Retrospective by Ploy
In six clues, a word has been acted on by either of two straight-line occurrences of a word which will appear in the grid. The action must be undone before solving those clues, two of the restored words being thematic. Clue numbers give start and end cells, each grid entry passing through cells with common sides, with no cell revisited. The completed grid contains the popular name of an object, surrounding an empty cell. Two of its letters must be changed to reveal the partial name of the object’s successor, to be completed by writing a 5-letter word in the empty cell. Its distinctive shape must then be shown by appropriately colouring 18 cells. All entries in the final grid are real words or phrases.
OK, first observations – it’s not a square or a rectangle!
Second observation, there’s numbers all over the place. That’s explained by the preamble, which tells us that they indicate first and last letters.
I made slow but steady progress through the clues and eventually there were enough letters available to start to make reasonable guesses as to which route entries took. I found the bottom half easier than the top half and the last one I solved was 36-23 OUTLASH but by then it had filled itself in.
It was fairly obvious that the central “square” was going to be the one left empty and it wasn’t too long before I realised that HUBBLE appeared around that square.
Replacing the H & U of HUBBLE with W & E gives us WEBB, This left me a little stuck for a while as I entered JAMES in the centre square but that didn’t really sit comfortably.
I looked up JAMES WEBB on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Webb and discovered that the telescope named after him is made up of a load of hexagons just like our grid. It was then that I realised that I should have changed the H of HUBBLE to a T. This now gave me WEBB TELE SCOPE with JAMES above WEBB. Now I had to erase James from the centre square and replace the space with the word SPACE. Thus we have JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE around the centre.
In the third and eleventh column, we find the word REFLECTOR. So JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE and REFLECTOR (twice) have to be highlighted in yellow. as shown in the image (below).
Apologies that this blog isn’t up to normal standards but I was away from home for the festive period and when this blog is published I’ll be on the verge of boarding the ferry home. I hope that it all makes sense as it stands.
| Clue | Entry | Wordplay |
| 1-12 Half-devoured meal near singer’s trap>>part (4) | ALTO | [me]AL (half devoured)+TO (near) |
| 7-20 Mrs Swindler rejecting daughter (4) | FRAU | FRAU[d] (swindler; minus Daughter) |
| 6-28 Blasted repositories lacking chamber for cooker with tips>>spit (10) | ROTISSERIE | RE[po]SITORIES (minus PO (chamber) anag: blasted |
| 8-35 Skittish mare gobbling up river plant with soft leaves (8) | MOUSE-EAR | OUSE (river) inside MARE (anag: skittish) |
| 10-5 Positive quality behind fairy tale of coastal voyage (8) | PERIPLUS | PERI (fairy)+PLUS (positive quality) |
| 10-11 Wax seal’s broken, section pushed out by pressure (4) | PELA | [s]EAL (Section replaced by Pressure) anag: broken |
| 16-20 Conserve 50% of uncultivated country tree (5) | JAMBU | JAM (conserve)+BU[sh] (uncultivated country; cut in half) |
| 17-30 Nab>>Ban string for instrument player (8) | BANJOIST | BAN+JOIST (string) |
| 18-2 Handsome old throne on my shopping list initially (6) | SEEMLY | SEE (throne)+MY containing L[ist] (initially) (shopping is slang for imprisoning) |
| 19-13 Agree to put in non-specific info (5, 2 words) | GET ON | GEN (non-specific info) around TO |
| 21-9 Senator embracing cupbearer in illicit liquor store (7) | SHEBEEN | HEBE (cupbearer) inside SENator |
| 21-14 Unidentified broadcast centres abandoned by noon (6) | SECRET | CE[n]TRES (minus Noon) anag: broadcast |
| 22-3 Huntsman running fallow deer out of rocky dale (6) | WOLFER | F[al]LOW [de]ER minus DALE (anag: rocky) all anag: running |
| 24-43 Foliage apparent in lost family trees once patchy mist cleared (7) | LEAFERY | FA[mi]LY [t]REE[s] minus MIST (anag: patchy) all anag: lost |
| 25-41 Thatcher, locally, in commotion that is finale for rats>>star (7) | HELLIER | HELL (commotion)+IE (that is)+[sta]R (final letter) |
| 26-15 Save unknown mushroom in Egypt (6) | EXCEPT | ET (Egypt) around X (unknown)+CEP (mushroom) |
| 26-32 Particular ale brewed with spice (8 | ESPECIAL | ALE+SPICE (anag: brewed) |
| 27-4 Agitatedly recall fellow’s to wash entrance plate (10) | CELLAR-FLAP | RECALL (anag: agitatedly)+Fellow+LAP (wash) |
| 29-19 Part of garment covering seaman’s back is dead tarry (4) | LENG | LEG (part of garment) around [seama]N (last letter) |
| 31-45 Wealthy nonuplet, the first to go flying (7) | OPULENT | [n]ONUPLET (minus first letter); anag: flying) |
| 33-44 Academy work on origin of Avon>>nova is a struggle (4) | AGON | Academy+GO (work)+N[ova] (first letter) |
| 36-23 Sudden burst of glacial deposit with wide turning into lake (7) | OUTLASH | OUT[w]ASH (glacial deposit) with Wide changed to L |
| 37-32 Variable weight of books held in both hands (4) | ROTL | Right and Left (both hands) around OT (books) |
| 38-40 Fish, such as herring, lie up with cod at sea (8) | CLUPEOID | LIE UP COD anag: at sea |
| 39-10 March order salesman nets on Tayside, I admit, given trial (9) | ROUTE-STEP | OU (I admit; Scottish)+TEST inside REP (salesman) |
| 39-34 Antibody active in for example, penetrating most of skin (6) | REAGIN | RIN[d] (skin; most of) around EG (for example) containing Active |
| 42-23 Rambler, heading east, for every one to outwit (9) | OVER-REACH | [r]OVER (rambler; with first letter at the end)+EACH (every one) |
| 43-40 Ed’s dam>>mad, at a more distant location (4) | YOND | (double def) |
Thanks to kenmac for the analysis, and to Ploy for a brilliantly creative puzzle.
