Soup is a regular Genius setter. He sets interesting and challenging puzzles with clever twists. Let’s see what he gives us this month.
Well, it looks like an alphabetical jigsaw, but there aren’t many blocks in the even numbered across rows or the even numbered down columns. Are we being asked to add symmetrically-placed blocks to the grid? In barred jigsaw crosswords we are often expected to add bars to a completely blank grid as part of the solving process.
The problem with adding blocks is that the entry lengths go from 5 to 15 letters, including two of 10 letters, two of 11 letters, one of 13 letters and one of 15 letters. Given there are no entries of 4 letters, the six entries of 10 letters and longer will require a row or column of their own with the rest of cells being blocks.
The grid gives us 14 rows and columns so that would leave just eight rows and columns for all the remaining 24 entries. If we add blocks to the grid, these 24 entries would require twelve rows or columns. It is impossible to fit three entries into any one row or column and include blocks.
The logic therefore dictates that we take blocks out of the original grid or share cells between some of the entries. Taking blocks out would introduce complex intersections akin to US crosswords.
I know from an experience that a blogger shouldn’t say that he or she found solving the clues very difficult or very easy, as at least one solver will disagree. For this puzzle, I will say though that I found solving the clues slightly easier than deducing the end game.
Often with a jigsaw, there are a few entries that can only go in one place. In this case ,symmetry determines that the 15-letter entry is constrained to the central row and the 13-letter entry is constrained to the central column. The alphabetical nature of the clues helped me get ELECTROSTATIC (13) fairly early on. The 15-letter entry, COLLISION COURSE, took me a bit longer to solve, but again the alphabetical order of the solutions helped.
I cold-solved the majority of the clues before trying to populate the grid. With COLLISION COURSE and ELECTROSTATIC in place, there could only be one position for each of INTAGLIO (column 2) and SONORITY (column 14). I then played about with the 10- and 11-letter entries trying to fit BLUEBOTTLE, INFLUENCING, REDEPOSITED and RETREATING into the grid. It was a frustrating couple of days before I noticed that INFLUENCING and INGRATE could overlap and fill a complete row as could BLUEBOTTLE and LENTILS.
From then on, the jigsaw began to fit together fairly quickly fitting 30 entries comprising a total of 230 letters into the 206 available cells (counting intersections twice). A study of the grid below shows there are 24 cells contributing to two entries across or down.
i noticed that the overlapping letters were symmetrically placed in the grid and thought “that’s clever” before I realised that the overall symmetric nature of the grid entries guaranteed that the overlapping cells would also be placed symmetrically.
I liked many of the clues for their surfaces, but I’ll just highlight a few –
ALPACA with its association with the camel family,
ANGERED for the multiple indicators,
the two fish moving slowly (IDLING),
the use of Blake Lively to form an anagram of BLAKE and
the clue for SONORITY as many computers deliver sound unless you are prepared to pay for better sound cards.
I doubt if I was the only solver to groan at the clue for DEPOT (DE–POT)
The grid below shows how everything fitted together. The detailed table conforms the alphabetic nature of answers to the clues.
Thanks to Soup for an enjoyable challenge with an endgame that took me a while to crack. it was very satisfying though when it did fall. I look forward to more Geniuses from Soup.
