After scheduling this blog, I decided that I had to come back and add something – it is our 800th blog on 225!
It’s Joyce blogging again. I have to admit that I did not attempt to solve the puzzle before blogging. Last year Komornik set a puzzle which took us ages to unravel and we had to cheat at the end. We found many of the clues were challenging to say the least. As Bert and I have ended up blogging five puzzles between us, I decided to look at the parsings for each clue as I progressed through the blog and work out whether I would have had any chance of solving them.
So…. here’s the false title that Komornik submitted with the puzzle plus the preamble:
Puzzle that conveys vital information, contrarily expressed as a number of letters (for want of a proper title) by Komorník
All seven-letter entries (one thematically always found abbreviated) and 40% of five-letter entries exemplify what has often entertained us (three words, ignoring an article). All other clues contain a surplus word, whose initial letters define the theme. Solutions include a trade name and several very well-known proper names. You may, if you wish, write the real title here:
and the puzzle…
| ACROSS | |||
| No. | Entry | Extra Letter | |
| 7 | ETHOS |
Race’s character portrayed by those cycling (5)
|
|
| THOSE with the last letter moved to the front or ‘cycling’ | |||
| 8 | HOLIDAYED | Y |
Took time off from daily work, packed in yoga, got rid of weeds (9)
|
| An anagram (‘work’) of DAILY inside or ‘packed in’ HOED (got rid of weeds) – YOGA is extra | |||
| 10 | BRONTE | O |
One of three unknowns officially omitted (for time) in material of “9”? (6)
|
| Z (one of three unknowns in maths) omitted and replaced by T (time) in BRON |
|||
| 11 | RAMPARTS | R |
Really strong walls secure ruin: on the contrary … (8)
|
| STRAP (secure) MAR (ruin) reversed or ‘on the contrary’ – REALLY is extra | |||
| 12 | DISALLOW | K |
… crumbling kitchen walls I do reject (8)
|
| An anagram (‘crumbling’) of WALLS I DO – KITCHEN is extra | |||
| 13 | URSA | S |
This is stockrepresentation of Russia (4)
|
| The setter wants you to think of this as an &lit with URSA and IS (i.e. ‘this’ is) being an anagram (‘representation’) of RUSSIA. URSA is a bear – which is how Russia is often represented. STOCK is extra | |||
| 15 | CHANNEL |
Coconuts primarily clogging watercourse? (7)
|
|
| A ‘lift and separate’ clue CHANEL (as in Coco Chanel) with N (first letter of Nuts) inside or ‘clogging’. I am not sure why the ? is there. | |||
| 17 | CHARLIE |
10? Exaggerated – delete, put in 1 – credulous person (7)
|
|
| CHARL |
|||
| 20 | ISLE | H |
It’s typified by Harris (Hebrides), Lewis – cut off from outside (4)
|
| Komornik explains this as another &lit as Harris and Lewis are an ISLE but you have to remove the extra word (HEBRIDES) to find the answer hidden in HarrIS LEwis (‘cutting off the outside’) | |||
| 22 | RAWLPLUG | I |
Head lost in fray – bit of hype that may initially facilitate hanging (8)
|
| 25 | SCHUBERT | R |
Lied famously in his recent output, very reflective about fish (8)
|
| Another &lit apparently although the subtlety was lost on me I am afraid. Komornik explains this as a reversal (‘reflective’) of TRES (very) about CHUB (fish). The &lit comes from the fact that Schubert wrote a LIED (or song) about a trout – Die Forelle. The &lit is more difficult to spot as the extra word is RECENT. | |||
| 26 | PRINCE | E |
Maybe 17 associated with Estonian revolution? (6)
|
| You have to remove the extra word – ESTONIAN before you can link PRINCE to CHARLIE (17ac) – the Young Pretender – the leader of the Jacobite Revolution | |||
| 27 | PEACH TREE | P |
Spooner’s planned lecture before one providing ingredients of starter with prosciutto? (5,4)
|
| I am not keen on Spoonerisms at the best of times – this one seems a step too far for me especially as you have to remove the extra word first – PLANNED. It is TEACH PRE ( lecture before) – not a phrase anyone would ever use. I am not sure that I have ever served peach with prosciutto. | |||
| 28 | CRETE |
Setback – with other items undefined, I’m not certain to fill in 20 (5)
|
|
| A reversal or ‘setback’ of ETC (other items not defined) with ER (I’m not certain) inside or ‘filling in’ | |||
| DOWN | |||
| No. | Entry | Extra Letter | |
| 1 | STARLIGHT | U |
It’s not usualbrilliant newspaper crossword solution (9)
|
