Chalicea starts a new year of Inquisitor puzzles
We begin with what could well be the shortest preamble we are going to get this year, where we are told that the wordplay in each clue leads to an extra letter not entered in the grid. In clue order, these indicate what must be highlighted in the completed grid.
This puzzle was a gentle introduction to the likely trials to come later in the year, but I reckon the clues were tougher to crack than some of Chalicea’s previous offerings.
For me, the grid built up fairly quickly with the early part of the message from the extra letters falling first. It became clear that the message began TWO WORDS. I could also see PRODUCE appearing but the remainder of the message was a bit impenetrable. It took me longer than it should have done to realise that the middle of the message was referring to the unclued lights ONE and TWENTY. The final word looked like GOVERNMENT. Once I saw GEORGE BERNARD at 1 down and deduced SHAW at 20 down, everything became clear.
The full message was TWO WORDS PRODUCED BY ONE TWENTY’S ART OF GOVERNMENT.
A little bit of internet searching revealed that GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856 – 1950) declared that:
THE ART OF GOVERNMENT IS THE ORGANISATION OF IDOLATRY.
He stated this in Maxims: The The Revolutionist’s Handbook at the end of his play Man and Superman (1903)
For a crossword setter, the phrase ORGANISATION OF IDOLATRY screams ‘create an anagram of IDOLATRY‘. In fact, there are two anagrams – DILATORY and ADROITLY. Experience has shown me that Chalicea likes to hide words in the diagonals of her grid and she likes symmetry. In this puzzle we find the two anagrams placed with 180º symmetry about the main NW / SE diagonal as shown on the second grid below.
The clues were very fair and the wordplay was clear in all cases. The title HERO WORSHIP reflects the key word IDOLATRY in Shaw’s quote.
Thanks to Chalicea for an entertaining start to 2025 where I learnt a bit more about SHAW.
| No | Detail | Letter |
| Across | Extra letter in wordplay highlighted in fuchsia |
|
| 1 | Cite Vulgate, it’s peculiarly expressive using actions (13)
GESTICULATIVE (speaking with vigorous gestures; expressive using actions) Anagram of (peculiarly) CITE VULGATE ITS GESTICULATIVE* |
T |
| 12 | Sailor’s rope to secure loot (6)
INHAUL (nautical [sailor’s] term for a rope or line for HAULing IN something, eg a sail. WIN (acquire; secure) + HAUL (loot) IN HAUL |
W |
| 13 | Migratory bird; mouse-coloured object of interest (6)
DUNLIN (red-backed sandpiper, a migratory bird) DUN (mouse-coloured) + LION (an object of interest) DUN LIN |
O |
| 14 | Attacked what it represented (5, 2 words)
HIT AT (attacked) Anagram of (represented) WHAT IT HIT AT* |
W |
| 15 | Modern African Music; stunning course at St Andrews (4)
RAIK (Scottish word for a course or journey) RAI (modern, North African form of popular music) + KO (a knockout; a stunning [blow]) RAI K |
O |
| 16 | Old queen in harvester skirmish (7)
PICKEER (to skirmish) ER (Elizabeth Regina, Elizabeth I or Elizabeth II, former [old] Queen) contained in (in) PICKER (gatherer; harvester) PICK (E) ER or PICKE (E) R |
R |
| 18 | Clothe disheartened lady like a young woman (5)
GIRLY (like a young woman) GIRD (clothe) + LY (letters remaining in LADY when the central letters AD are removed [disheartened]) GIR LY |
D |
| 19 | Get off Arab, say, Algerian grass and heroin (8)
DISHORSE (dismount from an Arab HORSE) DISS (an Algerian reedy grass) + HORSE (a name for heroin) DIS HORSE |
S |
| 22 | Direct Scots couple with hint of tact (4)
AIRT (Scottish word for ‘direct’) PAIR (couple) + T (first letter of [hint of] TACT) AIR T |
P |
| 24 | Wind, primarily French horn, performing (4)
FÖHN (hot dry wind blowing down a mountain valley, especially in the Alps) F (first letter of [primarily] French) + an anagram of (performing) HORN F OHN* |
R |
| 25 | What’s yellow in lion perhaps? Its front (6)
BREAST (front of the body) OR (yellow tincture used in heraldry) contained in (in) BEAST (a lion is an example of a BEAST) B (R) EAST |
