Extra words in all clues – to be used to find two instructions. Then change a further character in the grid and then…..hopefully it will make more sense once the crossword element of the puzzle is complete.
Some accessible clues this week, which is to my preference, some puzzles take so long to solve the clues that the fun of the endgame becomes diminished.
The initial letters of the extra words spell out:
SWAP AUTHOR FOR TITLE SHOW ANTAGONIST OVER PLACE OF ORIGIN
That’s the first instruction, but where is the second – the preamble and the title helped a little here in that the preamble did not indicate how to find the instructions – the title being an anagram of ACROSTIC. The other acrostic technique being to hide the message in the last letters of the words.
WHEN DESTINATION IS REACHED FOUR NEW RINGS COME INTO SIGHT
Stage one:
Swap A SPACE ODYSSEY for Arthur C Clarke in 20 across.
Stage two:
SHOW ANTAGONIST OVER PLACE OF ORIGIN – the antagonist in the novel being HAL or HAL9000 which fits into 6down above the computer’s place of origin URBANA
Stage three:
Back to the preamble to complete the first instruction change the 2 in 21 of 21 down to 0 yielding the full title as 20 01 from the grid entry markers above a Space Odyssey
Stage four:
WHEN DESTINATION IS REACHED FOUR NEW RINGS COME INTO SIGHT – the destination being Jupiter or Saturn (film or novel – the 20ac confirmed the novel) – which is a sort of red herring as the four new rings would appear to be the new zeroes in the grid and would also confirm arrival at Saturn, which has 4 rings. This would also explain the lack of highlighting required. From a puzzle perspective the destination is its completion.
And that’s it.
I enjoyed this and hopefully some new solvers managed to get sucked into this puzzle with more accessible clues that we sometime find in these puzzles.
Thanks Encota
Key:
Rev. reverse; DD Double definition; Strikethrough extra word; * anagram; underline definition
ACROSS
| S | W | 1 Eating around Seychelles after excellent tea is inflating prices somehow (13) |
| Dining (eating) around SY (Seychelles) after AI (Excellent) + Cha (tea) = DAISY-CHAINING | ||
| W | H | 11 Space to turn wrench about in front (6) |
| En (space) in Veer (turn) = VENEER | ||
| A | E | 12 Horsed around in Aussie island (6) |
| (horsed)* = RHODES | ||
| P | N | 13 Coconut poon oil perhaps results after it’s initially processed (5) |
| Initials of Coconut oil perhaps results after = COPRA | ||
| A | D | 14 Samuel’s mentor abducted non-Catholic relic (3) |
| Relic – RC (catholic) = ELI | ||
| U | E | 15 Unaware of apple’s bitterness briefly (5) |
| Malice(bitterness) – e = MALIC | ||
| T | S | 17 Mudflat regularly conceals Russian city types (3) |
| mUdFlAt = UFA | ||
| H | T | 19 The temperature becoming cold in Cornwall, I house-sit (3) |
| The – replacing T (temperature) with c (cold) = CHE | ||
| O | I | 20 Hurl cracker at flourishing Ossi writer (13, three words) |
| (hurl cracker at)* = ARTHUR C CLARKE | ||
| R | N | 23 Retreat from Rattigan drama all right (4) |
| No (drama) + ok (all right) = NOOK | ||
| F | A | 27 Radical fashionista seen in lycra pants with takeaway? (4) |
| (lycra – r (take))* = ACYL | ||
| O | T | 29 Checking out ex-serviceman and sound opponent (7) |
| Vet (ex-serviceman) + ting (sound) = VETTING | ||
| R | I | 30 In retrospect, shelter slippery Romani character (3) |
| Rev. lee (shelter) = EEL | ||
| T | O | 33 Strange pirate’s to drink (3) |
| DD RUM | ||
| I | N | 37 German wife uncovered picture installation (3) |
| G (German) + if (wife uncovered) = GIF | ||
| T | I | 38 Set of three, triumviri, two plus one before Lenin to begin with (7) |
| Pair (two) + I (one) + a (before) + L (Lenin to begin with) = PAIRIAL | ||
| L | S | 39 Labourers drunk at once as before (5) |
| DD TIGHT | ||
| E | R | 40 The basics of earlier taxi, cycling (3) |
| Cab (taxi) cycling = ABC | ||
| S | E | 41 Alter sabre, alter after (5) |
| (alter)* = LATER | ||
| H | A | 42 Popular music in Hacienda bar cut short (3) |
| Rail (bar) – l = RAI | ||
| O | C | 43 ‘Prize organic meat,’ say (5) |
| Homonym of steak (meat) = STAKE | ||
| W | H | 44 Hit which Mexican poet backed (3) |
| Rev. (Paz (Mexican poet)) = ZAP | ||
