Charybdis is a fairly prolific setter of Inquisitor crosswords with interesting end games.
Today, his preamble is fairly lengthy and tells us that the wordplay in each clue leads to the answer plus an extra letter that is not entered in the grid. These letters give an instruction and reassurance for the disorientated. Numbers in the top-right corner of cells give the total of the cell places that solvers must highlight in the related grid entry (for example, 6 could indicate that solvers must highlight cells in positions 1, 2 and 3, or positions 1 and 5, or position 6). The result of highlighting is a schematic representation of a thematic device whose name (7,5), located on two parallel diagonals, must be shown in bold or coloured lettering. Solvers must replace clashes in two cells with an appropriate letter representing the shape of the corresponding parts of the device; and use bold or coloured text to enter the first five letters of each of the two routes that meet at the thematic location. If these are considered as grid entries, all final entries are real words.
There is a lot to take in from that preamble and I assumed that some of the information would make more sense the further I got into the puzzle.
As usual, I worked my way through the clues, solving a few cold and then building up the rest of the grid. I could see a message emerging from the missing letters, but I needed about 75% before I began to deduce what the full message would be.
The extra letters in word play spelled out:
HALF TURN CENTRAL COLUMN OF SEVEN CELLS. CONSIDER TOP ROW
This helped me to solve some of the clues that hadn’t yet fallen. The last ones to fall were two of the entries contributing to the clashes. I had realised that 11 down, 18 across, and 31 down, 31 across all had fewer cells in the grid than the length of the entries.
I was OK with TARGET and GERT but couldn’t get 18 across or 31 down.
At this point, I looked for the thematic device and finally found FALKIRK WHEEL. Then, everything started to make sense, as I was aware of the function of the WHEEL to move canal boats or BARGEs between two canals. I also realised the central seven letters in the middle column could be changed from
R clash TAT clash R
to ROTATOR, which defines the main part of the FALKIRK WHEEL. Given the shape of the main part of the WHEEL, it was obvious that an O–shaped character would be appropriate as a replacement for the clashes. An important characteristic of the word ROTATOR is the fact that it is a palindrome, so if you HALF TURN (turn through 180°) the seven cells holding ROTATOR, you remain with ROTATOR in the those cells. The only difference is that the barges in the two O shapes have changed places and can now move out to the other canal. For those worried that the movement had no effect, the second part of the message – CONSIDER TOP ROW – pointed to the two entries in row 1 which are AS YOU WERE and SAME, giving reassurance for the disorientated as Charybdis mentions in the preamble.
I had an inkling that 18 across had to be BARNSTORM, but I couldn’t work out the parsing. With BAR clashing with GE from tarGEt, the penny finally dropped that we had BARGE in both the clashes so 31 down would be BARRING.
The next stage was to highlight the schematic representation of the wheel using the extra numbers that Charybdis had added to a few clue numbers.
We had
4d 4, 5d 15, 6d 23, 11d 8, 16d 6, 18a 2, 19a 11, 26a 2, 27a 21, 28d 6, 31a 2, and 35d 1 Knowing that the second number was the sum of highlighted cell positions in each clue, it was clear that some cells were defined uniquely.
For instance 5d could only be cells 4+5+6=15, 11d had to be 3+5=8, 18a had to be cell 2, 19a must be 5+6=11, 26a had to be 2, 31a had be cell 2 and 35d must be cell 1
The numbers at clues 4d, 6d, 16a, 27a and 28d could all be arrived at with more than one set of positions being chosen. However, it was clear that symmetry constrained the solution to just one of each set enabling a unique representation of the innards of the WHEEL.
The method used to calculate the highlighted device cleverly omits to highlight the cells with the Os which hold the barges when the WHEEL rotates. The two Os also allow us to see the first five letters of the two canals that meet at the WHEEL. The top canal is the UNION canal and the lower one is the FORTH and Clyde canal. By using the Os in ROTATOR and slightly adjusting the bars in the grid, we can create UNION as an entry in row 5 and FORTH as an entry in row 11. By creating these words, we also create new across entries STORM and ILL, plus new down entries TAROT and O-RING, such that the final grid contains real words.
The graphics below show various stages in the development of the end game. I’m not clever enough to animate the turning of the wheel other than simply changing the positions of two barges.