O |
| 27 | Medic welcoming official endorsement for female gamete’s follicle (6)
OVISAC (brood-pouch; a body-cavity, eg in viviparous cockroaches, in which eggs or embryos are received and developed. Female [sex that produces eggs] gamete’s [egg or sperm cell] follicle [small sac-like structure]) DOC (doctor; medic) containing (welcoming) VISA (an authenticating endorsement on a passport, etc; official endorsement) O (VISA) C |
D |
| 28a | Eastern American rubber’s bad, is it, in play? (4)
EALE (Shakespearean term, used in the play Hamlet, to represent evil) E (Eastern) + A (American) + ULE (rubber from a Central American tree of the same name) E A LE |
U |
| 29 | Afrikaner’s fine: his uncle’s back in charge (4)
MOOI (South African or Afrikaan term for ‘fine’) OOM (South African or Afrikaan term for uncle) reversed (back) + I/C (in charge) MOO< I |
C |
| 31 | Incorrectly re-route Irish plebeian (8)
ROTURIER (plebeian) Anagram of (incorrectly) RE-ROUTE and IR (Irish) ROTURIER* |
E |
| 33 | Adorn hollow chimney shaft (5)
STULM (small draining-shaft) STUD (to adorn) + LUM (Scottish word for chimney) excluding the central letter (hollow) U STU LM |
D |
| 34 | Local bill making copy of movement of tide (7)
NEAPING (descriptive of a movement of the tide at the time of least difference between high and low tides) NEB (dialect [local] term for ‘beak’ or ‘bill’) + APING (copying) NE APING |
B |
| 36 | Rear of Parisian Palace hidden, except what’s mentioned (4)
ELSE (except what’s mentioned) ELYSEE (reference the Palace in Paris that is the official residence of the President of the French Republic) excluding the final letter (rear of … hidden) E) ELSE |
Y |
| 37 | A striking display advanced Japanese porcelain (5)
ARITA (Japanese porcelain manufactured from the early 17th century at ARITA near Nagasaki) A + RIOT (striking display) + A (advanced) A RIT A |
O |
| 38 | Sell (to Scot) better room and board (6)
BETRAY (to hand over or expose a friend, one’s country, etc to an enemy) BEN (Scottish term for a better room) + TRAY (a board) BE TRAY |
N |
| 40 | Aged uncle with sort of international visiting card (6)
MEISHI (in Japan, a calling or business card; visiting card) EME (obsolete [aged] term for an uncle) + –ISH (suffix indicating ‘sort of’) + I (international) ME ISH I |
E |
| 41 | Extreme hopelessness of asset presented differently (13)
DESPERATENESS (extreme hopelessness) Anagram of (presented differently) ASSET PRESENTED DESPERATENESS* |
T |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Unclued (13, 2 words)
GEORGE BERNARD |
|
| 2 | Destroy Slav (3)
END (destroy) WEND (a member of a branch of the Slavs that once occupied the north and east of Germany; a member of the Slavic population of Lusatia [part of Brandenburg, Saxony and Silesia] who still speak the WENDish language; Slav) END |
W |
| 3 | Fancy hats of Right Reverend elite involved in parlour game (13)
SQUIRREL-TAILS (caps [hats] of SQUIRREL skins, with a TAIL hanging down behind; fancy hats) Anagram of (involved) RR (Right Reverend) and ELITE contained in (in) SQUAILS (parlour game similar to tiddlywinks) SQU (IRREL T*) AILS |
E |
| 4 | Thus sound as a bell? Perth’s lucky to have Malaysian capital injected (6)
TINKLY (if something is TINKLY, it sounds like a bell) I think ‘thus’ refers to the something that is TINKLY) TINNY (Australian [Perth] term for ‘lucky’) containing (to have … injected) KL (Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia) TIN (KL) Y – either N could be the extra letter |
N |
| 5 | Filling can impose (5)
INLAY (a shaped filling for a tooth cavity) TIN (can) + LAY (to impose) IN LAY |
T |
| 6 | City adopts language of India for current soldier (7)
CHINDIT (a member of General Orde Wingate’s Allied commando force in Burma [now Myanmar] during World War II; soldier) CITY with HINDI (a language of India)replacing the I (electric current) to form C HINDI T C (HINDI) T |
Y |
| 7 | Slovenly woman is tenor instrumentalist (6)