| No | Detail |
| 1 | Touch a tuxedo, going to take off jacket (6)
ADJOIN (be in contact; touch) A + DJ (dinner jacket; tuxedo) + gOINg excluding the outer letters G and G (take off jacket) A DJ OIN |
| 2 | After shearing, scalp a camel (or something like it) (6)
ALPACA (domesticated animal related to the llama [South American transport animal of the camel family]) ALPACA (letters 3 to 8 of scALP A CAmel, excluding the additional letters at the beginning and end of the words [after shearing]) ALPACA |
| 3 | Enraged, furious, fuming (7)
ANGERED (fuming, furious or fuming) Anagram of (furious) ENRAGED Also, the clue is a triple definition ANGERED (enraged) ANGERED (furious) ANGERED (fuming) ANGERED |
| 4 | Fly low, then abort, losing nerve (10)
BLUEBOTTLE (large fly with a metallic blue abdomen) BLUE (depressed; low) + BOTTLE (fail to do or achieve something as a result of losing one’s nerve) BLUE BOTTLE |
| 5 | Nick tip of pinkie off in nasty paper cut (7)
CAPTURE (arrest; nick) Anagram of (nasty) pAPER CUT excluding (off) P (first letter of [tip of] Pinkie) – either P could be the one excluded CAPTURE* |
| 6 | Air conditioning is running, one by one toppling house of cards (6)
CASINO (an establishment for gambling, usually with roulette and card and dice games; house of cards) AC (Air Conditioning) + IS + ON (running) with each [one by one] component part reversed (toppling) CA< SI< NO< |
| 7 | A smashing way to go! (9,6)
COLLISION COURSE (a course which, if persisted in, will result in a collision) COLLISION COURSE – the clue is a cryptic definition based on synonyms smashing (the possible result of a COLLISION) and ‘way to go’ (COURSE) COLLISION COURSE |
| 8 | Store to remove pans? (5)
DEPOT (store) DE– (prefix indicating a reversal of process) + POT (pans) so put together DE-POT refers to the removal of pans DE POT |
| 9 | Continuous noise echoes from tenor drum (5)
DRONE (monotous and continuous hum or noise) DRONE (reversed [echoes] hidden word in [from] tENOR Drum) DRONE< |
| 10 | Relaxed, stopped going topless (5)
EASED (relaxed) cEASED (stopped) excluding the first letter C (going topless) EASED |
| 11 | Vote Democrat out: dictator’s misbehaving (still, it’s shocking!) (13)
ELECTROSTATIC (capable of delivering an electric shock; it’s shocking) ELECT ([cast a] vote) [for]) + an anagram of (misbehaving) dICTATOR’S excluding (out) D (Democrat) – I’m not sure what ‘still‘ is doing in the clue. I know STATIC means ‘still‘ but STATIC is part of the anagram rather than being clued separately. ELECT ROSTATIC* |
| 12 | Affable Ealing sort (6)
GENIAL (affable) Anagram of (sort) EALING GENIAL* |
| 13 | Two fish moving slowly (6)
IDLING (of an engine, running / moving slowly when disconnected from the transmission) ID (a fish of the carp family) + LING (a fish of the cod family) ID LING |
| 14 | Showing dominance in sport, welcoming luck in the first half (11)
INFLUENCING (showing dominance to affect the outcome of an event, for instance) IN + (FENCING [a sport] containing [welcoming] LU [first two letters of {first half of} LUck]) IN F (LU) ENCING |
| 15 | One not appreciating where there might be fire? (7)
INGRATE (an ungrateful person; one not appreciating) IN GRATE (in the fireplace; a place where you might find a fire) IN GRATE |
| 16 | Isolating son withdraws, unfortunately getting no relief (8)
INTAGLIO (a figure cut into any substance; a stone or gem in which the design is hollowed out, the opposite of cameo [figure carved in relief]; no relief) Anagram of (unfortunately) IsOLATING excluding (withdraws) S (son) INTAGLIO* |
| 17 | To begin jousting, I understand, just involves toy sabres (unless fighting without weapons) (3-5)
JIU-JITSU (system of fighting without weapons) JIU-JITSU (first letters of [to begin] each of Jousting, I, Understand, Just, Involves, Toy, Sabres and Unless) J I U J I T S U |
| 18 | Fast is broken by a bite of leafy vegetables (7)
LENTILS (seeds of a leguminous plant. Legumes are classified as vegetables) LENT (period of fasting in the Christian calendar) + IS containing (broken by) L (first letter of [bite of] Leafy) LENT I (L) S |
