This is Kruger’s thirty-ninth Inquisitor puzzle making him the third most prolific Inquisitor setter to date behind Schadenfreude (80) and Phi (57).
The preamble stated " Corrections to single letter misprints in the definitions in twelve clues give a quotation which explains how some answers are to be entered in the grid. Solvers must complete the central cell with a letter that completes a depiction of the consequences of the veracity of the quotation. All final grid entries are real words, names or phrases"
A fairly understandable preamble this week.
My first indication of an answer changing before entry came with MANTEL at 8 down where it intersected with TAEL BAR. My next one was MINUET at 15 across intersecting with MONTEMS so my initial thought was that we would be reversing the last two letters of some entries. However that hypothesis didn’t last very long when I had THOSE (34 across) intersecting with TOITOI. I remember TOITOI from the previous Inquisitor I blogged (Stagnation by Eclogue). So my next thought was anagrams of some entries.
The next part of the endgame to fall was the quotation when it became fairly obvious that we weren’t dealing with an English language quotation. I first thought of something like E PLURIBUS UNUM but it didn’t have the requisite number of letters. With the letters I had, including a spurious B for a time, I then landed on EPPUR SI MUOVE meaning ‘yet it does move’ and attributed to Galileo when he was forced to recant his theory that the earth moves round the sun.
After discovering a few more treated answers, the penny finally dropped that we weren’t really dealing with anagrams. In all the treated words, the E [earth] moves elsewhere in the word [in line with the quotastion] without amending the order of the other letters. In each case the E moved to the beginning or end of the word
Twelve entries were treated as follows
| Clue No | Answer | Entry |
| 15a | MINUET | MINUTE |
| 16a | STOEP | ESTOP |
| 17a | NOBEL | NOBLE |
| 34a | THOSE | ETHOS |
| 35a | TILED | TILDE |
| 36a | CHOICE | ECHOIC |
| 4d | MUTUEL | MUTULE |
| 7d | ARIES | ARISE |
| 8d | MANTEL | MANTLE |
| 27d | CLAIRE | ECLAIR |
| 30d | THEICS | ETHICS |
| 33d | DEIFY | EDIFY |
With all these amendments the grid shows all the Es [earths] depicted in a circular orbit round the centre thereby depicting the Earth going round the Sun as Galileo postulated before being forced to recant. I’m guessing we put an S for Sun in the centre square It is worth noting that those twelve Es are the only Es in the grid.
The filled grid looked like this: The colours are not required.
Often in an Inquisitor the clues seem to be relatively easy when writing the blog, but I didn’t think that was the case with this puzzle. There were a number of complex constructions, such a those for ASSASSIN, CREATION and TOITOI.
The title HEARST. features the letters of EARTH around S [sun], but I think there may be more to it than that.
| Across | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. |
Clue Amended Clue |
Letter |
Wordplay |
Answer | Entry |
| 1 |
One improperly ducked out of problem consuming liberal guy (8) One improperly decked out of problem consuming liberal guy (8) |
E |
(SUM [arithmetic problem] containing [consuming] L [liberal]) + MOCK (ridicule; guy) S (L) UM MOCK |
SLUMMOCK (slovenly person; one not dressed or decked out well)
|
SLUMMOCK |
| 7 | Loved one’s ring dropped into river (5) |
|
O (ring shaped letter) contained in (dropped into) AMUR (world’s tenth longest river forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China) AM (O) UR |
AMOUR (loved one) |
AMOUR |
| 11 | Solvent abuse finishes of pitiful, blotto lout (6) |
|
Anagram of (abuse) LO (last letters of [finishes of] each of PITIFUL and BLOTTO) and LOUT TOLUOL* |
TOLUOL (methyl benzene, a colourless flammable liquid (C6H5CH3) used as a solvent |
