Check – the third of four new setters in a row.
Preamble: Clues are listed in conventional order. Bars (displaying 180° symmetry) and clue numbering are not required. Two cells are initially empty. Single words in 14 clues must have three consecutive letters removed before solving, always leaving real words. In clue order, they spell out two feats preceded by the locations at which they were performed. Two thematic entries lead to part of a line of poetry (in ODQ) associated with these feats. This must be cryptically represented by highlighting its first three words and filling the empty cells to reveal the last two. The thematic entries must be amended (creating new words) to show two people for whom the represented quote was used as an epithet to their feats.
A three-stage puzzle: first find the what & where of two feats; then identify the line of poetry and highlight the cryptic representation; finally, amend the two thematic entries to reveal who performed the feats. This was going to be a challenge.
Things started well, and without too much difficulty I had a healthy chunk of the top left quadrant sorted and a small chunk of the top right. Then I hit a problem – I put the crossword & my notes down on a bench outside a bookshop while I took a call and absent-mindedly omitted to pick them up. When I remembered and went back to retrieve them a beggar sitting on a nearby pavement said a refuse collector had swept them away. Oh dear.
Subsequent progress certainly wasn’t fast, and I guess with about a third of the grid still only sparsely populated (lower down, emptier on the right than on the left) I ground to a halt. For hours. And hours. Despair. But at least I’d found AUGUSTA NATIONAL, ALBATROSS.
Come Thursday lunchtime I called for help. A hint led me to SITTELLA (“casual lager” – a bit vague) and with a nudge I solved D-DAY; that resulted in a slow trickle, then a faster trickle (but still a trickle). And with that I came up with POLO GROUNDS, HOME RUN. It was late after dinner when I wrote in SOLAR and SEAR then went to bed. Phase 1 completed, but without identifying which were the two thematic entries.
On the late morning train to London on Friday, I Googled something like AUGUSTA NATIONAL ALBATROSS and came across Gene Sarazen. On a hunch I tried replacing CONCORD (top right, one of the 7-letter entries) with SARAZEN and – hey presto – new words appeared. Something similar with POLO GROUNDS HOME RUN, and up came Bobby Thomson; so, with another 7-letter surname, I checked the replacement for EMERSON (bottom left, symmetrically) and that worked out too. Plus the all important THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD. So, phase 3 was duly completed, and in passing most of phase 2. (Out of order, but who cares?) The poem in question is now simple to find: Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson, commemorating one of the opening battles of the American Revolution. I texted my partner “I think I’ve just finished the puzzle.”
Thanks Check – that was tough. (Some might say a bit brutal in parts.) But certainly satisfying to have finished, and comforting that there was no residual uncertainty when I had. (But still unclear about the title.)
| Clue | Answer | Wordplay |
| Across | ||
| Transfer revolutionary US troops its agency captured (6) | ASSIGN | GIS (US troops) in NSA (US agency) all< |
| Agreement to guide local chap around centre of Liverpool (7) | CONCORD | CON (guide) COD (chap, dialect) around (Live)R(pool) |
| Scourge ravaged crops in Ohio (8) | SCORPION | [CROPS IN O(hio)]* |
| Walls of [aug]ural ink uncovered aged bones (5) | ULNAE | U(ra)L (i)N(k) AE (aged) |
| Hooked extremely deficient user chasing joint, maybe gateway to opiates? (6) | HAMOSE | (u)SE(r) after HAM (joint) & O(piates) |
| Every so often, may tr[ust]ee answer without worry? (6, 2 words) | AT EASE | (m)A(y) T(r)E(e) A(n)S(w)E(r) |
| Battery cut off breaking recalled Barbadian car for hire (7) | MINICAB | NICA(d) (battery) in BIM< (Barbadian) |
