Chalicea, a frequent Inquisitor setter, probably completes Ladies month with this puzzle entitled Goal,
We had a fairly short preamble, as follows: The perimeter contains two partnerships, one appropriately oriented, with a shared goal which must be highlighted in the completed grid. Wordplay in 37 clues leads to the answer plus an extra letter not entered in the grid. In clue order, these letters spell a reason and a reaction to the goal.
There were 40 clues, so all but three lead to wordplay with an extra letter.
The grid filled fairly steadily, although it was not always clear what the extra letter was. I had to do a little bit of reverse engineering once the likely reason and reaction became clear.
The reason was BECAUSE IT’S THERE; and the reaction was WE KNOCKED THE BASTARD OFF..
The reason was given by GEORGE MALLORY to explain why he tried to climb Mount EVEREST in 1924 along with his partner ANDREW IRVINE. Unfortunately the pair failed to reach their goal and both perished on the mountain. MALLORY‘s body was found in 1999 but IRVINE’s body has never been found. These two climbers can be seen in the top and bottom rows of the grid.
The successful partnership was Sir EDMUND HILLARY and NORGAY TENZING shown going upwards, appropriately, in the outer columns. They were the first pair to reach the summit on 29 May 1953, almost 70 years ago to the day when this puzzle was published.. It was HILLARY who said WE KNOCKED THE BASTARD OFF
All the references online say TENZING NORGAY rather than NORGAY TENZING but I eckon Chalicea was constrained by needing the G in GEORGE.
Finally we had to highlight the Goal – EVEREST. This is found in the NW to SE diagonal.
Chalicea’s clues are always very clear with well defined wordplay. I needed a dictionary to fully understand a few of the definitions once I had got the answer from the wordplay or from the crossing letters.
It’s a pity GEORGE MALLORY‘s companion didn’t have 13 letters in his name and merge with NORGAY to make everything symmetrical, but that wasn’t to be.
The completed grid and the grid with highlighting are shown below. The perimeter doesn’t need to be highlighted, but I have done so to illustrate all the climbers involved.
Thanks to Chalicea for continuing her string of interesting Inquisitors.
| No | Clue | Letter | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 9 | Ragged lady, perhaps, without end claiming to be taken aback (7)
NIGELLA (RAGGED LADY is a garden flower [NIGELLA Adamascena] of the buttercup family) ALLEGING (claiming) excluding the final letter (endless) G and reversed (to be taken aback) NIGELLA< |
||
| 10 | Duller blog that is primarily rubbish (6)
LOGIER (a mainly American term meaning duller) BLOG + IE (id est; that is) + R (first letter of [primarily] RUBBISH) LOG IE R |
B | |
| 11 | Smile easily crushes body parts (4)
ILEA (the lowest parts of the small intestine; body parts) ILEEA (hidden word in [crushes] SMILE EASILY) -either E could be the extra letter ILEA |
E | |
| 12 | Explosive acted with no limits, left following trial (6)
TETRYL (a yellow crystalline explosive compound used as a detonator) CTE (letters remaining in ACTED when the outer letters are removed [without limits] A and D + TRY (trial) + L (left) TE TRY L |
C | |
| 13 | Plunges of essentially wading birds (5)
DIVES (plunges) DI (central letters of [essentially] WADING) + AVES (birds as a class of vertebrates.) DI VES |
A | |
| 14 | Clue she’s fabricated for a mould (7)
CHESSEL (cheese mould) Anagram of (fabricated) CLUE SHES CHESSEL* |
U | |
| 15 | Originally empty, hide wine vessel returned to give goddess (4)
NIKE (Greek goddess of victory) (E [first letter of {originally} EMPTY] + SKIN [wine vessel made of an animal’s SKIN) all reversed (returned) (NIK E)< |
S | |
| 16 | Chalky nodule found in fuel lab working in unusual locale (8)
COALBALL (a calcareous [chalky] nodule found in coal.[fuel]) Anagram of (working) LAB contained in (in) an anagram of (unusual) LOCALE COA (LBA*) LL* |
E | |
| 18 | Designed repairs, now and then, to make more valuable? (6)
ENDEAR (make more dear [valuable]) EINDEAR (letters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 [now and then] of DESIGNED REPAIRS) ENDEAR |
I | |
| 20 | Exotic matter in wood from foreign tree (7)
MERANTI (the wood of any of the Shorea genus of trees of Malaysia [foreign]) Anagram of (exotic) MATTER IN – either T could be the extra letter MERANTI* |
T | |
| 22 | Twitcher? He’s a specialist collecting birds (5)
RHEAS (small flightless South American birds) RHESAS (hidden word in [collecting) TWITCHER HE’S A SPECIALIST) RHEAS |
S | |
| 26 | Will’s satisfied, surprisingly steady consuming last drops of alcohol cask (7)
YSLAKED (Shakespearean [Will] term for quenched or relaxed the energies of; satisfied) Anagram of (surprisingly) STEADY containing (consuming) L and K [final letters of {last drops of}] ALCOHOL and CASK) YS (L) A (K) ED* |
T | |
| 27 | Followed on in music she played, finally clutching viol (6)