TOLUOL |
| 13 | One essentially hibernating no later in the year (4) |
|
A (one) + N (middle letter of [essentially] HIBERNATING) + NO A N NO |
ANNO (in the year) | ANNO |
| 14 | Someone wanting to deeply impress doctors rubs it in (8) |
|
Anagram of (doctors) RUBS IT IN BURINIST* |
BURINIST (an engraver; one who wants to deeply impress) | BURINIST |
| 15 | Posh Earl enters in excellent condition for dance (6) |
|
(U [upper-class; posh] + E [Earl]) contained in (enters in) MINT (excellent condition) MIN (U E) T |
MINUET (slow, graceful dance in triple measure) |
MINUTE |
| 16 | Walk over what’s left of oak verandah in East London (5) |
|
STEP (walk) containing (over) O (first letter of [left of] OAK) ST (O) EP |
STOEP (South African [the river port city of East London is in South Africa]) | ESTOP |
| 17 | Nice article about Jack – leading chemist and engineer (5) |
|
NOB (in the game of cribbage the Jack of the suit turned up by the dealer is known as the NOB) + LE (one of the French [Nice] forms of ‘the’) reversed (about) NOB EL< |
NOBEL (reference Alfred NOBEL [1833 -1896], Swedish chemist and engineer) | NOBLE |
| 19 | Alberta refined approximately 380 grams of gold (7, 2 words) |
|
Anagram of (refined) ALBERTA TAEL BAR* |
TAEL BAR (gold bullion measure used in the Far East (1, 5 or 10 tael [38, 190 or 380 gram] weight). |
TAEL BAR |
| 22 |
Strays fail to take advantage of feeding time? On the contrary (5) Sprays fail to take advantage of feeding time? On the contrary (5) |
P |
MISS (fail to take advantage of) containing (feeding) T (time) which is the opposite form [on the contrary] of MISS feeding T as set out in the clue MIS (T) S |
MISTS (sprays) | MISTS |
| 23 |
Up to date resorts reviewed value in flats out of bounds (6) Up to date reports reviewed value in flats out of bounds (6) |
P |
SET (rate, value) reversed (reviewed) contained in (in) FLATS excluding the outer letters (out of bounds) F and S LA (TES<) T |
LATEST (up-to-date reports) | LATEST |
| 24 | Supporters bias me easily (6) |
|
Anagram of (easily) BIAS ME I-BEAMS* |
I-BEAMS (metal girders I-shaped in section) |
IBEAMS |
| 28 |
Mill’s dust was great (5) Mull’s dust was great (5) |
U |
STOOR (obsolete [once] word for ‘great’) STOOR |
STOOR (Scottish [Mull] word for ‘dust’) double definition | STOOR |
| 32 |
Scoter in mere cut of radio transmitter (7) Scorer in mere cut of radio transmitter (7) |
R |
PURE (an obsolete meaning of mere is PURE) excluding the final letter (cut) E + CELL (radio transmitter serving one of the geographical areas into which Britain is divided for the coverage of cellular radio) PUR CELL |
PURCELL (reference Henry PURCELL [1659 – 1695], English composer [scorer]) | PURCELL |
| 34 | From the outset, teacher has overlooked student’s every indication of ideas already mentioned (5) |
|
THOSE (first letters [from the outset] of each of TEACHER, HAS, OVERLOOKED, STUDENT’S and EVERY) THOSE |
THOSE ( indicating the thing, person, idea, event, etc [already] mentioned, specified or understood) |
ETHOS |
| 35 |
Scott’s sun dried clay shortly embedded in the centre (5) |
|
TILE (slab of baked clay) excluding the final letter (shortly) E + ED (central letters of [in the centre] EMBEDDED) TIL ED |
TILED (Sir Walter Scott’s word for sun-dried [when describing fish]) | TILDE |
| 36 | Appropriate to ignore cold in middle of frozen bar (6) |
|
CHOC ICE (frozen bar [of ice cream]) excluding the central occurrence of (ignore … in the middle) C (cold) CHO ICE |
CHOICE (well-chosen; appropriate) | ECHOIC |
| 38 |
Arriving with limited signal disrupted texts in court (8) Arriving with limited signal disrupted tests in court (8) |
S |
ARR (arriving) + an anagram of (disrupted) SIGNAL excluding the final letter (limited) L ARR AIGNS* |
ARRAIGNS (puts on trail; tests in court) | ARRAIGNS |
| 39 | Artist endlessly recalled meeting India’s foremost philosophical practitioner (4) |