A DNF for me though. I got about 40% of the clues but there were so many ways to thread most of the answers across the grid that I never got to the stage where letters from solved clues helped with unsolved ones, if that makes sense.
I was also put off the scent by erroneously trying to make 7-20 (the only clue where there was no ambiguity as to how it was to be entered into the grid!) MAAM, and by getting FOWLER for 22-3. I still think FOWLER works just as well…
Still, an enjoyable diversion whilst visiting relatives over the festive season!!
And did anyone else think “tips” were POSTERIORS in 6-28? Another dang false lead!!
A similar story to StephenB @1 – loads of clues solved, some entered into the cells, but none with enough confidence to get any checking letters for the ones I couldn’t cold-solve.
Wonderful indeed. All thanks to Ploy and kenmac. I worked out the endgame and the Distinctive Shape, but got into a tangle with the actual filling-in and felt too knackered to erase everything and start again. (If I’d had a sheet of hex-ruled paper, maybe.) Like StephenB I was hung up on FOWLER at 22-3.
I don’t see anything in the preamble about highlighting the REFLECTORs in addition to the JWST itself.
Remembering some of Nimrod’s editorial comments about clues that have to be Down, I frowned ever so slightly at the construction of OVERREACH because moving a letter “east” seems an Across-clue sort of thing and this word was entered (mostly) Up.
Wow. It was certainly worthy of the Christmas slot!
Luckily I realised that HUBBLE would be key quite early on, which led me onto its replacement and the shape of the 18 cells became clear. I then correctly assumed that the empty space would be in the middle (I thought this could have been indicated in the preamble, as seasoned solvers would know whereas newbies might not) but like kenmac, initially wrote JAMES inside it and replaced the wrong letters. It didn’t feel quite right though, so eventually I realised how the 18 letters were to be used and that SPACE would be in the middle – very neat I thought, given that it physically is, too.
Then only remained the small matter of solving the remaining clues and fitting them into the grid, Tetris-style. I found the fitting great fun, as more and more individual letters went in once only one option to complete a cell was left. What I found less fun was getting the last few clues, as the completed grid didn’t offer a huge amount of help, hence it felt like staring at the same “unsolvable” clue for a very long time.
But after a few mishaps, I managed to do it eventually and was pleased to discover the two REFLECTORs perfectly placed, confirming that I’d done it correctly. Very satisfying!
I did have a minor grumble about the preamble: In six clues, a word has been acted on by either of two straight-line occurrences of a word which will appear in the grid. was unnecessarily complicated, I felt. First of all, it gives the impression that there are two separate treatments, when there is only one (reflection) and secondly the word will only appear in the grid at the very end, hence making it useless in solving the clues. I thought a simpler indication of in six clues, a word must be treated in the same way before solving, leaving the REFLECTORs for later, would have been better.
I also thought it amusing to state All entries in the final grid are real words or phrases, given that really none of them were!
But overall thank you for a fantastic Christmas puzzle.
Dunno about this Hubble Bubble stuff but I was reminded of the M25 in some way.
A DNF-thanks for blog.
10-5 should be pEriplus, with the fairy as a peri: the first “i” of piri would clash with the “e” of wolfer at 22-3…
I have a 33 page pdf here which can be self-animated by paging through.
I enjoyed this very much, though it was a bit of a struggle: I needed to list all the clue numbers numerically by both ends, as finding crossing entries was a pain.
Thanks to Kenmac for the blog, and of course to Ploy for the fun.
I got almost nowhere with this one (even with help!) but as it was the first Inquisitor I’ve ever seriously engaged with I’ll let myself off, dust myself down, and try again next time.
I did manage to get a few solutions, even if only one actually made it into the grid.
Of those I did get, REPOSITORIES was my highlight.
Thanks to Ploy (I’ll beat you one day! ?) and of course to kenmac for the blog.
~ Matt
A most enjoyable workout – thanks to Ploy for festive fun. And thanks Ken for squeezing in the blog during your busy season.