When I came to write the blog, I was still struggling to parse BARNSTORM. I reckoned though it could be parsed if the end of the clue ‘… no charge, Mrs Askew’ could be changed to ‘… no charge TO Mrs Askew’. I contacted Charybdis who confirmed that an edit during the development of the puzzle had taken out TO and replaced it with a comma.
The title WHAT GOES AROUND, clearly defines the activity of the FALKIRK WHEEL.
If you are ever in Central Scotland, I recommend that you visit the FALKIRK WHEEL and also the majestic and very tall Kelpies which are located only 4 miles from the WHEEL. If you drive north on the M9 and don’t know where the Kelpies are, they suddenly appear as you round a bend in the road and briefly dominate your view and take your eyes off the road. You can walk between the two attractions. It is a flat walk (beside the FORTH and Clyde canal and an extension known as the Queen Elizabeth II canal), but it would also be a very pleasant 8-mile round trip if you had the time. There are car parks at both locations.
Sometimes with many-faceted end games, the quality of the clues get overlooked. I thought these were an excellent set with a good mix of accessibile and intricate wordplay. Thanks to Charybdis for a very enjoyable puzzle that gradually revealed all its component parts and cleverly embedded them in the grid.
The following two links show a video of the FALKIRK WHEEL in operation
and pictures of The Kelpies. You will probably need a Google login to view the video.
| No
|
Detail
Extra letter omitted in wordplay is shown in fuchsia – I have generally selected the last occurrence if the letter appears more than once and there is a choice |
Letter
|
| Across | ||
| 1 | For instance second person’s location in military command (9, 3 words)
AS YOU WERE (military order to return to the former position; in general use, countermanding an instruction) AS (for instance) + YOU (second person) + WHERE (location, more often indicated by WHEREabouts) AS YOU WERE |
H |
| 7 | Laplander already mentioned (4)
SAME (already mentioned) SAMEE (one of the various spellings of SAMI [Laplander]) SAME |
A |
| 10 | Finally we (you and me) let off for insurrection (6)
ÉMEUTE (popular rising or insurrection) Anagram of (off) (EU [last letters of {finally} each of wE and yoU] and ME LET EMEUTE* |
L |
| 12 | Clear bubbly fresh Evian at source (5)
SHEER (sheer) Anagram of (bubbly) FRESH and E (first letter of [at source] Evian) SHEER* |
F |
| 13 | Little market around the states for piped pap (5)
MUSAK (continuous and usually bland background music played in restaurants, shops, etc; piped pap) MKT (abbreviation for market) containing (around) USA (United States of America; the States) M (USA) K |
T |
| 15 | Heading off for Arab marketplace, grab peeled tropical veg (4)
OKRA (tropical plant served as a vegetable) sOUK (Arab marketplace) excluding the first letter (heading off) S + RA (letters remaining in gRAb when the outer letters G and B are removed [peeled]) OK RA |
U |
| 16 | At least two feet square in galleys (8)
TRISEMES (metrical piece of prose or poetry of length equal to three short syllables, where a syllable is considered to be a division or foot) TRIREMES (galleys) containing (including) S (square) TRISEMES |
R |
| 17 | Sister’s old boy is back as marine foreman (5)
BOSUN (boatswain [foreman of a crew {warrant officer in the navy} who looks after a ship’s boats, rigging, flags, etc]; marine foreman) (NUN‘S [sister’s] + OB [old boy]) all reversed (is back) (BO SUN)< |
N |
| 18 | Tour in rep maybe but for no charge, Mrs Askew (9)
BARNSTORM (tour usually country areas giving theatrical performances; tour in repertory theatre company) BAR (but for) + N/C (no charge) + an anagram of (askew) MRS – this leaves me with the letters TO unaccounted for BAR N S (TO) RM* See blog text above which explains that the last clause of the clue should be ‘… no charge TO Mrs Askew’ which means the final anagaram in the wordplay is of ‘TO MRS‘, leading to STORM* |
C |
