Enigmatic Variations No. 1411: All Aboard by Gaston

It seems that Gaston has lost a few pieces of his jigsaw in ALL ABOARD – maybe down the back of the sofa, or the dog ate them?…

(There does seem to have been a spate of jigsaws in the barred thematics (EV, IQ, Listener) recently – including this one’s predecessor, EV 1410. A commenter there suggested that jigsaws ‘should be the exception rather than the rule’, but I guess that if the editors are receiving lots of jigsaws because setters are setting lots of them, then they will have to publish them more often?…)

Anyway, back to this puzzle – the preamble states that:

Clues are presented in alphabetical order of their answers and must be entered where they fit. Numbers in the grid refer to the seven unclued entries. Entries 1 and 7 must be shaded appropriately, thus completing the theme, whereas entries 2-6 are ALL ABOARD. In each clue the wordplay leads to the answer and a single superfluous letter; in clue order these letters give hints to entries 2-6. On completion of the grid, solvers should also highlight the two most important missing elements in the theme (11 adjacent cells). Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

There are 54 entries, of which 7 are unclued – a fairly hefty proportion for a jigsaw, but at least Gaston has been kind enough to indicate where they go! A quick analysis of word lengths also suggests that it would make sense to focus on the two 13s and the two 7s to start with, as it should be fairly quick to place them once the crossing letters have been identified…

All well and good in theory, and the two 7s did fall quite quickly, but the 13s eluded me for a while, and I pressed on with solving as many others as I could to build up a bank of candidates, and also try to get a handle on those extra letters.

My usual method with a jigsaw is to list out groups of word-length under-scores, and fill them up as I go along, so I then have all the 3s, 4s, 5s etc. all together. I also write the corresponding word lengths around the perimeter of the grid, to help when looking to fit in a 3, a 4, a 5 etc.

Once I had the 13s THUNDERSTRUCK and MONOCHROMATOR, to place the 7s AEROBOT and NOISIER, I could start putting a few more in the grid and start ticking words off my length lists. And at last there was a multiple-ish PDM when I realised that 5 looked something like SNOWY, 2 looked something like HADDOCK, and the extra letters were starting to form what could be ‘IDENTICAL DETECTIVES’. Blistering Barnacles! – we are in Tintin territory. And 1/7 then had to be (RED) RACKHAM’S TREASURE (Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge).

The detectives THOMSON and THOMPSON and Professor CALCULUS presented themselves, and the important missing elements of HERGÉ and TINTIN weren’t too hard to track down:

For all my initial trepidation over missing pieces, this puzzle proved to be a bit more amenable than it originally looked – three of the unclued answers were fully cross-checked, and the others only had a maximum of two un-checked letters. The clueing was nicely varied – some quick ‘write-ins’, like the anagrams for NOISIER and AEROBOT, ASIDE from (R)AISED, and OVID from DIVO(T); some a bit more devious, like ARB. for arbitrageur in ARBOUR, and the LE(W) (tepid) of RULE – and all made a little harder by having to think about that extra letter…

A lovely puzzle, thank-you Gaston – evoking childhood memories of (re-)reading the Tintin series. I couldn’t discern any particular anniversary or other significant date to do with the book, or Hergé himself – maybe there is, or maybe Gaston was just paying homage to an old favourite…

NB. I was most disappointed that I couldn’t find ‘Red Rackham’s Treasure’ amongst the well thumbed set of Tintins on my bookcase (next to the similarly-sized and cherished ‘Asterix’es!…) I did find ‘Flight 714’ and ‘Destination Moon’, so maybe these will get a re-read in the near future…

 

Clues
Clue No Extra letter Solution Clue (definition underlined) /
Logic/Parsing (ext(R)a letter braketed and bold)
*

P

ABUSES Hesitates to include bishop in evil practices (6) /
(P)A_USES (hesitates) around (to include) B (bishop)
*

R

AEROBOT Error nearly fixed with boat, unmanned craft (7) /
anag, i.e. fixed, of ERRO(R) (nearly) with BOAT
*

O

AIRBED Mattress ventilated to mask body odour (6) /
AIR_ED (ventilated) around (to mask) B(O) (body odour)
*

F

AITCH Letter contralto collected in confidence (5) /
(F)AIT_H (confidence) AROUND (collecting) C (contralto)
*

E

ALEC Is he smart having drink with civil engineer? (4) /
ALE (drink) with C(E) (Civil Engineer)
*

S

ARBOUR Exploiter of markets turned to make retreat (6) /
ARB (arbitrageur, exploiter of markets) + (S)OUR (turned)
*

S

ARISE East Asian garments first come into view (5) /
(S)ARIS (Asian garments) before E (East)
*

O

ASHES Top grade footwear for sporting contest (5) /
A (top grade) + SH(O)ES (footwear)
*

R

ASIDE Unfortunately raised apart (5) /
anag, i.e. unfortunately, of (R)AISED
6

CALCULUS Unclued (8) /
Thematic deduction
*

C

BEAM Almost changed name to Ray (4) /
BE(C)AM(E) – almost all of became, or changed name to
*

A

BEIGE Time after Act One creates colour (5) /
BE (act) + I (one) + (A)GE (time)
*

P

CAMUS University robe for Ed (5) /
subtractive double defn. a CAM(P)US can be a university; and CAMUS is Spenserian, hence ‘for Ed’, for a light robe
*

