We have a puzzle from a new setter, Warlock, this week. It will be interesting to see what he / she has to offer.
The preamble was quite detailed and told us that clues are provided to pairs of entries placed diametrically opposite, either coming first. Each pairing contains an extraneous word (and in one case, two) of more than one syllable, the initial letters of which, when read in clue order provide two relevant titles. One of these hints at how solvers must make regular cuts to divide the grid (along grid lines, using the shortest possible route) into two symmetrical pieces and perform a suitable adjustment to reveal what they have created (three words, reading vertically), as well as highlighting the two protagonists affected.
I didn’t really understand the section about ‘cutting the grid into two symmetrical pieces and perform a sutiable adjustment’, and after completing the puzzle, I still don’t understand it properly. However, I have suggested a couple of ideas on how to cut and adjust the grid, but I am not convinced that either idea is correct, as my symmetry is 180 degree symmetry, rather than mirror symmetry. I look forward to reading better suggestions from solvers.
I made steady progress on the clues and got my entry into the drid with the pairs 1/34 across, 1/28 down and 11/ 32 across. which gave me the six entries SPIREA, TAMULIC, NEKTONS, GOSSIP, STED and GASP in their final positions. The splits between the two clues and the extraneous words became apparent as the grid entries built up.
The first letters of the extraneous words spelled SLIDING DOORS and COLDPLAY. The clue with two extra words was 3/8 down. The full list of extraneous words is shown below:
| Clue | Extraneous Words |
| 1/34 | Synthesizes |
| 5/33 | Litigant |
| 11/32 | Initiating |
| 13/31 | Dinner |
| 15/30 | Incarcerating |
| 16/29 | Neutralises |
| 18/26 | Gallophiles |
| 19/24 | DJ |
| 20/22 | Original |
| 1/28 | Orchestrating |
| 2/21 | Reserve |
| 3/8 | Soaring
Cinematic |
| 4/27 | Opposing |
| 6/23 | Lacebark |
| 7/26 | Despite |
| 9/25 | Protecting |
| 10/19 | Litigants |
| 12/24 | Adopting |
| 14/17 | YouthfullyMy |
My first thought on seeing COLDPLAY was wondering if theme related to to the recent KissCam incident at COLDPLAY‘s concert in Boston, USA. However, the grid didn’t seem to hold the names of the two people involved and it’s probably too soon for a crossword on that theme to be created, edited and published.
I then did some research on SLIDING DOORS which I vaguely remembered as a film.. The star of the film was Gwyneth PALTROW [born 1972] and then the association with COLDPLAY became clear. PALTROW married Chris MARTIN [born 1977], lead singer of COLDPLAY in 2003, separated in 2014 and divorced in 2016. The pair described the end of their relationship as A CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING.
The initial filled grid below highlights PALTROW, MARTIN and the letters contributing to A CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING.
My problems with the endgame began at that point. I took SLIDING DOORS to be the hint to the form of the regular cuts and interpreted it as telling me to create two symmetrical pieces that could represent DOORS that I could slide to new positions to create something related to the UNCOUPLING. My first thought was to make single cell cuts alternately up and then left or right and up again etc, starting between the S of WANNESS and the G of GOSSIP. This produced two pieces with 180° rotational symmetry which could be slid apart to represent the UNCOUPLING, with A CONSCIOUS limited to one piece and UNCOUPLING limited to the right-hand piece as shown below.
My second idea was to start cutting upwards between the G and O of GOSSIP by one cell and then continue by cutting three cells left, one cell up, three cells right, one cell up, three cells left etc. Again this gave me two pieces with 180º rotational symmetry.
By sliding the right piece (one of the doors), one cell right, I got a representation of the grid with all three words of A CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING appearing in two single columns.
This resulted in the following amended grid.
There is nothing in the preamble about the final position involving real words. Some of the single letters, not constrained by vertical bars, could be considered real word abbreviations in Chambers [A, N, O, S, P, S, I, E, and G, plus the Y of awrY] . ANNO is a real word across the DOORS, as are, SPIRE and ACERS, but I am left with URESE, ILLY and OSSIP which are not real words. I suppose if you read across the gaps, then URESES, SILLY and GOSSIP remain.
PALTROW and MARTIN remain in columns 2 and 12 of the original grid.
The clues were fair and fit the normal standard for an Inquisitor. The only entry I can’t parse is IONS where I can’t crack the relationship between ‘Guns’ and IONS. I reckon I am looking for a homophone, but I can’t identify one.