| 19 | Ten cakes cut in pieces for a light lunch (6)
NACKET (a snack, or light lunch) Anagram of (in pieces) TEN and CAKEs excluding the last letter (cut) S NACKET* |
E |
| 24 | Rounded molluscs roll completely over (5)
BULLA (the bubble-shell genus of molluscs; rounded molluscs) BUN (roll) + ALL (completely) reversed (over) BU LLA< |
N |
| 26 | Brewed ales on stall good for market (8)
SALEABLE (suitable for market) Anagram of (brewed) ALES + TABLE (stall? – the closest definition I can find for stall is ‘a board for a game such as chess’, which I suppose could be a table) SALE* ABLE |
T |
| 27 | Adult (upper-class) surrounded by shot deer and cat with no tail (8)
ECAUDATE (tailless; with no tail) (A [adult] + U [upper-class]) contained in (surrounded) by an anagram of (shot) DEER and CAT) EC (A U) DATE* |
R |
| 29 | Flipping alpacas left out run for it (5)
SCAPA (scarper; run for it) AlPACAS excluding (out) L and then reversed (flipping) SCAPA< |
A |
| 31 | German boy returning in minstrel gear (4)
GERT (German male forename) GERT (reversed [returning] hidden word in (in) minsTREL Gear) GERT< |
L |
| 32 | How cool (4)
HILL (a how is a low hill) CHILL (cool) HILL |
C |
| 34 | Raging aggressor and nut of a natural colour? (10)
GRASS-GREEN (a GREEN colour that resembles nature’s GRASS; a natural colour) Anagram of (raging) AGGRESSOR + EN (a printing unit equal to the width of a letter n, also known as a nut) GRASS-GRE* EN |
O |
| 37 | A sign illuminated this classic when working with The Stones early on (8)
EOLITHIC (belonging to the early part of the Stone Age, when crude stone implements were first used by man; working with the stones early on) LEO (one of the signs of the zodiac) + LIT (illuminated) + HIC (latin [classic] for ‘this’) EO LIT HIC |
L |
| 38 | Fresh venue for granular snow (4)
NÉVÉ (the granular snow, not yet compacted into ice, lying on the surface at the upper end of a glacier) Anagram of (fresh) VENUE NEVE* |
U |
| 39 | Part of theorem Fermi’s to apply (5)
REFER (have recourse or apply) REFER (hidden word in [part of] theoREM FERmi’s) REFER |
M |
| 40 | Henry absent, held by minor criminal – a fine yarn (6)
MOHAIR (the long, white, fine silken hair of the Angora goat) (H [henry] + A [absent]) contained in (held by) an anagram of (criminal) MINOR MO (H A) IR* |
N |
| 41 | Set out fruit in distance? (8)
ESTRANGE (alienate; distance) Anagram of (out) SET + ORANGE (fruit) EST* RANGE |
O |
| 42 | Conflict with National Fire Service alerts (5)
WARNS (alerts) WAR (conflict) + NFS (National Fire Service) WAR NS |
F |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Dress held under rising tide – one struggles to breathe underwater (6)
AEROBE (an organism that requires free oxygen for respiration; an organism that would struggle to breathe underwater) SEA (the tide) reversed (rising; down entry) + ROBE (dress) AE< ROBE |
S |
| 2 | South-east NZ’s tattoo system for rest of Australasia (5)
SMOKO (smoke-ho [Australian term for a break for a smoke during the working day originally, but now a rest, a tea-break) SE (South East) + MOKO ( system of tattooing practised by the Maoris [New Zealand]) S MOKO |
E |
| 3 | Agreed to take Variety for a long time (5)
YEARS (a long time) YES (agreed) containing (to take) VAR (variety) YE (AR) S |
V |
| 4 | Run up in Adelaide’s van in reverse direction (5)
U-TURN (reverse direction) Anagram of (up) RUN contained in (in) UTE (Australian [Adelaide] term for a utility vehicle or van) UT (URN*) E |
E |
| 5 | Scottish dogs on vacation want Nessie destroyed (7)
WESTIES (West Highland [Scottish] Terriers [dogs]) Anagram of (destroyed) WesT excluding the central letters ES (on vacation) and NESSIE WESTIES* |
N |
| 6 | Care for the old and useless around noon, awake again (8)
REKINDLE (awake again) RECK (archaic [for the old] word for ‘to care’) + (IDLE [useless] containing [around] N [noon]) REK I (N) DLE |
C |
| 7 | A sort of health sect in old Jewish communities (9)
SHTETLACH (formerly [old], Jewish communities in Eastern European towns or villages) Anagram (a sort of) HEALTH SECT SHTETLACH* |
