eXternal – equally good when solo or doubled up with Serpent.
Preamble: In 14 Across clues a word must be removed before solving, identifying members of an organisation. In each Down answer, a letter must be removed wherever it occurs before entry (always making a real word(s)). Reading in column order, letters removed to make upper entries spell a location; those to the lower entries spell a further member of the organisation,. In the final grid, solvers must black out twelve cells to depict another name for this member, with all final entries being real words. Letter-counts give entry lengths; word-counts relate to clue answers.
First time through I had very little in the upper half but quite a few answers/entries down below – not really sure why. I made an early stab at ROGER BARTLETT but strangely Google let me down. (User error?)
When I had about 90% of the lower half complete, but only maybe 10% of the upper, I decided to see what a search engine would make of the several removals I’d identified in the across clues: cooler, dispersal, forger, king, scrounger, surveyor, tailor (although dispersal didn’t look much like a member of anything). As you will all now be aware, the top hit was of course “The Great Escape”.
The remaining so-called members to be removed were now confirmed/revealed: diversions, ferret, intelligence, manufacturer, mole, security, tunnel (again, diversions feeling a bit of an odd one out). Not much left really: ROGER BARTLETT was indeed the mastermind behind the escape from STALAG LUFT III, the former being known as Big X. It seemed immediately clear to me that the 12 cells to be blacked out would comprise 4 limbs of 3 cells each emanating from the central cell. I have seen the film, but the only actors/characters that stuck in my mind were Steve McQueen (The Cooler King) playing catch with a baseball & glove while in solitary confinement, and of course the motorcycle jumping the fence (though that may have been a stunt double); and Donald Pleasence (The Forger) who, because of his failing eyesight, sadly was not allowed to join the others in their escape attempt.
With all the excitement over my task was now to finish solving the remaining clues, never a hugely satisfying job when the endgame is already over and done with. But one does have to admire the grid: making sure the down entries are real words after the removing the letters from the answers and ensuring that those letters spell the two key phrases is no mean feat. Piled on top of that the requirement that we’re still left with real words after blacking out the 12 cells that make the X, the end product is a real achievement.
I do have one problem however, with 4d, where the answer ARÊTES has to become RETES before entry. In Chambers (& Collins) the plural of RETE is given as RETIA and the only reference that I can find online is to RÉTES for Hungarian strudel – not really sure if this is what the author had in mind!
Unfortunately for me, there was no great penny-drop moment, no wow factor. But a good puzzle from eXternal nonetheless – thanks.
| No. | Clue [removal] | Ans[w]er | Wordplay |
| Across | |||
| 1 | Unknown American back occupying doctor in charge of wee difficulty (7) | DYSURIC | Y (unknown) US< (American) in DR (doctor) IC (in charge) |
| 7 | Vigilant hawk takes [mole] after dropping wings (5) | AWAKE | (h)AW(k) (t)AKE(s) |
| 12 | Heavenly Queen that was participating in virtuous [diversions] (9) | ETHERICAL | ER (Queen that was) in ETHICAL (virtuous) |
| 13 | Impressionist front of house for some time in Spenserian work (6) | MONETH | MONET (impressionist) H(ouse) |
| 14 | Army officer without [intelligence] left classes (6) | GENERA | GENERAL (army officer) ¬ L(eft) |
| 15 | Women getting on wobbly ladder in really big [tunnel] (8, 2 words) | OLD DEARS | [LADDER]* in OS (really big) |
| 18 | Caught notice, [ferret] taking bite into very hard wiry plant (8, 2 words) | SEA HEATH | homophone SEE (notice) EAT (bite) in HH (very hard) |
| 20 | Alcohol filling silver [cooler] getting mature (5) | AGING | GIN (alcohol) in AG (silver) |
| 21 | Tobacco tin [manufacturer] with unopened sample (8) | CANASTER | CAN (tin) (t)ASTER (sample) |
| 23 | Fake [forger] made in quarter of North African city (6) | MEDINA | [MADE IN]* |
| 25 | Ring the French [security] placed around American plant (6) | TUPELO | O (ring) LE (the, Fr) PUT (placed) all< |