SEGUED (musical term meaning to proceed without pause, to follow on) (SHE + D [last letter of {finally} PLAYED]) containing (clutching) GUE (a kind of viol formerly used in Shetland.) SE (GUE) D |
H | |
| 28 | Couple of articles against small rodents, concerned with body structure (8)
ANATOMIC (concerned with body structure) (AN [indefinite article] + A [indefinite article] – couple of articles) + TO (against) + MICE (small rodents) AN A TO MIC |
E | |
| 31 | Flier’s promissory note includes mistake (4)
PERN (honey buzzard; bird; flier) PN (promissory note) containing (includes) ERR (mistake [to ERR in opinion]) – either R could be the extra letter P (ER) N |
R | |
| 32 | Regarding stomach very short time after flatulence (7)
GASTRIC (relating to, or in the region of, the stomach) GAS (American term for flatus or flatulence) + TRICE (very short time) GAS TRIC |
E | |
| 33 | River vermin making comeback, a feature of Aberdeen beach? (5)
STARR (Scottish [Aberdeen] term for coarse seaside grass, sedge, or rush) (R [river] + RATS [vermin]) all reversed (making comeback) (STAR R)< |
||
| 34 | Sensitive plant in villager’s modest old saying (6)
MIMOSA (a plant of the sensitive plant genus of the same name MIMOSA) MIM (dialect [villager’s] word for modest) + O (old) + SAW (saying or proverb) MIM O SA |
W | |
| 35 | Original substance remotely recalled, after cutting rot out (4)
YLEM (the original substance from which, according to some theories, the elements developed) REMOTELY excluding (after cutting … out) the letters in ROT and then reversed (recalled) YLEM< |
E | |
| 36 | Legendary bird wheeling over oddly green mountain belt (6)
OROGEN (mountain belt) ROK (alternative spelling of ROC, a legendary bird) reversed (wheeling) + O (over) + GEN (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of GREEN) OR< O GEN |
K | |
| 37 | Disturbed unconstrained department concealing high explosive (7)
FRETTED (disturbed) (FREE [unconstrained] + D [Department]) containing (concealing) TNT (trinitrotoluene; high explosive) FRE (TT) E D |
N | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Old age once going without first good fuel in Glasgow (7)
EILDING (Scottish [Glasgow] word for fuel) EILD (old age) + GOING excluding (without) the first G (good) EILD ING |
O | |
| 2 | Make a fuss with volume replacing tact ultimately in old-fashioned plunder (5)
REAVE (archaic [old-fashioned] word for plunder) CREATE (make a fuss) with V (volume) replacing T (last letter of [ultimately] TACT) REAVE |
C | |
| 3 | Bugles endlessly playing rake up a hearing problem (7, 2 words)
GLUE EAR (condition of the ear causing deafness; hearing problem) Anagram of (playing) BUGLES excluding the first and final letters (endlessly) B and S + an anagram of (up) RAKE GLUE* EAR* |
K | |
| 4 | Young farmyard animals, slippery characters eating last of profit (4)
ELTS (young sows [farmyard animals]) EELS (slippery characters) containing (eating) T (final letter of [last of] PROFIT) EL (T) S – either E could be the extra character |
E | |
| 5 | Salty, shaded pan without any banks for showy plant (7)
ALTHAEA (plant of the marshmallow and hollyhock genus with flowers of many colours; showy plants) Central letters of each of SALTY, SHADED and PAN remaining when the outer letters SY, SD and PN are removed (without banks) ALT HAE A |
D | |
| 6 | Worthless person caused bitterness to parting students (5)
LOREL (worthless person;) TORE (caused bitterness) contained in (parting) (L [learner; student] + L [learner; student]) giving students L (ORE) L |
T | |
| 7 | Worker pursuing struggles, lacking time for rock impregnated with petroleum (7, 2 words)
OIL SAND (sand or sandstone [rock] occurring naturally impregnated with petroleum;) TOILS (struggles) excluding (lacking) T (time) + HAND (worker) OIL S AND |
H | |
| 8 | The French turn up for a riotous feast (5)
REVEL (riotous feast) (LE [one of the French forms of ‘the’] + VEER [turn]) all reversed (up; down entry) (REV EL)< either E in VEER could be the extra letter |
E | |
| 14 | Humorous underlying surface in child’s illustrated periodical (7)
COMEDIC (humorous) BED (underlying surface) contained in (in) COMIC (child’s illustrated periodical) COM (ED) IC |
B | |
| 17 | Report sound of sheep gutted old horse (4)
BANG (explosive noise; report) BAA (sound made by a sheep) + NAG (old horse) excluding the central letter (gutted) A BA NG |
A | |
| 19 | Rank of upset body politic (4)
ETAT (rank) STATE (estate, order, or class in society or the body politic) reversed (upset; down entry) ETAT< |
S | |
| 21 | Partly map last monitored genetic material in cell (7)
PLASMON (the total of the genetic material in a cell) PLASTMON (hidden word in [partly] MAP LAST MONITORED) PLASMON |
T | |
| 23 | Moan in the country about East European friend – a wild ass! (7)
HEMIONE (Asiatic wild ass) HONE (dialect [in the country] word for ‘moan’) containing (about) (E [East] + AMI) {French [European] word for ‘friend’) H (E MI) ONE |
A | |
| 24 | Compiler receives intermittently truly decisive blow (7)
