Enigmatic Variations No. 1651: Upwardly Mobile By Luxor

After ‘Death on the Nile‘ two weeks ago, we have moved up to Luxor…

The preamble states that:

“In clues 2 – 10 Down, two consecutive letters of each answer are UPWARDLY MOBILE and must be relocated to the top two rows of the grid on entry, resulting in non-words. Unclued entries provide the name of some extraordinary phenomena. Solvers must replace one clued entry, always making new words, to reveal where these wonders might be found. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

A 13 by 11 grid, with mirror symmetry and a seemingly large proportion of 3- and 4- letter answers. And no clever tricks in the clues – extra letters, misprints, etc.

It seemed that the key would be to try and cold solve a few of the 2-10 Down clues, and as many as possible of the top half’s Across clues, and see where possible clashes occurred, to help identify where the moved letters might be.

This proved fairly productive, and I was able to identify a few – STEREO moving EO to cross with PER; RAVINE crossing VAN and ENE, so IN had to move up; POTHEEN crossing TREHALA, meaning OT had to move up. Etc.

Eventually I was able to see ‘THE FLOATING MOUNTAINS’ in the top two rows, and gradually filled the bottom half as well. The phrase meant nothing to me, so I had to resort to Professor Wiki-Go-Ogle. It seems there are some ‘floating mountains’ in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China, but I couldn’t see the 11-letter ZHANGJIAJIE making real words when swapped with ISOTONICITY or PRETENDANTS.

It probably had to be in the bottom half, as the top half was all involved with the main device, and probably had to be an Across answer, for symmetry, so I spent a while trying to work out what could replace LHASA, LEAPT or REDEYES to leave real words. In the end I was left with REDEYES, and a check back in with the Professor gave me PANDORA, the planet from the movie ‘Avatar‘, where some fictional ‘floating mountains’ also occur:

I have to confess that about 15 years ago I bought a 3-D Panasonic TV, four sets of 3-D glasses and a BluRay disc player, on the strength of the Avatar craze that was sweeping the media (and the country?) at the time. I think I still only own one Blu-Ray disc (Avatar), have watched a sum total of one 3-D movie on it (Avatar again!), and maybe a few other programmes – the odd David Attenborough documentary; the odd attempt at 3D football? – but the rest of that technology is currently gathering dust in a corner of my lounge…I still have the TV, but it might be time for an upgrade…

And I certainly don’t remember the floating mountains, although I think some of the Pandoran natives might have been GREEN-EYED, or had RED-EYES?

Anyway, back to the present moment…this was an enjoyable, if not too taxing, solve with an interesting grid and device/dénouement. My thanks to Luxor (and the EV editor) for transporting us from Poirot and the 1930s to the 22nd Century sci-fi of Avatar.

