Inquisitor 1921: Friends of Mine by Kruger

by

Kruger, one of the most prolific Inquisitor setters, has challenged us this week.

The preamble tells us that wordplay in each otherwise normal clue yields an extra letter that is not entered in the grid. Clues to several thematic answers, not at their correct number, consist of anagrams to three elements: (i) the entry; (ii) a synonym of the entry; (iii) an extra letter. In normal clue order, all extra letters indicate what must be highlighted in the completed grid.  Enumerations in brackets give the space available at each clue number. One answer is an abbreviation.

As is often the case, I didn’t understand the preamble fully at the outset, so I started to solve the clues and hope it all became clear later on.

I reckoned the anagram clues were likely to be the ones with the fewest words, but on first pass I failed to unpick any of them.  Also, I wasn’t too sure whether the anagrams were formed from individual words in the clue or whether the whole clue was the anagram.  By the end of the puzzle I knew it was the latter.

The penny drop moment for me was realising that SNOW-WHITE could fit at at 7 down .  Another look through the possible anagram clues indicated that PUNISH WET WHORE at 39 across contained the letters of SNOW-WHITE and the remaining letters could generate PURE ( a synonym of SNOW-WHITE) The letter H remained.  I confidently recorded H as the extra letter at 39 across.

I then realised that the seven dwarfs were likely to be located within the grid and within the anagram clues.  I had enough letters in the grid by this time to identify where some of the dwarfs would go, but not all.  It took a while to tie down exactly where SNEEZY and SLEEPY were going to go, but everything fell into place eventually.

I noticed that the emerging message looked a bit odd, but then I remembered the words ‘in normal clue order’ in the preamble and associated the extra letter from the anagram clues with the clue where the anagrammed dwarf had to be placed in the grid.  This made much more sense, giving the message

THIRTEEN CELLS IDENTIFYING THE CHARACTERS’ CREATORS

A quick look at the diagonals revealed BROTHERS GRIMM in the diagonal going from top left to bottom right.

The relationship of clues to entries for the thematic anagrammed clues is shown in the table below

Clue No Clue Character Synonym Letter Entered at
1a COSY OLD PEW DOPEY SLOW N 15d
11a MAD GRUBBY CREEP GRUMPY CRABBED E 26d
39a PUNISH WET WHORE SNOW-WHITE PURE H 7d
6d HELPS DEBS PRAY HAPPY BLESSED R 21d
7d RED CLOCHE DOC LEECH R 11a
15d EVERY ZEN STATUE’S TINY SNEEZY STERNUTATIVE Y 39a
21d THE OLD BUM‘S FAST BASHFUL MODEST T 1a
26d CHEAP LEVY YES SLEEPY HEAVY C 6d

The title FRIENDS OF MINE clearly refers to SNOW-WHITE and her friends.

Thanks to Kruger for a puzzle that challenged me before the penny drop moment and then entertained me while seeking out the dwarfs and their place in the grid.  This gave extra letters which helped solving the clues I hadn’t cracked at that point. The twist in moving the extra letters in the thematic clues to the clues associated with their location in the grid made me think for a while.

No

Detail

Extra letter in wordplay is highlighted in Fuchsia

 Letter
Across    
1

Cosy old pew (7) 

COSY OLD PEW

DOPEY SLOW C – answer and letter transferred to 15 down

Entry is BASHFUL and letter is T, transferred from 21 down

 T
6 Society beginning to extensively reproach oil producer (6) 

SESAME (plant, probably native to SE Asia, cultivated for its seeds which yield a light edible oil)

S (society) + E (first letter of [beginning to] Extensively) + SHAME (reproach) 

S E SAME

 H
10 In an aloof way, anger provider of accommodation for drivers at hostel in LA (8) 

REMOTELY (in an aloof way)

IRE (anger) + MOTEL (hotel for motorists with rooms that are usually accessible from a parking area; provider of accommodation for drivers) + Y (informal term for a YMCA or YWCA hostel in America)

RE MOTEL Y 

 I
11

Mad grubby creep (3) 

MAD GRUBBY CREEP

GRUMPY CRABBED E – answer and letter transferred to 26 down

Entry is DOC and letter is R, transferred from 7 down

 R
12 Despot cut around head’s tuft of hairs (7) 

SCOPULA (brushlike tuft of hairs on the hind legs of bees)

SULTAn (despot) excluding the final letter N (cut) containing (around) COP (a top or head of anything)

S (COP) ULA

 T
14 Ordeal affected name of man’s famous ruler (5) 

