Chalicea has us waiting at a BUS STOP on New Year’s Eve…will three come along at once?…
The preamble states that:
“Circling the grid in a clockwise direction from the cell at the bottom left, the speaker explains his situation and says how she must react at the BUS STOP. Solvers should respond as she does, colouring 34 cells appropriately. Single additional letters produced by the wordplay of 24 clues give one more line of the lyrics from one version of the song. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Not too much to go on there, apart from the fact that just over half of the clues (24 of 46) will be producing extra wordplay letters. Time to get on with some solving, to get some crossers in the perimeter.
And fairly good progress was made – this being a Chalicea, the clueing was on the gentler end of the EV scale, albeit with the usual sprinkling of obscure/new-to-me words: INWICK, BIELD, YOKUL, TROW, THEW. All gettable from wordplay/crossers, but needing a quick check in Chambers to confirm.
I don’t remember a specific PDM – it was more of an osmosis of possible words from the perimeter and words from the extra letters, but the bottom right corner seemed to be ‘IF YOU STILL WANT ME’, and the extra letters started forming ‘THE WHOLE D…BUS IS CHE…’. And these tidbits, plus a residual bit of cultural memory and a little judicious Wiki-oogling led to a bit of foot-tappin’ and a whole lot of ear-wormin’.
The man on the bus explains his situation by singing ‘I’M COMIN’ HOME, I’VE DONE MY TIME’ around the first half of the perimeter. He then tells ‘her’ how to react: WHAT TO DO IF YOU STILL WANT ME, around the second half. Which is of course to ‘Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree’…
The extra letters – neatly presented in alternate clues in the Across and Down sets – then tell us that ‘THE WHOLE DANG BUS IS CHEERIN”, because they have seen the 34 cells in the centre of the grid: ‘A HUNDRED YELLOW RIBBONS’ round ‘THE OLE OAK TREE’!
I’ve never really been sure what he is comin’ home from, or what he was doing his time for – military service? jail time? Was she the reason he went to jail?…Maybe he killed her husband? Also, has ‘she’ really tied a hundred ribbons, or has he written to a hundred of his old girlfriends and they have all come along and tied a ribbon for him? Or maybe the ribbons are a decoy/trap, tied by the jealous husband to trick him into gettin’ off the bus?… I think we should be told. The song was originally recorded in 1973 by ‘Tony Orlando and Dawn’, and has been covered by a host of others since. I guess this could be seen as a 50th anniversary tribute, although it was released in February 1973, and number one on both sides of the Atlantic around the middle of that year, so more like 50 and a half…
(I have been trying to suppress the earworm with Steeleye Span’s ‘All around my hat‘, which is a different treatment of a similar theme – tying ribbons on a hat to remember a loved one away on service or doing time…but to not much avail…I now have two earworms!…)
Regardless, it is a pretty impressive feat of grid construction to fit all that thematic material in and around the grid – a departure from the signature Chalicea ‘thematic stripes’! I only realised as I was creating the grid above that it wasn’t symmetric – not surprising given the amount of material being squeezed in.
