The dastardly duo? The gruesome twosome? eXtent are back, whatever name they don’t answer to, putting the fun firmly into Britain’s best barred grid puzzle.
Answers to twelve clues create clashes in eleven cells, identifying our hero’s occupation and employer. Sixteen other clues contain a definition of the grid entry and wordplay yielding an answer that clashes with the grid entry in one position; the incorrect letters in clue order identify the individual with whom our hero clashed. Solvers must resolve the clashes in the grid, reveal the hero, and complete the urgent message to which he responded. The final grid contains all real words and phrases.
“What do you mean, Flash Gordon approaching?”
Go on, ask me. What’s your favourite movie? I’ll tell you – the close runner-up would have to be The Empire Strikes Back, but in the lead would be 1980’s classic camp space opera, Flash Gordon. You’re 11 years old, having already lapped up Queen’s Top 10 theme tune and accompanying video, sneaked peeks at the novelisation in the local Co-Op, watched Blue Peter’s preview (and cameo by one of the presenters), and queued somewhat nervously outside the local cinema (it was never certain at what point the cut-off would be, a line of disappointed kids trudging dejectedly back to the bus station).
But we got in, and of course we weren’t disappointed. These days I can reel off most of the dialogue. And, oh, it’s got a star turn by Brian Blessed. “Gordon’s Alive?” Well, of course he was.
It’s safe to say then that Clash!, and that preamble could mean only the one thing, and I would spend the (enjoyable) grid fill convincing myself firstly that of course I was right, then deciding I was barking up the wrong tree, and back again, several times, though pretty certain deep down where we were headed.
The sneaky DIET / DIES will bear some of the blame, as that psycho MING THE MERCILESS is notably lacking in any S’s until near the end, and yes, I did jump the wrong way first time.
A hasty OWLED for LOWED also made a mess of my clashes, together with some doubt as to whether Flash was a QUARTERBACK employed by the NEW YORK JETS as per the film, or a polo player employed by… who knows, as per the original comic strips. Of course, in retrospect it’s clear to see that with QUARTERBACK / NEW YORK JETS / FLASH GORDON all occupying a fortuitous 11 cells (or rather, a well observed common 11 cells, as this is the sort of luck setters make for themselves, I suspect, with a keen eye for this sort of thing), there could be only one outcome.
But sense prevailed, and any last lingering issues with APPEL and SPIT to the SW were eradicated on jotting into the border “I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth”.
But we all love Flash, Dale. And eXtent’s tribute to the same, of course. Enjoy.
| Clue | Answer | Incorrect Letter | Wordplay | |
| Across | ||||
| 8 | Womaniser in Horatio Walpole’s third novel (8) | LOTHARIO | An anagram of HORATIO and L | |
| 9 | Judges finally banished evil spirit (4) | DEEV | M | DEEMs – an evil spirit in that it’s one from Persian mythology rather than being a particularly cheap whisky |
| 10 | Termination in the course of merging departments is permanent (8) | ENDURING | END and DURING with the D’s for Department merging | |
| 11 | Scrap story by writer (5) | MELEE | I | ME LIE |
| 12 | Bloodsucker draining member with furry bits? (5) | VAIRE | VAmpIRE – a kind of squirrel fur, bluish-grey and white, represented heraldically by rows of blue and white shields or bells | |
| 13 | Visible terms of reference in black boxes (7) | SEEABLE | N | S(E N – the “terms” – ends – of “reference” and “in”)ABLE |
| 16 | Change in Venezuela, I believe, must come after dictator’s dispatched (7) | CENTIMO | CENT (sounds like sent) + IMO (in my opinion) | |
| 19 | Drunk men ignored by new model angrily made beastly noise (5) | LOWED | An anagram of NEW MODEL without the letters from MEN | |
| 20 | Complain about parking on side of road (4) | CARP | CA R P | |
| 21 | Hairy man deceives gullible hosts (4) | ESAU | G | Hidden in deceivES GUllible – Esau in the Bible was infamously hirsute |
| 23 | American bit champion NFL player (11) | QUARTERBACK | QUARTER BACK | |