E |
| 8 | Foundry workers possibly producing gauges (6)
METERS (gauges) MELTERS (foundry workers) METERS |
L |
| 9 | Supports holding base of transmitter in sand dunes (4)
ERGS (shifting sand dunes in the Sahara desert) LEGS (supports) containing (holding) R (last letter of [base of transmitteR) E (R) GS |
L |
| 11 | Celebrity to achieve chosen aim (6)
TARGET (chosen aim) STAR (celebrity) + GET (achieve) TAR GET |
S |
| 12 | US sauce pouches section (4)
SASS (Amercian term for impertinence or sauce) SACS (pouches) + S (section) SAS S |
C |
| 14 | A low evenly marbled climbing little animal (6)
AMOEBA (a single cell protozoa; although Protozoa is defined as the lowest and simplest of animals, many references say an amoeba cannot be classed as an animal as it is unicellular) A + MOO (low as a cow) + ABE (letters 2, 4 and 6 [even letters] of mArBlEd) reversed (climbing; down entry) A MO EBA< |
O |
| 20 | Drains – unfortunately (4)
ALAS (unfortunately) NALAS (streams or drains) ALAS |
N |
| 21 | Suggestion including one following manuscripts and recipe for more ham (8)
CLUMSIER (more ham [clumsy]) (CLUE [suggestion] containing [including] [MSS {manuscripts} + I {Roman numeral for one}]) + R (recipe) CLU (MS I) E R |
S |
| 22 | Take one test again and all others (4)
REST (all others) RESIT (take one test again) REST |
I |
| 23 | Low tension amongst lecturers makes a change again (8)
RE-ALTERS (changes again) LT (low tenison) contained in (among) READERS (higher grades of university lecturers) REA (LT) ERS |
D |
| 24 | Grebe flying with sandpiper finds easy place to rest (7)
BERGÈRE (a type of easy chair or sofa with cane back and arms; easy place to rest) Anagram of GREBE (flying) + REE (female sandpiper) BERGE* RE |
E |
| 25 | Last month in Haifa special artillery sent up to the stars (7, 2 words)
AD ASTRA (to the stars) ADAR (twelfth and last month of the Jewish calendar) + S (special) + ART (artillery) reversed (sent up; down entry) ADA S TRA< |
R |
| 28 | With no coat, staff hang out woollen blanket (6)
AFGHAN (heavy knitted or crocheted woollen blanket) TAF (letters remaining in sTAFf when the outer letters S and F are removed [with no coat]) + an anagram of (out) HANG) AF GHAN* |
T |
| 30 | Run out between enemies and bladed tools (5)
FROES (cutting tools with a blade at right angles to the handle) RO (run out) contained in (between) FOES (enemies) F (RO) ES |
O |
| 31 | Parish invested in institute, leaving out of consideration (7)
BARRING (leaving out of consideration) PAR (parish) contained in (invested in) BRING (bring forward, cite or institute) B (AR) RING |
P |
| 33 | Old flashing starting to leak, serving when clipped at ends (5)
LEVIN (archaic [old] word for lightning [flashing]) L (first letter of [starting to] Leak) + ERVIN (letters remaining in sERVINg when the outer letters S and G are removed [clipped at the ends]) L EVIN |
R |
| 35 | Eternity ring on wife – it was sufficient (4)
ENOW (archaic [it was] word for ‘sufficient’) EON (vast age or eternity) + O (ring-shaped character) + W (wife) EN O W |
O |
| 36 | Fierce animal stopping short of cave (4)
BEAR (fierce animal) BEWARe (be careful; cave) excluding the final letter (stopping short) E BEAR |
W |
As a crossword this was quite tough, and it was a rewarding exercise to solve the clues, collect all the extra letters and carry out the main instruction in the message. I also much enjoyed working out which cells to highlight according to the extra numbers – a task that looked very tricky until I tried the likely combinations 21 = 6+7+8 and 30 = 6+7+8+9, which together helped to make the others more straightforward. I knew nothing about the Falkirk Wheel, and it was interesting to read up about it, and of course to complete the puzzle with the other grid highlights.
Thanks to Charybdis for a brilliant puzzle, and to duncanshiell for such a comprehensive explanation of the theme, and of course for solving the mystery of BARNSTORM, my last entry.