T

CASA Roman house way away from shipwrecked character (4) /
CAS(T)A(WAY) – ‘way’ taken away from a castaway! (shipwrecked character)
*

A

CERO Huge fish with no horns abandoning America (4) /
(A)CERO(US) – with no hoerns, abandoning US (America)
*

I

CURIO Suffer with loss of Number Ten objet d’art (5) /
(I)(N)CUR (suffer, losing N – number) + IO (alphabetical lookalike for the number 10)
*

N

DERV Driven about without independent fuel (4) /
anag, i.e. about, of DR(I)VE(N) – without I – independent
2

HADDOCK Unclued (7) /
Thematic deduction
*

I

FLUENT Smooth opening dominates fool (6) /
FLUE (opening) before (dominating, implying this is a down entry?) N(I)T (fool)
*

D

HIED Henry stopped working and hastened away (4) /
H (Henry – SI unit of inductance) + (D)IED (stopped working)
*

E

HOOP Crested bird loses last old ring (4) /
HOOP(O)(E) – hoopoe, crested bird, losing last O – old)
*

N

ILIAD Zero international publicity for long story (5) /
(N)IL (zero) + I (international) + AD (publicity)
*

T

IMPEND Threaten to take care of naughty boy at the start (6) /
IMP (naughty boy – or girl?!) before (at the start of) (T)END (to take care of)
*

I

INRO Pill-box found beneath Sugarloaf Mountain (4) /
Something found beneath Sugarloaf Mountain would be IN R(I)O (de Janeiro!)
*

C

LIEU Place in idyllic Europe (4) /
hidden word in ‘idylLI(C) EUrope’
*

A

MISERE Undertaking to take nothing from tax-free account held by French parent (6) /
ME_RE (French for mother, or parent) around (holding) IS(A) (tax free savings account – in the UK)
*

L

MITT Hand academic degree for literature (4) /
subtractive double defn. M(L)ITT is a literature degree – Magister Litterarum; and a MITT can be a hand.
*

D

MONOCHROMATOR Light transmitter in American’s extremely disorganised chart-room (13) /
MON(D)O (extremely, absolutely, American slang) + CHROMATOR (anag, i.e. disorganised, of CHART-ROOM)
*

E

NIXIE Spiteful water spirit destroyed island in Exe (5) /
anag, i.e. destroyed, of I (island) + IN EX(E)
*

T

NOCENT Awfully content, rarely guilty (6) /
anag, i.e. awfully, of NOCEN(T)
*

E

NOISIER Drunk in soiree getting louder (7) /
anag, i.e. drunk, of IN SOIRE(E)
*

C

OGIVE Projection Gaston has for architectural feature (5) /
(C)OG (projection, or tooth, on a wheel) + IVE (Gaston – the setter! – has)
*

T

OVID Poet replaced divot (4) /
anag, i.e. replaced, of DIVO(T)
*

I

RADS Attacks political reformers (4) /
subtractive double defn.: RA(I)DS ar attacks; and RADS (radicals) are political reformers
*

V

RECCES Cut back around cricket club for initial looks (6) /
RE(V)_ES (sever, or cut, back) around CC (cricket club)
*

E

RECTOR Scottish headmaster ran to south of playing field (6) /
REC (recreation ground, playing field) to the North of, so again suggesting a down entry) TOR(E) (ran)
*

S

ROOMIE Someone who shares stake with little creature first (6) /
ROO (little creature, kangaroo) before (first, so maybe suggesting an across entry?) MI(S)E (stake, in gambling)
4

THOMSON Unclued (7) /
Thematic deduction
3 THOMPSON Unclued (8) /
Thematic deduction
*

W

RULE Manage to be lukewarm after game (4) /
RU (Rugby Union, game) + LE(W) (tepid, lukewarm)
*

H

SAVOIE Drive on in reserve somewhere in France (6) /
SAV_E (reserve) around (H)OI (hoi, or hoy – incite, drive on)
*

I

SNAB Glasgow cobbler’s broken basin (4) /
anag, i.e. broken, of BAS(I)N
*

T

STANCE View man an hour ahead of us (6) /
STAN (man) + CE(T) (Central European Time – an hour ahead of us – from a UK perspective)
*

E

STYE Establish the old pen, seldom seen (4) /
(E)ST (establish) + YE (archaic for the)
*

T

TAB Layer of felt lifted stage curtain (3) /
BAT(T) (a layer of felt, used in hat-making) lifted = TAB
*

E

THUNDERSTRUCK Astonished to find article below special vehicle (13) /
TH(E) (definite article) + UNDER (below) + S (special) + TRUCK (vehicle)
*

R

TORI Almost red-hot mouldings (4) /
TOR(R)I(D) – red hot, almost
*

R

UH-HUH At regular intervals, author thought that means acceptance (5) /
regularly spaced letters of ‘aUtHo(R) tHoUgHt’
*

I

VALUED Prized little bottle due to be shaken (6) /
V(I)AL (bottle) + UED (anag, i.e. to be shaken, of DUE)
*

E

VEX Puzzle First Lady with cross (3) /
(E)VE (first lady, biblically) + X (cross)
*

R

WILLIE Junior member’s desire and anger (6) /
WILL (desire) + I(R)E (anger)
5

SNOWY Unclued (5) /
Thematic deduction
1

RACKHAMS Unclued (8) /
Thematic deduction
7

TREASURE Unclued (8) /
Thematic deduction