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If you were not at the York S&B, but would like to tackle Jugular’s puzzle, click HERE
The puzzle is not specifically related to the York S&B, and Jugular apparently came across the concept behind it over 2 years ago in a cryptic by David Astle in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Joyce and I tackled this one together and unfortunately had to admit defeat!
The note under the grid states that ‘The definitions for 13 clues are 18 downs – all other clues are normal’
In such circumstances, the only option is to start solving to find some of the ’18 downs’ and to try to establish a link between them. As 18 down is unclued, this was tricky, not to say impossible, unless you have most, if not all, of the crossing letters and then happen to stumble on the key word. We made reasonable progress working our way through the clues, but had little confidence that some of the 13 ‘thematic’ entries were correct as we could not solve 18 down, and could find no connection between the solutions. Our missing answers were the ones that crossed with 18d unfortunately.
In the end, we had to admit defeat and had to check Jugular’s annotation, which revealed that 18 down is ACROSTIC – we then went back to the 13 clues and realised that the first letters of each word in the clue spelt a synonym for the solution as well as providing the wordplay. This was a revelation and we have to congratulate Jugular on the achievement.
We wonder how many others out there had the same experience as us, or whether we were just not bright enough to spot the connection. We did notice that most of the clues were very short with some dubious synonyms, and now that we understand the theme, we understand why!
We wondered whether, if 18 down had been clued, it may have offered us a better chance of fully enjoying the puzzle.
Acrostic (18d) definitions in bold, normal clue definitions underlined
ACROSS
7 Previous over occupies plonker (9)
EXCRETION
EX (previous) + O (over) in or ‘occupying’ CRETIN (plonker) – acrostic definition: POOP
8 Popular among lapsangs? (5)
CHINA
IN (popular) ‘among’ CHA (tea – lapsang is a type of tea) – acrostic definition: PAL
9 Re-use a cloth end (9)
DECATHLON
An anagram (‘re-use’) of A CLOTH END – acrostic definition: RACE
10 An indication of high pressure, the card game hasn’t started (5)
RIDGE
bRIDGE (card game) missing the first letter or ‘not starting’
12 Special art installation date (6)
STATED
S (special) TATE (‘art installation’) D (date) – acrostic definition: SAID
13 Headcase against Trump (8)
SKULLCAP
SKULL (‘headcase’) CAP (trump) – acrostic definition: HAT
14 Hold out super sister’s slice (7)
PERSIST
Hidden (a ‘slice’ of) in suPER SISTer
17 Singapore’s neighbours broadcast unease (7)
MALAISE
A homophone (‘broadcast’) of MALAYS (‘Singapore’s neighbours’)
20 Ignore Darwin? (8)
PASSPORT
PASS (ignore) PORT (Darwin?) – acrostic definition: ID
22 Warning on old David? (6)
FOREST
FORE (warning – on a golf course) ST (saint – St David as an example) – acrostic definition: WOOD
24 Small fish with square sucker (5)
SPRAT
S (square) PRAT (sucker)
25 Notice discontinued service handbook (9)
DISMISSAL
DIS (discontinued) MISSAL (church ‘service handbook’)
26 Item of music on radio still (5)
PEACE
A homophone (‘on radio’) of PIECE (‘item of music’)
27 Emotionally delivered document clutching bag (9)
DECLAIMED
DEED (document) round or ‘clutching’ CLAIM (bag)
DOWN
1 Perky reported once? (6)
EXPERT
‘Reportedly’ EX (once) PERT (perky) – acrostic definition: PRO
2 The Bard’s confused measures (8)
BREADTHS
An anagram (‘confused’) of THE BARD’S
3 Ate some diet cheddar (6)
ETCHED
Hidden (‘some’) in diET CHEDdar
4 No one will play with this woman very much at sea catching current (7)
SOLOIST
SO (very much) LOST (at sea) round or ‘catching’ I (current)
5 Keen soprano replaced by tenor – a great pleasure (6)
THRILL
sHRILL (keen) with the ‘s’ (soprano) replaced by T (tenor)
6 Wordplays about horse and sheep (8)
ANAGRAMS
A (about) NAG (horse) RAMS (sheep)
11 Brought round a shortened seat (4)
TUBA
A reversal (‘brought round’) of A BUTt (seat) missing the last letter or ‘shortened’ – acrostic definition: BRASS
15 Extra large and small models (8)
EXAMPLES
EX (extra) AMPLE (large) S (small)
16 Drunk runs over Pastor (4)
SPOT
SOT (drunk) round or ‘running over’ P (pastor) – acrostic definition: DROP
18 Unclued (8)
ACROSTIC – theme word
19 Marked instead unfortunately (7)
STAINED
An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of INSTEAD
21 Chaser organised most bizarrely (6)
SEARCH
An anagram (‘most bizarrely’) of CHASER – acrostic definition: COMB
22 Career limiting anonymous note (6)
FAMILY
FLY (career) round or ‘limiting’ A (anonymous) MI (note) – acrostic definition: CLAN
23 Hell is ‘neath the sun (6)
SHADES
HADES (hell) under S (sun) – acrostic definition: HINTS
Many thanks Jugular, and B&J for the blog. To some extent, a similar solving experience – a very slow start, and an initially frustrating struggle. That SE corner particularly stubborn. But recruiting the combined forces of Amoeba, PostMark & Kitty&co we did get to the end … and what a fabulous PDM, making the struggle absolutely worthwhile! A great construction – providing a clue for that key answer would certainly have made it ‘easier’ but I’m not sure it would have provided quite the same sense of achievement and admiration when that penny *finally* dropped. Thanks again!
Thanks, Jugular and B&J!
I don’t recall coming across this idea before. Very impressive.
And a lovely matching blog!
Thanks both. The idea is not originally mine KVa, but I saw it done by David Astle, the Australian equivalent of Susie Dent, and I had to have a go at some stage.
Jugular
Tim C@3/Jugular!
Thanks for the response.
Eager to see many more such masterful puzzles from you.
You can find a few more on MyC…. KVa @4 If you liked this one you may like my last one (1136) on there.
Thanks Tim. Will attempt to solve it.
A bit late to comment, jugular, as yesterday was taken up by the journey back from York and then watching the two World Cup rugby matches that I missed over the weekend. As Fez says @1, this took a combined effort but we got there in the end. A cunning device – which would certainly have out-cunninged me if I had been solving alone. A nice revelation in the end.
Thanks jugular and B&J
PM @7, I thought you’d enjoy (is that the right word?!!) it after my last effort on MyC which was a sort of precursor to this one.
I correctly finished this by guesswork without ever seeing how the clues were acrostics, with FAMILY and FOREST going in last. I did not guess ACROSTIC until the grid was nearly complete. The theme clues were obviously lacking a definition, and some were a bit of a strain to decipher without my understanding the theme device. A nice idea, but I am afraid the fun part was lost on me.
Yes, Cineraria @9, not everyone’s cup of tea I’m sure.
Don’t get me wrong. This was very clever. I was just disappointed in myself that I missed the gimmick.–JMc
Late coming to this one. sorry!
I had to cheat here – I’m afraid that’s somewhat par for the course when tackling a ‘special instructions’ one. So I carefully read through as much of the blog as would tell me what 18d was … I simply had to have that info … then was able to get back to work. I had originally wondered whether 18d was ANAGRAMS but we already have that word from a normal clue at 6d.
Of course, once ACROSTIC was in place the rest of the puzzle soon fell into place.
O think PASSPORT EXCRETION and SKULLCAP must be among my favourites among the ‘special’s. Among the normal clues I’ll tick DISMISSAL.
Thanks to Jugular and B&J,