Corpsing by Encota
Three clues comprise wordplay only. All clues contain an extra word that must be removed before solving. In clue order the first and last letters of these words spell out a phrase. Try to 3 it using 20 3, carefully entering several spaces where you feel they may be appropriate; and enter the result below the puzzle. One plural form may be justified by Collins or online.
First thoughts – have I heard of ENCOTA, sounds like a collaboration to me. Time to put two and two together and keep that in mind as I go on to solve. Hmm… there’s a bit of Palin, Cleese, Chapman, Idle and Jones going on. And, I know that our esteemed editor is a huge Monty Python fan and I know that he shares a birthday (date, not year – October 27th) with John Cleese and I know that he sets as EN[igmatist] and Elgar (32a is another of his pseudonyms.) So, there you go, ENCOTA is a collaboration consisting of ENigmatist and, possibly, two others (CO and TA).
WRONG!
2+2=not even close.
Further investigation shows that this is Encota’s third Inquisitor (previously: 1506 and 1520) and he’s an individual: http://www.specialisedcrosswords.co.uk.
OK, enough of that, on to the crossword. As I said, there’s a lot of Python references in the clues but it’s not till I solve 27d GUMBY and go in search of references to support it, that I find out that Monty Python’s Flying Circus first aired on Sunday October 5th, 1969. So the puzzle was published the day before MONTY PYTHON‘s (1a) FIFTIETH (25a) ANNIVERSARY (35a).
The clues, themselves, I found fairly gentle. Sometimes, when there are extra words involved, the extra words stick out fairly blatantly as they’re often capitalized or hyphenated and that was true in many cases throughout this puzzle.
But, what to make of the generated letters? Do we read them in the order they are presented or all the first letters followed by all the last letters? Best idea is to see which option presents the best potential. OK, WNITANNTC, etc. doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere whereas WENNISTDAS, etc. at least sounds remotely pronounceable.
Further on in the letters, I see “IPPER” and I wonder, for a while, if we’re looking for The Kipper and the Corpse – with reference to the puzzle’s title and also the subject of Inquisitor 1451.
In the end, the letters spelt out the pseudo-German phrase: WENN IST DAS NUNSTÜCK GIT UND SLOTERMEYER? JA! BEIHERHUND DAS ODER DIE FLIPPERWALDT GERSPUT!
Ignoring the instructions to TRANSLATE (3d) it using GOOGLE (20a) TRANSLATE (3d) for the moment and concentrating on the phrase, I stuck it into a DuckDuckGo search and found this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funniest_Joke_in_the_World. On reading the article, I was very reluctant to translate it back to English for fear of befalling the same fate as Ernest Scribbler and his mother.
Still, as a committed blogger, it’s my duty to carry out the instructions for the good of the Inquisitor community. Click this link to see the result of the translation – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Whew! I survived and what brilliance – as you will have seen, Google Translate produces the phrase [FATAL ERROR], which ties in with the title.
Throughout the clues, there were several oblique references to Monty Python and I’ve marked them in the table below, though I’ve probably missed some.
I remember seeing this sketch – in a rerun – in the mid 1970’s and I was convinced that “my dog’s got no nose” was the joke. Funny how the memory plays tricks.
All good fun stuff from Encota – with apologies to him and Enigmatist for the wrong assumptions at the start.
