), around (taking in) P(A)ID (handed over money) + A (advanced) [Talpidae being a taxonomic family, including moles, or digging mammals] |
|
| 35 | T | LICE | Claim tick regularly on elephant’s head becomes parasitic infestation (4)
LI(T)C (regular letters of ‘cLaIm TiCk’ + E (first letter, or head, of Elephant) |
|
| 36 | E | SAKAI | Malaysian forest tribes cause unlimited pain (5)
SAK(E) (cause) + AI (pAIn, with outer letters, or limits, removed) |
|
| 37 | L | LAYER | Rely in retrospect on the French level of seniority (5)
LA (definite article, the, in French) + Y(L)ER (rely, in retrospect) |
|
| 38 | E | UNREMEDIED | One local retired Arabian chief expired not having been cured (10)
UN (dialect, or local, for one) + RE(E)ME (emeer, or Arabian chief, retired) + DIED (expired) |
|
| 39 | M | TIE | Season to unite (3)
subtractive double defn. – a TI(M)E can be a season; and to TIE can be to unite |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Extra Letter | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing (extra letters in brackets) |
|
| 1 | E | TELPHERAGES | See Telegraph distributed in transportation systems (11)
anag, i.e. distributed, of SEE TEL(E)GRAPH |
|
| 2 | N | ETOILE | Ensnare eastern star (6)
E(N)TOIL (ensnare) + E (eastern) |
|
| 3 | T | PINMAN | Matchstick drawing of graduate down ultimately after drink (6)
PIN(T) (drink) + MA (Master of Arts, graduate) + N (ultimate letter of dowN) |
|
| 4 | S | RUE | Regret deceptive manoeuvre (3)
subtractive double defn. – a RU(S)E is a deceptive manoeuvre; and to RUE can be to regret |
|
| 5 | O | TELL | Fee levied involving European lad with crown of fruit (4)
T(O)_LL (fee levied) around (involving) E (European) [the lad in question being William Tell’s son/target!] |
|
| 6 | F | Rage mounting about international messaging system (5)
EMA_L(F) (flame, or anger, mounting) around I (international) |
||
| 7 | M | TALIPOT | Optimal time to vary growth in India (7)
anag, i.e. to vary, of OPTI(M)AL + T (time) [talipot being an East Asian palm tree] |
|
| 8 | O | NEON | Type of lamp essentially valueless in middle of day (4)
N_O(O)N (middle of the day) around E (essence, or heart, of valuEless) |
|
| 9 | D | HIRI MOTU | Language idiom hurt when used differently (8, two words)
anag, i.e. used differently, of I(D)IOM HURT [a pidgin form of the Motu language, in Papua New Guinea] |
|
| 11 | E | OGGIN | Moggie neatly shows what is main for some (5)
hidden word in, i.e. shown by, ‘mOGGI(E) Neatly’ [oggin being naval slang for the sea, or the main] |
|
| 13 | R | LEESES | Lecturer on English forms finally adopting old language loses according to Bard (6)
L (lecturer) + E (English) + E(R)SE (formerly for Scottish/Irish Gaelic) + S (final letter of formS) [leese being a Shakespearean, or Spenserian, version of lose] |
|
| 15 | N | PIEDS-A-TERRE | Secondary dwellings are questionable with president (11)
anag, i.e. questionable, of ARE + PRESIDE(N)T |
|
| 17 | C | RADS | Units of last of vulgar boors (4)
R (last of vulgaR) + (C)ADS (boors) [rad/radian being an SI unit of plane angle] |
|
| 19 | I | LENTICEL | Clients boundlessly bitched off and on over start of lost breathing space (8)
L(I)ENT (clients, boundlessly, or losing outer letters) + ICE (regular letters, i.e. off and on, of bItChEd) + L (starting letter of Lost) [lenticel being a breathing pore, in bark] |
|
| 22 | V | GRAEAE | Very dangerous area, oddly, for sisters of the Gorgons (6)
GRA(V)E (very dangerous) + AE (odd letters of ArEa) [the Graeae were three sisters of the Gorgons, taking the form of three old women with a single tooth and one eye between them] |
|
| 25 | I | EMPLANE | Late media company reported undistinguished board (7)
EM(I) (Electrical and Musical Industries, former music company/record label) + PLANE (homophone, i.e. reportedly, of plain, or undistinguished) [board as in get on – e.g. a plane] |
|
| 26 | L | ACRE | Burial crew maintains little piece of land (4)
hidden word in, i.e. maintained by, ‘buriA(L) CREw’ |
|
| 28 | I | HOP IT | Pueblo Indian with gutless intent to do a runner (5, two words)
HOP(I) (Pueblo Indian, North American native people) + IT (IntenT, gutless!), or HOPI + (I)T |
|
| 29 | Z | ADDEND | A Dutch doctor of divinity absorbing Buddhist doctrine is part of sum (6)
A + D_D (Doctor of Divinity) around (absorbing) (Z)EN (Buddhist doctrine) |
|
| 31 | A | ADLAND | A boy spinning as if in idealised publicity world (6)
A + D(A)L (lad, or boy, spinning) + AND (as if) |
|
| 32 | T | RAIYAT | Indian farmer’s lost for ever over penetrating touch (6)
(T)RAI_T (a stroke, or touch) around (penetrated by) YA (ay, archaic, or lost, for ‘for ever’, over) |
|
| 33 | I | WIFIE | Local area radio network that is for Nicola Sturgeon, for example (5)
WIF(I) (wi-fi, local area radio network) + IE (id est, Latin, that is) [wifie being Scottish, informal, for a woman, not necessarily a wife – e.g. Nicola Sturgeon, who is also a wife!] |
|
| 34 | O | TARN | Sailor assigned to small upland lake (4)
TAR (sailor) + (O)N (assigned to) |
|
| 37 | N | LIE | Story thread (3)
subtractive double defn. – a LI(N)E can be a thread; and a LIE can be a story! |
|
The usual elegantly constructed rendition of the theme you would expect from Chalicea. Seeing religion emerging, followed by Protestant, and then checking the main diagonal gave me the theme with a bit of internet research and allowed the remainder of the grid filling to be done smoothly. Thanks to setter and blogger.
Thanks, Stick Insect…there is also a setter’s blog over on the BD site, where Chalicea gives some insight into the development of this puzzle.
I am intrigued by her comment that ‘…Setting an EV takes a few days…’ I have never set any puzzles, let alone a themed/barred puzzle, but I imagined that it would take much longer than that! (Even then, it seems that the testing, refining, editing process seems to take anything up to a year, plus, before they eventually get published.)
I know that I am slower at setting puzzles than most, but even so “a few days” is so very far from my experience! There is many weeks of work involved in moving from an initial concept idea through playing around with grids, writing preambles and clues, communicating with test solvers, rewriting preambles and clues, providing solutions and explanations, etc. At least for thematic barred puzzles, definitely something to do as a hobby, not as a main source of income!