Hi everyone. Thanks to proXimal for a puzzle I really enjoyed getting my teeth into.
The preamble:
One word in each of six across clues and six down clues must be moved to the end before solving, exemplifying a disputed style. First letters of these clues can be arranged to give a critic who died in ONE HUNDRED WITH SEVEN INSIDE (across clues) and his target (down clues). Finally, four entries must be modified in a similar way to thematic clues and the disputed style must be highlighted (20 cells in two straight lines). Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; all entries are real words or phrases.
Midway through solving I noticed that the extra words were all prepositions; I then spotted PREPOSITRON in the grid. Looking at the intersecting answers I could see that changing FORGOING to GOINGFOR would put the I in the right place to give PREPOSITION and maintain real words in the other crossing entries. So I could see where we were heading, but still had the critic and his target to keep me interested. I didn’t know the term for putting prepositions at the end of sentences, but was assured I would find it in the grid.
Turning my attention to the first letters of the affected clues, a bit of shuffling of ENDYR led me to DRYDEN and hence enabled me to identify the remaining special across clue (15a). It took a little longer to get to JONSON, but again thinking of the right name helped me find and solve the last couple of modified clues.
Once I’d filled the grid I looked again and this time easily found the disputed style:
PREPOSITION STRANDING
Next I located the remaining entries I could move the prepositions in. Or as some might insist, in which I could move the prepositions.
The first was easy because it was needed to turn SHRANDING into STRANDING. I found the others in the corners, completing the set:
FORGOING -> GOING FOR; OFFSHOOT -> SHOOT OFF; BYPASS -> PASS BY; INSTAL -> STALIN
I noted that these were symmetrically placed and that, as required, the alterations left real words in the grid.
It was pleasing to be able to complete all of this before doing any research, but I then turned to the internet to fill in the background.
Preposition stranding is the linguistic construction where a preposition appears at the end of a sentence or clause, separated from its object. The idea that this is incorrect in English gained traction in the 17th century, greatly influenced by John Dryden. Dryden notably disparaged the style in Ben Jonson’s writing, criticising Johnson’s phrase, “The bodies that those souls were frighted from.”
Thanks to proXimal for a lovely puzzle I cannot find fault with.
From 9am there should be a setter’s blog here.
| # | ANSWER | Clue with definition underlined | |
| Clue definition underlined with | |||
| Explanation, with quoted indicators in italics and ANSWER letters in bold caps | |||
| Across | |||
| 1a | BYPASS
|
Ignore boy disheartened with amorous advance (6) | |
| BoY emptied (disheartened) + PASS (amorous advance) | |||
| 5a | HAGFISH | Girlfriend and l inside mince eel-like creature (7) | |
| GF (girlfriend) and l inside HASH (mince) | |||
| 11a | EGALITY | Fairness shown by royalty, excluding queen (7) | |
| [r]EGALITY (royalty), excluding R (queen) | |||
| 12a | AO DAI | Woodman regularly wearing main sleeveless tunic (5, two words) | |
| Alternate letters of (… regularly) wOoDmAn in (wearing) mAIn without outer letters (sleeveless) | |||
| 14a | POSITRON | Elementary particle set in concerning place, right? (8) | E |
| Elementary particle set in place, right concerning? (8) | |||
| POSIT (set in place) + R (right) + ON (concerning) | |||
| 15a | RIDDED | Delivered alternative ride for daughter with Ford missing (6) | D |
| Delivered alternative ride daughter with Ford missing for (6) | |||