Oh, and by the way, here’s a link to the sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prDoDPIpX4E
| Across | ||||||
| Clue / extra word | Entry |
Letters |
Wordplay |
Thematic stuff | ||
| 1 Weston-Super-Mare golfer’s someone possessed (11, 2 words) (no definition) |
MONTY PYTHON Monty Python |
W E |
[Colin] MONTY [Montgomerie] (golfer)+PYTHON (someone possessed) (I’m not really sure about the apostrophe here – seems redundant) |
John Cleese (b. Cheese) was born in Weston-Super-Mare | ||
| 9 Means of delivery to provide too many neutron bombs? (7) | OVERARM | N N |
If you provide too many bombs, you could be said to OVER ARM | |||
| 12 In translation, I’ve no ideas for a poem’s ending (5) | ENVOI | I S |
I‘VE NO (anag: in translation) | |||
| 13 Country‘s regular rambling excludes, for example, Trinidad (5) | RURAL | T D |
R[eg]ULAR (minus EG: for example; anag: rambling) | |||
| 14 Scribbler thematically acquires a dedicated alias (7) | EARNEST | A S |
ERNEST [Scribbler] around A | Ernest Scribbler (Sir Michael Palin) being the man who penned the thematic joke | ||
| 15 Together, Nehru and Jones essentially absorbed by a diary (5) | ALONG | N U |
[jo]N[es] (essentially) inside A LOG (diary) | Terry Jones (a Python) | ||
| 17 Dramatist once allowed to entertain top nurses (8) | STOPPARD (Sir Tom Stoppard) |
N S |
SPARD (allowed, archaic) around TOP | |||
| 18 Part of idyll, tableau or ditty reflects in an amusing way (6) | DROLLY | T U |
idYLL OR Ditty (hidden: part of; rev: reflects) | |||
| 20 Search engine click gets large number reportedly (6) | C K |
Sounds like GOOGOL – 1 followed by 100 zeroes | ||||
| 21 Gemini space enthusiast Therése’s first child (6) | ENFANT | G I |
EN (space)+FAN (enthusiast)+T[herese] (first) | |||
| 23 Ask for thank-you using the sound of many ringing bells (6) | APPEAL | T U |
Sounds like A PEAL [of bells] | |||
| 25 Noted band breaking the US right to remain silent (8) (no definition) |
FIFTIETH | N D |
TIE (band) inside FIFTH [amendment] | |||
| 30 Schoolgirl solver’s after degree in Southern US backwater (5) | BAYOU | S L |
YOU (solvers – from the setter’s point of view) following BA (degree) | |||
| 31 Naughtily massaged after giving up sex object in return for one with animal behaviour? (7) | NYLGHAU | O T |
NAUGH[ti]LY minus IT (sex; rev: in return) anag: massaged | |||
| 32 Elgar song seemed at first to be feeding tropical tree (5) | PSALM | E R |
PALM (tropical tree) containing S[ong] (at first) | |||
| 33 Initially Cleese maybe loved a role-playing American-born woman (5) | CLARA | M E |
C[leese] L[oved] A R[ole-playing] A[merican-born] – initially | John Cleese | ||
| 34 You’ve revolution where Ms Toksvig’s designers get to work? (7) | INQILAB | Y E |
Reference Sandi Toksvig – current presenter of QI So, do her designers work IN QI LAB? |
|||
| 35 Vary as inner RSJ is stretched (11) (no definition) |
ANNIVERSARY | R J |
VARY AS INNER (anag: is stretched) | |||
| Down | ||||||
| 1 Message is deadly after the first ad-lib appearance of ‘Two Sheds’ (5) | MORAL | A B |
MOR[t]AL (deadly) without T[wo] (first appearance; is shed) (this was the last one I solved and it took me a while to justify) |
Arthur (Two Sheds) Jackson – a Python character | ||
| 2 Showing valour after explosion of section of EMI plant (6) | OVULAR | E I |
VALOUR (anag: showing after explosion) | |||
| 3 Convert ran latest huge helter-skelter (9) | TRANSLATE | H E |
RAN LATEST (anag: helter-skelter) | |||
| 4 Lovely Polly’s initially on time in rough outskirts of Torquay (6) | PRETTY | R H |
P[olly] (initially)+RE (on)+Time+T[orqua]Y (outskirts of) | Polly (Connie Booth) – a character in Fawlty Towers – another John Cleese creation – set in Torquay | ||
| 5 Limit of theorem oddly unproven (4) | TERM | U N |
T[h]E[o]R[e]M (oddly) | |||
| 6 Too darned old to get mean with ball for just one afternoon (7) | OVERAGE | D D |
[a]VERAGE (mean) with O (ball) replacing one Afternoon | |||
| 7 Projection of numbers covering East Africans (4) | NOSE | A S |
NOS (numbers)+East | |||
| 8 Idle act developed old SA meeting place (7) (SA = Salvation Army) |
CITADEL | O D |
IDLE ACT (anag: developed) | Eric Idle – a Python | ||
| 10 Wound up love-god earlier (4) | EROS | E R |
SORE (wound; rev: up) | |||
| 11 British ‘giant’ Disraeli eager to follow William’s finale (5) | MAGOG | D I |
[willia]M (final)+AGOG (eager) | |||
| 16 Error-proof rhetorical technique: it’s surprising to assume father has sister’s support (9) | APOPHASIS | E F |
AHA (it’s surprising) containing POP (father)+SISter | |||
| 18 Joke by Chapman initially deployed in Germany and in France results in dead literati (7) | DEFUNCT | L I |
D (Germany)+ET (and in France) around FUN (joke)+C[hapman] (at first) | Graham Chapman – a Python | ||
