The setters this week are eXternal and Serpent in their dual manifestation as eXtent.
The preamble told us that thirty consecutive clues contain an extra letter that must be removed before solving. In clue order, these letters spell the first line of a verse (in ODQ). The wordplay in remaining clues leads to an extra letter that is not entered in the grid to begin with. The remainder of the verse suggests how solvers must change four words in the grid, replacing letters in those words with the extra letters generated by wordplay. All entries in the final grid are real words or phrases.
We are not told at any point in the preamble where the thirty consecutive clues start from, so that is something we will have to deduce during the solving phase. It will probably be just as easy (or difficult) to establish first where the thirty consecutive clues end.
In the event I established quite quickly that the consecutive clues were going to start around 16 or 18 across and end near 24 down.
The clues fell fairly steadily although the clues near the start and finish of the consecutive set took a while to solve.
As the middle of the line of verse became apparent, I was able to determine the full text of the line and therefore was able to identify clearly where the 30 clue chain had to begin and end. It is usually possible to deduce a complete line of poetry from extra letter clues before all the constituent letters are detected within the clues. Knowing the full line helped me to solve the clues where I had not yet detected the correct letter to remove.
Identifying the extra wordplay letters in all of the 17 clues of type 2 was a bit more difficult and one didn’t fall until very late on in the piece (see below).
The line of verse was revealed as YET EACH MAN KILLS THE THING HE LOVES (30 letters) and is taken from The Ballad of Reading Jail by Oscar Wilde.
The full verse reads as follows:
YET EACH MAN KILLS THE THING HE LOVES,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a BITTER LOOK,
Some with a FLATTERING WORD,
The coward does it with a KISS,
The brave man with a SWORD!
A study of the grid reveals four entries that are synonymous with THE THING HE LOVES. We can see DARLING and BELOVED symmetrically placed in across entries and we can see BEAU and HERO symmetrically placed in the down entries. Symmetry is often an important element of end games in barred puzzles like the Inquisitor.
With the grid completed I had a string of additional wordplay letters from the 17 clues that didn’t contribute to the first line of the verse. At this point, I wasn’t confident on every letter I had and there was one (16 across) where I didn’t have a letter at all.
I had, in clue order, ONUEMW?PALSCTCUKS
It was fairly clear that we would have to amend the four LOVES entries and create four new words that were synonymous with the words of execution in the verse.
On the basis that it would be easier to start with the shorter words, I played about with HERO and BEAU to see what letters from the string of 17 I could use to create words of execution whilst maintaining real crossing words.
I found that PECK (KISS) would work for HERO and MOUE (grimace of discontent, pout, BITTER LOOK) would work for BEAU. PECK used P,C and K. The E of HERO remained unchanged. MOUE involved all four letters.
This left DARLING and BELOVED to be changed. If I was right with PECK and MOUE I was left with NW?ALSTCUS to treat DARLING and BELOVED. I knew I had to create a SWORD and a FLATTERING LOOK. Luckily I could see an anagram of CUTLASS in the letters I had left and I found I could replace BELOVED with CUTLASS and still have down entries that were in the dictionary.
Finally I had to make a word out of DARLING that could mean FLATTERING LOOK and I only had N,W and an unknown letter to help. A bit of trial and error revealed FAWNING (FLATTERING) as a possibility which meant that my ? had to be an extra F in the wordplay for 16 across.
A lot of crossing entries were amended as a result of the letter changes. In summary, all the changes were:
| Clue | Original Entry | Amended Entry |
| 11 across | DARLING | FAWNING |
| 40 across | BELOVED | CUTLASS |
| 12 down | BEAU | MOUE |
| 20 down | HERO | PECK |
| 14 across | BEAR | BOAR |
| 16 across | ABASE | ABUSE |
| 18 across | GENIUS | GENIES |
| 29 across | SHARED | SPARED |
| 38 across | HARK | HACK |
| 3 down | ELATE | ENATE |
| 11 down | DARTED | FARTED |
| 20 down | GENERALE | GENERATE |
| 26 down | SHREWD | SHREWS |
| 32 down | SORES | SORUS |
| 33 down | THIOL | THILL |
| 34 down | TREES | TRESS |
The initial completed grid and its further development is animated below.
