[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
This is Vismut’s third Inquisitor puzzle. I’ve blogged each of the previous two and have commented both times that there was a lot of thematic material involved. This is also the case in this puzzle.
The preamble stated ‘An account of a character in a Rush is given by single extra letters from the wordplay of 16 across clues and hints at what to enter in the grid in respect of ten other clues consisting of wordplay only. Six down clues contain an extra letter which read in clue order give the start of a phrase showing solvers what must be highlighted in the grid. The position of each of these letters in the clue is the same as that of the letter to be used from the answer to the next clue, giving a jumbled word that completes the phrase. Finally solvers must change two letters in a thematic answer to reveal the character’s name.
Word lengths are for grid entries; the final grid consists of real words and proper nouns.
Well!, as I said, plenty of thematic material. Clearly there are ten clues that may or may not have answers with the number of letters available in the grid. Also we don’t know which ten entries these are.
In the down clues, we can deduce that the extra letter in six clues must be within the first eight letters of the clue as there is no subsequent down entry with more than eight letters.
As ever, I dived in to see what I could solve and worry about the thematic material a bit later
My first one in was JACK at 14 across which threw up an extra C in the wordplay. I also got ALAS and TAJIKS early on thereby generating some more extra letters. However, I had nowhere near enough material to understand what the theme or endgame was.
The grid built up fairly steadily. The first two down clues that gave me letters to remove from the clues were COCKATOO and KISS, but still not enough help for the theme.
Early on I could see that the answer to 33 down was LION with an R starting the entry.
I think the breakthrough came in the SE corner when CHIRP (30 down) and TRUMPET (38 across) seemed likely along with CROAK and HOWL in the NE corner. The answer to 38 across obviously began with EL and ET was coming into play as well. With one of the crossword world’s favourite Chinese people being HAN, the answer was clearly ELEPHANT so the connection between answers (creatures) and entries (the sounds made by those creatures) became apparent. Knowing some sounds allowed a bit of reverse engineering to understand the clues.
By this time I had enough extra letters in the across wordplay to resolve the hint as CALL OF THE WILD. A bit of research confirmed that this was a short adventure novel, published in 1903. The novel was set during the Klondike Gold RUSH, thus giving the link to Rush in the preamble.
The final clues began to fall fairly quickly and I could see that NAME OF was spelled out by the six superfluous letters in the down clues. By looking at the answers to the next clues, the letters were HTARUO. which could be unjumbled to AUTHOR
The tables below show the thematic entries related to the clue answers as well as showing how the second part of the phrase associated with the down clues was generated
Creatures and Calls
| Number | Answer | Entry |
| 1a | MAGPIE | CHATTER |
| 6a | DOLPHIN | CLICK |
| 21a | WOLF | HOWL |
| 24q | WHALE | SING |
| 31a | BITTERN | BOOM |
| 38a | ELEPHANT | TRUMPET |
| 8d | FROG | CROAK |
| 30d | CRICKET | CHIRP |
| 31d | SEAL | BARK |
| 33d | LION | ROAR |
Phrase from Down clues
| Number | Letter removed | Position | Answer to next Clue | Similar positioned letter |
| 3d | In from … N |
2 |
THALIA |
H |
| 6d | Wordy Baird …A |
7 |
ITALIOT |
T |
| 9d | To limp …M |
5 |
DICTA |
A |
| 11d | Teach short … E |
2 |
ORDINEES |
R |
| 17d | Omen .,.O |
1 |
UNVOCAL |
U |
| 25d | Aft space…F |
2 |
MONTEM |
O |
The letters from the subsequent form a jumble of AUTHOR so we have to highlight the NAME OF AUTHOR of CALL OF THE WILD in the grid. That is JACK LONDON. JACK is the entry at 14 across and LONDON can be found centrally on the main NW – SE diagonal.
Finally, we have to change two letters in a thematic entry to show the main character’s name. This is a dog called BUCK. By changing two letters in BARK entered at 31 down we can display BUCK. One entry changes as a result. ANCLE at 34 across becomes UNCLE
This puzzle was another excellent challenge set by Vismut. The grid displayed below has highlighted all the CALLs and BUCK but that is not necessary for submission. Only JACK LONDON needs to be highlighted
The clues
The original and final grids are animated below.
I have parsed all the clues except one. I can’t see how the AR in ALTAR at 12 across is generated. Usually I fail to see something blindingly obvious and I look forward to being told what it is this time.
