May the 4th be with you.
In 23 down clues, wordplay leads to an extra letter. These letters give six syllabic words (one a surname) which, in keeping with the theme, are in a nonsensical order. Once reassembled, they reveal three locations. Solvers should use an appropriate colour to highlight the boundaries of a thematic area alternatively represented in the completed grid (21 cells). Corrections to misprints in wordplay of across clues give an instruction to reveal a thematic application (two intersecting words) also to be highlighted.
No, not those force fields.
Nevertheless, it was the Bank Holiday weekend, and what was your humble blogger doing? Well, he was feeling somewhat under the weather and therefore slumped in his favourite chair in the (wait for it) warm Spring sunshine.
Yes, that’s right, the sun was shining.
So, despite these small mercies, we were therefore not necessarily in the best form to tackle Karla’s latest Inquisitor.
Lucky then the grid fill wasn’t too taxing, despite constantly getting the devices confused.
Misprints would give:
CHANGE ONE LETTER ON ROW XI
And extra letters from Wordplay:
MOR
FIELD
ROTH
LEY
WAKE
WELL
And yes, I did need to lookup what a syllabic word is. Apparently it can, quelle surprise, represent a syllable. D’oh.
They being in a pretty nonsensical order, a nifty bit of rearrangement and Googling to confirm gives:
ROTHWELL
MORLEY
WAKEFIELD
Which mark the Rhubarb Triangle between the three towns, which is apparently well known for its forced Rhubarb growing. Force Fields, see.
The boundary of course was marked by rhubarbs of an altogether ruder kind, being COBBLERS, CLAPTRAP, and SLIPSLOP (which I didn’t know). I have highlighted with a colour as close to being appropriate as I can. Colours were never my strong point.
Last would be to change CARBS to BARBS, giving RHUBARB CRUMBLE.
Which was all as lovely as the latter is, so thanks. There’s one bit of parsing I’m not 100% convinced by (the TOTEM one), one definition I’ve queried, and as for the rest, apologies, but I’m just not up to it this week. Over to you.
| Clue | Answer | Misprint Correction Where Applicable | Extra Letter Where Applicable | Wordplay | |
| ACROSS | |||||
| 1 | Axe verse on setter’s unscripted act (6) | IMPROV | C | IM PROV (ace) | |
| 6 | Part from interior of telex claps out at last (7) | ELEMENT | H | tELEx MEN (chaps) + the last letter from ouT | |
| 11 | Stint on island that is most comfortable (7) | COSIEST | A | COS IE ST (saint) | |
| 12 | Scoundrel approaching moor to see rare object (5) | CURIO | N | CUR + IO (moon) | |
| 14 | Marbled char gobbles round fish (5) | ROACH | G | An anagram (garbled) of CHAR about O | |
| 16 | Book meeting of shaman briefly with old boy (5) | JACOB | E | JACk (seaman) + OB, |
|
| 17 | Same panthers at zoo can be fake (6) | ERSATZ | O | Some of panthERS AT Zoo | |
| 19 | Notice soldier about to feed tit (4) | SIGN | N | GI reversed in SN (tin) | |
| 20 | Split up with Isla in the wee small hours? (7) | ISOLATE | E | I (isle) SO LATE | |
| 22 | Photographs work on the sand in deserted sandpits (6) | STILLS | L | TILL (work on the land) inside a deserted SandpitS | |
| 23 | Enthusiastic tart occupies body of students (4) | NUTS | E | T (tare) inside NUS | |
| 26 | Hide from lame animal skirting lake (4) | PELT | T | A tame animal – PET – about L | |
| 28 | Record Gershwin showing English spider (6) | EPEIRA | T | EP + IRA stowing E to give a creepy-crawly | |
| 30 | Bar worker mostly strict on brat (7) | TAPSTER | E | TAP (beat) + STERn | |
| 34 | Wounded lose in disarray (4) | SORE | R | An anagram of ROSE | |
| 35 | Symbols of respect mates set around space (6) | TOTEMS | TOTS ( |
||
| 37 | Rugs in odd bits of a boatman’s vessel (5) | AORTA | N | R (runs) inside odd letters from A bOaTmAn | |
| 38 | Energy source Brits emptied east of Dover? (5) | CARBS | R | CAR (rover) + BritS emptied | |
| 40 | Laugh after permits sent back for enclosure in Fife (5) | STELL | O | L (lough) after LETS reversed | |