The title BIRDSONG relates to the title of the poem, The BALLAD of Reading JAIL. Oscar Wilde was doing BIRD (serving a jail term) and a ballad is an example of a SONG.
I thought the clues were very clear. The only one I wondered about was the use of ‘regularly used’ as an anagram indicator for CRESSE to form RECESS. Perhaps the clue is not an anagram but I can’t see any regular use of the letters of CRESSE such 1,3,5,2,4 or 6 or similar.
For me, this was an enjoyable puzzle with the derivation of extra letters in the word play and the deduction of the new words in the grid in the endgame being quite tricky. Detecting extra letters in the wording of clues gets easier the more often one meets the device and the fact that the extra letters spell out a line of verse makes deduction of any ‘difficult’ letters slightly easier.
I learnt a new definition and a couple of new words. I didn’t know that a TENEMENT could be defined as a accommodation for a family and THIOL / THILL are words I haven’t encountered before. ESNE is a fairly common slave in barred crossword land.
All the clues that had a letter removed were still made up of words in the dictionary. Not surprisingly, the surface of the clue suffered in some cases.
Thanks to eXternal and Serpent for the puzzle.
| No | Clue | Letter | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 1 |
The first seven clues, 1 across to 16 across have an extra letter in the wordplay Accommodation for family is sign of things to come in principle (8) TENEMENT (dwelling or habitation, or part of it, used by one family) OMEN (sign of some future event) contained in (in) TENET (principle or doctrine) TENE (OMEN) T |
O | |
| 7 |
Have dealings with body over compliance (5) TRUCK (to have dealings [with]) TRUNK (body) containing (over) C (compliance) TRUN (C) K |
N | |
| 11 |
Precious publicity overturned verdict (7) DARLING (beloved; term of endearment, as is precious) AD (advertisement; publicity) reversed (overturned) + RULING (verdict) DA< RULING |
U | |
| 13 |
Allowing money to be kept in pile (8) GRANTING (allowing) TIN (money) contained in (to be kept in) GRANGE (country house; pile [tall building]) GRAN (TIN) GE |
E | |
| 14 |
Have to live with member of human race (4) BEAR (carry; have) BE (live) + ARM (humans have ARMs and legs which can be referred to as members) BE ARM |
M | |
| 15 |
Almost destroy Conservative minister’s home (7) RECTORY (home of a parish minister) WRECK (destroy) excluding the final letter (almost) K + TORY (a member or supporter of the Conservative party) WREC TORY |
W |
|
| 16 |
Humble home of football manager? (5) ABASE (humble) FA (Football Association) + BASE (home) – I think manager here is being in the sense of an Executive or an administrator of the FA rather than Club coach or manager FA BASE |
F | |
| 18 |
The next thirty clues, 18 across to 22 down,as written, contain an extra letter that must be removed before solving. Dopey American possesses one creative power (6) Dope American possesses one creative power (6) GENIUS (creative power) GEN (information; dope) + US [United States; American]) containing (possesses) I (Roman numeral for one) GEN (I) US |
Y | |
| 19 |
Former underground worker ceases acting for inspector (8) Former underground worker cases acting for inspector (8) EXAMINER (inspector) (EX [former] + MINER [underground worker]) containing (cases) A (acting) EX (A) MINER |
E | |
| 21 |
Leant a small amount, moving back to front (4) Lean a small amount, moving back to front (4) THIN (lean) HINT (small amount) with the final letter T going to the beginning (moving back to front) to form THIN THIN |
T | |
| 23 |
Time to accept Eton following fashionable choice (6) Time to accept ton following fashionable choice (6) DAINTY (choice) DAY (period of time) containing (to accept) (IN [fashionable] + T [ton]) DA (IN T) Y |
E | |
| 25 |
Brief caresses regularly used secluded spot (6) Brief cresses regularly used secluded spot (6) RECESS (secluded spot) Anagram of [regularly used [?]) CRESSES excluding the final letter (brief) S RECESS* |