|
GOYA (reference Francisco GOYA [1746 – 1828], Spanish artist) excluding the final letter (endlessly) A reversed (recalled) + I (India is the international radio communication codeword for the letter I) YOG< I |
YOGI (a person who practises the system of Hindu philosophy) |
YOGI |
| 40 | Single out corrupt cop in Kampuchea (6, 2 words) |
|
Anagram of (corrupt) COP IN and K (International Vehicle Registration for Cambodia [known as Kampuchea between 1975 and 1979]) PICK ON* |
PICK ON (single out, especially for something unpleasant) | PICK ON |
| 41 | Eventful life, not initially helping current allegation (5) |
|
HISTORY (eventful life) excluding (not) (H (first letter of [initially] HELPING + I [electric current]) STORY |
STORY (allegation) | STORY |
| 42 |
At Flushing Meadow man who aces twice like first of seeds starts to intimidate Nadal (8) At Flushing Meadow man who ices twice like first of seeds starts to intimidate Nadal (8) |
I |
(AS [like] + S [first letter of [first of] SEEDS) + (AS [like] + S [first letter of [first of] SEEDS) i.e. twice + IN (first letters of [starts to] INTIMIDATE and NADAL) AS S AS S I N |
ASSASSIN (person who, usually for a fee or reward, or for political reasons, kills by surprise or secretly; in America [Flushing Meadow is the home of the American Open Tennis tournament, ices is a word meaning ‘kills’) |
ASSASSIN |
| Down |
|
||||
| 1 |
Just covered in Texas tumbleweed (4) Must covered in Texas tumbleweed (4) |
M |
STUM (hidden word in [covered in] TEXAS TUMBLEWEED) STUM |
STUM (must, unfermented grape juice) | STUM |
| 2 | Liquid preparation poet’s left for money (6) |
|
MOTION (reference Andrew MOTION [born 1952], English poet who was the Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009) with L (left) replacing (for) M (money) L OTION |
LOTION (liquid preparation for applying to the skin, medicinally or cosmetically) |
LOTION |
| 3 |
Heartless Taliban burst into our ravaged capital (9, 2 words) |
|
Anagram of (burst) TALIBAN excluding the middle letter (heartless) I contained in (into) an anagram of (ravaged) OUR U (LAN BAT*) OR* |
ULAN BATOR (anglicised form of the name of the capital city of Mongolia) | ULAN BATOR |
| 4 |
Merger almost accepts settlement of debt in betting system (6) |
|
MELD (merger) excluding the last letter (almost) D containing (accepts) UTU (Maori word meaning settlement [whether monetary or in kind]) of a debt) M (UTU) EL |
MUTUEL (shortened from of PARI-MUTUEL [a system of betting in which the winners receive a proportion of the total money staked, less the management charge]) |
MUTULE |
| 5 | Most men neglected old Etonian customs (7) |
|
Anagram of (neglected) MOST MEN MONTEMS* |
MONTEMS (former customs of Eton boys to go every third Whit-Tuesday to a hillock on the Bath road and exact ‘salt-money’ from passers-by, for the university expenses of the senior scholar or school captain) |
MONTEMS |
| 6 |
Cops perhaps regret entering court at opening of sessions (6) Cups perhaps regret entering court at opening of sessions (6) |
U |
(RUE [regret] contained in [entering] CT [court]) + S (first letter of [opening of] SESSIONS) C (RUE) T S |
CRUETS (small jars or bottles) I’m struggling to find a source that defines CUP as a jar, bottle or CRUET | CRUETS |
| 7 |
Sign replacing second note in melodies with a different one (5) |
|
ARIAS (melodies) with the second occurrence of A [a musical note] replaced by (with a different) E [another musical note) ARI E S |
ARIES (a sign of the Zodiac) | ARISE |
| 8 | Lament fallen arch (6) |
|
Anagram of (fallen) LAMENT MANTLE* |
MANTEL (lintel or arch of a fireplace) |
MANTLE |
| 9 | Withdraw a yard in a Parisian dispute (6) |
|
UN (one of the French [Parisian] forms of the indefinite article ‘a’) + SPAR (dispute) UN SPAR |
UNSPAR (withdraw [a SPAR from]) | UNSPAR |