| 27 | Happen to pen Independent article and indoctrinate [king] with heretical views (8) | ARIANISE | ARISE (happen) around I(ndependent) AN (article) |
| 30 | Fruit pulp [dispersal] by centre in Sulawesi (5) | PAPAW | PAP (pulp) (Sul)AW(esi) |
| 32 | Group of soldiers reported capturing northern member of Persian dynasty (8) | SASSANID | SAS (group of soldiers) SAID (reported) around N(orthern) |
| 36 | Speculative trading having a small amount invested in mine to the west (8) | AGIOTAGE | A IOTA (small amount) in EGG< (mine) |
| 38 | Supplies of provisions [scrounger] ran to feed Nazi corps (6) | STORES | TORE (ran) in SS (Nazi corps) |
| 39 | Cleaner ignoring a [surveyor] going round part of parapet (6) | CRENEL | [CLEANER ¬ A]* |
| 40 | Maiden processed a certain vitamin (9) | MENADIONE | [MAIDEN]* ONE (a certain) |
| 41 | Somewhat mediocre [tailor] peculiarly wrinkled fabric (5) | CREPE | (medio)CRE PE(culiarly) |
| 42 | Bay in Antarctica became hostile restricting ship by afternoon (7, 2 words) | ROSS SEA | ROSE (became hostile) around SS (ship) A(fternoon) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Trial versions turning up one or other day (4) | DEMO[S] | SOME (one or other) D(ay) all< |
| 2 | Asian tree dead, endlessly parched beneath burning star (6) | SUND[A]RI | D(ead) ARI(d) (parched) after SUN (burning star) |
| 3 | University crackpot rid alien of fungal pustule, in LA (8) | UREDINIA[L] | U(niversity) [RID ALIEN]* |
| 4 | Schedule important date to climb rocky ridges (5) | [A]RETES | SET (schedule) ERA (important date) all< |
| 5 | Child learning all about algae (6) | CH[L]ORE[LL]A | CH(ild) LORE (learning) ALL< |
| 6 | Become upset, as above reptiles (4) | TEG[U]S | GET< (become) US (ut supra, as above) |
| 7 | Engineers cutting buzz succeeded (4) | [F]ARED | RE (engineers) in FAD (buzz) |
| 8 | Pinch tons on part of aircraft base (5) | [T]WINGE | T(ons) WING (part of aircraft) E (base) |
| 9 | Excite gathering: carbon and iron’s beginning to turn into steel (7) | AC[I]ERATE | AERATE (excite) around C(arbon) I(ron) |
| 10 | Strict Jew’s area strewn about with kit (6) | KARA[I]TE | [AREA KIT]* |
| 11 | Power leads in the artist’s garage bitten by rodent (6) | VOL[T]AGE | T(he) A(rtist’s) G(arage) in VOLE (rodent) |
| 16 | Lean to grab racket for restart to match (6) | THROW-[I]N | THIN (lean) around ROW (racket) |
| 17 | Old-style legging Graham’s damaged (6) | G[R]AMASH | [GRAHAMS]* |
| 19 | Extravagant preacher runs on before rector (4) | [R]ANTE[R] | R(uns) ANTE (before) R(ector) |
| 21 | Imprisoning international gang caught at sea (4) | CA[G]IN[G] | [I(nternational) GANG C(aught)]* |
| 22 | Prominently displays special dishes (8) | SP[L]ATTERS | S(pecial) PLATTERS (dishes) |
| 24 | Sprinkle of operations mounted in darkness (7) | DISPON[G]E | OPS< (operations) in DINGE (darkness) |
| 26 | See German taken in by prop that’s greatest (6) | LARGES[T] | LA (see) G(erman) in REST (prop) |
| 28 | Roll skewered by advanced cooking apparatus (6) | R[O]ASTER | ROSTER (roll) around A(dvanced) |
| 29 | Italian lady translated new parts from Norwegian’s novel (6) | SIGNOR[A] | [NORWEGIANS ¬ NEW]* |
| 31 | Place a submachine-gun over big revolvers (6) | PLAN[E]TS | PL(ace) A STEN< (submachine-gun) |
| 33 | Difficult predicament when first of runaways gets caught in breakout (5) | SCRAP[E] | R(unaways) in SCAPE (breakout) |
| 34 | Rustic warning on stone (5) | FORES[T] | FORE (warning) ST(one) |
| 35 | Reportedly strain making old-style plait (4) | B[R]EDE | homophone BREED (strain) |
| 36 | Fundamental ingredient I stuffed inside fish (4) | [B]ASIS | I in BASS (fish) |
| 37 | Dried leaves hiding fifty-one spore clusters (4) | [T]ELIA | TEA (dried leaves) around LI (fifty-one) |
Another excellent puzzle from a top setter. Often the best part of these puzzles is solving the crossword, the theme and endgame being a bonus to make the puzzle interesting, rewarding and memorable. This was the case here. The clues were as good as I hoped and expected, and OLD DEARS, CHLORELLA and VOLTAGE were gems. I found the device used in the Down clues a bit easier to cope with than the extra words in the Acrosses, and my first four clues solved were Downs, all in the lower half of the grid. The top right quadrant was particularly sticky, SEA HEATH being my last entry.
