I recall that Radler‘s previous puzzle about collective nouns involved a lot of cold-solving, and to cap it all I highlighted the wrong cells in the grid to form SKEIN. Let’s see what this one brings.
Preamble: Ten solutions must be thematically changed in one of two ways (5 of each) before entry in the grid, letter-counts referring to grid entries, always real words. A single letter must be added to each of twelve other clues in order for them to be solved; the twelve letters spelling part of a book title. Solvers should highlight in the completed grid a cryptic representation of the author’s name (16 cells). One answer is an abbreviation.
On the first run through I solved only one across clue and one (maybe two) down clues. On the next pass I pencilled in SILVERSTONE at 35a (though this was nearly the last to be justified) and also solved 33a: answer PERFORMANCE, entry PERFORCE (probably) – so one type of thematic change was for MAN to go/vanish/disappear. This gave me a foothold, and was soon confirmed by 1d [MAN]AGING and 11a GOUR[MAN]DS. And then came 26a [GEORGE] CROSSES – so the other type of change was for a male name to be removed.
I plodded on. At some point 30a ARTS[MAN] and 31d SWEET [WILLIAM] showed up, but no more thematic entries came that day. Bottom left quadrant decidedly underpopulated and top right a bit sparse. Not enough single letter additions discovered to have a stab at the book title. Go to bed.
As often with me and this puzzle, when I picked it up again I solved two or three more clues straightaway (including 10d ACCUS[TOM]ED) and then hit a wall. So at the end of that day I still needed to find one more MAN and two names, but I had got THE INVISIBLE [MAN] as the book. (For some reason, Robert Louis Stevenson came to mind – mental association with Jekyll & Hyde I suspect – before I corrected myself to H.G.Wells as the author.)
Clearly, MAN is easier to find that TOM, DICK, and HARRY, or indeed in this case CAY[MAN] at 32a, and AMAZON[IAN] & NUM[BER T]EN as the last two across.
Tapped into my Listener-solving ex-colleague’s crossword skills for help/confirmation with the wordplay for ARENA, ULT, SILVERSTONE and ENSIGN, and then it was on to the endgame. The obvious thing to look for was MERCURY (Hg, atomic number 80) and synonym(s) of wells, SPAS maybe. Nothing doing. Tried HERMES, the Greek version; still nothing doing. Eventually, feeling less than enthusiastic, I thought of QUICKSILVER, only to became obsessed with the SPA hanging down off the end. Finally decided it must be FLOWS rising up instead (to “well over” is to “overflow”).
Thanks go to Radler. I can’t say that I really enjoyed it that much. Sorry.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Answer | Added letter |
Wordplay |
| 2 | Criticise twit? That’s beer talking! (6) | ASSAIL | t | ASS (twit) AIL (homophone of ale, beer) |
| 7 | Body covering a dancing girl, hAlf’s away (5) | ABAYA | h | A BAYA(dère) (dancing girl) |
| 11 | Pigs and dragons and um … larks (6) | GOUR[MAN]DS | [DRAGONS + UM]* | |
| 12 | As Russian range back, blue-pencil and a rubber together keep secret? (6) | URALIC | e | (blue-pen)CIL + A RU(bber) rev. |
| 13 | Like crossing the Rubicon, river flowing over guy (11) | IRREVOCABLE | [RIVER]* O(ver) CABLE (guy) | |
| 14 | Mind: drive insane at last? (8, 2 words) | TAKE CARE | TAKE CAR (drive) (insan)E | |
| 16 | Fiddle of Scottish Nationalist, leaving brute to Judge (3) | GJU | GNU (brute) with J(udge) for N(ationalist) | |
| 17 | Clay, latterly Ali, no end of exuberance earlier (4) | GLEI | (Al)I after GLE(e) (exuberance) | |
| 19 | Soldiers section broken by car wheels collecting water (6) | SAKIAS | i | SAS (soldiers section) around KIA (car) {other car manufacturers are available} |
| 22 | Refuse to exclude prime in n = x? (7) | UNKNOWN | (j)UNK (refuse) NOW (in) N | |
| 24 | Trio from German quartet compete (3) | VIE | VIE(r) (four, Ger) | |
| 25 | Notice released blue month gone (3) | ULT | n | ADULT (blue, i.e. obscene) − AD (notice) {not confident of wordplay} |
| 26 | Perhaps Michael marks wrong decorations (7, 2 words) | [GEORGE] CROSSES | GEORGE (Michael, singer-songwriter) CROSSES (marks wrong) | |
| 27 | During a quarrel about one kiss, I ran out (6, 2 words) | IN RIXA | I (one) X (kiss) in [I RAN]* | |
| 30 | Scholar of antiquity occasionally narrates our race (4) | ARTS[MAN] | (n)A(r)R(a)T(e)S MAN (our race) | |
| 32 | Reptile may let rip in bog (3) | CAY[MAN] | [MAY]* in CAN (lavatory, bog) | |