A | |
| 27 |
Essence that’s disheartened former slave (4) Essene that’s disheartened former slave (4) ESNE (domestic slave in Anglo-Saxon times) ESNE (letters remaining in ESSENE when the central two letters SE are removed [dis-heartened]) ESNE |
C | |
| 28 |
Difficult part of fish course is eating herring’s head (8) Difficult part of fish course is eating erring’s head (8) FIENDISH (extremely difficult) (FIN [part of fish] + DISH [course, of a meal]) containing (is eating) E (first letter of [head of] ERRING) FI (E) N DISH |
H | |
| 29 |
Cut arm in Slough (6) Cut ar in Slough (6) SHARED (divided; cut) AR contained in (in) SHED (cast skin; slough) SH (AR) ED |
M | |
| 35 |
Speculate ague starts off sudden shivering (5) Speculate gue starts off sudden shivering (5) GUESS (speculate) GUE + SS (first letters of [start off [from]) each of SUDDEN and SHIVERING GUE SS |
A | |
| 37 |
Men inspired by passion around end of March to Lent (7, 2 words) Men inspired by passion around end of March to Let (7, 2 words) FOR HIRE (for rent; to let) OR (other ranks; men) contained in (inspired by) (FIRE [passion] containing [around] H [final letter of [{end of} MARCH]) F (OR) (H) IRE |
N | |
| 38 |
Listen as fierce hunters barked (4) Listen as fierce hunters bared (4) HARK (listen) SHARKS (voracious fish; fierce hunters) excluding the outer letters [bared] S and S HARK |
K | |
| 39 |
Imagine broadcast about ruins is painful experience (8) Imagine broadcast about runs is painful experience (8) MIGRAINE (severe throbbing pain affecting only one half of the head or face and usually accompanied by nausea) Anagram of (broadcast) IMAGINE containing (around) R (runs in cricket scoring notation) MIG (R) AINE* |
I | |
| 40 |
Pelt of small animal stolen by new socialite from the east (7) Pet of small animal stolen by new socialite from the east (7) BELOVED (darling;pet) (VOLE [small animal] contained in [stolen by] DEB [debutante; new socialite]) all reversed (from the east) (B (ELOV) ED)< |
L | |
| 41 |
Try lending to cost centre (5) Try ending to cost centre (5) HEART (centre) HEAR (of a judge and jury, try [in court]) + T (last letter of [ending to] COST) HEAR T |
L | |
| 42 |
Artist’s supporter resists killing odd characters wanting peace and quiet (8) Artist’s supporter reists killing odd characters wanting peace and quiet (8) EASELESS (having no peace or contentment, so wanting peace and quiet) EASEL (support for an artist’s canvas) + ESS (letters remaining in REISTS when characters 1,3 and 5 are removed [killing odd] ) EASEL ESS |
S | |
| Down | |||
| 2 |
Impatient teenager leaves out tent in pieces (5) Impatient teenager leaves out ten in pieces (5) EAGER (longing to do; enthusiastic; impatient) TEENAGER excluding the consecutive letters of TEN within (leaves in pieces) EAGER |
T | |
| 3 |
Cheer first in exams, hand others over (5) Cheer first in exams, and others over (5) ELATE (raise the spirits of; cheer) E (initial letter of [first in] EXAMS) + ET AL (and other people or things) reversed (over) E (LA TE)< |
H | |
| 4 |
Smaller group’s core accepting novice Northern Ireland revolutionary (8) Smaller group’s cor accepting novice Northern Ireland revolutionary (8) MINORITY (the smaller number less than half) MY (cor [blimey]) containing (accepting) (TIRO [beginner; novice] + NI [Northern Ireland]) all reversed (revolutionary) M (IN ORIT)< Y |
E | |
| 5 |
Nurse got register (5) Nurse go register (5) ENTRY (record; register) EN ([Enrolled] nurse]) + TRY (an attempt; a go) EN TRY |
T | |
| 6 |
Number whine about proposal (6) Number wine about proposal (6) TENDER (quotation; proposal) TEN (a number) + RED (type of wine) reversed (about) TEN DER< |
H | |
| 7 |
Deviant gloated having lied about abandoning that old habit (4) Deviant gloated having led about abandoning that old habit (4) TOGA (outer garment of a Roman citizen; old habit) Anagram of (deviant) GLOATED excluding (abandoning) an anagram of (about) LED TOGA* |
I | |
| 8 |