| 26 | Tool for weeding borders is ultimately something gardeners would use (4) | HOSE | HO(S)E | |
| 27 | Attempt to lose weight fails (4) | DIES | T | A double definition – the other one is DIET |
| 28 | Ancestor’s burned in terrible shunt (5) | INUST | H | An anagram of SHUNT – “we didn’t burn him” |
| 29 | Judges seizing religious work about God’s attendants (7) | TRITONS | E | TRIES surrounding a reversal of OT |
| 33 | Harsh tales about being abandoned by the Rolling Stones (7) | ASHLARS | An anagram of HARSH TALES without the letters from THE – squared or dressed stone used in building or facing a wall | |
| 36 | Grey parrot’s source of drink and fruit (5) | GRAPE | GR APE | |
| 38 | Moving tree’s base is way to create opening in fencing (5) | APPEL | APPLE with the E moved to give a fencing move you won’t have heard of and are unlikely to have need of, either | |
| 39 | Glean more than shop losing last branch (8) | OUTLEARN | M | OUTLEt + ARM |
| 40 | Most of Ireland backing English ruler (4) | EMIR | E | E + EIRe |
| 41 | Plant backed female support networks (8) | AUBRETIA | R | BRA reversed + RETIA (a network, eg of blood vessels or nerves) to give, well, a plant |
| Down | ||||
| 1 | Bone found in Dublin Bay oddly overlooked (4) | ULNA | Even letters from dUbLiN bAy | |
| 2 | Collector of Roman votes supporting court reversal (5) | U-TURN | C | CT + URN |
| 3 | Slender Bible’s your engrossing study material (7) | THREADY | TH(READ)Y | |
| 4 | Pronounced superfluous part of trunk (5) | WAIST | Sounds like waste | |
| 5 | I’m not sure that is bird of prey (4) | ERNE | I | ER IE |
| 6 | Rule rejected by typical person with nothing positive to say (5) | NO-MAN | L | NOrMAL without the R for rule |
| 7 | Chicken scratching duck with cry (4) | YELL | YELLow | |
| 9 | Creditor overturned plot with support (6) | DEBTEE | BED reversed + TEE | |
| 14 | One might provide tissue to put on uncovered sore (5) | DONOR | DON + sORe | |
| 15 | Bears follow escaped bears (4) | OWES | Hidden in follOW EScaped | |
| 16 | Beginning to corner, Olympian is inclined (5) | CARES | C ARES (the Greek god of war and courage) | |
| 17 | Top benefits for people that fly (4) | ERKS | pERKS – RAF slang for aircraftmen | |
| 18 | Service, Federer’s second making strike swerving ball (5) | MASSE | MASS + E to give a snooker shot that sounds and probably is rather difficult to pull off | |
| 20 | Fabricate figure of Christ with head lowered (4) | COIN | ICON moving the I | |
| 22 | Doctor with wine lost footing when half-cut (4) | STUM | STUMbled – to renew or doctor with stum, new wine used to revive dead or vapid wine. We’ve all had a bottle like that. | |
| 24 | Tearful that woman castrated ram (6) | WETHER | WET + HER | |
| 25 | Clapper permitted after end of action in lively dance (7) | JINGLET | JI(N)G + LET – a ball serving as the clapper of a sleigh-bell | |
| 30 | Old Irish guru having tips for offensive gents, perhaps (5) | OLLAV | E | OE + LAV – a learned man among the ancient Irish, apparently |
| 31 | Eminent composer’s mother lacking enthusiasm (5) | ESTRO | maESTRO | |
| 32 | Worries following series of tennis games (5) | FRETS | S | F + SETS |
| 34 | Strip of land running into sea spume (4) | SPIT | A double definition | |
| 35 | Contract another to work on square grates (4) | RUBS | S | SUB + S |
| 37 | Craft of jaguar proficiently climbing (4) | PRAU | Reverse hidden in jagUAR Proficiently – a Malay sailing or rowing boat |
I remembered the name-maybe in a boyhood comic but didnt really twig until the perimeter gave the game away.
So his day job was a bit mort exciting than being a reporter. on The Daily Planet
Which reminds me of a “maison de passe” of that name round the corner from where we loved in Melbourne\
(Since you ask, the answer is no but i was told that it didnt have a bar!!)
Superb. Precisely what an Inquisitor should be
Loved it. All thanks to eXtent and Jon_S. I plodded my way to NEW YORK JETS / QUARTERBACK and stifled a yawn at the prospect of tracing some significant sporting event on Wikipedia … until another look at the preamble suggested maybe a fictional quarterback, and the title then pointed the way. I remembered only the polo player, not the footballer, but who could forget Ming the Merciless?