| 33 | Show a disfiguring from acne (8) | PERFOR[MAN]CE | PER (a) [FROM ACNE]* | |
| 35 | Circuit off limits to dragster? (11) | SILVERSTONE | SILVER ( |
|
| 36 | For Jack, author losing money’s an indication of loss, perhaps (6) | ENSIGN | ME (author) − M(oney) N(egative) SIGN (indication of loss) {not confident of wordplay} |
|
| 37 | Native American from Pennsylvania feeding hunger (6) | APACHE | PA (Pennsylvania) in ACHE (hunger) | |
| 38 | Briefly shelter by river, heading to North London residence (5, 2 words) | NUM[BER T]EN | TEN(t) (shelter) after HUMBER (river) with N(orth) for first letter | |
| 39 | A man in a building keeping cattle around river (6) | AMAZON[IAN] | [A MAN IN A]* around ZO (cattle) | |
| Down | No. | Clue | Answer | Added letter |
Wordplay |
| 1 | Having control of head’s good when bridling horse (5) | [MAN]AGING | MAIN (head) G(ood) around NAG (horse) | |
| 3 | One bolsters faithful, ultimately wanting Qur’anic Verses (4) | SURA | A (one) after SUR(e) (faithful) | |
| 4 | Look at old Arthur and dear vAunt Eve’s wedding overtures (5) | ADVEW | v | A(rthur) D(ear) V(aunt) E(ve’s) W(edding) |
| 5 | It shows temperature change is CO2 generated, overcoming hard resistance (7) | ISOCHOR | IS [COO]* around H(ard) R(esistance) | |
| 6 | Film’s third cinematic classification depresses lots of actors and director (5) | LUCAS | (fi)L(m) U (cinematic classification) CAS(t) (actors) | |
| 8 | Film of book |
BABE | B(ook) ABE(l) (shepherd, Book of Genesis) {killer was his brother, Cain} |
|
| 9 | Villager coins John’s God (8) | ALL-GIVER | i | [VILLAGER]* |
| 10 | Tense – protests about plant not starting up as usual (7) | ACCUS[TOM]ED | T(ense) in DEMOS (protests) (y)UCCA (plant) all rev. | |
| 15 | Swimmer after skin peeled wound cloth round waist (5) | KIKOI | KOI (swimmer) after (s)KI(n) | |
| 18 | Effectively joining party, Is try men for a change (8) | ENTRYISM | s | [IS TRY MEN]* |
| 20 | Former emperor and king, level after uprising (5) | KESAR | K(ing) RASE< (level) | |
| 21 | Doctor changes heart taking Lien’s second nurse to revive (7) | QUICKEN | i | QUACK (doctor) with (l)I(en) for middle letter EN (nurse) |
| 23 | Metal bolt and hammer (7) | WOLFRAM | WOLF (bolt) RAM (hammer) | |
| 28 | A circling (away from hindrance) barn bowl (5) | ARENA | b | AREA (A) around BARN without BAR (hindrance) {a convoluted way to clue N in attempt to misdirect with ‘barn owl’} |
| 29 | Essentially, “counter mishaps” organisation? (5) | ROSPA | (mish)APS OR(ganisation) rev. | |
| 31 | Plant, receiving water, wilts anyway: correspondence over (5, 2 words) | SWEET [WILLIAM] | WEE (water) in [WILTS]* MAIL< (correspondence) | |
| 33 | Dance movement in bluff, piano introduces (4) | PLIÉ | l | LIE (bluff) after P(iano) |
| 34 | Firms one producing nuts (4) | COCO | e | CO(mpany) (firm) repeated |
|
|
||||
For much of the solve my feelings about this puzzle were similar to yours, HG (only just noticed that little initialled coincidence), but having completed it and, I thought, tied up all the loose ends I’d say I’m more positively inclined now.
I went on a bit of a journey with the theme – my first removed word was TOM and I immediately decided the theme was Schrodinger’s cat, so 5 ‘cats’ would be present and 5 missing. This was ‘confirmed’ when my next missing word was MAN, another ‘cat’. By this point I had found added letters N, V and S in clues and was already speculating on ‘The Universal…’ or similar, which got me excited by The Universe Next Door, part of the Schrodinger’s Cat Trilogy, though count as I may ‘The Universe’ stubbornly remained 11 letters. I then found the I in 19D and decided ‘The Invisible’ was more likely, at which point I briefly switched allegiances to the rather charming looking, though admittedly obscure, The Invisible Cat. It was a slight let down when I realised The Invisible Man made more sense.
I’d highlighted a little cross of SPA’s at the end of SILVER, which did seem slightly dubious, and I suspect that the ‘over’ FLOWS is the correct answer.
Overall, tricky and frustrating with lots of questions that remained unanswered for quite a while, but I thought ultimately satisfying. 21D was the only clue which I felt didn’t fully work – it seems a bit clumsy. Plenty of challenging misdirection elsewhere.
I was very close to highlighting the not-quite-vertical ‘Orson’ (to the right of FLOWS) before spotting FLOWS, which seemed more likely. And also realising that would be Welles, not Wells.
