Inquisitor 1795: Come Into Force by Apt

Come Into Force by Apt

A letter must be inserted into all down and most across clues before solving. In down clues these give the first of five sentences of a statement. In across clues they describe a famous three-word feature of the statement, which must replace two entries to represent the fifth sentence (in original and updated forms) creating new real crossing words. These entries must be highlighted, together with 16 cells spelling out part of the fourth sentence. Drawing a circle through the 16 cells will produce a rough depiction of the entity named in the second sentence.

It’s very rarely I fully understand the preamble on first reading and this was no exception. I find it best to concentrate on just the first bit where we’re told that all down clues and most(!) across clues need to have a letter added before solving.I found it hard to get started but eventually I misread 1d as “I’ll speak” and solved it. I dismissed it at first because I remembered reading that only some clues were affected. Eventually, of course, I reread it as “I’ll peak” and I was on my way.

It was no walk in the park though but I soon had enough letters to see the makings of SPLIT INFINITIVE in the across clue letters. I was solving it with elmac and she asked what “SPLIT INFINITIVE” meant. She knew really but just wanted reassurance. I explained it to her giving my limited knowledge of Star Trek as, probably, the most famous (or infamous) example of such. I then misquoted the Star Trek introduction to the best of my ability and she spotted SPACE THE FINAL FRONTIER in the down letters.

Now, we’re motoring but the preamble’s still not making much sense until I realise that it’s referring to the monologue at the start of Star Trek episodes:

1. Space: the final frontier.
2. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
3. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

(as taken from Wikipedia)

Though that looks like only three sentences to me but, I suppose, one could argue that it could be split:

1. Space: the final frontier
2. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
3. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds.
4. To seek out new life and new civilizations.
5. To boldly go where no man has gone before.

Further research took me to here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_no_man_has_gone_before, which does show it as five sentences and it also shows that, at the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the introduction was changed to replace NO MAN with NO ONE in order to remain gender neutral.

So, the across letters spell (appropriately) SP LIT INFI NITIV E and SPACE THE FINAL FRONTIER.

The sixteen letter phrase to highlight is TO SEEK OUT NEW LIFE and 18a (NO MAN) and 30a (NO ONE) have to be replaced by TO BOL and DLY GO, respectively. When these cells are shaded, it shows a representation of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), the original ship in Star Trek

I saw a few episodes of the original Star Trek series in the 1970s but I’m by no means a Trekker (or is it Trekkie) and I’m sure there are more expert solvers than me out there. And I’m sure one of you will be able to explain the title: Come Into Force.

I thought that this was the first puzzle from Apt but it turns out that he/she set Inquisitor 1591 in April 2019.

Despite my limited knowledge of Star Trek, I enjoyed this puzzle immensely. Thanks Apt.