| 10 | Ascending hill generally regarded as safe, beginning to spot what could cause disease in sheep (8) |
|
TOR (hill) reversed (ascending; down clue) + GRAS (American abbreviation for generally recognized as safe [used to designate an officially approved food additive]) + S (first letter of [beginning to] SPOT) ROT< GRAS S |
ROTGRASS (soft grass, butterwort, pennywort or other plant reputed to cause sheep-rot [disease in sheep])) |
ROTGRASS |
| 12 | Amerind we hear, at one with old and new world (8) |
|
CRE (sounds like [we hear] CREE [native American Indian tribe) + AT + I (Roman numeral for one) + O (old) + N (new) CRE AT I O N |
CREATION (world) | CREATION |
| 18 | Preliminary examination of literature on Troy describing simply constructed buildings (8, 2 words) |
|
LIT (literature) + T (troy weight) + LEGO (toy construction kit used comprising interlocking plastic bricks) LIT T LE GO |
LITTLE GO (preliminary examination held at Cambridge University prior to 1962) |
LITTLE GO |
| 20 | In minutes, curse launching aids … (9) |
|
OATH (curse) contained in BOOKS (can be a term for minutes of meetings) B (OATH) OOKS |
BOATHOOKS (aids for launching BOATS) | BOATHOOKS |
| 21 | … more than one part of docks rolls over the edge (8) |
|
SWAYS (rolls) containing (over) LIP (edge) S (LIP) WAYS |
SLIPWAYS (piers that slope down to the water; parts of a quay) | SLIPWAYS |
| 25 |
Rick exchanging last of euros for cocaine in Italian city (7) Rock encouraging last of euros for cocaine in Italian city (7) |
O |
BRESCIA (city in Italy) with S (last letter of EUROS) being replaced by (exchanging) C (cocaine) BRECCIA |
BRECCIA (a rock composed of angular fragments) |
BRECCIA |
| 26 |
Rough lino’s got upturn at regular intervals inside (6) Rough vino‘s got upturn at regular intervals inside (6) |
V |
UTR (letters 1, 3 and 5 [at regular intervals] of UPTURN) contained in (inside) GOT G (UTR) OT |
GUTROT (rough, cheap alcohol; dodgy vino) |
GUTROT |
| 27 | Bright woman involved in ministerial cover up (6) |
|
CLAIRE (hidden word reversed [up; down clue] in (involved in) MINISTERIAL COVER) CLAIRE< |
CLAIRE (girl’s name meaning bright; bright woman) | ECLAIR |
| 29 | Evolved lone American trilobite (6) |
|
Anagram of (evolved) LONE + US (United States; American) OLEN* US |
OLENUS (a typically Upper Cambrian genus of trilobites) |
OLENUS |
| 30 | Itches to reforms lovers of brew (6) |
|
Anagram of (to reform) ITCHES THEICS* |
THEICS (people who drink too much tea; lovers of brew) |
ETHICS |
| 31 |
Read to third of children on two occasions (6) Reed to third of children on two occasions (6) |
E |
(TO + I [third letter of [third of] CHILDREN) + (TO + I [third letter of [third of] CHILDREN) i.e. twice (on two occasions) TO I TO I |
TOITOI (any of several tall reedlike grasses native to New Zealand) |
TOITOI |
| 33 | Idolise governor if introduced (5) |
|
IF contained in (introduced) DEY DE (IF) Y |
DEIFY (pasha or governor of Algiers before the French conquest) |
EDIFY |
| 37 | No longer acknowledge national guide (4) |
|
CON (archaic word [no longer] for ‘acknowledge’) + N (national) CON N |
CONN (direct the steering of; guide) | CONN |
A satisfying grid and enjoyable challenge. For a long while I resisted the urge to google what looked like a random collection of letters for the quote and instead worked on the assumption that it was not directly a quote, but rather a cryptic version of one, what with the two Es ‘obviously’ having been moved to the ends. My one slight negative was the use of cups to clue CRUETS, as you highlight, though to be fair I can’t think of an alternative word including a U that would be better. (Although I’ve just realised it didn’t have to that clue that had the U in it, did it?) I’d pencilled in dops as a marginally better option, which messed up my quote even more. Got there in the end and very happy to have done so.