ROALD (male name meaning ‘famous ruler’)

Anagram of (affected) ORDEAL

ROALD*

 E
16 Trustee heartlessly tortured in outhouse w ith windows covered (9) 

SHUTTERED (with windows covered)

Anagram of (tortured) TRUsTEE excluding the central letter S (heartlessly) contained in (in) SHED (outhouse)

SH (UTTER*) ED

 E
18 Contemptible person from Philippines very like another at first (5) 

TWIRP (alternative spelling of twerp [contemptible person])

TWIN (someone very lime another) + RP (international vehicle registration for the Republic of the Philippines)

TWI RP

 N
19 Sound from speaker divers met once (6) 

TONEME (a phoneme which can be distinguished from another only by its particular intonation; sound from a speaker)

Anagram of (divers [diverse]) MET ONCE

TONEME*

 C
20 It would enable one to spy on retired cleric abandoning every early English means of escape (7) 

EYEHOLE (peephole, something that allows one to spy on another person or thing)

EverY excluding REV [reverend; cleric] reversed + EE (Early English) + HOLE (a means of escape)

EY E HOLE

 E
21 Annoy husband against reader of Scriptures (6) 

HECTOR (annoy)

H (husband) + LECTOR (someone who has the duty of reading the Scripture lesson in a church service)

H ECTOR

 L
22 Roll outside of bendy hat (6) 

TRILBY (hat)

TRILL (to roll or trundle) + BY (first and last letters of [outside of] BendY)

TRIL BY

 L
24 Area of land mostly devoted to a generation (7) 

ACREAGE (area of land)

SACREd (devoted) excluding the final letter (mostly) + AGE (generation)

ACRE AGE

 S
27 Times is twice about to include article (6) 

SITHES (siths; times)

(IS + IS giving ‘IS twice’) reversed (about) containing (to include) THE (the definite article)

SI (THE) S<

 I
29 Father leading cathedral dignitary’s song of praise (5) 

PAEAN (song of praise)

PA (father) + DEAN (a dignitary in cathedral and collegiate churches who presides over the canons)

PA EAN

 D
34 Part of arm hurting near bulge over radius (9, 2 words) 

GUN BARREL (part of a weapon [arm])

Anagram of (hurting) NEAR BULGE containing (over) R (radius)

GUN BAR (R) EL*

 E
35 That Scottish delegate to sing with frequently changing voice (5) 

YODEL (sing or shout, changing frequently from the ordinary voice to falsetto and back again)

YON (Scottish word for that) + DEL (delegate)

YO DEL

 N
36 United’s injured Italian parted (7) 

MARRIED (united)

IT (Italian) contained in (parted) MARRED (injured)

MARR (I) ED

 T
37 Countrified lad occasionally uses web address (3) 

URL (abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator, the address of a webpage on the world wide web)

URIL (letters 3, 6, 9 and 12 [occasionally] of coUntRifIed Lad)

URL

 I
38 Excitedly spoke of Manitoba plant (8) 

SPEKBOOM (South African succulent shrub of the purslane family; plant)

Anagram of (excitedly) SPOKE OF and MB (abbreviation for the Canadian province of Manitoba)

SPEKBOOM*

 F
39

Punish wet whore (6) 

PUNISH WET WHORE

SNOW-WHITE PURE H – answer and letter transferred to 7 down

Entry is SNEEZY and letter is Y, transferred from 15 down

 Y
40 Proposition to change non-mobile home with merit (7) 

THEOREM (proposition)

Anagram of (to change) HOmE excluding (non) M (mobile) and MERIT

THEOREM*

 I
Down    
1 I will leave hospital bed for game of cards (6) 

BASSET (an old Venetian card game)

BASSiNET (a bed in hospital, with necessary equipment, for care of a baby) excluding (will leave) I

BASSET

 N
2 Satan incapable of charge (7) 

ARCH-FOE (Satan)

Anagram of (incapable) OF CHARGE

ARCH-FOE*

 G
3 Bad EU lost city (5) 

SEOUL (capital city of South Korea)

Anagram of (bad) EU LOST

SEOUL*

 T
4 Jock’s lot: repairing hut after wind. That’s not new! (5) 

FOUTH (Scottish [Jock] word for abundance; a lot)

FÖHn (hot dry wind blowing down a mountain valley, especially in the Alps) excluding (not) N (new) + an anagram of (repairing) HUT

FO UTH*

 H
5 See area in mire (5) 

LEARN (learn)

A (area) contained in (in) LERNE (swamp area near Argos, supposed to be the home of the Hydra killed by Hercules)

