O…M…G… I suspect we have a candidate for ‘EV of the year’, if not the decade, in terms of grid construction and denouément at least…I think I need a SNOWBALL cocktail (or two), having finally worked this out…
The preamble states that:
“In SNOWBALL, the wordplay in each clue leads to the answer and an additional letter not to be entered into the grid. Solvers must keep a running total of these extra letters (using A = 1,27…, B = 2,28…., etc.), and translate the running totals back into letters to give an instruction. Implementation of the instruction will yield, among mostly non-words, an aphorism appearing over four rows, which must be highlighted. One answer is an abbreviation, and Chambers Dictionary (2014) is recommended.”
Sounds simple enough – just a bit of ‘modulo 26’ maths…but of course you are going to have to solve every clue along the way to get the full outcome, whereas if it is ‘just’ extra letters giving an instruction, it is usually possible to make a few educated guesses at any gaps…
It didn’t help that I couldn’t get the first clue for ages, but I had a slowly increasing bank of extra letters, and I turned to a trusty Excel spreadsheet to try and make some sense out of them.
Some relatively simple formulae later – take the CODE(cell) value of the cell containing a letter and subtract 64, as A has ASCII(?) value 65; then keep a running total (the ‘snowball’) in the next row; find the MOD(26) value of the running total; and convert it back to a letter using CHAR(num) of the resulting number, offset by 64 again – I was up and running…
I eventually got that first extra letter – A, then the next one, C…so adding 1 and 3 you get 4 – which translates to D. The next extra letter was Z – so add Z to D to get D again… So the first word of the instruction is ADD, or starts with ADD… Next was Y, so add 25 to the running total, or simply go down one from the previous letter – D to C. So ADDC…
Solving proceeded fairly steadily – 51 clues is quite a high number for an EV, and they are all fairly ‘wordy’ – so thank goodness I can cut-n-paste from the PDF version available online to do this blog!…
After a while I had nearly all the extra letters, but still a few gaps. However, with the spreadsheet set up, it was a fairly simple exercise to ‘letter crunch’ the gaps – trying letters in them until the following sequence made sense again, and then trying to retro-fit the correct letter into the clue as an extra letter.
And in the fullness of time it all became clear…
‘ADD CIRCLED LETTER TO LETTERS DIAGONALLY BENEATH AND REPEAT’.
So, with a little tweaking of my Excel formulae, I applied this instruction to the two diagonals down from the O, with OUTEFAS and OPIERLX becoming OJDIOPI and OENSKWI, respectively. I then stared at the amended grid for a while trying to find any words making up the expected ‘aphorism’.
By now I was two weeks in to this puzzle, with countless returns and mini-sessions wheedling out more clues and playing with my spreadsheet. My paper copy was becoming a bit tattered, so I transferred it all into Excel and had a further PDM – maybe ‘…and repeat’ meant both letters diagonally beneath each subsequently altered letter. So I painstakingly applied this principle, meaning that apart from the outer flanks there were two additions to each letter. After three rows of this I still couldn’t see anything obvious, and nearly gave up, but in the next row, SLOP FEARE(D) became SNOWFLAKE…which surely couldn’t be a coincidence, given the title of the puzzle?…
Pressing on, I found AVALANCHE out of (CAT)ALAN A ACRE, and then RESPONSIBLE, along the bottom row. A little Wiki-oogling of these words, finally cleared it all up:
‘NO SNOWFLAKE IN AN AVALANCHE EVER FEELS RESPONSIBLE’, aphorised by Stanislaw Jerzy Lec. (Given my colouring scheme above, I could counter with another saying: ‘NEVER EAT YELLOW SNOW!)
I got a cleaned-up version of my solution scanned and e-mailed just in time, so fingers crossed!
Wow! What the…? How the…? Why the…?! As a complete non-setter myself, but an experienced EV solver and blogger, I just have to take my hat off to this…
I guess, for an EV-level setter, it was probably just as ‘easy’ to use the ‘snowballing’ letters in the first part as extra letters in clues as it would have been to ‘just’ use the letters of the resulting instruction – but that part in itself is a bit of a masterpiece, not a device I remember seeing used before.
And then the grid: of the 169 letters in the grid, 66 of them, or just under 40%, have been altered, in a formulaic way, and then the setter has managed to work all this into a full-on barred puzzle, with some fairly stiff clueing as well! That is some feat of grid construction!