The title Amicable relates to the fact that the split between PALTROW and MARTIN was free from rancour.
There was plenty going on in this puzzle and I enjoyed it even if I am still not sure if I have sorted out the endgame properly.
The detailed table below shows the clues before and after splits and removal of extraneous words. Each pair is then sorted into standard clue order.
| Across | ||
| 1/34
1
34
|
East German visiting doctor for aunt’s wind synthesizes a plant (6;6)
Wind synthesizes a plant (6) Wind a plant (6) SPIREA (plant or shrub of the rosaceous genus Spiraea, having flattened or plume-shaped heads of small pink or white flowers) SPIRE ([to] wind) + A SPIRE A East German visiting doctor for aunt’s (6) GOSSIP (‘aunt’ is an obsolete term for GOSSIP) OSSI (a citizen of the former German Democratic Republic ([ast German]) before reunification with the Federal Republic in 1990; East German) contained in (visiting) GP (General practitioner; doctor) G (OSSI) P |
SYNTHESIZES |
| 5/33
5
33 |
Many a Nonjuror wrongly argues second new point after litigant’s weak answer causes pallor (7;7)
Many a Nonjuror wrongly argues second (7) USAGERS (historical word for more than one Nonjuror who maintained the USAGEs) Anagram of (wrongly) ARGUES + S USAGER* S New point after litigant’s weak answer causes pallor (7) New point after weak answer causes pallor (7) WANNESS (pallor) W (weak) + A (answer) + N (new) + NESS (headland or point of land running out to sea) W A N NESS |
LITIGANT’S |
| 11/32
11
32
|
Swimmers’ damaged skin tone lacks iodine initiating Sri Lankan’s habitual response about alum mixture (7;7)
Initiating Sri Lankan’s habitual response about alum mixture (7) Sri Lankan’s habitual response about alum mixture (7) TAMULIC (descriptive of a people of Sri Lanka; Sri Lankans) TIC (habitual response) containing (about) an anagram of (mixture) ALUM T (AMUL*) IC Swimmers’ damaged skin tone lacks iodine (7) NEKTONS (assemblages of actively swimming organisms in a sea, lake, etc; swimmers) Anagram of (damaged) SKiN TONE excluding (lacks) I (chemical symbol for iodine) NEKTONS* |
INITIATING |
| 13/31
13
31 |
Half of Orkney’s whale pod eating dinner entertains amphitheatres (4;4)
Half of Orkney’s whale (7) ORCA (killer whale) ORCAdian (Orkney’s) excluding the second four of eight (half) letters DIAN (leaving) the first half ORCA ORCA Pod eating dinner entertains amphitheatres (4) Pod eating entertains amphitheatres (4) ODEA (plural of ODEON [ancient Greek amphitheatre – no roofs in ancient Greek theatres]) ODEA (hidden word in [entertains] pOD EAting) ODEA |
DINNER |
| 15/30
15
30 |
Buck perhaps, not a six-footer, to bolt openings incarcerating large Spanish aunt (5;5)
Buck perhaps, not a six-footer, to bolt (5) ELOPE (run away; bolt) antELOPE (a buck can be [perhaps] a male antelope) excluding (not) ANT (an insect with six legs / feet) ELOPE Openings incarcerating large Spanish aunt (5) Openings large Spanish aunt (5) OSTIA (mouth-like openings) OS (outsize; large) + TIA (Spanish word for aunt) OS TIA |
INCARCERATING |
| 16/29
16
29 |
Admit knowledge the French can turn over neutralises online abuse shortly after prisoner restraint (7, 2 words; 7)
Neutralises online abuse shortly after prisoner restraint (7, 2 words) Online abuse shortly after prisoner restraint (7, 2 words) CONTROL (restraint) CON (prisoner) + TROLl (abuse others online) excluding the final letter L (shortly) CON TROL Admit knowledge the French can turn over (7) LET INTO (admit [to knowledge of]) LE (one of the French forms of ‘the’) + TIN (can) + TO (turn over) LE T IN TO |
NEUTRALISES |
| 18/26
18
26 |
Frivolous old King leaves champagne to vex some Gallophiles in denial – on the contrary (5;5)
To vex some Gallophiles in denial – on the contrary (5;5) To vex some in denial – on the contrary (5;5) ANNOY (vex) NO (a denial) contained in (in) ANY (some) – this construction is the opposite of that suggested by the clue (on the contrary) AN (NO) Y Frivolous old King leaves champagne SILLY (frivolous) SILLerY (champagne from Sillery, near Rheims) excluding (leaves) ER (Edward Rex [old King]) SILLY |
GALLOPHILES |
| 19/24
19
24 |