LUTIST (an instrumentalist, one who plays the lute) SLUT (slovenly women) + IS + T (tenor) LUT IS T |
S |
| 8 | Oriental drum made from SE Asian acacia (5)
TAIKO (a large Japanese drum; oriental drum) TAI (alternative spelling of Thai, a native of Thailand; South East Asian) + KOA (a Hawaiian acacia) TAI KO |
A |
| 9 | Make connection after supporting Bury with very large copper (13)
INTEROSCULATE (make connection by osculation – one of the more circular definitions in Chambers!) INTER (bury) + OS (outsize; very large) + CU (chemical symbol for copper) + LATER (after) – as this is a down entry the letters LATE are supporting all the other letters in the entry. INTER OS CU LATE |
R |
| 10 | Ways of life (4)
VIAE (ways) VITAE (lives; of life [?]) VIAE |
T |
| 11 | Ditches: trio of knights separately inhumed in scattered hectometres (13)
ENTRENCHMENTS (defensive earthwork of trenches and parapets; ditches) N (knight), N (knight) and N (knight [in chess notation]) all contained in separate places (separately inhumed in) an anagram of (scattered) HECTOMETRES E (N) TRE (N) CHME (N) TS* |
O |
| 17 | Knife, if held by tasteless sort, losing attraction principally (4)
CHIV (knife) IF contained in (held by) (CHAV [someone who appears to have access to money but not necessarily to taste] excluding [losing] A [first letter of {principally} ATTRACTION]) CH (I) V |
F |
| 20 | Unclued (4)
SHAW |
|
| 21 | Cooked ragout lacking pinch of table salt (4)
URAO (natron [hydrated carbonate of sodium found on some lake borders; salt]) Anagram of (cooked) RAGOUT excluding (lacking) T (first letter of [pinch of] TABLE) URAO* |
G |
| 23 | Regularly go crook on Ozzie native (3)
ROO (kangaroo; animal native to Australia; Ozzie native) OROO (letters 2, 4, 6 and 8 [regularly] of GO CROOK ON ROO |
O |
| 26 | Long cloth garment tolerated essentially in retrograde ways (4)
SARI (long cloth garment) R (middle letter of [essentially] TOLERATED) contained in (in) VIAS (ways) reversed (retrograde) SA (R) I |
V |
| 27 | Lanark’s dreariest unlimited moors view east without hint of appeal (7)
OORIEST (Scottish [Lanark] word for dreariest) OOR (letters remaining in MOORS when the outer letters M and S are removed [unlimited]) + IE (letters remaining in VIEW when the outer letters V and W are removed [unlimited]) + EAST excluding (without) A (first letter of [hint of] APPEAL) OOR IE ST |
E |
| 29 | Unpleasant person; male impostor (6)
MINGER (unpleasant person) M (male) + RINGER (a person who looks enough like to you be able to take your place illegally; impostor) M INGER |
R |
| 30 | Winger’s inside leg pigment (6)
PTERIN (any of a group of substances occurring as pigments in butterfly wings) TERN (bird; winger) contained in (inside) PIN (leg) P (TER) IN |
N |
| 32 | Sneakily put hair in head (5, 2 words)
UP TOP (in the head) Anagram of (sneakily) PUT + MOP (bushy head of hair) UP T* OP |
M |
| 33 | Eyes upturned, circling most of the time (5)
SYTHE (time) EYES reversed (upturned; down entry) containing (circling) TH (2 of the 3 [most of] letters in THE) SY (TH) E< |
E |
| 35 | Sneer about Gaelic language (4)
ERSE (formerly, and still occasionally, the name given by Lowland Scots to the language of the people of the West Highlands, as being of Irish origin; sometimes used for Irish Gaelic, as opposed to Scottish Gaelic; Gaelic language) Anagram of (about) SNEER ERSE* |
N |
| 39 | Fermenting agent not accepted in fact (3)
YES (in fact) YEAST (fermenting agent) excluding (not) A (accepted) YES |
T |
Excellent fun — hearty thanks to Chalicea and duncanshiell. The mere combination of Shaw and the title made me think vaguely of Man and Superman, but I escaped rereading the full text (which would no doubt have done me good) when Google located the “art of government” quote. Although the version I found went on for a couple more sentences ending “worship the national idols”: I confess to spending a little time searching the grid for “national idols” before a sudden Oops moment on looking again at that first sentence.