| An anagram of (alternative) RIDE with D (daughter) + [for]D missing FOR | |||
| 16a | GUTS | Tenacity as found in Grammar School (4) | |
| UT (as) found in GS (Grammar School) | |||
| 18a | AERODROME | Where we’d find some crafts are moored around the bend (9) | |
| ARE MOORED anagrammed (around the bend) | |||
| 20a | GRIOTS | Nigerian troubadours, say, in hiding since riot (6) | N |
| Nigerian troubadours, say, in hiding riot since (6) | |||
| Hidden in hidinG RIOT Since | |||
| 23a | IRIS | Part of body bitten in vampirism (4) | |
| Inside (bitten in) vampIRISm | |||
| 25a | FISCS | Disused treasuries financiers emptied circling around Iceland (5) | D |
| Disused treasuries financiers emptied circling Iceland around (5) | |||
| FinancierS without inner letters (emptied) containing (circling) IS (Iceland) and C (circa, around) | |||
| 27a | HALF | Rugby player’s sudden burst about to lose second (4) | |
| FLA[s]H (sudden burst) backwards (about) omitting (to lose) S (second) | |||
| 29a | HAGDEN | Back of high cave occupied by silver seabird (6) | |
| The last letter of (back of) higH and DEN (cave) containing (occupied by) AG (silver) | |||
| 31a | BLOOD HEAT | Hot Luxembourg abode roughly 37 degrees Celsius (9, two words) | |
| An anagram of (… roughly) HOT L (Luxembourg) ABODE | |||
| 33a | NESH | Yokel’s tender terms for woman with blue eyes (4) | Y |
| Yokel’s tender terms for woman blue eyes with (4) | |||
| Last letters of (terms for) womaN bluE eyeS witH | |||
| 34a | DINGER | Something exceptional happened in gerbil pouches (6) | |
| HappeneD IN GERbil pockets (pouches) the answer | |||
| 37a | BROODING | Anxious retired soldiers overwhelmed by omen (8) | |
| Backwards (retired) OR (soldiers) inside (overwhelmed by) BODING (omen) | |||
| 38a | PROOS | Rabbie’s calls to animal experts over handling (5) | R |
| Rabbie’s calls to animal experts handling over (5) | |||
| PROS (experts) holding (handling) O (over) | |||
| 39a | ORIGAMI | Japanese art forms I oddly ignored around capital city (7) | |
| Omitting odd letters (… oddly ignored) fOrMs I around RIGA (capital city) | |||
| 40a | SALTERN | Refinery soon evacuated to modify parts (7) | |
| SooN without inner letters (evacuated), which ALTER (to modify) divides (parts) | |||
| 41a | INSTAL | Load confused satin with Latin (6) | |
| An anagram of (confused) SATIN + L (Latin) | |||
| Down | |||
| 1d | BEERAGE | Brewers gathering to unite labour with overpowering passion (7) | |
| BEE (gathering to unite labour) + RAGE (overpowering passion) | |||
| 2d | PARD | Oppo in US partly turned past Sandra (4) | O |
| Oppo in US partly turned Sandra past (4) | |||
| Partly SanDRA Past in reverse (turned …) | |||
| 3d | ALED | American directed Welshman (4) | |
| A (American) + LED (directed) | |||
| 4d | SIPED | Drink of Parisian overturned and soaked through local (5) | |
| SIP (drink) + DE (of, Parisian) overturned | |||
| 5d | HYSSOP | Aromatic plant climbing stylish fencing starts to suddenly yellow (6) | |
| In reverse (climbing) POSH (stylish) surrounding (fencing) the first letters of (starts to) Suddenly Yellow | |||
| 6d | A BIT MUCH | Overly unreasonable, nipped chum above bust with acceleration (8, three words) | O |
| Overly unreasonable, nipped chum bust with acceleration above (8, three words) | |||
| BIT (nipped) + CHUM anagrammed (bust) preceded by (with … above) A (acceleration) | |||
| 7d | GATHERS | Folds arms hugging that girl (7) | |
| GATS (arms) around (hugging) HER (that girl) | |||
| 8d | FORGOING | Giving up acting fraudulently gains nothing (8) | |
| FORGING (acting fraudulently) gains O (nothing) | |||
| 9d | SANTA | Night-time before visitor rested penning note (5) | N |
| Night-time visitor rested penning note before (5) | |||
| SAT (rested) containing (penning) N (note) + A (ante, before) | |||
