Enigmatic Variations No. 1543: Hard Bargain by Opsimath

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Opsimath is threatening to drive a HARD BARGAIN with EV solvers this week…

The (fairly short and sweet) preamble states that:

“Wordplay in across clues gives an extra letter not required in the answer; in clue order, these letters spell out part of a quotation suggesting a HARD BARGAIN. Solvers must highlight the name of the original writer; five participants involved in a related project are unclued. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

My first action was to draw ‘sausages’ around the unclued lights – in pencil, and on my working copy – to help focus the mind on them, once any crossers started appearing. The next was just to start solving – and in this case I started on the Downs, as they were ‘normal’.

I made fairly quick progress, helped by some relatively gentle (for an EV) clueing, and the relatively small (12×12) grid, eventually working up into the Across clues and their extra letters.

The PDM wasn’t so much the flash of a lightbulb, but more of a 3-way ‘osmosis’, as the extra letters started to suggest ‘AN OFFER’ that couldn’t be REFUSEd; a couple of unclued lights suggested (James) CAAN and (Al) PACINO, and the main diagonal started to reveal MARIO PUZO.

So, we are in ‘The Godfather‘ territory, with the original 1969 book written by Signor Puzo, the extra letters giving ‘…AN OFFER HE CAN’T REFUSE…’, and the 1972 film version (for which Puzo wrote the screenplay) starring (Marlon) BRANDO, PACINO, (Diane) KEATON, (Robert) DUVALL and CAAN:

 

There were a few new/obscure (to me) words that needed double checking in Chambers after working out from wordplay and crossers – Q-SHIPS, FINJAN, FIRLOT, ACCLOY, and the roulette terminology of IMPAIR, which I think was my LOP (last one parsed). And I also noticed, as I was setting up the grid in Paul Drury’s excellent ‘crossword utilities’ site, that the grid is a pangram. (Paul added an enhancement a while back to check for pangrams, as well as potential Nina material in perimeters, unchecked cells, and diagonals…)

From my point of view, this wasn’t as hard a bargain as it first seemed – the rare event of an EV completed in a single session, which is always a bonus when it is one’s turn to blog!

Many thanks to Opsimath for the challenge – I hope I haven’t missed anything else more subtle – and I trust all is clear below…

 

Across
Clue No Extra letters Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/Parsing (extra letters in brackets)
7 A CASK Sack a sack for pin (4)

anag, i.e. sack, of A S(A)CK
10 N AMBO Pulpit where Dumbledore actor loses head (4)

Michael (G)AMBO(N), actor who played Dumbledore in the HP films, losing first letter, or head
11 O CLOACAE Gents, perhaps in about a hundred aged sewers (7)

C_A (circa, about) around LO(O) (Gents, perhaps), plus C (a hundred, Roman numeral) + AE (aetatis, Latin, aged so many years)
14 F PHEW Acid rating small in number: that’s a relief! (4)

PH (pH value, acid rating) + (F)EW (small in number)
16 F ACCRA Accompanied Italian brother in capital (5)

ACC (accompanied) + (F)RA (fra, Italian for brother, or friar)

[the capital of Ghana]
17 E FIRLOT Sack with large amount in Scot’s measure (6)

FIR(E) (sack) + LOT (large amount)
18 R PHARISEE Formalist here is confused with rap (8)

anag, i.e. confused, of HERE IS and (R)AP
19 H PROA Broken harpoon not on sailing-boat (4)

subtractive anagram, i.e. broken, of (H)ARPO(ON), not ‘on’
21 E FLYNN Hurry 22·5° to see this old star (5)

FLY (hurry) + NN(E) (north-north-east, or 22.5 degrees from North)

[old star = Errol Flynn!]
22 C DEFAT Remove unwanted stuff from contract recognised in law (5)

DE FA(C)T(O) – recognised in law, short of one letter, or contracted!
24 A SPRY Nimble shoot or twig (4)

a SPR(A)Y can be a shoot or a twig
28 N EXPUNGES Wipes out Roman clan after old joke (8)

EX (old) + PUN (joke) + GE(N)S (Latin, i.e. Roman – people, or tribe)
29 T VANDAL Destroyer of the box with aluminium (6)

(T)V (the box) + AND (with) + AL (aluminium)
30 R CZECH European unknown in short nativity scene (5)

C(R)_ECH(E) (nativity scene, short of one letter) around Z (maths, unknown quantity)
31 E SOLO Flatfish with Salmo’s tail, for one (4)

SOL(E) (flatfish) + O (last letter, or tail, or ‘salmO’)
33 F MOKI Fish seen in form of kipper (4)

hidden word in, i.e. seen in, ‘forM O(F) KIpper’
34 U LLANERO When disturbed, this plainsman’s no allure (7)

anag, i.e. disturbed, of NO ALL(U)RE
35 S ALAP A rebuke for bit of Indian music (4)