The title RUSH relates to the setting of the novel in the Klondike Gold RUSH
| Across | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay |
Letter |
Answer | Entry |
| 1 | Sorcerer without power grasping first of illusions (7) |
(MAGE [magus; magician; sorcerer] containing (without [outside]) P [power]) all containing (grasping) I (first letter of [first of] ILLUSIONS) MAG (P) (I) E |
|
MAGPIE | CHATTER |
| 6 | Work at record inside, witless (5) |
DO (work at) + LP (long playing record) + DO LP HIN |
|
DOLPHIN | CLICK |
| 10 | Does match potentially mark Chief’s range of power? (9) |
Anagram of (potentially) DOES MATCH + M (mark) SACHEMDO* M |
T |
SACHEMDOM (domain of a Native American chief) | |
| 12 | Stop short vessel leaving ledge in dry-dock (5) |
HALT (stop) + ? – I can’t see how the second part of the clue works to get the letters AR ALT AR |
H |
ALTAR (ledge on a dry-dock wall.) |
|
| 13 | Took Academy inside mess (5) |
A (academy) contained in (inside) CHOSE (took) CH (A) OS |
E |
CHAOS (mess) | |
| 14 | Bowlers’ white ball joke oddly takes in a cricket club (4) |
JK (letters 1 and 3 [oddly] of JOKE) containing (takes in) (A + CC) [cricket club]) J (A C) K |
C |
JACK (the small white ball aimed at in bowls) |
|
| 15 | Sadly state is expelling king (4) |
ALAS ALAS |
A |
ALAS (expression of grief or misfortune) | |
| 16 | Bright ones in school misbehaving and turning dirty (6) |
Anagram of (misbehaving) AND + SOIL (dirty) reversed (turning) DAN* IOS< |
L |
DANIOS (brightly-coloured tropical freshwater fish. School is a collective noun for fish) |
|
| 18 | People docked craft over by The Crown (6) |
TAJ (crown) + (SKIL TAJ IKS< |
L |
TAJIKS (people of an Iranian race living in TAJIKistan and other central Asian countries) |
|
| 20 | Rower winding an animal in river (4) |
OAR (rower) + AN reversed (winding) AR NA< |
O |
ARNA (Indian water buffalo; animal often seen in a river) | |
| 21 | Run to the West (4) |
FLOW (run) reversed (to the West) WOLF< |
|
WOLF | HOWL |
| 24 | Won! Top of Harvest Festival once (4) |
W (won) + H (first letter of [top of] HARVEST) + ALE (archaic word [once] for a feast or festival, from the liquor drunk) W H ALE |
|
WHALE | SING |
| 25 | Liberty is ousting backward Queen in ancient Kingdom (4) |
F EDOM |
F |
EDOM (an ancient kingdom in Transjordan located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west and the Arabian Desert to the south and east) |
|
| 27 | Two nameless boozers pocket tax for nothing (6, 2 words) |
(IN IN (VA) IN |
T |
IN VAIN (fruitlessly; to no end; for nothing) | |
| 29 | Three parts of moonshine mixed neat for kids (6) |
MOO (first three letters of [three parts of] MOONSHINE) + CHOW (mixed) MOO COW |
H |
MOOCOW (childish [kids] term for a cow [neat]) | |
| 31 | Part bird (4) |
BIT (part) + TERN (long winged aquatic bird) BIT TERN |
|
BITTERN | BOOM |
| 32 | Close to Sherlock’s last informer (4) |
NEAR (close to) + K (final letter of [last] SHERLOCK) NAR K |
E |
NARK (informer) | |
| 34 | Old joint spelling team swapping sides after absolute nightmare opener (5) |
AN (first letters of [openers] each of ABSOLUTE and NIGHTMARE) + C A N CLE |
W |
ANCLE (archaic [old] spelling of ANKLE [joint] connecting the leg to the foot) | |
| 35 | One supports fruit dish after it’s rejected (5) |
IT’S reversed (rejected) + PIE (type of fruit dish) STI< PE |
I |
STIPE (a stalk [support], especially of the fruiting body of a fungus) |
|
| 36 | Segments broken stones on old boundaries (9) |
METAL (broken stones used for macadamised roads or as ballast for railways) + MERES (boundaries; borders) META MERES |
L |
METAMERES (segments, merosomes, or somites) |
|
| 37 | Thin sounds knight yields suffering without one (5) |
K (knight) + an anagram of (suffering) Y K YLES* |
D |
KYLES (narrow [thin] straits [sounds] where both straits and sounds refer to stretches of water) | |
| 38 | The Spanish alien eating Paul’s left Chinese (7) |
EL (Spanish for ‘the’) + (ET [extra terrestrial;; alien] containing [eating] [P {first letter of (left) PAUL} + HAN {a native Chinese people}]) EL E (P HAN) T |
|
ELEPHANT | TRUMPET |
| Down | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number |
Clue Amended Clue |
Letter | Wordplay | Answer | Entry |
| 1 | Sorry scamp’s neglecting last couple standing up for dance (7) |