| STAR (newspaper) LIGHT (crossword solution). As Komornik says – starlight is not as brilliant as sunlight – USUAL is extra | |||
| 2 | MOUNTAIN | B |
What succeeds – black or brown table as part of range? (8)
|
| There is a Black MOUNTAIN and a Table MOUNTAIN. I have heard of the Black Mountains in Wales but did not know there was a Black Mountain peak as well. There is also one in North Carolina – BROWN is extra | |||
| 3 | GO BROWN |
Demand for PM’s resignation to change after lying in the Sun? (2,5)
|
|
| Double definition | |||
| 4 | BIGMOUTH | L |
Estuary speaker looking over-confident (8)
|
| Double defintion – LOOKING is extra | |||
| 5 | CALAIS | I |
It’s just beyond 15 Celsius: unfortunately I’ll be in ice-bath (6)
|
| C (Celsius) ALAS (unfortunately) with I inside – ICE-BATH is extra – CALAIS is ‘just beyond’ the English Channel (15ac) | |||
| 6 | JETTY |
Dry day at last: under-5’s first person that’s heading out to sea (5)
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|
| TT (dry) Y (‘last’ letter of day) ‘under’ JE (French for first person – as 5 is Calais) | |||
| 9 | BELL | C |
What Charolais bull does, with no indication of injury that may be borne by cow (4)
|
| BELL |
|||
| 14 | BIFURCATE | H |
Split reportage of William’s helpful shopping on wife’s account? (9)
|
| A homophone (‘sounds like’) of BUY FOR KATE (referring to William and Kate – Prince and Princess of Wales) – HELPFUL is extra | |||
| 16 | EYETEETH | O |
Price offered by those most often covetous of facial features? (3,5)
|
| Double definition – OFTEN is extra | |||
| 18 | REPLIERS | U |
They back up or unequivocally reject comment about those that should “get a grip” (8)
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| RE (about) PLIERS (those that should get a grip – UNEQUIVOCALLY is extra | |||
| 19 | BROTHER |
“Bryan Robson” or “Tony Hateley” echoing rapturously? Starts with Son of my Father (7)
|
|
| The initial letters or ‘starts’ to Bryan Robson Or Tony Hateley Echoing Rapturously. The Chicory Tip song – Son of My Father was apparently a chant that was often heard at sporting events – what have I been missing? | |||
| 21 | SLUICE | S |
I constructed sixteen clues about Watergate (6)
|
| I inside an anagram (‘constructed’) of CLUES – SIXTEEN is extra | |||
| 23 | WIPE | E |
What is “expunge”? (i) delete eight “exhausting” characters? (4)
|
| W |
|||
| 24 | OCTET |
Number (one from 25) offers clue that’s easy touch for beginners (5)
|
|
| Another acrostic with initial letters or ‘beginners’ to Offers Clue That’s Easy Touch. 25 is Schubert. |
The seven-letter entries are – CHANNEL, CHARLIE, GO BROWN and BROTHER – Komornik links these to ‘FOX’ but I really need some help with GO BROWN which the setter links to the book trade. To get the link with BROTHER you have to shorten it to BR (oth) ER FOX in the Uncle Remus stories
The five-letter entries are ETHOS, JETTY, CRETE and OCTET all contain ET (40% of each entry) – As Komornik explains ET is ‘and’ in Latin, which Komornik wants us to think of as ‘ROMAN’ ( I normally think of ‘et’ as ‘and’ in French, but Bert assures me that it is ‘and’ in Latin too)
Together these give you cryptically FOX AND ROMAN which is where the S&Bs in York used to take place.
………….
If you have got this far and are wondering what the false title is all about here is Komornik’s explanation:
Puzzle that conveys vital information, contrarily expressed as a number of letters (for want of a proper title)
The puzzle’s false title as well as being a fair description of any cryptic crossword gives
Puzzle = FOX
That contains vital information contrarily expressed = AND (DNA reversed)
(As a number) of letters – ROMAN – Roman numbers being expressed in that way.
Phew!
Crikey!
Rather you than me
What mc_rapper67, PostMark and bingy said. I did Komornik’s challenge earlier this year and thought that was difficult. He certainly has a unique style.
Well! I printed out all the S&B puzzles a while back and this was the final one for me. Happy to say I completed the grid and got the phrase “Yorkshire Public House”, and noted the recurring ‘et’ but couldn’t get any further than that with the theme. Not surprising considering how esoteric it was, and that I’m not at all involved with S&B, I just noticed them all on the blog and thought I’d have a go! But this was a fun challenge, as were the others in the selection.