DJ fillers, without heart for those in harness perhaps, regularly query Easter’s number ones? (6;6)
Regularly query Easter’s number ones? (6) URESES (urination; number one [childish term for urination]) URESES (letters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 (regularly) qUeRy EaStEr’S) U R E S E S DJ fillers, without heart for those in harness perhaps (6) Fillers, without heart for those in harness perhaps (6) PACERS (horses trained to PACE in harness racing) PACkERS (fillers) excluding the middle letter K (without heart) PACERS |
DJ |
| 20/22
20
22 |
Scrapping unserviceable Capri, lacking compliance, left swelling car brand’s original caption needing revision (7;7)
Car brand’s original caption needing revision (7) Car brand’s caption needing revision (7) PONTIAC (brand of car) Anagram of (needing revision) CAPTION PONTIAC* Scrapping unserviceable Capri, lacking compliance, left swelling (7) UPRISAL (rising up; swelling) Anagram of (scrapping) U/S (unserviceable) and cAPRI excluding (lacking) C (compliance [term in physics]) + L (left) UPRISA* L PARULIS (gumboil), an anagram of U/S APRI and L could also be defined as a swelling, but only UPRISAL fits the crossing letters |
ORIGINAL |
| Down | ||
| 1/28
1
28
|
Help old horse with half the amount of energy needed leaders of gallop orchestrating a spectacular pile-up, causing sharp intake of breath (4;4)
Help old horse with half the amount of energy needed (4) STED (obsolete[old] form of STEAD [to help]; help old) STEeD (horse) excluding one of the two (half) Es (energy) STED Leaders of gallop orchestrating a spectacular pile-up, causing sharp intake of breath (4) Leaders of gallop a spectacular pile-up, causing sharp intake of breath (4) GASP (sharp intake of breath) GASP (initial letters [leaders of] Gallop, A, Spectacular and Pile-up) G A S P |
ORCHESTRATING |
| 2/21
2
21 |
Ready for special reserve contests, perhaps Stubbs’ picture about to be removed takes over end of auction (6;6)
Perhaps Stubbs’ picture about to be removed takes over end of auction (6) IMOGEN (reference IMOGEN Stubbs [born 1961], English actress and writer) IMaGE (picture) with A [about] excluded [removed] and replaced by [takes] O [over]) + N (final letter of [end of] auctioN) IMOGE N Ready for special reserve contests (6) Ready for special contests (6) SET-TOS (fierce contests) SET TO (ready for, as in I’m all SET TO do something) + S (special) SET-TO S |
RESERVE |
| 3/8
3
8
|
Rocky pummelling in soaring raptures recreated stoic sight for cinematic fans of a certain style (10;10)
Rocky pummelling in soaring raptures (10) Rocky pummelling in raptures (10) RUPESTRIAN (composed of rock; rocky) Anagram of (pummelling) IN RAPTURES RUPESTRIAN* Recreated stoic sight for cinematic fans of a certain style (10) Recreated stoic sight for fans of a certain style (10) GOTHICISTS (fans of GOTHIC style) Anagram of (recreated) STOIC SIGHT GOTHICISTS* There were two extraneous words in this clue |
SOARING
CINEMATIC
|
| 4/27
4
27 |
Greek colony releases content opposing champion’s first half (John’s better half) (4;4)
Greek colony releases content (4) ELEA (in ancient Italy, a Greek colony on the Tyrrhenian coast of Lucana) ELEA (hidden word in [content] rELEAses ELEA Opposing champion’s first half (John’s better half) (4) Champion’s first half (John’s better half) (4) YOKO (reference YOKO Ono [born 1933], wife of John Lennon [1940 – 1980]) YOKOzuna [a grand champion in Sumo wrestling) using just the first four of eight [first half] letters) YOKO |
OPPOSING |
| 6/23
6
23
|
Rearing oil-producing Indian lacebark trees for nose, demigods depicted regularly in caliatours (5;5)
Rearing oil-producing Indian lacebark trees for nose (5) Rearing oil-producing Indian trees for nose (5) SNOOP (pry in to the private affiars of other people; nose [into]) POONS (Indian trees that produce oil from their seeds) reversed (rearing; down entry) SNOOP< Demigods depicted regularly in caliatours (5) AITUS (demigods in Polynesia) AITUS (letters 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 [regularly] of cAlIaToUrS) A I T U S |
LACEBARK |
| 7/26
7
26
|
Once cut contemptuous look short, despite American women’s Big Apple being ‘hairy’ (4;4)