Religious leader’s brief chant (5) Religious leader’s brief chat (5) RABBI (religious leader) RABBIT (talk [at length]; chat) excluding the final letter (brief) T RABBI |
N | |
| 9 |
Framework is supporting empty cupboards to hold gowns (7) Framework is supporting empty cupboards to hold owns (7) CHASSIS (structural framework of a motor car) (CS [letters remaining in CUPBOARDS when the content UPBOARD is removed {empty}] containing [to hold] HAS [owns]) + IS As this is a down entry, IS is supporting CHASS C (HAS) S IS |
G | |
| 10 |
Asian fair set up near baths (6) Asian fair set up near bats (6) KOREAN (example of an Asian person) OK (okay; fair) reversed (set up; down entry) + an anagram of (bats) NEAR KO< REAN* |
H | |
| 11 |
King saw guards moved feast (6) King saw guards moved fast (6) DARTED (moved fast) DATED (went out with; saw) containing (guards) R (Rex; king) DA (R) TED |
E | |
| 12 |
Boyfriend picked up bowl (4) Boyfriend picked up bow (4) BEAU (boyfriend) BEAU (sounds like [picked up] BOW) BEAU |
L | |
| 17 |
Bounce about overwhelmed by alcohol (4) Bunce about overwhelmed by alcohol (4) GAIN (bunce [profit or GAIN]) A (about) contained in (overwhelmed by) GIN (alcohol) G (A) IN |
O | |
| 18 |
Freezing bagel videogram shows (5) Freezing bagel ideogram shows (5) GELID (icy; freezing) GELID (hidden word in [shows] BAGEL IDEOGRAM) GELID |
V | |
| 20 |
Principles of green mead and beer (8) Principles of green mad and beer (8) GENERALE (principles) Anagram of (mad) GREEN + ALE GENER* ALE |
E | |
| 22 |
Stop those people’s child (4) Top those people’s child (4) HEIR (child, especially a first-born one) THEIR (those people’s) excluding the first letter [top [cut off]) T HEIR |
S | |
| 24 |
The final ten clues, 24 down to 36 down have an extra letter in the wordplay Moderate unionist splits movement (7) ASSUAGE (mitigate; moderate) U (unionist) contained in (splits) PASSAGE (movement) PASS (U) AGE |
P | |
| 26 |
Astute quiet women immersed in study (6) SHREWD (astute) SH (directive to be quiet) + (W [women] contained in [immersed in] READ [study]) SH RE (W) AD |
A | |
| 27 |
Easy to divide what to give fraction? (6) EIGHTH (example of a fraction) LIGHT (easy) contained in (to divide) EH (expressing inquiry; what?) E (LIGHT) H |
L | |
| 28 |
Queen maybe recalled old fellow (6) FELINE (relating to cats of which a Queen or adult female cat is an example) (SENILE [characteristic of old age; old] + F [fellow]) all reversed (recalled) (F ELINES)< |
S | |
| 30 |
Frenchman’s dear Oscar is brave man (4) HERO (brave man) CHER (French for ‘darling or dear) + O (Oscar is the International Radio Communication codeword for the letter O) CHER O |
C | |
| 31 |
Solicitor’s one performing work (5) ASKER (one seeking; solicitor) TASKER (one performing [some work]) TASKER |
T | |
| 32 |
Ulcers and gashes (5) SORES (ulcers) SCORES (gashes) double definition SCORES |
C | |
| 33 |
Stun this wolf having uncovered each chemical substance (5) THIOL (mercaptan [substance analogous to an alcohol, with sulphur instead of oxygen]) TU (letters remaining in STUN when the outer letters S and N are removed [uncovered]) + THIS and WOLF treated similarly TU HI OL |
U | |
| 34 |
Journeys around English bays, perhaps (5) TREES (bays are examples of TREES) TREKS (journeys) containing (around) E (English) TRE (E) KS |
K | |
| 36 |
Spades with smell of dampness and fungus (4) SMUT (fungus causing a disease of plants) S (spades) + MUST (smell of dampness or staleness) S MUST |
S |
RECESS is every other letter from bRiEf C(a)rEsSeS
Thirty consecutive clues that needed to lose a letter prior to solving, so given that the run of thirteen clues from 38A to 9D had to comprise a part of those thirty clues, I decided to start there and work outwards from each end – pretty soon I had located the precise set of thirty. Answers went in smoothly, with no parsing issues. Found the quotation, spotted the symmetrically placed DARLING, BEAU, HERO & BELOVED, so got to work with the possible replacements – FAWNING, MOUE, PECK & CUTLASS proved consistent with the remaining lines of the verse. A very neat ending to a lovely puzzle.