Unfortunately, one of the three clues I couldn’t parse was 8d; guesswork led me to ask the internet for a ‘George Bernard Shaw sort of government’; needless to say, the internet did not oblige and I threw in the towel. But a fun challenge; thanks to Chalicea and duncanshiell (and having studied Man & Superman at school, I would definitely decline the offer to re-read it).
I was delighted to see a puzzle from Chalicea after last week’s ‘harrindous’ contribution. However, now that IQs seem to be increasingly difficult, I felt she had decided a more challenging task was required (as Duncan has already observed). Nevertheless, an enjoyable ride with the usual excellent clues. I filled all of the grid except 3D and 15A: in the latter, I spent ages trying to find anagrams RKO?? assuming African music was the definition. It wasn’t until I found the quote in ODQ and thence an anagram of IDOLATRY that I inserted the missing I that everything fell into place…. Or so I thought! I had assumed that the TWO in the message referred to “organisation” and “idolatry” in the quote, with “of” being ignored as there were insufficient clues to produce THREE. I did look for a second anagram in the grid but not hard enough. My own stupid fault!
Grateful thanks to Chalicea and to Duncan for the blog.
Rather like Dave W above, I found one idolatry anagram but didn’t look for the second; should have had paid more scrupulous attention to the instructions. Still, I managed the basic task well enough. It was certainly enjoyable and, as so often, the setter was even cleverer than I’d allowed for, so admiration and thanks to Chalicea and to Duncan for the blog.
This was a fascinating puzzle that I found tricky in places. First, the crossing answers SYTHE and MEISHI took some teasing out before my grid was complete. Then I had the improbable string ZNETWENTY in the middle of my string of extra letters. (I had RITZ instead of RIOT as my ‘striking display’ in the clue to 37a.) And finally, having found all the thematic content, I took a while to realise that ‘organisation of idolatry’ (being the art of government in Shaw’s words) was to be interpreted cryptically. – an amusing finish.
Thanks to Chalicea and Duncan.
I enjoyed this, a touch more difficult than previous Chaliceas I’ve done but still at the approachable end of the IQ continuum – I managed it in one (leisurely) weekend session, which isn’t always the case for IQs, some of which are still taxing me during the week. Funny how people interpret the instructions – I started looking for two shorter words that separately jumbled to IDOLATRY, until the penny dropped.
Many thanks both.
Filled the grid and saw GBS-and saw the instructions
I found an ancient book of all his plays -looked at a couple or so and was put off by two page descriptions of the stage set
Dont get that in Shakespeare, Racine or Pinter. So I gave up
I still may read Pygmalion though
Thanks Duncan and Chalicea
(The extract is relevant today)
Many thanks duncanshiell. I had quite a hard time solving this myself as it was set (not kidding) over ten years ago. John retrieved it from way back in his files when he needed a rather gentle one to contrast with last week’s (and this week’s ?)
As always, I am really glad that it pleased.