| 19 Before building of fine partnership, I left Palin travelling (7) | OFF-PLAN | P P |
OF+Fine+PAL[i]N (minus I; anag: travelling) | Sir Michael Palin – a Python | ||
| 22 Computer engineer air-brushed content in tile (5) | TERAI | E R |
compuTER AIr-brushed (hidden: content) | |||
| 23 Accommodate in base beneath a f-fish (briefly called) Wanda (6) | ATTUNE | W A |
A T–TUN[a] (f-fish; briefly)+E (base) | A Fish Called Wanda – a post Python production | ||
| 24 Area of the Arctic – Lapland perhaps – is lacking focal points for magnetic field (6) | APOLAR | L D |
Area+POLAR (of the Arctic) | |||
| 26 We’ll need this changing into Tilburg lawyer’s old cash (4) | RYAL | T G |
LA[w]Y[e]R (needing WE; anag: changing) | |||
| 27 Stick close to editor – a man wearing knotted white handkerchief? (5) | GUMBY | E R |
GUM (stick)+BY (close to) Gumbies were recurring characters in Monty Python – known for wearing knotted hankies on their heads |
|||
| 28 Ignoring the odds they swap fleas, these tree-dwellers (4) | HYLA | S P |
[t]H[e]Y [f]L[e]A[s] (ignoring the odds) | |||
| 29 Characters in seventh ugliest airport of SE Asia (4) | THAI | U T |
svenTH AIrport (hidden: characters in) | |||
Kenmac
The anniversary date is esact. Sarurday 5 October was exactly 50 years after the first airing.
I found that the clues in the bottom half of the grid yielded more easily than those in the top, and when I had all but finished that half of the puzzle, plus TRANSLATE and GOOGLE, I had several consecutive letters near the end of the hidden message to work with: in particular FLIPPER followed by a German-looking consonant cluster (with some unreadable nonsense around them).
Seeing ‘corpsing’ in the title and many references to Monty Python in the clues made me think of the Dead Parrot sketch, but I couldn’t connect that with anything. Going against my inclination not to indulge in ‘wild’ online searches with these puzzles, I decided to look up possible combinations. Surprisingly, at the first time of asking, the complete message came up, directing me to a page on Wikipedia (the one mentioned in the blog) where the whole story of the joke was told, including (unfortunately) the result of the Google translation – which, therefore, I didn’t need to attempt myself.
The top half yielded more readily from knowing what word to jettison in each clue. My last answer was the thematic name GUMBY, which I have never seen or heard before. When looking that up I also found Scribbler, which was the other mystery I still had to clear up at 14a.
I was delighted, when the theme was revealed, that the proper (stage) meaning of ‘corpsing’ was intended. I was pleased also to see that the nniversary date (5 October) was exact.
After completing this I too decided to enter the German gibberish into Google Translate to see if the reported result still comes out. It does – in capitals and in brackets: [FATAL ERROR]. Entering either half of the message (up to ‘Ja!’ or after it) does not have that effect – you just get Anglo-German gibberish and no ‘fatal error’.
I appreciated the two (connected) components of the theme: a joke created by a comic wordsmith and another (an ‘Easter egg’) created by a software developer. I also liked the way various references to Monty Python were woven into the clues.
Many thanks to Encota for a witty puzzle and to kenmac for the clear blog.
I think “My dog has no nose” was the predecessor , being the subtitle to Hitler and co speaking. I remembered the sketch but forgot the author of the joke was a Mr Scribbler-I started thinking of max Ernst-and also the Pythons’ German series which featured A Durer.
But when I had enough extra letters, a google showed me any clues I hadnt parsed correctly-it also showed me that the whole lot was cod German so I used Google translate and voila!
Boatman had a Prize puzzle on the same theme and we’d had Abbey Road the week before so this was well due.
Probably a marmite of a puzzle. I’m not a marmite fan but I am one of Python and I loved this as it is one of their silliest sketches ever/
Thanks Encota and kenmac.
Yes, I enjoyed this although the pdm came far too soon, as once I had “Wenn ist das nunstuck…” a Google search revealed everything. I did query the definition of NYLGHAU: “one with animal behaviour”. Why not just “animal”?
Kenmac: I think there’s a slight typo in your analysis of the wordplay for 19 down. The second F needs to be capitalised and in bold.
bridgesong @3 – sorted, thanks.
Sorry about my typos too. Saturday 5 October was the exact anniversary date.
Yep, another good one. Pretty straightforward too, thankfully as I was solving in less than peaceful surroundings. I Googled the start of the phrase to cut out all the business of trying to untangle the faux-German, up popped the sketch, and from there it was game over. Enjoyed.