|
(SAD [sorry] + RASC (CSAR DAS) < |
CSARDAS (Hungarian dance) | |
| 2 | Hurrah all! A little entertaining blowing of horn (7) |
|
HALLALI (hidden word [entertaining] in HURRAH ALL A LITTLE) HALLALI |
HALLALI (bugle call; blowing of horn) | |
| 3 |
In from work. Stuffed jacket under protective covering (5) I from work. Stuffed jacket under protective covering (5) |
N |
ACT ACTON |
ACTON (stuffed jacket worn under a coat of mail) |
|
| 4 | Grace that’s cut short by return of indisposition (6) |
|
THA THA LIA< |
THALIA (the Muse of comedy and pastoral poetry; one of the Graces) |
|
| 5 | Novel name M sent earlier (4) |
|
EMMA (formerly [earlier] a signaller’s name for the letter M; M sent earlier) EMMA |
EMMA (girl’s name) double definition | |
| 6 |
Wordy Baird also trailing about after Biddy’s mate (8) Wordy bird also trailing about after Biddy’s mate (8) |
A |
COCK (a biddy is a hen, so a cock is biddy’s mate) + A (about) + TOO (also) COCK A TOO |
COCKATOO (any of a number of large crested parrots. COCKATOOs can mimic sound thereby imitating words; a wordy bird) |
|
| 7 | A Greek in ancient Rome, maybe exposed essential industry in recession (7) |
|
ITA LIOT< |
ITALIOT (a Greek of ancient Italy, hence a Greek in ancient Rome) |
|
| 8 | Upset game with a change of hands (5) |
|
GO FROG< |
FROG | CROAK |
| 9 |
To limp from kicks in sore shin initially (4) To lip from kicks in sore shin initially (4) |
M |
KISS (first letters [initially] of each of KICKS, IN, SORE and SIN) KISS |
KISS (lip) | |
| 11 |
Teach short and confused detective at front popular maxims (5) Tach short and confused detective at front popular maxims (5) |
E |
DI (Detective Inspector) + an anagram of (confused) TAC DI CTA* |
DICTA (popular maxims) | |
| 17 |
Omen newly accepted in Church moves I endorse (8) Men newly accepted in Church moves I endorse (8) |
O |
Anagram of (moves) I ENDORSE ORDINEES* |
ORDINEES (people who have just been admitted to holy orders; men newly accepted in church) |
|
| 19 | A French verb provincial learner’s forgotten is silent (7) |
|
UN (one of the French forms of ‘the’) + V (verb) + LOCAL (provincial) excluding (forgotten) L (learner) UN V OCAL |
UNVOCAL (not producing speech; silent) | |
| 22 | You and I collecting ring. Ecstasy! Hurray! (7) |
|
WE (you and I) containing (collecting) (HOOP [ring] + E [ecstasy table]) W (HOOP E) E |
WHOOPEE (an exclamation of delight; hooray) | |
| 23 | Allow around empty wood and estates, extremely dirty (7) |
|
LET (allow) + (WD [letters remaining in W LE (WD ES) T |
LEWDEST (most obscene; extremely dirty) | |
| 25 |
Aft space in the van concealing crew’s initial order (5) At space in the van concealing crew’s initial order (5) |
F |
EN (describes a short space in printing terminology, equivalent to the width of a letter n) + (AT containing [concealing] C [first letter of {initial} CREW]) ‘In the van’ indicates that EN [(space) is leading the entry. EN A (C) T |
ENACT (establish in law; order) | |
| 26 | Newton following way of working those people without hard schoolboy’s extortion (6) |
|
MO (modus operandi; way of working) + N (newton) + THEM (those people) excluding (without) H (hard, as in description of pencil lead) MO N TEM |
MONTEM (a former custom 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) |
|
| 28 | Word meaningless note about Empire State (5) |
|
N (note) + ON (about) + NY (New York. The state of New York has been known by many nicknames, most notably as the Empire State, adopted as late as the 19th century) N ON NY |
NONNY (a meaningless word in old ballad refrain) |
|
| 30 | Injury to neck, back etc when cycling (5) |
|
(RICK [twist or sprain to neck or back] + ETC) with the letters all cycled one to the right and the end letter C moving to the front to form CRICKET C RICKET |
CRICKET | CHIRP |
| 31 | Washington City loses race and doesn’t have finale (4) |
|
SEA SEAL |
SEAL | BARK |
| 33 | Tails of small scampi go soon (4) |
|
Last letters [tails of] each of SMALL, SCAMPI, GO and SOON LION |
LION | ROAR |
As there were four types of clue altogether (including the 10 normal clues) the preamble was rather ‘busy’, but I found it quite easy to follow once I had got a little way into the puzzle. As ever, the clue counts given were helpful.