PS re 13A: I read “terms of reference in” as meaning the last letters of the two words, E and N.
David@4 You’re right, of course – thanks! I’ll update the blog in due course.
An enjoyable puzzle with an excellent set of clues. With the grid almost complete, I saw NEW YORK ?E?S at 23a and realised that this entry would not fit the clue, but it accounted for the eleven clashes and helped with the solving of QUARTERBACK.
With all but two of the letters coming from the sixteen clues, I found Ming the Merciless, a hitherto unfamiliar name. I did not recognise the quote round the boundary either, but the likely sequences I LOVE YOU and TO SAVE THE EARTH gave me something to search on, and the full quote then came straight away. However, the hero FLASH GORDON refused to reveal himself. It took me a while to realise that, having 11 letters, FLASH GORDON could take the place of NEW YORK JETS, making 11 new real words or phrases. Very clever.
I had a query with 23a QUARTERBACK: a QUARTER (US money) is two bits, not ‘American bit’. (And then ‘champion’ obviously makes BACK.)
Thanks to both eXtent and Jon_S.
I cottoned onto the clash fairly quickly, but never having watched the film, I had to wait for MERCILESS to reveal itself before I got the rest of the puzzle.
A fun outing overall and I learnt something new, so what’s not to like?
PS: I did have the same query as Alan B regarding the missing second bit.
I had the same moan as Alan B about 23a QUARTERBACK. I also had a minor carp about 17dn ERKS. This former army brat recalls that aircraftmen were ground crew, and therefore not fliers.
Chambers gives for “bit”: “3. A coin”, which I think lets our setters off the hook.
Too many half-parsed answers for me to uncover Ming; but I found Flash thanks to the real-word rule. Like David Langford @3, I was relieved not to be researching American sport again, though not quite motivated to check out the film. Thanks to eXtent and Jon_S
Bees @9
I’m still doubtful about 23a, which begins ‘American bit’, which is ambiguous in the cryptic grammar of the clue. An American bit is 12.5 cents, and two bits make a quarter, but there is also an American coin (or ‘bit’ – Chambers) worth a quarter. Because the clue can be proved to work in the way that you suggest, I suppose it must be ok, but it’s not what I would call clear.
Some weird over-thinking going on here. A ‘bit’ is a synonym for a ‘coin’. A ‘quarter’ is an American coin. Er, that’s it. What is not clear about that?
Bingy
Fair point. Your explanation is clear, and is what Bees (and I) also had in mind. I should not have sounded so reluctant to say that the clue is objectively sound (we can prove it).
A really enjoyable puzzle, but I had nowhere near the background info that Jon_S (thanks for the blog) had – pretty much just ‘Flash Gordon’ and the Queen song.
Sometime after I’d finished I noticed the “bit”/“2 bits” nose-wrinkle but resolved it to my satisfaction in exactly the same way as Bees @9.
Great stuff, eXtent – keep ’em comin’.
A fine puzzle indeed, with some excellent clueing. Technically a DNF has to be reported here, as I was unable to successfully parse 16A.
Jon_S – Since it seems as though you might wish to know, my favourite films are : Zulu; The Good, The Bad & The Ugly; Tora! Tora! Tora! (in that order).
I found this one quite tough, made more so by being unable to parse 23A (I’m with you Alan B). Also there were a handful of unsolved clues which prevented me from identifying Ming. Simple arithmetic told me that all the clashes had to be in 23A, so I listed all the possible clashes from the down clues and Flash Gordon jumped out pretty quickly. I did not see the 1980 film, apart from a short clip on TV in which Brian Blessed hammed it up brilliantly. However, I did see the 1938 Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars serial as a child in the 1950s at “Saturday morning pictures” and recalled that the enemy was the evil Ming.
In the end, an enjoyable puzzle which I was pleased to finish. Thanks to eXternal and Serpent and also to Jon S, who is clearly a lot younger than me!
I thought this was a marvellous puzzle and brought a smile to the fave when the penny dropped. I am a little bit older than the blogger having thoroughly enjoyed the music and the movie in my early teens. Great blog including the personal nostalgia.
What a treat from eXtent. Thanks to all for the enjoyment