LE (A) RN

 E
6

Helps debs pray (6) 

HELPS DEBS PRAY

HAPPY BLESSED R – answer and letter transferred to 21 down

Entry is SLEEPY and letter is C, transferred from 26 down

 C
7

Red cloche (9) 

RED CLOCHE

DOC LEECH R – answer and letter transferred to 11 across

Entry is SNOW-WHITE and letter is H, transferred from at 39 across

 H
8 Slowly accepted old penny before money-changing (6) 

ADAGIO (musical term meaning slowly)

A (accepted) + D (denarii; pre-decimal [old] penny in UK) + A (before) + AGIO (AGIOtage; money-changing)

A D AGIO

 A
9 What’s used for grinding sunfish in middle of barrel (5) 

MOLAR (tooth used for grinding)

MOLA (sunfish) contained in (in) RR (central letters of [middle of] baRRel)

R (MOLA) R

 R
13 He departs bar (5) 

LEVER (bar)

LEAVER (one who departs)

LEVER

 A
15

Every Zen statue’s tiny (5) 

EVERY ZEN STATUE’S TINY

SNEEZY STERNUTATIVE Y – answer and letter transferred to 39 across

Entry is DOPEY and letter is C, transferred from 1 across

 C
17 Secret oriental festival repeatedly stopped by upset European (9) 

TETE-A-TETE (confidential, secret)

([TET + TET – two occurrences of {repeatedly} TET {the Vietnamese (oriental) New Year festival}] containing [stopped by] EAT [worry; upset])  + E (European)

TET (E A) TET E

 T
20 Ancient plough veered – missing edges (3) 

ERE (obsolete [ancient] word for plough or till)

vEEREd excluding the first and last letters V and D (missing edges)

ERE

 E
21

The old bum’s fast (5) 

THE OLD BUM‘S FAST

BASHFUL MODEST T – answer and letter transferred to 1 across

Entry is HAPPY and letter is R, transferred from 6 down

 R
22 Metal plate, to some extent, cuts us badly (5) 

TSUBA (metal plate at the top of a Japanese scabbard, serving as a sword guard, often highly ornamental)

TSUBA (hidden word in [to some extent] cuTS US BAd)

TSUBA

 S
23 Bard’s to allow gathering outside of court with aged uncle (7) 

BETEEME (Shakespearean [Bard’s] word for ‘allow’)

BEE (a gathering of persons to unite their labour for the benefit of one individual or family, or for some joint amusement, exercise or competition) containing (outside of) CT (court) + EME (obsolete [aged] word for uncle)

BE (T) E EME

 C
25 Blood-coloured pigment from tree stored by doctor? On the contrary, used up (6) 

REDDLE (red ochre [blood-coloured pigment])

(ELDER (tree) containing (stored by) DR (doctor) reversed (used up; down entry) – this is the opposite of the beginning of the clue saying ‘tree stored by doctor’ – therefore, on the contrary

(RE (D) DLE)<

 R
26

Cheap levy? Yes (6) 

CHEAP LEVY YES

SLEEPY HEAVY C

 – answer and letter transferred to 6 down

Entry is GRUMPY and letter is E, transferred from 11 across

 E
28 Rarely stamp on head with heel of shoe not used (6) 

SELDOM (rarely)

SEAL (an engraved stone or other stamp for impressing a device) + DOMe (head) excluding (not used) E (last letter of [heel of] shoE)

SEL DOM

 A
30 Dress holed by American date (5) 

ADORN (dress)

A (American) + D (date) + TORN (holed)

A D ORN

 T
31 Components of erected incomplete monument not assembled (5) 

UNMET (not meeting; not assembled)

UNMET (reversed [erected]; down entry) hidden word in incompleTE MONUment)

UNMET<

 O
32 Boast about extremely respectable sheaf of wheat (5) 

GARBE (sheaf of wheat)

BRAG (boast) reversed (about) + RE (outer letters of [extremely] RespectablE)

GARB< E

 R
33 Old Italian magistrate’s right backing nameless jail (5) 

PRIOR (formerly [old], a magistrate in Italy)

PRISOn (jail) excluding (-less) N (name) + R (right)

PRIO R

 S

 

12 comments on “Inquisitor 1921: Friends of Mine by Kruger”

  1. I found one of the instructions a tad confusing at first, but reading ‘anagrams to’ as ‘an anagram of’ made it clear enough. Also, I noted the word ‘several’ was used instead of the actual number (eight), but possibly the setter thought the number would give away too much. But this was otherwise in every way a typically challenging Inquisitor puzzle with an interesting twist to the clues of a kind that I have not seen before. I had solved almost all of the normal clues before I twigged the set of thematic names, and I enjoyed finding the remaining eight extra letters. I too was slowed down a bit by the ‘twist’ (mentioned in the blog) of needing to move each thematic extra letter to its proper place so that the message would make complete sense.