Many thanks to Chalicea for a nice finish to the EV year, and a happy Cruciverbal New Year to you all!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Extra Letter | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing (extra wordplay lett(t)ers in bold) |
|
| 8 | T | INWICK | Subtly think twice avoiding the crooked curling stroke (6)
subtractive anagram, i.e. subtly, of ( |
|
| 10 | OGREISH | Cruel and ugly, therefore being rejected is habitual at first (7)
OGRE (ergo, therefore, being rejected) + IS + H (Habitual, at first) |
||
| 11 | H | ELUL | Havoc about university month (4)
(H)EL_L (havoc) around U (university) |
|
| 12 | YELLOW | Cowardly shout – Ow! (6)
YELL (shout) + OW |
||
| 15 | E | MANED | Malicious European hound, ultimately like a lion (5)
M(E)AN (malicious) + E (European) + D (hounD, ultimately) |
|
| 16 | THEW | Custom of the west (4)
THE + W (west) |
||
| 17 | W | EDIT | Humour surrounding newspaper boss and what one’s paid to do (4)
(W)_IT (humour) around (surrounding) ED (editor, newspaper boss) |
|
| 18 | CREOLE | Patois of Algonquian language adopting old dialect essentially (6)
CRE_E (Algonquin language) around (adopting) O (old) + L (middle letter, or essence, of diaLect) |
||
| 19 | H | RESET | Readjust concerning Adam and Eve’s third son (5)
RE (concerning) + SET(H) (Adam & Eve’s third son) |
|
| 20 | HEH | Hebrew letter to produce gleeful laugh mostly (3)
HE H( |
||
| 21 | O | CROAKINGS | Sadly crooks gain making these pessimistic grumbles (9)
anag, i.e. sadly, of CRO(O)KS GAIN |
|
| 22 | NAIAD | Diana, maybe, water nymph (5)
anag, i.e. maybe, of DIANA |
||
| 27 | L | BIELD | In Perth shelter offer involving cloth measure (5)
BI_D (offer) around (involving) EL(L) (cloth measure) |
|
| 29 | NEURONE | In Spain euro needed for cell (7)
hidden word in ‘spaiN ERUO NEeded’ |
||
| 31 | E | MAORI HEN | Flightless bird of China’s chairman in here unusually (8, two words)
MAO (China’s Chairman) + RI_HEN (anag, i.e. unusually, of IN HER(E)) |
|
| 35 | SIRI | Showy plant from the east for mild stimulant (4)
IRIS (showy plant) from the east, i.e. reversed, = SIRI [siri as in betel leaf, not the Apple voice assistant!] |
||
| 36 | D | AESOP | Making a comeback assumed an attitude with a fabulist (5)
POSE(D) (assumed an attitude) + A, all making a comeback = AESOP |
|
| 39 | CALCES | Dry dark-red transparent resin – backing for metallic oxides (6)
SEC (dry) + LAC (dark-red transparent resin), all backing, reversed again, gives CALCES |
||
| 40 | A | MAKE HAY | Eastern maidservant indeed going round, oddly keen to cause confusion (7, two words)
(A)MA_H (Eastern maidservant) around KE (odd letters of KeEn), plus AY (indeed) |
|
| 41 | GEISTS | Spirits of those discriminating against the elderly – not accepted! (6)
( |
||
| 42 | N | UREDO | Partially cured noxious rust fungus (5)
hidden word in, i.e. part of, ‘cURED (N)Oxious’ |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Extra Letter | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing (extra wordplay lett(t)ers in bold) |
|
| 1 | G | ENLACE | Unrestrained glee can entangle (6)
anag, i.e. unrestrained, of (G)LEE CAN |
|
| 2 | OILER | Tanker or water heater failing to start (5)
( |
||
| 3 | B | EKE | Scrape out some of creek beds (3)
hidden word in, i.e. some of, ‘creEK (B)Eds’ |
|
| 4 | MOL | Gangster’s girlfriend cut back small chemist’s measure (3)
MOL( |
||
| 5 | U | TROW | Throw out excluding last of trash and ordinary, in the end decrepit, local boat (4)
T( |
|
| 6 | MINDS | Is bothered by systems of excavation when Germany replaces Spain (5)
MIN( |
||
| 7 | S | ESKIES | Sees round means of travelling in winter in gadgets for keeping tinnies cold (6)
(S)E_ES around SKI (means of travelling in winter) [an esky being an Australian cool box – to keep their tinnies, or cans of beer, cold!] |
|
| 9 | CYDER | Caught Yard raising wine – alcoholic drink! (5)
C (caught, cricket scoring) + Y (yard) + DER (red, wine, raised) [variant of cider] |
||
| 13 | I | LEEK | Untruth over base, finally rank, vegetable (4)
L(I)E (untruth) + E (logarithmic base) + K (final letter of ranK) |
|
| 14 | WEENIES | Weak ineffectual people from America we see turning up around Northern Ireland (7)
WE + E_ES (see, turning up) around NI (Northern Ireland) |
||
| 16 | S | TOON | After time early tree (4)
T (time) + (S)OON (early) |
|