| Labour almost backtracks ushering in representative punishment (5) | IMPOT | TOI(l)< (labour) around MP (representative) |
| Unscrupulous character parts with sterling for Fed’s apprehension (7) | SHYNESS | SHYSTER (unscrupulous character) ¬ STER(ling) NESS (Fed, Al Capone’s nemesis) |
| [Ana]lysed lesions lacking principal biological stains (6) | EOSINS | [(l)ESIONS]* |
| Combination pair of cuffs? (6) | ONE-TWO | cryptic definition (boxing, etc) |
| Plants protected by policy at hearing (7) | CYATHEA | (poli)CY AT HEA(ring) |
| Yankee airhead mostly taking control of tense media[tio]n of globe again (5) | DITTO | DIT(z) (airhead, US) around T(ense) (gl)O(be) |
| Ed’s punished before stream is redirected (7) | AMEARST | A(nte) (before) [STREAM]* |
| Persuade operator in re[nal] wing to have case dismissed (6, 2 words) | ROPE IN | OP(erator) in RE (w)IN(g) |
| Test given backing in first of syllabus is poetic quagmire (6) | SYRTIS | TRY< (test) in S(yllabus) & IS |
| Landing plane holds pilot’s focus (5) | SOLAR | SOAR (plane) around (pi)L(ot) |
| Australian bird’s appeal seen during casual lager? (8) | SITTELLA | IT (appeal) in STELLA (lager, S.Artois) |
| [Alb]um well received by retro music website writer (7) | EMERSON | ER (um) & SO (well) in NME< (music website) |
| Flyer threatening American to move East (6) | SCRAYE | SCARY (threatening) with A(merican) moved E(ast) |
| Down | ||
| Express objection about singular wine receptacle (6) | ASH-BIN | AH (express objection) around S(ingular) BIN (wine) |
| Plant nursery evacuated after Malcolm’s lost without l[atr]ines (8) | SCAMMONY | N(urser)Y after [MALCOLM’S]* ¬ LL (lines) |
| Resolve golf club in rebellion (7, 2 words) | IRON OUT | IRON (golf club) OUT (in rebellion) |
| Hard to please inspiring evangelist’s cr[oss]est daughter in church (5) | NIECE | NICE (hard to please) around E(evangelist) |
| Returned to steal from amidst half-destroyed castle passages (5) | CODAS | DO< (steal from) in CAS(tle) |
| Amorous note model collected in New York (5) | NUTTY | UT (note) & T (model) in NY (New York) |
| Circle wild [pol]locks in primitive ball (4) | CLEW | (cir)CLE W(ild) |
| Tear down tower, replacing one with another (4) | RASE | RISE (tower) with I (one) replaced by A (one) |
| Dust up besetting democratic agreements (5) | DEEDS | SEED< (dust) around D(emocratic) |
| Time to pr[ogr]ess crux of alchemy (4) | SITH | SIT (press) (alc)H(emy) |
| Women finally abstaining from teasing frisky one that prefers toyboys? (6) | AGEIST | [TEASING ¬ (wome)N]* |
| Fruit machine’s middle reel not half behind source of bankruptcy (4) | BHEL | (mac)H(ine) & (re)EL after B(ankruptcy) |
| Pfizer’s chief periodically urged army to get first dose of prophylactic booster (6) | PREAMP | P(fizer) (u)R(g)E(d) A(r)M(y) P(rophylactic) |
| Working distantly or, not playing ar[oun]d, with attitude (8) | SNOTTILY | [DISTANTLY OR]* ¬ [ARD]* |
| Retired American dope eats old bread (4) | TOEA | TEA (marijuana, old US) around O(ld) |
| Firebrand bishop third of clergy to be put in jail (7) | STIRRER | RR (bishop) & (cl)E(rgy) in STIR (jail) |
| To waste time, American lawyer overruling every important juncture (4) | D-DAY | DALLY (waste time) with DA (District Attorney, US) replaced by ALL (every) |
| Pits force regulars in woo[dsh]ed to retain retiring dolt (6) | FOSSAE | F(orce) (w)O(o)E(d) around ASS< (dolt) |
| Blast St Andrews possibly losing premier of Opens (5) | CURSE | COURSE (St Andrews possibly) ¬ O(pens) |
| Children s[ome]how heard ultimate in profanities (5) | HEIRS | homophone AIR (show) (profanitie)S |
| Exceedingly old game amateur picked up touring Eastern side of China (5) | AMAIN | NIM (game) & A(mateur) all< around (Chin)A |
| Settles continuous returns (5) | RESTS | double definition {see rest² in Chambers} |
| Gang catching eye of spook rejected evidence of gun[run]ners (4) | BOOM | MOB (gang) around (sp)O(ok) all< |
| Catch dart – no pressure! (4) | SEAR | SPEAR (dart) ¬ P(ressure) |
Brutal indeed. It took elmac and me a week to do using a shared Google Sheet.