LION and ROAR were my entry to the themed clues, followed quickly by WOLF/HOWL and ELEPHANT/TRUMPET. The grid was about half full at that point, and soon after that I saw a familiar book title forming in the extra letters from the across clues. I had a letter wrong at first in the word AUTHOR coming from the down clues, but when I saw LONDON I realised what that word had to be.
I ‘solved’ EMMA quite early on without understanding it. It eventually dawned on me that the setter was using a definition (‘M sent earlier’) equivalent to one used by Wan a few months ago (EMMA = Mike’s predecessor). A tricky clue, the word ‘sent’ sending me everywhere but the right place.
This is my second Vismut puzzle, and I enjoyed this one just as much as the previous one.
In ALTAR, I had AR as ‘short vessel’ [from ARK]. The word ‘leaving’ is just a connector: wordplay leaving definition.
Many thanks to Vismut and Duncan.
Woof woof-great puzzle and blog.Thanks and seasons greetings.
Yep, a good puzzle thoroughly enjoyed. Thankfully there’s a handy Wikipedia page with animal noises for those of us who needed a little help. 🙂
Merry Christmas one and all!
Far from plain sailing, even after the penny dropped. Never did finish top left, maybe because I had ‘song’ for ‘sing’.
I was sure the thematic word would be ‘moocow’ (what could be more thematic?), and that somehow it would be changed to moscow, and we would have a London – Moscow cold war theme emerging. Wrong planet. Too bad.
In the end, I neglected the preamble (real words in final grid) and changed Jack to Buck.
Emma at 5D is, of course, the name of a novel.
Very tricky, but a good one. Thanks to Vismut and duncanshiell.
I had NARK already in for 32a when I got LION for 33d, so ROAR went straight in. Some of the other themesters proved more difficult, having to work backwards, CHATTER to MAGPIE being one of them.
Very satisfying solve, but I forgot to work out the connection with Rush.
Much enjoyed; thanks all around, and Merry Christmas!
It’s only a box of chocolates, and there isn’t any post, but I’m still surprised to see this blog appear today, over 24 hours before the competition deadline (10.00 a.m. 27 December).
bridgesong@7
Oops! – my mistake.
I looked at the submission date for any puzzles I am blogging since last weekend, but it never crossed my mind to check the date for the Inquisitor blogged above.
The blog has been up since the normal closing time of 10am on Tuesday, but as you say, there has been very little,if any, post since Tuesday, so I am leaving the post up.
Last Saturday’s Inquisitor 1626 has a standard closing data of 10am Tuesday 31st January.
Completing an IQ makes me a winner in my own mind – sometimes I even reward myself with the same box of chocolates from the supermarket! Given the cost of stamps and the chance of being pulled out of the hat, I reckon my plan is more cost effective!
I didn’t quite finish this, but got nearly everything. I found the clues hard, it took ages to get to the end. I had hoped that once I twigged the theme things would get easier, but as the solutions and grid entries didn’t share any letters knowing the theme wasn’t much of an a help. It would have been handy to find the web page mentioned by Jon_S @3, I will remember that for next time.
Thanks to all.
I’ve realised that I’m not especially fond of puzzles that have around a dozen wordplay-only answers that have to be entered as collective nouns (animals/birds), or former names (capital cities), or calls of wild animals as here.
Which is a shame, as I really enjoyed Vismut‘s previous two puzzles.
Ah well, thanks all the same. And to Duncan as well – I suspect most of us failed to notice the revised submission deadline … I did.
Thanks for the comments about my puzzle. As a newbie setter it is very encouraging to get positive comments and all the feedback is useful. Thanks to duncanshiell too for the blog. You always seem to get my puzzle to review, I hope you are enjoying them.
Happy New Year everyone.