We get an Inquisitor puzzle from Serpent about twice a year, sometimes quite hard, often quite fun.
Preamble: Four symmetrically-placed across clues have standard wordplay and definitions. In each of the remaining across clues, the grid entry is obtained from the answer in the same way (to be determined): the definition of the answer is normal; the wordplay indicates the grid entry, which is not necessarily a word. The wordplay in each down clue leads to a redundant letter. These letters, in clue order, spell out a phrase the solver may find useful. To complete the puzzle, the solver must highlight the name of a person associated with the title.
The form of the definition in 22 is justified by Collins.
I made a start on the Down clues since their answers were entered normally, and as things were going rather well I dipped in to the Across clues … before I really knew what, I had solved the first 8 Down clues and 7 of the intersecting Across clues, all bar one of which were entered with OR removed from the answer. The phrase from the redundant letters began “THERE IS N“, and a short while later I had enough other Down answers to see that it would end with “… NO ALTERNATIVE“, hence the removal of all occurrences of OR.
No need to Google who said that – I remember it well. I soon gave up looking for a date when she first said it, but the search did remind me that the phrase slogan was commonly shortened to the acronym TINA, thereby explaining the title of the puzzle. Casting my eye over the largely filled grid, I saw the name of a certain woman appearing in the middle of the top & bottom rows (and the two entries on either side in those two rows came from the four standard across clues, with answers entered unadulterated). Soon after that, I was pretty much done.
Just had to highlight “THAT GREAT CHARMER when misguided (8, 8)” and then sort out the wordplay for the final 3 or 4 clues; all over shortly before the final whistle in Kiev.
Serpent … thanks for the puzzle, a bit on the easy side, and I don’t really understand the reference to “definition in 22” & “Collins” in the preamble.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Answer | Wordplay | |
| 1 | Recipe given to parents produces a hard resin (5) | DAMAR | DA + MA (parents) R(ecipe) | |
| 8 | Eat out? Get less food for starters (4) | ETCH | FETCH (get) − F(ood) | |
| 11 | Official court’s principal expert (5) | CORONER | C(ourt) ONER (expert) | |
| 12 | Go off something uplifting (3) | ROTOR | ROT (go off) | |
| 13 | Herb and Ray’s producer gains weight (7) | LASERWORT | LASER (ray’s producer) WT (weight) | |
| 14 | Serpent-like, perhaps inducing greater consumption (5) | MOREISH | ME-ISH (Serpent-like, perhaps) | |
| 15 | Transfers gains without using main road (5) | ATTORNS | ATTAINS (gains) − AI (A1, main road) | |
| 16 | Testing party periodically receives circular letter and flyer (7) | PROBATORY | P(a)R(t)Y around O (circular letter) + BAT (flyer) | |
| 17 | Exercises arouse one that’s slow to reach explosive climax (6) | PORT-FIRE | PT (exercises) FIRE (arouse) | |
| 18 | Article skewers obscene sycophant (6) | ADULATOR | A (article) in ADULT (obscene) | |
| 19 | This may be used in preserving diversity of old French coins (8, 2 words) | SOUR ORANGE | SOU + RANGE (diversity of old French coins) | |
| 26 | Old qualification to unfinished correspondence stays (8) | CORSELETTE | CSE (old qualification) LETTE(r) (correspondence) | |
| 29 | Vehicle damage absorbing contact evenly (6, 2 words) | MOTOR CAR | MAR (damage) around (c)O(n)T(a)C(t) | |
| 32 | Naked doctor relating to person with multiracial background (6) | OCTOROON | (d)OCTO(r) ON (relating to) | |
| 33 | Scottish tenant taking the lead part in alternative TV show (7) | PORTIONER | (o)PTION (alternative) ER (TV show) | |
| 34 | Film about embryo’s life force being shown (5) | CHORION | CHI (life force) ON (being shown) | |
| 35 | Iron boat turned round in passage at entrance to canal (5) | FOREGUT | FE (iron) TUG< (boat) | |
| 36 | Gentle bit of tickling disturbed glasses (7) | LORGNETTE | [GENTLE T(ickling)]* | |
| 37 | Regularly teach the Pentateuch (3) | TORAH | T(e)A(c)H | |
| 38 | Othello’s speculation about belief is weakened by lack of good degree (5) | THEORIC | THEISTIC (about belief) − IST (1st, good degree) | |
| 39 | Girl’s misfortune in the past (4) | RUTH | double definition | |
| 40 | Ravage Scottish woman by railway (5) | HERRY | HER (woman) RY (railway) | |
| Down | No. | Clue | Answer | X | Wordplay |
| 1 | Descend once pedestal is demolished (7) | DELAPSE | T | [PEDES{T}AL]* |
| 2 | Colouring of a sexy brown revolutionary (6) | ANATTO | H | A {H}OT (sexy) + TAN (brown) rev. |
| 3 | Having reduced visibility, auditor’s failed to spot use of coke (7) | MISTFUL | E | homophone MISSED (failed to spot) FU{E}L (coke) |
| 4 | Shiny black bird’s wings clipped for the future (6) | AVENIR | R | {R}AVEN (shiny black) (b)IR(d) |
| 5 | We spatchcocked game birds, giving handfuls to ghillie (7) | GOWPENS | E | W{E} between GO (game) & PENS (birds) |
| 6 | Cavities in aorta damaged after being deprived of oxygen (5) | ANTRA | I | [{I}N AORTA]* − O(xygen) |
| 7 | Change dance to accommodate rockers’ opposition (7) | REMODEL | S | REEL (dance) around MOD{S} (rockers’ opposition) |
| 8 | Space on transport to the underworld (6) | EREBUS | N | E{N} (space) RE (on) BUS (transport) |
| 9 | Doctor, tailor, pilot (5) | TRIAL | O | [TAIL{O}R]* |