| 18 | CHIPOTLE | Cooking pan in South American country for jalapeno pepper (8)
CHI_LE (South American country) around POT (cooking pan) |
||
| 19 | C | RIB | Illicitly copy jest (3)
subtractive double defn. – (C)RIB can mean to copy illicitly; and RIB can mean to jest, or tease |
|
| 21 | CAN | Is able to record in advance (3)
double defn – CAN can mean is able to; and to make a recording in advance can be to CAN |
||
| 23 | H | A LA PAGE | Following prince, a boy attendant is well-informed in the Elysee (7, three words)
(H)AL (Shakespeare, Prince Henry, or Hal) + A + PAGE (boy attendant) |
|
| 24 | DEICES | Removes frost from plane, for example, and takes great risks circling centre of aileron (6)
D_ICES (takes great risks) around (circling) E (centre of ailEron) |
||
| 25 | E | TREE | Regularly starve betel plant (4)
regular letters of ‘sTaRvE bEt(E)l’ [any of the Es could be the extra one!] |
|
| 26 | BON | Upset person of high social rank: Good! Macron would say (3)
NOB – person of high social rank, upset = BON |
||
| 28 | E | EPITHET | Term expressing quality easily for Ed in English mine (7)
E (English) + PI_T (mine) around (E)THE (easily, Spenserian, so for Ed) |
|
| 30 | OREADS | Young mountain beauties love periods enjoying books (6)
O (love zero) + READS (periods enjoying books) |
||
| 32 | R | RECIT | Narrative now and then urges casual criticism (5)
RE (alternate letters, i.e. now and then, of uRgEs) + C(R)IT (informal, or casual, for criticism) |
|
| 33 | HASTA | Suffers extremes of trauma until in Spain (5)
HAS (suffers) + TA (extreme letters of TraumA) |
||
| 34 | I | YOKUL | By-work built-in from time to time, yes, once for a Shetlander (5)
alternate letters, i.e. from time to time, in ‘bY wOrK bUiLt (I)n’ |
|
| 37 | SAIL | Be sick after second trip in ship (4)
S (second) + AIL (be sick) |
||
| 38 | N | PERI | In Penrith, beautiful supernatural being (4)
hidden word in ‘PE(N)Rith’ |
|
thanks for the puzzle and blog! I’m pretty sure the “comin’ home” was from a POW camp in Vietnam. (There was also the movie Coming Home around the same time)
An excellent puzzle in which I had to fill the grid before I had any idea of the theme. I made some sense of the right-hand section of the border (…WHAT TO DO IF YOU …), but practically no sense of either the rest of the border or of the extra letters from the clues and answers (mainly because I had three letters missing). Eventually, when I had the full set of letters, I was able to read more of the quote and look up the source.
I had to admire how much thematic material was contained in the grid, the symmetry of the thematic material in the middle (the 34 cells) and the way that alternate clues were used for creating the extra letters from the wordplay.
Thanks to Chalicea and mc_rapper.
There’s a Setter’s Blog for this crossword here https://bigdave44.com/2024/01/11/ev-1623-setters-blog/#more-191092
Only the 2nd time I managed to get to the endgame since I started having a go at the EV,
I too had plenty of earworms apart from Tony and Dawn and Steeleye Span I toyed with The Hollies and Lindisfarne before the penny dropped
I went with damn in my extra letters from the wordplay but my grid is otherwise correct (who has brown highlighters)
Thanks to Chalicea and mc_rapper67 also Phibs who got me started over in t’other place
Thanks for the comments and feedback so far – much appreciated as usual…
Much to admire, as Alan B says at #2! And worth visiting the setter’s blog for some interesting background to the puzzle – kind of Chalicea to share that with us.
SJB at #4 – glad to hear you made it through to the end of this one – well, near as ‘dang’ it! As Chalicea explains, many versions used ‘damn’, or ‘damned’, but she chose to use ‘dang’ (the Dolly Parton version?) to spare the Telegraph’s blushes…
As a colour-ignorant/colour-challenged person, I used to rely on my kids to do any required colouring in before submission. Now they have flown the nest (temporarily? to university!) I have been left with a set of clearly marked colouring pencils which should cover most scenarios – I find colouring in with pencil causes fewer smears than using wet highlighters…
Many thanks, mc_rapper67 and Phibs, of course, for the hints. Apologies to the colour-challenged, but no worries. It was agreed that we would be generous with the marking and oak trees can be a wide range of colours can’t they!