| 10d | HISSES | Sounds of disapproval having children without uniform in High School (6) | |
| ISS[u]E (children) without U (uniform) in HS (High School) | |||
| 13d | PIERIA | Land of the Muses that is annexed by Trojan king briefly (6) | |
| IE (that is) annexed by PRIAm (Trojan king) briefly | |||
| 17d | UNRUDE | Exercised undue resistance to be polite (6) | |
| An anagram of (exercised) UNDUE and R (resistance) | |||
| 19d | RIFLES | Plunders desserts, taking away tiramisu at first (6) | |
| [t]RIFLES (desserts), taking away Tiramisu at first | |||
| 21d | OFFSHOOT | Derivative of soft plastic found around house (8) | |
| An anagram of (… plastic) OF SOFT found around HO (house) | |||
| 22d | SILLADAR | Irregular cavalryman great with everyone is mounted (8) | |
| RAD (great) with ALL (everyone) and IS, all going upwards (mounted) | |||
| 24d | IDEAED | Given notions from papers supported by each editor (6) | |
| ID (papers) above (supported by) EA (each) and ED (editor) | |||
| 25d | FIBROSE | Stranded fellow on island, originally up beach, moved (7) | S |
| Stranded fellow on island, originally beach, moved up (7) | |||
| F (fellow) on I (island), the initial letter of (originally) Beach and ROSE (moved up) | |||
| 26d | ENTRAIL | I learnt playing rare organ (7) | |
| I LEARNT anagrammed (playing) | |||
| 27d | HANAPS | Goblets displayed in Elizabethan apse (6) | |
| The answer is displayed in ElizabetHAN APSe | |||
| 28d | GONION | Jaw part clipped going against rogue (6) | J |
| Jaw part clipped going rogue against (6) | |||
| All but the last letter of (clipped) GOINg anagrammed (rogue) + ON (against) | |||
| 30d | ZEBRA | Equine from Zambia on bare ground (5) | |
| Z (Zambia) on BARE anagrammed (ground) | |||
| 32d | DIG IN | US soldier hid in clash to adopt defensive position (5, two words) | |
| GI (US soldier) hid in DIN (clash) | |||
| 35d | NAGS | Lowered top of obstacle for small horses (4) | |
| With the first letter moved down, (lowered top of) SNAG (obstacle) | |||
| 36d | GOAT | Nanny, perhaps at work (4) | N |
| Nanny, perhaps work at (4) | |||
| GO (work) + AT | |||
Though I didn’t get to solve this puzzle, as usual, I read the blog. It was a nice experience reading the ‘story’.
Thoroughly enjoyed the blog. From the explanations above, I could appreciate the beauty of several clues
without actually going through the solving experience (AERODROME, SALTERN, SANTA and ZEBRA are some
examples).
Thanks Kitty.
PS: I understood what you said in the FT News puzzle blog. 🙂
Thanks KVa. 🙂
I don’t like to repeat myself, but it may be worth popping in the comments too that from 9am the setter’s blog should appear here.
Well, this puzzle had a clumsy title, but there was nothing clumsy about the thematic design or the excellent set of clues. When I had the letters EDND from the Across clues and OONS from the Downs I dared to guess the names Dryden and Jonson, not expecting that these would be the right names, but on looking up the date that Dryden died I realised I must be on the right track. The phrase PREPOSITION STRANDING was mentioned in the Wikipedia article on Dryden.
I enjoyed solving this and appreciated the interesting literary (and linguistic) theme. I was amazed that the grid changes could all be made leaving real words.
Thanks to proXimal and Kitty.
I spent some time heading in the wrong direction with this: I could see OTSPUR in the centre of the grid and had EYR from the across clues – some googling later and I figured that this must be about Henry Percy. The death date didn’t fit, however, and I scrapped that idea once I identified a D or two.
A very neat resolution in switching the final four entries, thanks proXimal 🙂
Attributed to Winston Churchill (probably incorrectly) on the “disputed style”:
“This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put”