I didn’t know the theme well enough to match all the references given by the surplus words in the Across clues, but that was not a requirement, and I’m happy to have collected all 14 references.
I had to read more about the subject of the theme in order to know what to black out in the grid, as I had clearly not remembered everything from the multiple times (perhaps only three in reality) that I have seen the film.
It’s a curious coincidence that Inquisitor no. 1724, 100 puzzles before this one, was also called Flight Plan (by Kruger).
Thanks to eXternal, and to HolyGhost for a comprehensive blog.
Much enjoyed here too. All thanks to eXternal and HG. The straightforward title and generous hints in clues (Army officer … Group of soldiers … Nazi corps … German taken in … first of runaways gets caught in breakout) made it no huge surprise when STALAG began to emerge as the location. I had to look up Big X, from which as with HG the endgame followed at once. Lovely stuff.
HG
I share your doubt concerning the grid entry to 4D. The clue and answer (ARÊTES) are in complete agreement, but evidently RETES is not a valid alternative to the plural retia. As the entry is undefined it can be any valid word, so perhaps we have to look beyond our printed reference sources and go elsewhere as you did (with RÉTES)!
Classic Inquisitor stuff. Satisfying and I’d say around mid-table difficulty-wise. It was only while doing this that I realised I haven’t actually seen The Great Escape. It’s so embedded in the culture in references, parodies etc that I really thought I had. So there was some googling involved. I wondered if the dropped words in the across clues might actually hay made it too easy for people who knew the film.
Re retes – I hadn’t noticed the problem. OED has rete as a variant of ret (the verb), so that would work. It also has a quotation from 1677 that seems to have “rete’s” as a plural (with the unexplained apostrophe) – but that is for an obsolete meaning and they don’t list it as a plural at the top – just retia. To be fair, there doesn’t seem to be much you can’t justify with the OED. It’s vast.
Indeed lovely, middle-of-the-road, clean Inquisitor fun. I haven’t seen the film so the across words didn’t help and I had to wait until STALAG emerged until the rest fell into place. It was interesting, if rather depressing, to read up on the true story behind the film – despite the Great Escape, only 3 of 50 odd seem to have survived.
A very impressive grid construction with abridged down words remaining real – this also made it a lot easier to enter them, as there were usually only 1 or 2 options available.
Interestingly there was an EV not long ago on the same theme, with Virgil Hilts and the Cooler King talking to each other through the prison walls.
Thank you both.
Arnold@5; well remembered (I was wondering whether anyone would). One minor correction – Hilts was of course the Cooler King, and the puzzle depicted him and Archie Ives in adjacent cells. More to the point, the two puzzles appeared when and where they did after some gentlemanly discussion between editors once the potential clash of themes emerged. Next, maybe, the motorcycle jump?
Ifor @6
You mention the famous motorcycle jump, as did HolyGhost in his introduction. While looking up some info I needed for this puzzle I’m sure I read that Steve McQueen performed all his stunts (as he requested) except for that jump (was it too risky?). A professional stunt rider Bud Ekins performed that stunt.
Ifor @6 of course you’re right, typed in a hurry.
Surprised to see quite so much editorial alignment!
Arnold, naturally it helps that all the editors of these sorts of puzzles are also accomplished and experienced setters for their own and one another’s series. And my use of “gentlemanly” is no exaggeration and universally applicable.
A late comment as I am well behind with my IQs due to other events getting in the way.
Another good one from eXternal, which I enjoyed. I pretty much agree with what has been said. I did notice, however that no-one mentioned that Roger Bartlett was the name of X in the film whereas the man himself was Roger Bushell.