A quick search on this site reveals only one previous Harribobs puzzle, EV1221, A Man of Letters, back in April this year. (And Go-ogle indicates a recent-ish Listener.) So maybe a new kid on the block – or maybe a ‘composite’/collaborative setter, with ‘Harry’ and ‘Bob’ working in tandem?…
Many thanks to Harribobs for the challenge – I’ve had a lot of fun blogging it as well – hope you like the animated grid! I’m off for a lie down in a darkened room – would be interesting to know how everyone else got on with this, and how it ranks in the EV pantheon for others, so feel free to comment below…
Logic/Parsing
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Additional letter / Cumulative value |
Solution (pre-‘avalanche’) | Clue (definition underlined, extra LETT(A)ERS bolded in brackets) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1 | A / A | TASARS | Anna, unoccupied, tries on king’s silk dresses (6) / T_SARS (kings) around (tried on by) A(A) (AnnA, unoccupied by middle letters) |
| 5 | C / D | OCTUORS | Complicated just after the beginning, with endless rococo compositions (7) / anag, i.e. complicated, of UST (jUST, after the beginning letter) + ROCO(C)( |
| 10 | Z / D | ISCHIUM | Part of anatomy – one problem overwhelming cheat in school (7) / I (one) + S_UM (problem) around (overwhelming) CHI(Z) (cheat, school slang) |
| 12 | Y / C | PUNDIT | Reputed to follow weak authority (6) / PUN(Y) (weak) followed by DIT (French, named, or reputed) |
| 13 | F / I | DAUT | Ursula’s beginning to get silly about Fiona’s pet (4) / DA(F)_T (silly) around U (Ursula’s beginning) |
| 15 | I / R | ELIDED | Cut off priest stopped working (6) / ELI (priest) + D(I)ED (stopped working) |
| 16 | K / C | BUREAU | Murder at the French foreign office (6) / BUR(K)E (murder) + AU (at the, in French) |
| 17 | I / L | FLEDGE | If on the shelf get ready to leave the nest (6) / (I)F + LEDGE (shelf) |
| 19 | S / E | SLOP | Old policeman cast out English from ski runs (4) / SLOP( |
| 21 | Y / D | FEARED | Was scared of agent confiscating American whisky (6) / FE_D (agent) around (confiscating) A (American) + R(Y)E (whisky) |
| 22 | H / L | TALL | Incredible time at college (4) / T (time) + (H)ALL (college) |
| 23 | S / E | DERNFUL | Once alone in the sticks, king has riotous fun in toboggan sliding backwards (7) / (S)L_ED (toboggan) around UFN (anag, i.e. riotous, of FUN) + R (king) – all sliding back |
| 26 | O / T | NABOB | VIP on a racing sledge (5) / (O)N + A + BOB (racing sledge) |
| 32 | Z / T | CATALAN | Spaniard runs out of Alcatraz scrambling to the north (7) / CATALA (anag, i.e. scrambling, of ALCAT( |
| 34 | K / E | ACRE | Sailor loses his head on the subject of port (4) / ( |
| 35 | M / R | GOWANY | Gay woman leaving academy fresh as a daisy (6) / anag, i.e. fresh, of G( |
| 37 | B / T | HEBR | Foreign language books devoured by that woman (4) / HE_R (that woman) around (devouring) B(B) (books) |
| 39 | U / O | UNEYED | Ulster Unionist has obligation to tour hostel in Chicago unobserved (6) / (U)U (Uster Unionist) + NE_ED (obligation) around (touring) Y (YMCA or YWCA, American slang for hostel) |
| 41 | W / L | MEISHI | I, following pair of beginners in Méribel, need a business card (6) / ME (pair of letters beginning MEribel) + (W)ISH (need), followed by I |
| 42 | S / E | KARITE | Amateur skier coming to grief around side of tall tree (6) / KARI_E (anag, i.e. coming to grief, of A, amateur, and (S)KIER) around T (side letter of Tall) |
| 43 | O / T | STOT | Sweetheart comes back in spring to Hamish (4) / TO(O)TS (sweetheart) coming back |
| 44 | Z / T | NEFAST | Abominable snowman finally, with relish, eating heart of wayfarer (6) / N (final letter of snowmaN) + (Z)E_ST (relish), around (eating) FA (core, or heart, of wayfarer) |
| 45 | K / E | EPICENE | Hermaphrodite displays ice pick energetically? On the contrary! (7) / hidden word, i.e. displayed by, ‘icE PIC(K) ENErgetically’ |
| 46 | M / R | ARISTOS | Italy being engulfed by active storms distressed toffs (7) / A (active) + R_STOS (anag, i.e. distressed, of STOR(M)S) around (engulfing) I (Italy) |
| 47 | A / S | SABRES | Soldiers, Slavs retreating, outflanking Australian Army (6) / S_BRES (Serbs, or Slavs, retreating), around (outflanking) A(A) (Australian Army) |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Additional letter / Cumulative value |
Solution (pre-‘avalanche’) | Clue (definition underlined, extra LETT(A)ERS bolded in brackets) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1 | K / D | TIDBITS | Pieces of gossip – maybe good man returns to take in young girl with child (7) / T_S (ST, or saint, good man, returning), around (K)ID (child) + BIT (informal for girl, or young woman) |