SETTLER (decisive blow) SETTER ([crossword] compiler) containing (receives) RL (letters 2 and 4 [intermittently] of TRULY) SETT (L) ER |
R | |
| 25 | Soup dish is missing before tenderiser’s cooked (7)
TERREEN (alternative spelling of TUREEN [large dish for holding soup at the table]) Anagram of (cooked) TENDERISER excluding (missing) IS TERREEN* |
D | |
| 29 | No publicity advanced for Nigerian rhino (5)
NAIRA (Nigerian currency; RHINO is an old slang term for money) NO + AIR (publicity) + A (advanced) N AIR A |
O | |
| 30 | Sea-ear belonging to an earlier time (5)
ORMER (an ear-shaped shell; the ear-shell or sea-ear) FORMER (belonging to an earlier time) ORMER |
F | |
| 31 | Foolish chatter about volume in extremes of tone-deaf broadcast system (5, 2 words)
PAY TV (satellite or cable television available to subscribers; broadcast system) YAP (foolish chatter) reversed (about) + (V [volume] contained in [in] TF [outer letters of {extremes of} TONE-DEAF) PAY< T (V) |
F | |
| 33 | Dress some of England’s aristocracy (4)
SARI (Indian dress) SARI (hidden word in [some of] ENGLAND’S ARISTOCRACY) SARI |
Lovely puzzle with a fun theme. Amazing that the 4 climbers have 13/13/13/12 letter names and that they fit, even if TENZING had to be inverted. I actually assumed this was the ‘correct’ way of writing the name (as in Japanese or Hungarian, for example, where family names come first) but it does look it was purely for convenience.
Nothing really to add other than thank you both!
A nice puzzle that I enjoyed, though confused too as to why TENZING was reversed.
On topic regarding the theme, but off-topic regarding the puzzle: it’s a matter of debate as to whether MALLORY and IRVINE did reach the summit. Their camera which could clinch the argument has not been found to date.
Much enjoyed but nothing further to add. All thanks to Chalicea and duncanshiell.
The puzzle bears striking similarities to #1285 (The B*stard) published almost exactly 10 years ago to coincide with a certain 60th anniversary, and set by guess who. When this dawned on me about halfway through, the puzzle became rather less challenging.
Duncan also blogged that one (but maybe was too polite to mention it). Anyway, thanks to him and to Chalicea – see you in another 10 years?
I found this to be one of the trickier puzzles this year, partly because there were some tough clues to unfamiliar words and partly because I did not see any names that I knew around the perimeter, where I had three letters missing.
With a fresh start on a new day I saw a possible name ANDREW IRVINE or IRVING along the bottom row. On looking up IRVINE first I struck gold, as I then saw a partial name that I recognised and was relevant: EDMUND HILLARY. The remaining two names followed, and I finished this excellent puzzle by solving the remaining clues, finding all the letters of the ‘reason’ and the ‘reaction’, and ensuring everything was parsed.
Thanks to Chalicea and duncanshiell.
I found this a bit tougher than Chalicea’s usual offerings, and, like Arnold, was impressed by the perimeter. After Fats Waller last week, it’s two Inquisitors in a row that could be solved without running to a search engine. Thanks to Chalicea and duncanshiell.
Thanks to Duncanshiell. Yes, Holy Ghost, the event happened on my birthday, and was also honoured on Coronation day when the news was revealed to the world just a few days later, so it seemed worthwhile, especially for me, to use it again (though differently!) – as we have just had another coronation. I have worked with two of the offspring of the four figures mentioned which adds poignancy for me. Clearly using NORGAY TENZING (which is an acceptable, I believe) in that order allowed me to have the two who probably didn’t make it ‘lying horizontally’ and the other two climbing up the sides of the grid. There was a camera found with Mallory’s body but little has been said of that. However, in the climbing world it is considered unlikely that Mallory and Irvine could have managed such a feat with the equipment they had and the route they were adopting. See you in another ten years Holy Ghost!
No reason an event cannot be celebrated more than once on different anniversaries. 75th will no go unnoticed in the media, I’d say.
All present and correct here this week – a really nice puzzle, with some wonderfully crafted clues. I was a little disappointed to find that the theme for Inquisitor 1805 was not the Battle Of Trafalgar (I’d been waiting for weeks in anticipation), but I soon recovered my composure when I realised that it concerned another major feat of derring-do that might have been plucked from from pages of The Boys Own Annual.
I must concur with Jon_S @2 : It cannot (as yet) be known for certain that Mallory & Irvine did NOT reach the summit, all that is known is that they did not safely return from their attempt (Mallory’s final resting place is now known, Irvine remains MPKIA; Hillary & Tenzing claim the first CONFIRMED successful attempt on Everest.