Albatross had me thinking of Fleetwood Mac and The Ancient Mariner (and even Monty Python).
A very satisfying finish though.
Well done H___G____ and many thanks to Check.
Another vote in the “hard but worth it” column from me. My route in was from the extra letters…the baseball incident is the focus of a major part of a well known book, but it took a while to realise that “The Shot Heard Round The World” was, indeed, relevant.
I assume the “Magic Number” relates to the number of letters subtracted from words, the number of shots below par in an albatross, and the number of runs Thomson scored with his shot.
I know nothing and care still less about American sport (well, most sport) but still thoroughly enjoyed this. That’s the sign of a great puzzle – if the theme’s well implemented it doesn’t matter whether you are interested in it or not. It was a great help that the first two rows contained complete answers, which made the grid fill less of a struggle than carte blanche puzzles sometimes are. A fine puzzle from Check and I hope we will see more of him or her in the future.
Nice puzzle. Sarazen’s albatross I knew about, but Thomson took a little longer to find.
I think Check had an EV last year, but is new to the IQ.
A splendid debut. I got AUG and UST quickly and as a golf fan assumed it would be all downhill from there, but even when I’d filled most of the grid I had not identified many of the other three-letter blocks and those that I had made little sense. I worked backwards by working out what might be revealed by filling the blank cells (THE WORLD was pretty obvious) and then looking for words in the vicinity. The quote then became apparent, but I had always associated it solely with the 1914 Sarajevo assassination, which did not seem relevant here. Googling revealed the original writer and source plus the sporting contexts in which it has been used.
Thanks to Check – best puzzle of the year so far for me.
As an American who has spent countless hours tracking down arcane (to me) British facts in order to complete puzzles, this theme was a delight. Since Bobby Thomson’s homer is quite well known here, the “Polo Grounds” reference was the first to jump out (even as I initially thought, this can’t really be about baseball, can it?). Thanks to Check and to HG for the blog.
A pretty tough workout, highly enjoyable though and totally agree with cruciverbophile’s point about the theme being almost irrelevant if the puzzle is good. As this indeed was. Took me a while for the endgame to be complete, I saw The World in middle of the grid but the two sportsmen took a bit of finding on the Web. A fine IQ debut thanks to Check and another great blog thanks HG. Also cleared up shyness which I couldn’t parse.
A tough task this week, very tightly clued, with several obscure and obsolete definitions and meanings. For some time I was thinking that Check should consider a change of nom de plume … to CHECKMATE! – but little by little things began to move, albeit pretty slowly – it took me a little over three days to finally drag this one over the line. I confess that I entered the bars into the grid – I’m not sure that I’d have finished otherwise, they definitely aided placement of answers. Endgame was wonderfully done, beautifully described, cleverly executed. A really enjoyable solve from start to finish. Having read the blog from HolyGhost and the comments from kenmac (both ‘Professionals’), it appears that this was indeed a real toughie, so to get there on my own, without help from others, in a little over three days – well, as a mere ‘Amateur’ I’m more than happy with that … then again, the ‘empty grid’ type of Inquisitor has always been my favourite sort.
As for the title – I’m with Phil K @ 2: Three is the magic number (as the saying goes) – the albatross from Sarazen gained him three shots, the walk-off home run by Thomson scored three runs to win the game – that’s my interpretation at least!