FOWLER v WOLFER: the clue for 22-3 refers to ‘huntsman’ which fits better with the definition of the latter in Chambers (‘kill’ v ‘hunt’).
Arnold @5: it does say ‘straight-line occurrences of a word’ (singular) so no expectation of two treatments here; and I twigged the left-hand REFLECTOR about 2/3 the way through, so not ‘at the very end’, and certainly not ‘useless in solving the clues’.
And ‘all entries in the final grid are real words or phrases’ refers to the fact that the two letter changes result in real words supplanting the original entries: OVERREACH & OUTLASH become OVERREACT & OUTLAST; JAMBU & FRAU become JAMBE & FRAE.
John Lowe @7: thanks for the link – the end result is just what I had.
Happy New Year to all.
My offering to those who quit with a partially filled grid …
Ctrl+Enter for original & final grids. (Opens in new window.)
DNF here, with Mouse Ear and Cellar Flap resisting all my attempts at solving and Wolfer being my original answer but being changed to Fowler in the second print-out of the grid. I also didn’t realise that WEBB would do since I was looking for a new 6-letter word. Ah well.
Had I finished the grid fill I would have wanted more than a bottle of olive oil, let’s put it that way….
John Lowe @7. I will take your excellence PDF and create an animated GIF sometime on Wednesday. I just didn’t have the time, unfortunately
Somehow I managed to insert an E in the central space, plus didn’t get CELLARFLAP and ended up with the blank space being somewhere near the top. I enjoyed what I did though.
Thanks Ploy, kenmac and to John Lowe for posting the completed grid.
HG@9, fair enough on the preamble. Ref the “real words”, I do understand the logic and think it’s generally a nice touch. However, in this particular case I found it mildly amusing given how the answers were entered (making most words unrecognisable in any case.)
WOW from the two of us as well.
We were having a quiet Christmas so had a particularly free day when the puzzle was published. Despite the frustration in having to erase various letters along the way, we enjoyed every single moment we spent on the puzzle.
Unlike some of the other solvers, we did not see the possibility of HUBBLE being key and were unaware of the significance of the hexagons until we googled at the end.
Thanks Ploy – this was one of those IQs which we will never forget.
Kenmac – thanks for the blog. We hope you had a good Christmas.
Just to say thanks to John Lowe for the pdf – sadly, all too helpful in my case (I managed the bottom half, but couldn’t make much headway above).
If anyone’s still watching, I’ve added an animated grid. Many thanks to John Lowe @7
Utterly insane. I’ll be surprised if I don’t choose it as a favourite at the end of the year. In fact both of the first 2 puzzles of the Inquisitor Year have been corkers. Until fairly late in the process I was pretty sure it was all going to be about a mirrorball.
I was amused to see kenmac’s apology for the blog, which I only came to after the brilliant animation had already appeared – probably the best ever, fully doing justice to the puzzle.
Lovely…crossword, blog and animation. I had a lot of fun solving this, despite going up some blind alleys due to premature grid filling. Thanks to all involved.
I am so glad I returned to the blog. I scrolled down so quickly that I missed the animation. It was only when I read Herb’s and Phil K’s comments that I went back to the preamble. I don’t know how you do it kenmac but I am so glad you do!
BTW – Neil+H – we found the top half tricker too.
Joyce here – Bert is out walking and getting very muddy!
How lovely. Since nobody has spelt it out, perhaps it’s worth mentioning that the telescope’s actual array of mirrors corresponds with those hexagons containing the letters of JAMES WEBB – TELESCOPE, with a hole in the middle corresponding to the empty space.
Definitely one needing a pencil and rubber before a final inking! I managed to solve all the clues except 27-4 CELLAR TRAP. As a result, I completed the winding entries on the right but had a gaping hole in the middle left. This was enough to spot HUBBLE and make the required update. With 27-4, I had plumped for “Agitatedly” being the definition since “entrance plate” didn’t seem likely and this was the LOI by a long way. Not until the grid was completed did I spot REFLECTOR and then its reflected version.
A lengthy but very satisfying workout with a very neat end-game. Also, an incredible design and construction.
Many thanks to Ploy and to Kenmac.
A lovely puzzle. I got severely bogged down trying to fathom which of the possible alternative winding pathways were appropriate for each specific answer and, given the Christmas festivities, unfortunately ran out of time. So yet another DNF recorded here – but a truly lovely puzzle nevertheless – beautifully constructed.
Stunning. I’ll be amazed if this is not my favourite of the (new) year.
Never thought I’d finish it, kept making small breakthroughs.
Was convinced it was going to be about bees – could see Bumble appearing in the middle.
It’s definitely Christmas- that’s going to Bauble!
Ooh, reflector’s reflected – nice!
Oh, Hubble becomes Webb with a couple of spare letters… that’s a little unsatisfactory… wait! – who put James there?!? And telescope! 🙂
Now all I have left to do is, what do I put in the middle? There’s nothing left to do is there? What do I put in that… Space!
Not normally a fan of such unconventional puzzles but this was a delightful Christmas break.
And, launched on 25 Dec! Just so neat.