Thanks to Radler
Now that was a solve and a half. Very satisfying when I finally worked out the significance of the missing men, but I’m not sure I could cope with a puzzle that taxing every week. 🙂 Having finally filled the grid, with the last 3 all thematic entries in the SE corner, what I was rather hoping for was an easy end game, but, well, there was still lots more to do!
I think that the wordplay for 36 across is (p)EN [author] – P (penny, money) + SIGN (indication of loss).
I never even noticed that the i was missing from Soldiers at 19 across, so I was searching for an i to put in elsewhere. I must look more closely at the clues!
I can’t see why “in” is “now” in 22A. I struggled with this wordplay for a long while.
And I went for SPA for Wells and looked no further.
I thought that the rubric was misleading in pointing up one abbreviation: surely both RoSPA and ult. are abbreviations…
Thanks to Radler and to HG for the blog.
Phew, yes, a tough one. I thought I was all set after seeing PERFOR[MAN]CE and SWEET [WILLIAM] as my first two thematics (and guessing THE INVISIBLE [MAN] on what was at that stage insufficient evidence), but the others took days to track down.
Remembering the old gag about mercury coming from Hg Wells, I got 21d from sheer wishful thinking that a QUICK adjacent to SILVER would be awfully convenient. Like others I was tempted by the SPA, but counted the letters and eventually opted for FLOWS.
Thanks to HG for explication and Radler for a clever if exhausting challenge. By the way, it was a great relief to see 8d corrected on the following Saturday.
John Lowe @4
I think ‘in’ and ‘now’ can both be used to mean ‘fashionable’ or ‘of the moment’
We struggled with this one as well and eventually plumped for the upward flows. Tricky stuff. Many thanks to Radler for the workout and to HG for the blog.
OPatrick @1: I too highlighted the 5-cell cross of SPA’s initially, but was persuaded otherwise when FLOWS emerged as a possibility.
John Lowe @4: your wordplay for 36 across looks better than mine, but I feel that “penny” as a synonym for “money” is a bit of a stretch.
And I agree that both ‘RoSPA’ and ‘ult.’ are abbreviations – probably referring to the former as an acronym would have been an improvement.
Echoing BF @6, I took “in” = fashionable, which led to NOW, but I suppose laziness stopped me being explicit in the wordplay.
Another DNF – this time, cos I couldn’t be bovvered, TBH.
I couldn’t justify 12a and I was hung up on GUE for 16a. All of which, meant that I didn’t solve 10d.
Also, having to think of second-level synonym for the initials HG and then a synonym for WELLS – which I did manage – I felt was a step to far into “the twilight zone”.
Pity, as I was enjoying for a while – having solved 30a fairly early and discovering THE INVISIBLE MAN fairly soon after.
Well done, H___G____ for persevering with a puzzle that would have been mine to blog in the normal course of events.
Another tough one, which didn’t get much easier after the theme emerged.
As we had a puzzle by Eclogue based on HG Wells’s The Invisible Man last year (no 1422), we initially assumed after identifying the book title and very slowly filling the grid that this time the author might be Ralph Ellison. After giving up on that track we looked for wells and found ARTESIAN, but it didn’t look quite right. We are indebted to Terrier for putting us right just before the postal deadline. We have since discovered that the title of Ellison’s 1952 novel lacks the definite article
Correction: we are indebted to Kippax!
After being defeated by Ifor and Gila, I was hoping for an easier one … no such luck. Worried away at it, getting small chunks of enlightenment at long intervals, sometimes whilst lying awake in the small hours. Missing man answers were reasonably straightforward, but missing name ones much more obscure, (GEORGE) being the last to yield. Was also quite thrown by ABE(L) being mistakenly branded as a killer, before being reinstated as an innocent shepherd. (What a great film “East of Eden” was ?)
By this time it was Thursday, and I had spent over eleven hours on it in total, rather than my preferred three … finally, I was totally flummoxed by the cryptic HG WELLS, and sought help from a literary friend, who, luckily also knew what I didn’t, (since I did no science after the age of 15,) namely that Hg = mercury = quicksilver. ( Appropriate that we should have HG doing the expert blog ?)
That left a WELLS synonym , which had to end with an S, which ruled out SPA. My friend suggested FLOWS, but I thought that was pushing it a bit … the nearest my Chambers got to it was the def. for “well” = v.t “to issue forth like water.”
In summary, yet another very hard puzzle …for me, more the norm than not these days ? Respect to all those who breezed through it.
It’s always a relief to learn through 15² that one is not alone in having had a long struggle. If THE MANAGEMENT were to drop in and casually mention that on the usual scale of 1 to 5 this was a 1.7, I might just burst into tears.
This would have made a good Listener puzzle (and the latest Listener puzzle would have made a good old Independent Magazine puzzle bizarrely). We used to know where levels of difficulty were supposed to lie — not any more. The easier barred special is disppearing fast.
Another DNF for me. I spent many hours on this but gave up with the grid may 75% completed. I was hoping that when the final details of the theme emerged I would be able to make some faster progress but it didn’t seem to get any easier at all. Very tough.