RECESS : I concur with NiF @1 … that’s exactly how it worked for me.
Thanks to eXtent for a really entertaining puzzle, to duncanshiell for the blog and to fellow commenters for sharing their thoughts.
Oops! – every reference to Reading ‘Jail’ should, of course, be Reading ‘Gaol’
This was in my view a model Inquisitor puzzle, with excellent clues, a pleasing design with symmetrically placed thematic entries, and an interesting theme (a literary one this time) that had to be discovered and worked through.
From the outset I tried to find where the set of 30 clues of the first type (those having an extra letter in the clue) started and ended – which I managed to do before I got halfway. Knowing the type of each clue thereafter helped in solving them.
I started on the endgame lacking just one letter – the F from 16a ABASE (FA BASE). I found the quote and the verse in ODQ, and then came the enjoyable task of finding the four thematic entries and working out how to change them. CUTLASS came first, then PECK, and eventually the two hardest ones:MOUE and FAWNING (the last of which gave me the F of FA BASE).
Thanks to eXtent for a fine puzzle and to duncanshiell for an interesting and informative blog.
I enjoyed the gridfill but struggled with the replacements for a long time, despite having correctly identified what needed to be done.
My main issue was trying to replace HEART instead of HERO, and when that didn’t work trying to replace TENDER instead – both of which could also be taken to mean “lover”. Obviously I should have recognised the symmetry, which would have made life easier, but I thought the ambiguity on which words to replace, plus [partly] anagramming 4 words out of 17 random letters, was a very difficult ask.
It could have been made easier by either not including words such as HEART and TENDER, or by indicating that replacements were indeed in two pairs, with the letters for FAWNING and MOUE constituting the first 7 extra letters (before the quote), and the letters for PECK and CUTLASS the last 10 (after the quote) – a neat addition, which was not referenced.
Or maybe it was me just being a bit unlucky with the guessing this time.
I also failed to find the replacement words, but my issue was, having spotted the brave man in ‘hero’ I then opted for the coward in ‘rabbit’ at 8d, almost symmetrical. Naturally, I then struggled.
The solution is ingenious in the extreme, and I liked the fact that the quote is familiar and the symmetry of the four words, not that it helped me. But a very enjoyable ride until then; many thanks to eXtent and duncanshiell.
My experience was similar to Arnold @5. I located the poem and spotted Darling/Beloved without too much difficulty but then ground to a halt, largely because I had struggled to identify several of the letters required for substitution. (and also assumed Heart was going to be involved). Without these the resolution all felt rather too much like guesswork, unfortunately. Thanks to Duncan for explaining what I had missed.
A great puzzle, thoroughly enjoyed. The two types of clues were near enough in type to almost trip me up (I’m easily confused) but thankfully working out where the consecutive ones were pretty quickly helped. There seemed to be lots of possibilities for the endgame, but getting CUTLASS out of the way narrowed them down radically, and the rest fell with little ado.
arnold @5 : QUOTE : “with the letters for FAWNING and MOUE constituting the first 7 extra letters (before the quote), and the letters for PECK and CUTLASS the last 10 (after the quote)” …
That’s very well spotted indeed, Sir … I personally had completely missed that fact. You seem to come up trumps time and time again concerning such matters, and you’re very good at spotting the things that often get missed.
It’s why I always give thanks to fellow commenters.
Many thanks, arnold.