| 41 | Justice initially ranting gets exposure on the radio (7, 2 words) | AIR PLAY | W | fAIR PLAY initially wanting | |
| 42 | Those under examination note Owen moving right away (7) | TESTEES | X | TE + STEErS (oxen) without the R | |
| 43 | Currency empress returned on Rhode Island (6) | RIYALS | I | SLAY (impress) reversed on RI | |
| DOWN | |||||
| 2 | Encouragement in middle of summer exam: take alcohol (12, 2 words) | MORAL SUPPORT | M | MM ORAL SUP PORT | |
| 3 | Movie Bunch of Flowers cut short (6) | PSYCHO | O | POSY + CHOp | |
| 4 | Rotate beneath oil platform channel (6) | RIGOLL | R | RIG + ROLL | |
| 5 | Noted form periodically in poem above (3) | OER | F | nOtEd FoRm | |
| 6 | Accurately relate losing director and others (4, 2 words) | ET AL | I | dETAIL | |
| 7 | Fabrication being covered by church permit (7) | LICENSE | E | LIE + ENS (being) covered by CE | |
| 8 | Cereal hybrids supported by Centre for Coeliacs (6) | MUESLI | L | MULES + LI | |
| 9 | Once prone to straying over section of hotel bar dreamily (7) | ERRABLE | D | Reverse hidden in hotEL BAR DREamily | |
| 10 | From stones, priest plucked Shakespearean cards (6) | TOAZES | TOpAZES | ||
| 11 | For Will, link fabulous bird up with Scots darling at home (6) | COJOIN | R | ROC reversed + JO (darling) + IN | |
| 13 | Internal magazine with clout accepted eccentric thinker (12) | INTELLECTUAL | O | INT ELLE + an anagram of CLOUT A (accepted) | |
| 15 | AC/DC blocking excessive bio (4) | OBIT | T | BI blocks OTT | |
| 18 | Publicity follows leaders of RMT expecting to enter again (6) | RETYPE | H | R E T + HYPE | |
| 19 | Ramus bent across hollowed carpal bone (6) | SACRUM | L | An anagram of RAMUS about a hollowed CarpaL | |
| 21 | Sow local seed barely north of Lithuania (3) | ELT | E | EE + LT | |
| 24 | Supporter on the edges of shanty experiences eruptions (7) | TEETHES | Y | TEE THE + edges of ShantY | |
| 25 | Old man’s unhappy with European horse’s motion? (7) | PASSADE | PAS SAD E | ||
| 27 | Go gathering crop ignoring the second agreement (6) | TREATY | W | TRY about WhEAT, ignoring the H | |
| 28 | Most convenient for Bard having three sisters in Egypt (6) | EFTEST | A | ET (Egypt) about the FATES | |
| 29 | Elk suit disguised fabled princess (6) | ISEULT | K | An anagram of ELK SUIT gives a lesser known alternative for Isolde | |
| 31 | Mount Black is south of territory (4) | ARAB | E | AREA + B | |
| 32 | Dopey puppy regularly careless (6) | SLOPPY | W | SLOW + PuPpY | |
| 33 | Yeast beer? Acceptable rubbish in recession (6) | TORULA | E | ALE + U + ROT, all reversed | |
| 36 | Periods the French connected with headland (4) | ERAS | L | LE + RAS (headland) | |
| 39 | Senior up against Italian for the title in India (3) | SRI | L | SR + IL |
Totems is tots around em, therefore ‘mites’ not ‘motes’, giving LETTER IN not ON.
I loved this one. All thanks to Karla and Jon_S! I must confess that initially and too confidently I read the title as representing FLEAS and for a long time was wondering whether KEATINGS POWDER or some such relevant “application” would be hiding in the final grid. But RHUBARB CRUMBLE emerged instead and the town names set me right.
My parsing for the TOTS in TOTEMS was MITES rather than MOTES, with a surplus I giving IN rather than ON in the message. [ETA: Ah, @1 got in first while I was typing all that.]
JACOB
Wiki says this:
The Book of Jacob: The Brother of Nephi (/ˈdʒeɪkəb/), usually referred to as the Book of Jacob, is the third of fifteen books that make up the Book of Mormon, a sacred text within the Latter Day Saint movement.
Is the setter alluding to this book?
Or maybe this:
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-versions-and-translations/james-or-jacob-in-the-bible/#:~:text=The%20Book%20of%20Jacob%20(i.e.,book%20in%20the%20New%20Testament.
Kirsanov@1 and David@2 – I’m sure you’re right, though Chambers does have “mote – anything very small”, so either works I think. Sort of. If you squint.