Many thanks, as always, to setter (for a truly excellent debut), to blogger (for struggling through for us all) and to commenters (it’s always good to hear how others fared).
I almost gave up – exhausted – when I’d identified the poem and the feats, but the next day it occurred to me that ‘the shot heard round the world’ was familiar, and also eminently representable in the grid. And there it was, and there was the wikipedia page tying it all together. The appearance of the new words made a good puzzle great. I salute the setter’s judiciousness in making the entry into the puzzle – it’s top left or bust with carte balance – reasonably inviting. Overall, very tough, but very sticky – I really wanted to get to the bottom of this one. Glad to see the praise is universal.
Thanks to Check & HolyGhost.
A crossword from another new setter, and I enjoyed solving it, despite finding it a bit of a slog for a while soon after I started and again towards the end. Some of the clues were quite tough, particularly those involving subtractions, but I liked the way the extra letters were incorporated into the special clues – reminiscent of a similar device used in the puzzle two weeks previously. The carte blanche was not as daunting as I feared, and the symmetry enabled me to complete the pattern of bars before I was halfway through solving. My last parsing query (the clue to SNOTTILY), when resolved, gave me my last triplet (‘oun’).
I identified both feats with their locations from the 14 triplets, but the theme after that was beyond me. The feats were not unique, and I guessed it would need much grid-gazing or online searching, or both, to resolve, and it seems I was right. It was pretty obvious what to put in the two blank cells, but the preamble did not give me a clear enough pointer to the thematic ‘line of poetry’. I was happy to wait for the published solution to see what the setter had in mind. I must say, though, that the crossword itself stood out for its quality, and it was satisfying to complete it.
Thanks to Check and HolyGhost.
Very very difficult, but satisfyingly so when it all fell together at the close. I never did manage to untangle all the letters that made up the feats, but by the close THE WORLD was a dead cert to fill the centre of the grid, and the poem in question was then easy to find and confirm. A great debut.
Alan B @ 10
I sympathise with your concerns, as I also dislike extensive grid-grazing or online research. But I didn’t experience it here, maybe because, once I’d identified ‘the shot heard round the world’ as the key line, I quickly arrived at this helpful slice of wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_heard_round_the_world_(disambiguation)
Thanks Check the extremely challenging puzzle and HG for the engaging and informative blog!
In my solving doc with my partner I noted: “nice finish! convenient that the protagonists and the thematic words were of same length! (I guess that’s the kind of thing that a setter looks for)”
Indeed very hard, and almost a DNS for me as I just couldn’t get going. But then my crossword colleagues managed to get a foothold, and together we dragged it over the line.
I guess my question is, why the added difficulty of ‘carte blanche’? It seems to me that it would have been hard enough without.
I appreciate your comment. In fact, since posting my comment I have realised that I had looked in the right place in my ODQ (Emerson), but despite (supposedly) reading everything there, looking for ‘the world’, I completely missed it. My own fault.
That would have left only the two names to find for placing over EMERSON and CONCORD, but I gave up before attempting that.
Arnold
I think the reason it was a CB was that otherwise the blank cells would have been obvious.
We struggled with this one. Lots of googling at the end but it took longer than we would have liked to sort things out. We saw THE WORLD but again, SHOT HEARD ROUND took longer than expected to find!
Still – we enjoyed solving the clues, we completed the puzzle and learnt something.
Welcome and thanks to Check. Thanks also to HG.
[My comment @15 was intended for Neil @12. Sorry for omitting that first line.]
No need to apologise. I meant to add, I think the reason this was so difficult and satisfying was the enormous cunning with which the triple letters were disguised.
Three is indeed a magic number – could be the original Schoolhouse Rock song or the De La Soul version depending on your interests…
Thank you all for the kind words and feedback, most of which were exactly what I was hoping for: “tough, but worth it”!
Check @ 20 : … or should that be CHECKMATE! @ 20 ? (see my own comment @ 8) 😉
Well, what a debut! … thanks for reaching out to us all … I think that you can see from the comments above that we all very much look forward to enjoying further puzzles from your good self.