Despite American women’s Big Apple being ‘hairy’ (4;4) American women’s Big Apple being ‘hairy’ (4;4) AWNY (like the bristly beard of barley; hairy) A (American) + W (women) + NY (New York, a city known as the Big Apple) A W NY Once cut contemptuous look short (4) SNEE (obsolete [once] word for ‘cut’) SNEEr (contemptuous look) excluding the final letter R (short) SNEE |
DESPITE |
| 9/25
9
25 |
Makes a mistake and leaves commissions protecting Egyptian god’s lying open, exposed (4;4)
Makes a mistake and leaves commissions (4) ERRS (makes a mistake) ERRandS (commissions) excluding (leaves) AND ERRS Protecting Egyptian god’s lying open, exposed (4) Egyptian god’s lying open, exposed (4) ATEN (ancient Egyptian deity [god] representing the disc of the sun) pATENt (lying open) excluding the outer letters P and T (exposed) ATEN |
PROTECTING |
| 10/19
10
19 |
Solicitor at Law (Alaska), overturned those bearing fruit, to rise windily in court with litigants black and blue (6;6)
Solicitor at Law (Alaska), overturned those bearing fruit (6) SALALS (berries [fruit] from a North American ericaceous shrub) (SL [Solicitor at Law] + ALAS [Alaska]) all reversed (overturned) (SALA LS)< To rise windily in court with litigants black and blue (6) To rise windily in court with black and blue (6) UPBLOW (of the wind, to spring up; rise windily) UP (in court) + B (black, when referring to pencil lead) + LOW (sad; blue) UP B LOW |
LITIGANTS |
| 12/24
12
24 |
Guns we hear, those with charge cut short old trader adopting position with bent knees (4;4)
Guns we hear, those with charge (4) IONS (electrically-charged particles) IONS – the clue implies that IONS is a homophone [we hear] of a word measning ‘guns’, but I can’t identify one IONS Cut short old trader adopting position with bent knees (4) Cut short old trader position with bent knees (4) PLIÉ (a movement or position in ballet, in which the knees are bent while the body remains upright) PLIEr (obsolete [old] word for ‘trader’) excluding the final letter R (cut short) PLIE |
ADOPTING |
| 14/17 | Will’s agreement set old lady right in bed once trusted, trampled on briefly then youthfully united (6;6)
Will’s agreement set old lady right in bed (6) COMART (Shakespearean [Will’s] word for ‘agreement’) COMART (MA [mother; old lady] + R [right]) contained in [set … in] COT (bed) CO (MA R) T Once trusted, trampled on briefly then youthfully united (6) Once trusted, trampled on briefly then united (6) TROWED (archaic [once] word for ‘trusted’) TROd (trampled on) excluding the final letter D (briefly) + WED (united) TRO WED |
YOUTHFULLY |
iron is American slang for gun
I quite enjoyed the puzzle but was left equally uncertain about the cutting instructions. I don’t wish to sound churlish but bearing in mind no-one actually gets to submit these puzzles anymore due to the prize being withdrawn, I wonder what the point of publishing those that require scissors, cutting etc.
I had fun with the gridfill and resolved the theme, spotting the two parties, the quote reading zigzag-fashion down the middle, and the connection with the title. But at the final hurdle I failed to visualize just how the cutting and adjusting would work, and (see also @2 above) just couldn’t muster the energy to experiment either on paper or with graphics software.
Thanks all the same to Warlock and Duncan — whose dissection seems entirely plausible to me.
This one looked like it could be a nightmare at first reading, but fortunately it proved otherwise! The two 10-letter answers went in first, providing a good framework from which to proceed.
Having mostly filled the grid, the endgame briefly stumped me as I couldn’t initially find a connection between Sliding Doors and Coldplay. The former (plus the design of the grid) did make me think that the central column might be important, and after some grid searching, ‘A conscious’ fell out, shortly followed by ‘uncoupling’. Fortunately I was aware of said uncoupling so the theme thus became clear.
Like others, I’m also unsure exactly how the sliding should be done. I did get irons as the homophone for guns though.
Thanks to Warlock for the puzzle and Duncan for the blog.