| 10 | Like those that form a cage by the seashore (6) | COSTAL | A | CO{A}STAL (by the seashore) |
| 20 | Drunk charlatan denied responsibility initially for spinous process (7) | ACANTHA | L | [CHAR{L}ATAN]* − R(esponsibility) |
| 21 | Poem about country singer Michael almost meets with approval (but not quite) (7) | GEORGIC | T | GEORG(e) (G.Michael, singer) {T}IC(k) (approval) |
| 22 | Serpent eats about 10 – the result of drinking too much Scotch? (7) | STOITER | E | S{E}TTER (Serpent) around IO< (10) |
| 23 | Poultry quarters 40 divided by 9 minus 1 (7) | HENNERY | R | HE{R}RY (answer to 40a) around NINE (9) − I (1) |
| 24 | Aristocrat nearly inhaled Californian marijuana once to get high in America (6) | COTEAU | N | COU{N}(t) around TEA (marijuana, old US slang) |
| 25 | Scope in Scottish school to accommodate month in France (6) | SCOUTH | A | SCH(ool) around {A}OÛT (August, Fr) |
| 27 | Gas network technology lacks resistance (6) | ETHENE | T | ETHERNE{T} (network technology lacks) − R(esistance) |
| 28 | Horn sounding like double-decker? (6) | TOOTER | I | homophone TWO T{I}ER (like double-decker) |
| 30 | Firm’s lorry I reversed into tourist on vacation (5) | TIGHT | V | HG{V} + I rev. in T(ouris)T |
| 31 | Get new tenant before service failure (5) | RELET | E | {E}RE (before) LET (service failure) |
|
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I agree – nice and gentle. Perfect for a sunny Saturday afternoon in the garden with a glass or two of cider over ice.
I didn’t spot the TINA acronym but I took the title to mean AIN’T (TINA turned) as This Lady’s Not for Turning as per Thatcher.
Thanks S&B.
I was away on holiday last week and so took the opportunity to do this without any aids at all, including no dictionary. It’s interesting how different a perspective this gives. I worked through it in the end, but it took me much of the week, on and off, and I felt it was on the harder side. I wonder how different I would have felt about it had I used a dictionary? In the end, there were only two clues I hadn’t quite resolved, which I had to sort out once I’d got home – 33A, which I was convinced of as being clued (a)ctioner, and 38A, which was obviously some combination of theorism, theistic, theic, themaic … but I could quite work out what.
Seeing MT emerging in the top and bottom rows helped at just the right time, both with the clues across the top and bottom and with identifying the phrase. In particular, identifying the correct missing letter helped me to sort out 6D, which I had entered confidently (relatively speaking!) as ATRIA, with N as the extra letter. Indeed, I discovered later that ATRIA could indeed have been a correct answer, as one of the definitions of atrium is, explicitly, a cavity.
A very satisfying experience, eventually! I hadn’t linked the ‘There is no alternative’ to Tina, though, so thanks for resolving that remaining niggle.
Thanks HolyGhost for the blog and also your explanation of TINA. We also wondered why Collins had been referred to in 22.
Interestingly like OPatrick, we had ATRIA for a while and it was only when we were sorting out the phrase that we realised our error.
Thanks Serpent – a welcome entertainment over the weekend.
Is the issue with 22D just that for the clue to work the definition would have to have STOITER as a noun, a stagger, as Collins does, rather than the verb form, which would have to be stoitering, which is all that Chambers gives?
At last, an IQ I could get to grips with again … realised almost straight away the ORs had to be removed, which made life a lot easier. Like others, realised ANTRA, having previously had ATRIA, after getting C(OR)ONER.
Thanks for blog, HG. I note you have nailed your blue flag to the mast with your anagram … you probably know the ALTERNATIVE version :
MEG, THE ARCH-TARTAR
Listener infra-cryptic that day too, so a rare thumb-twiddling Sunday.
A good one that wasn’t as scary as it first appeared. The four standard clues were pretty friendly, and once you’d found one it was obvious where the others should go. Also spotted that we were missing OR’s pretty early, which made things a lot more straightforward than I feared they might be. Working out that “There is no” is an anagram of “on the rise” led me up a brief cul-de-sac at the close (too clever for my own good!), so thankfully the letters we were actually looking to highlight weren’t too tricky to spot. Chalk me up as another one who confidently entered ATRIA before belatedly realising the error of my ways.
Another good one. I missed the TINA acronym in the title, I only saw the lady not for turning. Thanks to all.
Murray @5: blue? you must be joking! (You might have noticed that I couldn’t bring myself to write her name, and so attempted a hint of satire by way of avoidance.)
HG@8 For that relief, much thanks ! In the far-off days when I was working, I once had a client who astounded me by confiding that he found her very alluring !
For quite a while, I was doggedly solving without a notion as to what was going on in the across clues. And then Margaret seemed to appear along the top; and sure enough her other half along the bottom; and all was clear and a relative breeze, but fun. Thanks to Serpent and HolyGhost.
Thanks Serpent for another fun puzzle and HG for the blog. I’d missed the full meaning of the title too, and assumed a lady not for turning (just like PeeDee @7).
And I’m yet another to be held up for a while after banging in ATRIA at 6d, the second clue I solved if memory serves.