| 2 | E / I | SCURF | Head of Science finds remedy for, primarily, dandruff (5) / S (first letter, or head, of science) + CUR(E) (remedy) + F (first, or primary, letter of For) |
| 3 | R / A | RITALIN | Bishop of Rome, say, abandons a treatment for ADHD (7) / R(R) (Right Reverend, bishop) + ITALI( |
| 4 | F / G | SUSU | African people bustle about around capital of Uganda (4) / S_SU(F) (fuss, bustle, about) around U (capital letter of Uganda) |
| 5 | H / O | OMER | About half a gallon, in rupees (4) / (H)OME (in) + R (rupees) |
| 6 | Y / N | TUILE | Dessert biscuit served up quietly lacks quality (5) / anag, i.e. served up, of ( |
| 7 | M / A | UNDEAF | Well-known Greek character rising to enable hearing of playwright (6) / FA(M)ED (well known) + NU (Greek character) – all rising |
| 8 | K / L | RIDGEL | Animal with defect emptied Kitzbühel under crest of mountain (6) / RIDGE (crest of mountain) + (K)L (KitzbuheL, emptied of middle letters) |
| 9 | Z / L | STEEDS | Mounts stairs with final letter for priest (6) / STE( |
| 11 | M / Y | SAUNAS | Hot baths bewildered Maupassant, unable to use awkward tap (6) / anag, i.e. bewildered, of (M)AU( |
| 14 | C / B | TESLA | Other Sicilian regularly struck down inventor (5) / alternate letters, i.e. regularly struck down, of ‘oThEr Si(C)iLiAn’ |
| 18 | C / E | DRUG | Three for one, cash discount on toupee (4) / (C)D (cash discount) + RUG (toupee) – ‘Three’ being Ritalin, an example of a drug |
| 20 | I / N | ODAL | Old artist without superior in Kirkwall (4) / O (old) + DAL(I) (artist) |
| 24 | Q / E | RONE | Queen, oddly, climbing up to upper half of roof gutter in Balmoral (4) / RO( |
| 25 | V / A | WAWE | Ed’s roller perhaps? A marque of car getting respect (4) / (V)W (marque of car) + AWE (respect) |
| 27 | S / T | BABESIA | Stunner and little sister are a threat to cattle (7) / BABE (stunner) + SI(S) (little sister) + A (are) |
| 28 | N / H | PARIS | Capital offence receiving punishment retroactively (5) / SI_(N) (offence) around (receiving) RAP (punishment), all retroactively, i.e. reversed |
| 29 | S / A | ARCHON | Boy at the heels of mischievous old magistrate (6) / ARCH (mischievous) + (S)ON (boy) |
| 30 | M / N | LEVITES | Televangelism, ignoring messenger of God, irritated clergymen (7) / anag, i.e. irritated, of TELEV( |
| 31 | P / D | IGUANA | Lizard, run-down, up again (6) / anag, i.e. run down, of U(P) AGAIN |
| 32 | N / R | CONKER | Tree’s seed carried at the front to harvest celebration (6) / C (front letter of Carried) + ON (to) + KER(N) (celebration of the last cutting of the harvest) |
| 33 | M / E | TAYRAS | Weasels in Scotland always boarding public transport (6) / T_RA(M)S (public transport) around (boarded by) AY (always) |
| 36 | K / P | NEIST | Ski caught up in webbing next to a Highlander (5) / NE_T (webbing) around (catching) I(K)S (ski, up) |
| 38 | O / E | ESTER | In hospital department, drunk on ecstasy and organic compound (5) / E_R (emergency room, hospital department) around S(O)T (drunk) + E (Ecstasy tablet) |
| 40 | V / A | FEES | Pays bill of specialists in the end, after frenzy finally quelled … (4) / FE(V)E( |
| 41 | S / T | MAPS | … and faces return of frenzy (4) / SPA(S)M (frenzy, returned) |
Wow, where to start with this one. I think I spent more time on this than any EV this year. The initial grid itself wasn’t exactly straightforward. Struggled on my first scan with the across clues, thankfully the down clues appearing a touch easier. Some tough but fair cluing. A complete grid, but that was just the start of the drama…I started the Mod26 stuff manually, but quickly realised this was a tortuous and easily-open-to-error method so switched to Excel…using the same functions as the blogger as it happens. I transferred the whole complete grid to the spreadsheet, creating a mod-26 grid next to it, and after much trial and error and cut-and-pasting the message eventually revealed itself. Not being a natural numbers person, this was quite a challenge and very fulfilling when complete. A quite remarkable construction, how on earth do the setters do it ? Thanks to mc_rapper for the very comprehensive blog and Harribobs for a real challenge. Incidentally, looks like this new setter makes his IQ debut today should you need a Harribobs fix….
It’s unusual for an EV solve to take me more than two or three hours, but I lost track of how long this one took me. A long time, it’s fair to say. It was worth the effort however – it was amazing to see the aphorism appear at the end. How on earth does one go about setting a puzzle like this?