A delight to solve. Two pints in a quiet pub and it was done and dusted. A Monty Python theme was expected and TRANSLATE and GOOGLE fell quickly. At first, I thought it might be the sketch about the dodgy phrasebooks, but Google came up with this one first. Also, Google Translate gave a mixed answer(?) and it was only with a bit more research that I came up with the real answer! Thanks to both Encota for the puzzle and kenmac for the blog.
Excellent puzzle. It was Two Sheds that tipped me off, and from there it was great fun spotting all the MP references. I guess Encota took a punt on Google Translate not changing the wording of the error message between submission and publication of the puzzle. Not too difficult to solve, but then I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition.
Hugely enjoyed this. It had a lot in common with last week’s, what with a nonsensical string of letters being created with a degree of uncertainty about them, but seemed to have the opposite effect on me. Unusual puzzle in that I didn’t resent having to use Google … but when I had enough of the phrase to guess it was German and went to Google translate to type in the first few words I thought there must have been a lot of other people doing the exact same thing as the predictive text offers wenn ist das nunstück git und slotermeyer, but not the whole phrase and nothing that makes sense. Annoyingly, as I was on Google already I then reflexively did a general search with this and so slightly spoiled the pleasure of the reveal. Interesting to discover how much Monty Python is ingrained in my consciousness, even if I did seem to think they were Gummies.
I’m afraid that I felt that the references to Monty Python rather overegged the puzzle. Also, I didn’t find the sketch particularly amusing when first aired, nor when I watched a compilation on BBC2 a few weeks ago – they produced lots of other sketches which were far funnier (to my mind) at the time, and many still are. (Maybe they weren’t as suitable as fodder for a crossword?)
Thanks to setter & blogger.
I really enjoyed this – thank you Encota. I immediately recalled the Swedish driving puzzle and had high hopes as a result. I’m a sucker for thematic clues and was impressed with the way that the entire phrase had been incorporated. I refrained from searching until I had almost all of it and, like others above, ended up at the Wikipedia page to learn about the sketch. Luckily for me, however, I didn’t read the entire page and so managed to avoid seeing what would be the outcome of entering it into Google Translate and spoiling the reveal.
Kenmac: You may have the pleasure of meeting Encota at the York S&B on 26th. See you both there!
I don’t finish the Inqy very often so it must have been fairly gentle, but I really enjoyed this one!
Thanks to Encota and kenmac
Very little time to comment but wanted to say I really enjoyed this
Thanks Kenmac and all who commented so generously on my puzzle. I was particularly pleased that Cruciverbophile had spotted the ‘Two Sheds’ character – that’s one of my favourite sketches from the first episode. And thanks Kenmac for the extra Python reference column. The surface of 33 was intended to refer to JC’s first wife; 23d tries to refer to the SMP-played stuttering character in the Wanda film and the location of the hidden key; and (Sir Tom) STOPPARD got a mention for his co-writing of Terry Gilliam’s quite brilliant, absurd 1985 film Brazil. An earlier version of that clue did shoehorn in a Gilliam mention but the editorial team quite rightly suggested I edit it out.
I look forward to meeting some of you in York!
Thanks all round. The sheer density of Python team references was a lot of fun. I’d assumed the surplus “neutron” in 9A was a nod to the late MP instalment centred on the somewhat down-at-heel superhero Mr Neutron.
Not a fan of MPFC (except when I was in my teens, but I grew out of it), so the references in the clues went straight over my head. But I did complete the puzzle.
A bit late to the party…..
We eventually sorted this out. We weren’t helped by having selected the wrong word in one of the clues. When we used google for the translation we also made the mistake of entering individual words or our attempts at deciding which were complete words. Joyce remembered some of the translations from her O Level GCSE and we were on the look out for something meaningful!
Eventually we did a search on line for relevant MPFC references and somehow or other it prompted us to enter the whole phrase.
Anyway, a very enjoyable way of spending sone time over the weekend so thanks Encota. Sorry we will not be at York to meet you.
Thanks kenmac – another terrific blog!
Still trying to catch up with my IQ backlog. A very enjoyable puzzle. I had not heard of the joke (probably a good thing?) but Google helped me out. I thought Google dying of laughter when asked to translate it was just great, thanks to Encota for bringing that to our attention.
We had great fun solving this and quite a lot of laughs from the various translations Google gave to us before we managed to produce our ‘fatal error’ (we had the privilege of test-solving and had recognised the old joke but thought that we had to respond ‘It stinks’ or something like that before dying of laughter). Lovely to be taken back to that old favourite – many thanks to Encota and Kenmac. Look forward to seing you in York on Saturday.