Across
Clue No	Solution / Entry	Clue (definition underlined) Logic/Parsing
12	ROST	Sort out old person’s joint (4) anag, i.e. out, of SORT [rost being an old variation on roast, or joint]
13	ERIE	Lofty stronghold overlooking far side of hazy lake (4) E(Y)RIE (eagle’s lofty stronghold) losing (overlooking) Y (last letter, or far side, of hazY)
14	TREHALA	American hotel in alert about Turkish delicacy (7) AL_ERT around A (American) and H (hotel) = ALAHERT, turned about, or over, to give TREHALA
15	AGE	Generation eager to cast off boundaries (3) (E)AGE(R) losing outer letters, or casting off boundaries
16	VAN	Advantageously detaining covered wagon (3) hidden word in, i.e. detained by, ‘adVANtageous’
17	PER	In the direction of reported engine noise (3) homophone, i.e. reported – the PURR of an engine can sound like PER (in the direction of, heraldic)
18	SEERS	Revelry sometimes aboard ship for those looking (5) S_S (steamship) around (boarded by) EER (occasional letters, or sometimes, from ‘rEvElRy’)
19	ENE	Poet’s still ignoring odd characters in seance (3) odd letters of ‘sEaNcE’ ignored
20	ISOTONICITY	State of equal tension is too volatile in backward urban area (11) ISOTO (anag, i.e. volatile, if IS TOO) + NI (in, backward) + CITY (urban area)
24	LHASA	Liberal holds advanced capital in elevated position (5) L (Liberal) + HAS (holds) + A (advanced) [Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, at 3606m, is in an elevated position!]
28	SIT	Locate short instruction for setter perhaps (3) double defn. – to SIT something somewhere might be to locate it there; and ‘SIT’ might be a command given to a (canine) setter
29	LEAPT	Jumped clear disregarding outside training (5) (C)LEA(R) (clear, disregarding outside letters) + PT (Physical Training)
30	DUD	Finally dropped acceptable depth bomb that failed to explode (3) D (final letter of droppeD) + U (socially acceptable, not non-U) + D (depth)
31	DOPY	Narcotic use by artless party (4) DO (use, as in ‘do drugs’) + P(~~ART~~)Y (party, art-less!)
32	ALE	Ancient festival originally at Land’s End (3) original letters of ‘At Land’s End’
34	EILD	In past age not bearing young Glaswegian (4) double defn. – EILD is an archaic word, i.e. in past, for eld, or age; and EILD is Scottish, i.e. Glaswegian, for barren, unproductive, not giving milk
36	ITEM	l encountered retired couple (4) I + TEM (met, encountered, retired)
37	FACE	Stand looking towards timeless view (4) FACE(T) – view, timeless
38	PRETENDANTS	Suitors in crazy patterned clothing beginning to nark soprano (11) PRETE_DANT (anag, i.e. crazy, of PATTERNED) around (clothing) N (beginning of NarK), plus S (soprano)
39	RED-EYES / PANDORA	Fish caught registered with base OK (7) RED (homophone, i.e. caught – RED can sound like READ, or registered) + E (logarithmic base) + YES (OK)
Down
Clue No	Solution / Entry	Clue (definition underlined) Logic/Parsing
1	TERRAPINS	Abandoned snap decision over reptiles (9) SNIP (obsolete, or abandoned, for snap) + ARRET (decision/judgement of a tribunal), all over = TERRAPINS!
2	OHMAGES / HM-OAGES	Measures of resistance succeeded after my game disrupted (7) OH (interjection, my!) + MAGE (anag, i.e. disrupted, of GAME) + S (succeeded)
3	STEREO / EO-STER	Partial waste reorganising sound system (6) hidden word in, i.e. part of, ‘waSTE REOrganising’
4	TRUSTFULLY / FU-TRUSTLLY	Naively try concealing lustful fancy (10) TR_Y around (concealing) USTFULL (anag, i.e. fancy, of LUSTFUL)
5	WEDELN / LN-WEDE	United team dismissing first woman’s skiing style (6) WED (married, united) + EL(~~EVE~~)N (team, dismissing Eve, biblically the first woman)
6	POTHEEN / OT-PHEEN	Naughtily open the illegal alcohol (7) anag, i.e. naughtily, of OPEN THE [a variation on poteen]
7	BAZAAR / AA-BAZR	Former Deputy PM reversing round unknown area in marketplace (6) BA_AR (Dominic Raab, former Deputy PM to Boris Johnson, reversing) around Z (unknown, match) + A (area)
8	ELASTICATE / TI-ELASCATE	Make flexible transaction backing casual chap protected by bond (10) ELAS (sale, transaction, backing) + TI_E (bond) around CAT (slang, or casual, for chap)
9	RAVINE / IN-RAVE	Gorge in ecstasy following endless craving (6) (C)RAVIN(G), endlessly, plus E (ecstasy tablet)
10	INSTANT / NS-ITANT	Second Lioness trains regularly with leader of team (7) INSTAN (regular letters from ‘lIoNeSs TrAiNs’ + T (leading letter of Team)
11	GREEN-EYED	Jealous needy men occasionally overcome by desire (9) GREE_D (desire) around (overcoming) NEYE (occasional letters from NeEdY mEn’)
21	OUTPEER / OUTPEEP	Improve on theatrical dated look (7) OUT (dated) + PEER (look) [outpeer being Shakespearian, i.e. theatrical, for to surpass/excel]
22	INDIANS / INDIANA	Auxiliary put up in hotels for Delhi residents (7) IN_NS (hotels) around DIA (aid, helper, auxiliary, put up)
23	RIOTRY	Three performers leaving Thailand attempt loose living (6) (T)RIO (three performers, losing T – Thailand) + TRY (attempt)
25	HEAVED / HEAVEN	Displaced notice suppressing alternative vote (6) HE_ED (notice) around (suppressing) AV (Alternative Vote)
26	SPEEDY / SPEEDO	Fast stamp and envelope distressingly without contents (6) S(~~tam~~)P, E(~~nvelop~~)E and D(~~istressingl~~)Y, all emptied of their contents
27	MULCTS	Modest clumsiness covering up swindles (6) reversed hidden word, i.e. covering and up, in ‘modeST CLUMsiness’
31	DIPS	Dual screen outlining internet protocol goes down briefly (4) D_S (Dual Screen) around (outlining) IP (Internet Protocol)
33	LANE / LAND	Channel energy behind local area network (4) LAN (Local Area Network) + E (energy)
35	DESK	Initially dozy editors getting sack vacated their workspace? (4) DE (first letters, i.e. initially, of ‘Dozy Editors’) + S(AC)K (sack, vacated)

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