Thanks to Kruger and Duncan.
I was just thinking they were anagrams for quite some time until I got the quotation by googling the misprints I had. Then I realised why the title was Hearst. Should have spotted it earlier.
Didn’t spot the fact that the circle of E’s were the only ones in the grid. Even more impressive.
I thought that this was a really enjoyable puzzle, which revealed itself in stages.
First it was anagrams, then only E‘s moving, then the affected answers being symmetric, then the E‘s moving to the beginning or end of the entry, then realising that they formed a circle AND that they were the only E’s in the grid.
Bravo Kruger. And thanks to Duncan as well for the blog.
Regarding “cups” clueing CRUETS – I had the same misgivings as in the blog & from OPatrick @1, so I just had one last Google and found a link to Victorian Silver Plate Egg Cruet Set With Four Cups And Spoons (see https://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/559038/victorian-silver-plate-egg-cruet-set-with-four-cups-and-spoons/
I think the title is just a representation of the EARTH moving around the S(un).
To misquote the old VW advert: If only everything in life was as reliable as Kruger. Another excellent puzzle from this setter, though I didn’t realise quite what an achievement this was at the time of solving as I hadn’t noticed that the orbiting Es were the only occurrences of that letter in the grid. I took the title to be a confirmation that S is what’s needed in the central square (as per HG’s explanation above). Otherwise we’d have no confirmation of this.
I too was surprised by cruet = cup, but the definition of cup has been pretty broad over the ages and so it didn’t bother me at all. Great stuff.
All thanks to Kruger and duncanshiell! The orbital Es were a most satisfying revelation.
Early on, seeing that CLAIRE went in as ECLAIR, I led myself down the garden path of a sweets/sweetmeats theme with 5D entered as MOMENTS (which I believe are choccies of some kind) and the title rearranging as HEARTS (aren’t candy hearts a US thing?). Fortunately this was soon shot down when other clues fell …
A good puzzle, though I never did notice that it was only the E’s moving. Shows how much attention I was paying. As it took me an age to spot the ring of E’s, and that we needed to put S in the centre – or more to the point why – perhaps my brain has just seized up this new year.
Filled the grid bar three in the bottom right, then ran out of time and didn’t google the very unpromising looking letters. So it’s wonderful to see now just how intricate the construction really was. Can’t believe in retrospect I didn’t spot the pattern the rescheduled ‘e’s were making in the grid.
Cruets for cups didn’t bother me – by which I mean, I felt confident enough to write it in.
Thanks to duncanshiell for the enlightenment, and to Kruger for the most enjoyable puzzle of the year so far.
My thanks to all contributors to this thread (and those who may yet do so) and especially to Duncan for the blog.
OPatrick @ 1 [and others] I’m confident that Chambers supports CRUET = CUP. It gives “cruet” = “A vessel for wine … for religious ceremonies” and “cup” = “The chalice at the Eucharist”.
Kruger @8, I do agree that cups was valid, though not immediately obvious and it was the uncertainty that threw me slightly (until I googled the quote to confirm which letter had been changed). As I said, I was also considering CRUET = DOP, with Chambers giving “cruet” = “A small jar or bottle” and “dop” = “a drink container (having the capacity of about one third of a bottle)”. But really this had virtually no impact on my pleasure at solving a wonderful puzzle – if anything it enhances it by prompting me to find out more new and exciting words. It’ll be ‘dop this’ and ‘dop that’ in my household for a while.
Thanks for the blog Duncan. I think we have to accept that this was a DNF. We guessed 41ac was STORY but in the end left it blank as we could not parse it.
Thanks Kruger, we were very confused for a while as we were expecting an English quotation. We liked the endgame but missed the relevance of the title. Must try harder next time!
Filled the grid but failed on the endgame. Thansk to all.