A + (S)LAP (rebuke)
36 E LENS One helps to observe characters partial to idleness (4)

hidden word in, i.e. characters partial to, ‘idLEN(E)Ss’
Down
Clue No Extra letters Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/Parsing (extra letters in brackets)
1 DA CAPO Attorney and Mafia boss start over (6, two words)

DA (District Attorney) + CAPO (Mafia boss)
2 ABACAS Some casaba cases which may produce hemp (6)

hidden word in, i.e. som of, ‘casABA CASes’
3 CON Learn to swindle Tory (3)

triple definition – to CON can mean to stufy, learn; CON can be to swindle; and CON can be an abbreviation for Conservative!
4 IMPAIR Weaken, not even in roulette (6)

double defn. – to IMPAIR can be to weaken; and IMPAIR is a French adjective for an odd (‘not even’) number, especially in roulette
5 OLE Exclamation of triumph over the French (3)

O (over) + LE (the, definite article, in French)
6 BOWIE Pioneer or songwriter submit to Indo-European (5)

BOW (submit to) + IE (Indo-European)

[Jim Bowie – frontiersman; or David Bowie – songwriter]
8 ACCLOY Cause nail injury to outmoded accountant with Irish spade (6)

ACC (accountant) + LOY (Irish spade)

[ACCLOY = to injure with a horseshoe nail – a very specific way to injure someone!…presumably referring to injuries suffered by horses from faulty farriery…]
9 SALOON DECK Pack under bar where superior passengers hang out (10, two words)

SALOON (bar) + DECK (pack, of cards)
12 AIRILY Whimsically beheaded in a jaunty manner (6)

(F)AIRILY – whimsically, beheaded!
13 ACHIEVABLE Beach alive with bugs? It’s possible (10)

anag, i.e. with bugs, of BEACH ALIVE
15 HUSOS Hook users initially help big fish (5)

HU (initial letters of Hook Users) + SOS (cry for help)
19 PARDON Norm to assume forgiveness (6)

PAR (norm) + DON (assume, of clothing)
20 APPEL Last of fruit coming forward in misleading stamp (5)

APPL(E) – fruit – with last letter brought forward one position = APPEL
23 FINJAN Cup used with zarf carried by ragamuffin janissary (6)

hidden word in, i.e. carried by, ‘ragamufFIN JANissary’
25 RUCOLA Rocket’s dreadful clamour leaving Malta (6)

subtractive anag, i.e. dreadful, of CLA(M)OUR, leaving out M – Malta

[rocket as in type of lettuce, rather than space-bound machinery]
26 AGE-OLD Ancient lodge destroyed following advance (6)

A (advance) followed by GE-OLD (anag, i.e. destroyed, of LODGE)
27 Q-SHIPS Sufficient quantity with joints disguised vessels (6)

Q-S (quantum sufficit, Latin, used in prescriptions for ‘a sufficient quantity) + HIPS (joints)

[a Q-ship being a ship with disguised weapons, to deceive and destroy submarines]
28 EASEL Artist’s support essential to her plans wasn’t great value (5)

middle letters, i.e. essences of, ‘hEr plAns waSn’t grEat vaLue’
32 ORB Item of regalia some pawnbroker returned (3)

reversed hidden word, i.e. some and returned, in ‘pawnBROker’
33 MAN Graduate with knight, king or queen perhaps (3)

MA (Master of Arts, graduate) + N (knight, chess notation – k = king!)

[chess pieces being called ‘men’ – even the queen…let’s not go there!]

4 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No. 1543: Hard Bargain by Opsimath”

  2. A fairly quick but enjoyable solve, with a theme that was helpfully recognisable, even if I had forgotten some of the cast members. The NE corner proved the most stubborn to yield for me. Thanks to Opsimath for the entertainment and to mc-rapper for the review.

  3. Thanks, tim the toffee, and Stick Insect.
    There is a setter’s blog over on the BD site, where Opsimath gives some background on the gestation of this puzzle…including an apology for FINJAN, with an implied suggestion that we should all travel to Turkey at some point to try one…apparently it helped with the pangram!

  4. I enjoyed solving this and discovering a theme that I was sufficiently familiar with without having to look up the names – except for Duvall. I got the theme from ??OFFERH….: I guessed ‘An offer he…’ and looked up ‘offer’ in my ODQ, which gave me that line and the name Mario Puzo.

    I left 27d incomplete, not having heard of either qs or Q-ships.

    Thanks to Opsimath and mc_rapper67.

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