| 19 | Pass up Blake Lively, having key opportunity? (8)
LOCKABLE (capable of being closed by a key) COL (pass in a mountain range) reversed (up; down entry) + an anagram of (lively) BLAKE. LOCKABLE is entered vertically in the grid, so ‘up’ is a legitimate reversal indicator. LOC< KABLE* |
| 20 | Where one can write anything except letters 5, 16, 1 or 4 (7)
NOTEPAD (a block of paper on which one can write) NOT (anything except) E, P, A or D which are letters 5, 16, 1 and 4 in the alphabet NOT E P A D |
| 21 | Re-explain not having sex to end quivering of nether regions (8)
PERINEAL (relating to the lower part of the body between the genital organs and the anus; of nether regions) Anagram of (quivering) RE-ExPLAIN excluding (not having) X (last letter of [to end] seX) PERINEAL* |
| 22 | Got to race, dropping out in the middle, hurt (7)
REACHED (got to) RacE excluding the central letters AC (dropping out in the middle) + ACHED (hurt) RE ACHED |
| 23 | Again settled on the outskirts of Rome – indeed, I stop moving (11)
REDEPOSITED (out down again; again settled on) RE (outer letters of [outskirts of] RomE) + (an anagram of [moving] I STOP contained in [in] DEED – ‘indeed’ being read as ‘in deed’) RE DE (POSIT*) ED |
| 24 | Climbing down decaying tree with rank bark (10)
RETREATING (withdrawing from a position of difficulty; climbing down) Anagram of (decaying) TREE contained in (with … bark [covering of a tree trunk. so ‘covered by’]) RATING (a rank) R (ETRE*) ATING |
| 25 | Pay artist back (6)
REWARD (pay) DRAWER (artist) reversed (back) REWARD< |
| 26 | From then on, starts to really exasperate Frank (7)
SINCERE (free from pretence; frank) SINCE (from then on) + RE (first letters of [starts to] each of Really and Exasperate) SINCE R E |
| 27 | Notes first sign of rays from the sun (5)
SOLAR (from the sun) SO (a note of the tonic solfa) + LA (another note, giving notes) + R (initial letter of [first sign of] Rays) SO LA R |
| 28 | Very negative lines written about computers’ quality of sound (8)
SONORITY (quality of sound) SO (very) + NO (negative) + (RY [{railway}] lines] containing [about] IT [information technology {computers}]) SO NO R (IT) Y |
| 29 | Not over-reliable hairdresser’s effort? (7)
TONSURE (the act or mode of clipping the hair, or of shaving the head; hairdresser’s effort) NOT reversed (over) + SURE (safe; secure; reliable) TON< SURE |
| 30 | Where one might go from theatre is inconvenient (8)
UNTOWARD (inconvenient) UNTO (to) + WARD (where patients are taken after surgery [operation]) UNTO WARD |
Thanks duncanshiell and Prof Soup!
Good one.
16 numbered lights and 30 clues; 8d – a confirmed anchor. Got COLLISION COURSE early that selected its placement crossing the O in 8d.
11-letter and 6-letter solutions did not have 4-letter or 9-letter solutions to pair with. So, overlapping was indicated.
With 21 cold-solved solutions not including the 2 anchors, I began to enter.
Symmetry dictated what the combinations are and where they go. Since “5d” is 8/8, “2d” has to be 8/8. Since “7a” was 7/11 with 3-letter overlap, “16a” has to be 11/7, with ‘ING’ being shared. With the crossers I got the 7 solutions I did not have when I started filling in.
Hugely satisfying when completed.
When I first saw the puzzle I thought it was possible that more blocks needed to be added, but once I worked out that the total length of the answers was more than the total length of the spaces in the grid, I thought that some of the 15-letter entries must be formed from overlapping answers. I had solved quite a lot of the clues before I tried to enter more than ELECTROSTATIC at 8d, but I hadn’t worked out COLLISION COURSE yet so a lot of my early entries were lucky guesses. I entered ANGEREDEPOSITED and INFLUENCINGRATE when I saw the possibility of a three-letter overlap and the resulting entries could fit symmetrically with 8d. I was a little disappointed that the other overlaps were only one or two letters.