It’s strange how my gridfills nearly always end up in the top left (NW) corner, after starting in either the NE going clockwise or the SW going anticlockwise. This puzzle took me on the latter route, ISEULT being my first clue to solve and PSYCHO my last. The clues were excellent, and I enjoyed grappling with the two different manipulations of the Across and (most of) the Down clues. The only clue that I had a bit of trouble with was the last one (SRI), but all I had to do was to read the clue another way!
The subject of the theme was a delightful surprise – I had never come across the Rhubarb Triangle before, even though Leeds (which is or was one apex of the triangle) was my birthplace. I found RHUBARB CRUMBLE pretty quickly, but the three ‘nonsense’ words took a bit longer.
The phrase ‘six syllabic words (one a surname)’ piqued my interest. I too had to look up ‘syllabic’ and it seems it can indeed mean ‘monosyllabic’. ROTH was not the only surname, incidentally (so is FIELD), but it is the one not in the dictionary.
I had to look up the Book of Jacob, which is a book in the Book of Mormon. (I now see that KVa has commented on this. I thought this was what was intended, and not the other possibility.)
Thanks to Karla and Jon_S.
Jon_S@4
TOTEM
Not making any fresh point. Just sharing what I thought.
I felt ‘motes’ was okay somehow but ‘…ON ROW XI’ made me think.
Quirky theme, witty illustration, and an extra treat for dessert: exemplary (and quite gentle). Thanks to Karla and Jon_S (hope you recover soon).
Regarding the Book of Jacob, blame Google, which is keen to point you to the Books of Jacob instead, a novel by Olga Tokarczuk. Not that I’d accept an extracanonical source, anyway. 😉
Neil@7 – Thanks, getting there!
KVa@6 – A quick Google at least gives me the consolation of knowing that I’m not alone in getting the usage of “in row” / “on row” hopelessly muddled. There’s a whole page devoted to it here: https://www.quora.com/Which-one-is-correct-%E2%80%98on-the-middle-row%E2%80%99-or-%E2%80%98in-the-middle-row%E2%80%99
Coincidentally, I too read this on Quora a few minutes ago. Interesting!
I forgot (silly me) to mention how much I enjoyed the blog. Thanks Jon_S for the super job!
Enjoyed solving the grid but had no idea what was going on until I obeyed the across clues instruction (I too had IN, not ON) and, joy of of joys, found my favourite dessert staring up at me. Online, I found 3 alternative triangles and guessed the outline would illustrate one other than than that indicated from the Down clues. I looked in vain for signs of Bradford and Leeds but eventually spotted CLAPTRAP leading to a quick finish – not sure about the colour though. Great fun!
Thanks to Karla for a great puzzle and to JonS for a valiant blog (I hope you are feeling better now)
BTW, I have just remembered from my youth a very rude rhyming riddle for which the correct (and polite) answer is Rhubarb.
Thought this was a triumph & just what an Inquisitor should be – fun but well disguised theme, good clues and of course some highlighting to top it off. Particularly loved the Rhubarb Triangle which was sufficiently hidden to need finding, but not so hidden as to make it frustrating.
Thanks Karla and jon_s!
Oh and I too was initially stumped by the word “syllabic” – in fact I’m still not sure it is the right word to use, given its primary definition is relating to or based on syllables. I believe monosyllabic would have been more apt, or indeed no reference to syllables at all, as I’m sure we could have all managed the puzzle regardless.
It’s of course a very minor point but if we can’t be pedantic here, then where can we?
arnold @13
The Chambers definition begins with ‘of or constituting a syllable or syllables’, so the word was not used incorrectly, but I agree monosyllabic would have been more apt, and dare I say more precise.
…but by this definition every word in existence is “syllabic” hence “syllabic word” while not strictly incorrect is tautological…?
… I walked into that one, I feel! Yes, monosyllabic was surely called for here given that the setter wished to give that information to the solver.
Before starting the IQ, we read that May 4th was Star Wars Day. As we starting solving the clues we were on the look out for anything connected with the films.
However, it wasn’t long before we realised our initial mistake. We are very familiar with the Rhubarb Triangle. Joyce volunteers at a National Trust property where a number of heritage rhubarb varieties are grown.
Lots to enjoy too in the puzzle.
Thanks to Karla and Jon_s.
Loved this. I lived in two of the three triangle points many years ago so the subject was greeted with a nostalgic smile when the penny dropped. Not too tricky but still very satisfying to work through.
Just to add on the subject of the use of the word ‘syllabic’ – one of the meanings in Chambers is ‘based on a fixed number of syllables’ so here I think Karla was aiming to get across that the six words all had the same number of syllables, without saying the word monosyllabic 🙂
Many thanks to setter and blogger both!