| A | E | 45 Reviewed number after tax allowance (3) |
| Rev. ten (number) = NET | ||
| N | D | 46 Nimrod making half a sign, getting cross (3) |
| Taurus (a sign) – Rus (half) = TAU | ||
| T | F | 47 |
| (near simple sex)* = EXEMPLARINESS |
DOWN
| A | O | 2 Long Time article about all-pro game (4) |
| An (article) about eo (game) = AEON | ||
| G | U | 3 GNU code’s terrible pun in IT (5) |
| (pun)* in IT = INPUT | ||
| O | R | 4 Leaving Spain, frees up older slave (4) |
| (frees -e (Spain))* = SERF | ||
| N | N | 5 Men on board Nansen sounded triumphant (4) |
| DD CREW (as in Crowed) | ||
| I | E | 6 Police call the inmate ‘one prone to temper’? (7) |
| (call the)* = HELLCAT – police as in the verb to put in order is the anagram indicator | ||
| S | W | 7 A rising |
| A + Rev. Dir. (director) = ARID | ||
| T | R | 8 Webster translator for one boat-builder (4) |
| DD NOAH | ||
| O | I | 9 Fine lady makes borders from daffodil origami – that’s about right (5) |
| Dl (borders from daffodil) in i.e. (that is) + r (right) = IDLER | ||
| V | N | 10 Fist in Tyneside provided vexation (4) |
| NE (in Tyneside) + If (provided) = NEIF | ||
| E | G | 13 Moving, silent evening dance, in private (11) |
| (silent dance) = CLANDESTINE | ||
| R | S | 16 Roes of clawed creature: is he of cruel disposition? (11) |
| (is he of cruel)* = CHELIFEROUS | ||
| P | C | 18 Nice length of old Persic in couple of articles here and there? (4) |
| A + une (articles – here and there – English and French) = AUNE | ||
| L | O | 19 Name algorithmic language |
| Hidden algorithmiC LANguage = CLAN | ||
| A | M | 21 Am-dram one could argue is Redgrave’s role? (5) |
| DD ROWER | ||
| C | E | 22 Choice prayer of Ms Minogue when changing direction (5) |
| Kylie (Ms Minogue) swapping R for L (change direction) = KYRIE | ||
| E | I | 24 Emoji by necessity might be negotiable from 3rd place (8) |
| (gotiable)* = OBLIGATE | ||
| O | N | 25 |
| (a starlit)* = STRIATAL | ||
| F | T | 26 First one aping troublesome mischief-maker loses unbundled sheaf (8) |
| (mischief-maker – sheaf)* = MIMICKER | ||
| O | O | 28 Outdo muse I found in tumbledown cottage (8) |
| (I + cottage)* = COGITATE | ||
| R | S | 31 Reads letters in honour of sect (6) |
| Phis (letters) in OM (honour) = OPHISM | ||
| I | I | 32 This Israeli relish base creating storm in teacups (6) |
| (teacups – e (base))* = CATSUP | ||
| G | G | 34 Growing city’s almost elegant (5) |
| Urbane (elegant) – e = URBAN | ||
| I | H | 35 Irish Jacobi with the French for core snack (6) |
| Jacobi swapping le for co = JALEBI | ||
| N | T | 36 Make public cross into next flat shortly (6) |
| Zo (cross) in bland (flat) – d = BLAZON |
Thank you twencelas. I reached the same conclusion about the destination as you did.
Although I did check through the grid looking for the grid for Jupiter, Saturn, Iapetus and/or Japetus first.
I also nearly managed to miss changing 21 to 01. Even though I only had 3 new rings.
As well as being an anagram of ACROSTIC, the title refers to the computer being called Socrates in the early drafts of the film script/novel.
Which gives even more credit to Encota.
A couple of quibbles with the blog. I think:
10D is NEIF – NE (Tyneside) IF (provided)
19D is CLAN – hidden in algorithmiC LANguage, with LEO the extra word.
Thanks Cap’n P’ng’n – I really should check my blogs more closely. When I first solved it, I did have Cleo – but Clan is the solution that fits with teh crossing entries. I must admit my knowledge of Arthur C Clarke is limited, but certainly a neat double use of the title.
As our setter well knows, I am not a fan of barred puzzles (or alphabetical jigsaws come to that) but I decided, as it was an Encota EV to give it a go. I didn’t quite complete it so didn’t search for any message(s) but what I did I enjoyed
Thanks to Encota and especially to twencelas for explaining the ones I didn’t get and the answer to the conundrum
Thanks all for the feedback. I wrote the puzzle in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film’s first worldwide screening in April 1968. And with the book and the film differing on their destinations (Jupiter vs Saturn, as Cap’n P’ng’n hints at, above) I hoped the use of the ‘four new rings’ would still satisfy those who didn’t arrive at Saturn!