This took a lot of effort which ultimately didn’t get me very far. Not all of this was my own carelessness. 6D is genuinely ambiguous, because SNOOT means a nose and the TOON is an Indian tree, but it made 20A ungettable. Less pardonably, I decided that ATEN could be a protecting Egyptian god (Wikipedia gives a little bit of support for this), so deleted COMMISSIONS and ended up with SLIDING DOORS combined with OLD CLAY, which was puzzling, but not quite gibberish. I found PALTROW, but then started searching for her cinematic co-stars, or to see if MARTINI was in some way the ingredient of a cocktail called OLD CLAY. I very much doubt I would have worked out the cuts anyway; I was assuming the cuts would be in a single straight line, like a door (and It did say use the shortest possible route). Overall, resounding failure, and gratitude for Duncan’s painstaking blog, while admiring Warlock’s ingenuity.
I reckon you’re all overthinking the endgame, and all that was required was Duncan’s option 1 – i.e., make a zig zag cut down and pull apart. The instruction wording is definitely clunky (I also don’t think you need “using the shortest possible route”), but by cutting/pulling you are physically creating (‘revealing’) a conscious uncoupling, and you are doing it in the manner of a sliding door. While Duncan’s option 2 means you can read the three words better, you do so by putting the pieces back together so you haven’t created an uncoupling!
I thought this was rather fun and very fair, although I did feel slightly bad that somebody’s divorce was being used as the theme of a crossword! My only minor gripe is that the combined clues make for quite awkward surfaces, but then in barred crosswords surfaces are generally a bit weaker than average.
Thank you to Duncan and welcome Warlock!
Enjoyed this a lot, and not too worried about the end of the endgame, as I knew I’d never be getting the scissors out (though I’m annoyed I didn’t spot the zig-zag conscious uncoupling, as the phrase was very much on my mind). Thanks to Duncan and Warlock.
As arnold @6 says, quite a fun & fair puzzle, and I agree that a simple ‘unzipping’ (see Duncan’s option 1) was what was called for.
Regarding POON or TOON in 6d (see Sagittarius @5), the uncertainty was resolved for me by noting that POON-OIL is in Chambers whereas the entry for TOON makes no reference to oil.
(Maybe ION & IRON are not quite homophones if you live north of the border?)
A good IQ debut from Warlock, and thanks as ever to Duncan.
HG above: yes, a fair cop, and to all others who identified both SNOOP and SNOOT as possibilities and then chose intelligently between them, accept my congratulations. I fear I saw Indian tree and thought no further.
I would point out to all setters who use homophones that while ‘ion’ and ‘iron’ are homophones in some of the UK, they are not in Scotland where we have the eccentric habit of actually pronouncing the letter ‘r’. Likewise ‘lava’ and ‘larva’ and loads more.
I enjoyed this, not too tough and the theme was in my pop culture ballpark so the phrase spring to mind once enough letters emerged. I zig-zagged the thematic words myself but probably best not to overthink the fine details of the endgame, it’s not like a Listener where an actual person will pull your entry out of an envelope to stare at it 😁
My only slight eyebrow wiggle was in one small part of the preamble wording… I wouldn’t say that a band name is a ‘title‘ as such, not like a film title which was the other half of the message. Not that this held me up once I had the gist, but I am a little pernickety on the precision of preambles…!
Many thanks Warlock and Duncan
I had a similar problem to Sagittarius @5 – I forgot about the two letters to be produced by one clue and ended up with “Sliding Doors” and “Old Play”, which got me nowhere. A hint (“group”) from a friend lead me to Coldplay.
I disagree with Bingy @2 about scissors and suchlike: one of the problems with The Independent, which had hosted Inquisitor up to then, going purely digital, was that any endgame which involved physical manipulation of the grid would no longer be possible. An example in 2005 was a Cricket-themed Inquisitor, where the message hidden, possibly in misprints in clues, asked us to burn the completed grid and send in the ashes.
I think that Duncan was close in his first dissection, but the cut needed to be to the right of the two coloured cells on odd-numbered lines and to the left of the coloured cells on even-numbered lines, producing the “shortest possible route”. The two pieces can then be slid together keeping the coloured cells on top to produce a 12×10 grid with the message reading down the middle – and lots of non-words. I must admit I had a play with grid, ruler and scalpel, with satisfactory results.
Thanks to Warlock and to Duncan.
According to the paper, option 2 is in fact the correct answer. I apologise! (Though I might beg to differ.)
Well done to duncan for spotting both.
Enjoyed the puzzle and sorted the theme but couldn’t work out the cutting route. From my perspective there are just two possible minimum distance cuts that leave two symmetrical pieces. And this isn’t one of them! If that clause had not been in the preamble then I think I would have got there.