In the ELECTROSTATIC clue, I had ‘still’ as part of the definition.
When I first saw the grid in the blog, I thought you had used blue for letters in two across entries, red for letters in two down entries, and magenta for letters in two of each, but then I noticed that the magenta letters were not symmetrically placed and in fact there are no letters used by four entries, which is something that I never thought of checking for while I was solving.
Thanks, duncanshiell and Soup.
A DNF for me – first one for ages. I guess that going on holiday and site problems took priority.
ELECTROSTATIC def is: of or relating to electricity at rest hence “still”.
I used the symmetry of the grid in the same way as Ilippu@1. And I agree that it was hugely satisfying to complete.
Many thanks to Soup and Duncan.
Morning, folks. Thanks for the hugely comprehensive blog, Duncan – I’m always in awe of how much time bloggers here spend.
Pleased that this one seems to have gone down relatively well (though sorry, KenMac, for your DNF). This one was interesting; the clues needed to be hard enough that they couldn’t all be cold-solved straight away by most people, yet easy enough to cold-solve enough to make them doable. I tried to make the two longer ones just that little bit harder (hence the CD for COLLISION COURSE; ELECTROSTATIC was hard to clue anyway, because it’s so hard to define).
I was wondering how long it would take people to spot it could be overlaps. I’ve talked to some friends for whom it took ages. It took a couple of days for my test solver’s penny to drop – and she’d solved all the clues! Curious how some things which are ‘given’ about crosswords are so entrenched.
The grid was another one which I used the amazing QXW software for. That lets me specify the exact locations of solutions in a way that Crossword Compiler doesn’t. The symmetry idea came to me relatively late on and I had to redo the grid; I thought of COLLISION COURSE at the same time. Everything else just flopped into place after that. With the power of QXW, most of the hard part is in the programming of the solutions in the grid (well, and having the idea too) – after that it’s plain sailing. This is also the method behind the 3D eightsome reels puzzle I did last year – see https://3dcalendarpuzzles.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024-11-NOV-PUZ-SOUP-AGC-futxyjOu.pdf for that one. (That was HORRIBLE to code.)
I’d not thought about four clues sharing letters – interesting idea. In the Eightsome puzzle above there are a few spots where EIGHT clues share letters. Yeeks.
Anyway, all fun. Looking forward to Monday’s puzzle, and to my next Genius – I’ve set the grid, just need to do the clues now. Oh, and do buy the 3D calendar when it comes out soon. And I’ll see some of you in York.
Thanks, Hamish, I liked this a lot – it was fairly clear what was going on, with the letter counts and the many 15-letter lights, but it still took a bit of (enjoyable) working out. I got COLLISION COURSE early on and its thematic relevance let me to guess it would be in the middle of the grid (verified by the crossing of ELECTROSTATIC).
I too cold solved most of the clues and worked out they must overlap but crucially couldn’t crack collision course or the other longer clues except electrostatic. Missing collision course made the grid fill almost impossible. I was unsure how the symmetry worked but that might have become clear.
With thanks to duncanshiell once I had collision course everything started to fit.
One of those that looked utterly impenetrable at first scan but steadily yielded enough cold-solves for a penny to clang, and very satisfying to finish!
Many thanks Soup and Duncan
Not a great experience for me. I solved all the clues easily enough and l saw what needed to be done to fit the answers in but TBH l couldn’t be bothered. Thanks anyway Soup and DS.
We tried posting this comment last night…
Fingers crossed it now works!
It’s always difficult to know what to say about a puzzle that you solved weeks ago. Also, we are away so we don’t have the paper copy to refer to.
What we DO remember is that we enjoyed it!
Thanks to S&B.