    I liked the quality of the clues and was impressed by the symmetry of the grid considering how much thematic material was put into it.

    Thanks to Kruger and duncanshiell.

  2. The anagrams were a novel device that took some time to understand and even longer to unravel. Permuting the clues for these entries seemed an unnecessary extra step. And since the names of 7 of the characters are purely down to Disney co., I had a nagging feeling that “Brothers Grimm” might be a red herring so I didn’t feel satisfied by the denouement. But I struggled in vain to find anything else in the grid that could do instead, nor could I find reliable evidence for who named the dwarfs. Hey ho.

  3. I’m not sure whether this was implied in the blog but ‘friends of mine’ hints at the fact the dwarves work in a mine

  4. Initially, my progress on this one was extremely slow and when I had completed about half the grid I was on the point of giving up. I had found H?P?Y for 21d which had to be thematic but it rang no bells. Then I saw that BASHFUL was the only word that would fit 1a and most of the pennies dropped immediately. I completed all the thematic entries, then the remaining entries, and had enough of the message to highlight the creators. Had there been a prize, I had done enough to be a winner. For my own satisfaction, however, I had to plough through the anagrams to find the extra letters and where to relocate them – very neat.
    In the end, a very entertaining puzzle and I am glad I persevered.
    Thanks to Kruger and Duncan.
    Bingy @3 re title. Yes, that’s what I thought

  5. I enjoyed this very much — my thanks too to Kruger and Duncan. The anagrams fell steadily once I’d seen DOC and GRUMPY, and the best chuckle came from SNEEZY / STERNUTATIVE. Like Phil K @2, I had my doubts about BROTHERS GRIMM because I remember them not as the CREATORS of the characters but as the chaps who wrote down the German oral-tradition folktales and put them into print for the first time. There was also TRILBY to suggest to old IQ hands that a Trilby-Fedora switch might be lurking in there. But I never found an alternative to the Grim Siblings.

  6. All solved satisfactorily, though I agree that the Brothers Grimm are only arguably the creators of Snow White and certainly aren’t the creators of the individual dwarfs. I spent a bit of instructive time researching the early history of Disney animation, before looking down the obvious diagonal, and learned that the dwarfs were first given names in a revue or musical of around 1912 on the West Coast; Disney’s team took them on. I agree with Bingy that the mine in the title is the dwarfs’ workplace, off to which they go; presumably Snow White and the dwarfs are considered its friends.
    Unrelatedly, I missed getting the I paper for this week’s puzzle, being at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Does anybody know of a way to get the puzzle at this stage?

  7. Sagittarius @6: I’d be happy to send. Do contact me at my Nimrod address (top of each week’s Inquisitor page).

    John

  8. What looked initially like a very daunting challenge turned out to be a very satisfying puzzle. My own penny drop was working out the Dopey/Slow anagram, which pointed immediately to what the Friends of Mine referred to. A few of the clues required a bit of work to solve, and as is often the case the instructions in the preamble became clearer as the grid filled up. A rare 10/10 this week – thanks to Kruger for a tough but fair challenge, and to Duncan for explaining everything so colourfully.

  9. I found this very disappointing in that I solved it fairly quickly without understanding any of the special thematic clues. HAP- – and SL – E -Y just had to be HAPPY and SLEEPY, then all the others fell easily into place. For me, Kruger’s special clues remained impenetrable, so solving his puzzle was not really very satisfying

  10. I thought this was an exemplary puzzle – clear, fair, ingenious, and suitably challenging. No googling required and I even understood the title. Many thanks to Kruger and to Duncan for his customarily brilliant explanation.

  11. From Happy on, I guessed the theme early, but did enjoy the working-out, including the special clues. Because I was making relatively smooth progress, I refrained from looking up the less-remembered members of the fraternity. Many thanks to Kruger, and Duncan for working out the sneezy synonym.

  12. I solved 3 or 4 across clues and 3 or 4 downs in the top left quadrant very quickly and then immediately wrote in BASHFUL, dwarfs fitting in well with the title (… of Mine).
    Bit fiddly digging out some of the synonyms.
    Thanks go to setter & blogger.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.