I would just add that the instructions asked for UNION and FORTH to be entered in ‘bold or coloured text’.
Alan B @ 2
Indeed, you are right. I created a number of grids whilst writing the blog and one of them did have the canals in bold and coloured text, but that grid didn’t get into the animations. I’ll update the blog later today.
Quite a difficult grid-fill with uncommon words and some chewy wordplay. My journey was fairly similar to Duncan’s. At first, I could not parse 16A and guessed TRIREMES, which made 12D a problem. It was only when I sussed that one that I corrected 16A and, at last, parsed it. I found the clash @ 18 first. I have never encountered GERT as a boy’s name, but was able to confirm it online. This led me to the repeated clash and the un-parsed answer to 31D. After a lot of head-scratching I concluded that “but” on its own must be defining BAR and that the “for” was a synonym for TO, although I was not happy with this.
At first, the end-game looked daunting but, as the extra letters emerged, less so. I had not come across the Falkirk Wheel, so, once again, IQ enhanced my education. The final shading was very neat but took me longer than it should to complete.
So, thanks to Charybdis for an ultimately worthwhile and satisfying challenge and to Duncan for a most comprehensive blog
Clearly a very clever entry; I had thought the endgame potentially too convoluted in its instructions, but after I put it aside for a few days I thought I’d have a go with the shading and it turned out not so complicated after all. I did wonder if the ‘appropriate letter representing the shape…’ might be ‘Q’, but that wouldn’t work for the canals… Thanks to Charybdis and Duncan for the thorough blog and holiday tips.
Thanks, Duncan, for a very thorough and beautifully presented blog. And thanks for the thoughtful comments. It’s always interesting to know how a puzzle has gone down.
My apologies for that carelessly dropped ‘TO’ during the editing process. Must try harder, Charybdis!! :-/
Very impressive! All thanks to Charybdis and duncanshiell. Nothing much to add, but I was glad to hear that something had indeed gone wrong with the BARNSTORMER clue.
I interpreted the top row’s “reassurance for the disorientated” as meaning that — just as the barges stay the same way up throughout the process — solvers were not expected to apply the HALF TURN command so literally as to invert the Rs, Ts and A of ROTATOR.
Loved this puzzle! It’s a mix of “oh I wish I’d thought of that idea” and “wow, there’s a lot of moving parts here, I could never have done that”.
I’m of the right age to know about the Falkirk Wheel from Tom Scott’s video. I must watch more of his back catalogue for more theme ideas!
Richard (Nathan Panning/ Lionheart))
… and thanks for the lovely comments at 7 and 8 too.
Yes, that ‘reassurance for the disorientated’ [AS YOU WERE and SAME]. There was enough tricksiness going on in that middle bit as it was. Some solvers mighty reasonably have inverted those R’s and T’s and the A of ROTATOR, and some might even [logically] have rotated the entire Falkirk Wheel mechanism and thus taken the contents of all those cells for a semicircular spin around the grid. Apart from anything else, marking would have been a nightmare!! 😀
So SAME and AS YOU WERE were built into the grid at an early stage to forestall such complications. If anybody remembers the pair of Groundhog Day puzzles by Plench [of whom I was the ‘CH’ part] we had a mischievous 1ac/1dn combo as DEJA VU and DITTO and I think that may have been lurking somewhere in my head.
Wow, a lot going on here – I needed a couple of long breaks to allow my head to cool down. Thanks for the tip that the thematic device was on two parallel diagonals – it could have been a long week otherwise. Once I found Falkirk Wheel, the other elements steadily fell into place, and I found the shading fairly straightforward and the emergence of Union and Forth very imaginative. Only 7/10 this week, though – I messed up the top right corner by rushing into Triremes and Sami, so also missed the Barnstorm clash. Great puzzle, though, and thanks to Charybdis for some new knowledge and Duncan for an excellent exposé.
Arriving very late …
Indeed, a lot going on here, almost too much. Fortunately I’d come across the rotating lock within the last couple of years, which made things a little easier than otherwise. My crossword ‘buddy’ (we compare notes once we’ve both finished, occasionally got a bit stuck) has suggested we take a trip to Scotland and try it. I’ll let you know.
Shame about the BARNSTORM clue, but a cracking puzzle nonetheless. Thanks, Charybdis, and of course, Duncan.