eXternal and Serpent join forces once more to befuddle and entertain.
The wordplay in all but seven clues contains a bogus letter to be changed before solving. In order, the bogus letters identify four writers of letters, either indirectly or partially. Solvers must replace three thematic entries in the completed grid with the bogus letter writer (always leaving real words).
Have I mentioned that I like puzzles by eXtent? If not, well, then I do. Is it because, like today, I usually know where I stand and can anticipate a good, clear-cut endgame, together with witty clues pitched at my level? That would probably be it.
Bogus letters. Well, that made things a little interesting when unpicking some of the wordplay, but as our setting duo were in a forgiving mood, not too “interesting”, and so the grid was filled with little ado, and an admittedly childish snigger when it came to MERKin, which is one of those words that you either knew, or you didn’t, but I bet most of us did.
The upshot of those bogus letters was of course a literary forgery committed by Lee ISRAEL, and recounted in both the book and film CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? Now, this is a DVD that I do have in the cupboard but have never watched, so I had to rely on Wikipedia to tell me that she forged letters by LOUISE BROOKS, DOROTHY PARKER and NOEL COWARD.
To my shame, I didn’t notice until I came to writing this that the seven clues without bogus letters give the breaks between the words, which is a very nice touch. But pearls before swine, etc.
Replace the alleged authors in the grid with ISRAEL, and we have a most satisfying endgame.
I’ve still not worked out entirely what that title is about, but I bet you have. Land = Israel?
| Clue | Bogus Letter | Corrected Letter | Answer | Wordplay | |
| ACROSS | |||||
| 1 | Female observer perhaps scared by male chauvinist (4) | C | N | LECH | Hidden (snared by) maLE CHauvinist |
| 5 | Clearly indicate job’s taken beforehand (8) | A | O | SIGNPOST | SIGN (token) POST |
| 10 | The Bahamas contains no bears (6) | N | D | BROOKS | ROOK (do) contained in BS (The Bahamas) |
| 11 | Primitive tool set fire to weed around borders (6) | EOLITH | LIT contained in a reversal of HOE | ||
| 12 | League in New York backs Yonkers venue at various levels (8) | Y | B | UNEVENLY | N(L)Y after an anagram (bonkers) of VENUE |
| 13 | Solver beginning to read article about what’s set (4) | O | I | AGAR | AG (silver) + a reversal of R A |
| 14 | Ivy ducked redhead swimming (6) | U | O | HEDERA | An anagram of rEDHEAD docked |
| 16 | Sorting out one consumed by tense fury (6) | TRIAGE | T R(I)AGE | ||
| 19 | Unit managed to cure recurrent condition briefly (6) | E | B | RADIAN | RAN contains (curbs) presumably AIDs reversed |
| 21 | Obsolete volume settled vote (5) | V | N | LITRE | LIT + RE (note) which is indeed according to Chambers an obsolete volume |
| 23 | Beer contains right element (6) | E | A | STRAND | STAND (bear) about R |
| 24 | One enters bay by circling crest (6) | R | H | PARKER | Think parking bay. PER about ARK (chest) |
| 25 | Scoundrel upset man of the cloth (6) | CURATE | CUR ATE | ||
| 26 | Play featuring Fate and incarnation of God (5) | F | D | DRAMA | D (date) + RAMA |
| 27 | Ground isn’t carrying out sport (6) | O | N | TENNIS | An anagram of ISNT about EN for nut, one of those things none of us knew before we started doing crosswords |
| 29 | Rear up as this membrane burst (6) | R | L | PLEURA | An anagram of REAL (or LEAR for that matter) UP (burst) would give you PLEURA |
| 31 | Egging on special constable by finishing off game plan (6) | G | D | SCHEME | HEM (edging) on SC + the E from game |
| 34 | Adult abandons silly tone (4) | I | U | TINT | TaINT without the A |
| 35 | Vow to stop a French Communist separated from painter? (8) | V | L | UNMOORED | MOO (low) inside UN RED – a painter is a rope for mooring a ship |
| 36 | Armed guard involves me in shocking treatment? (6) | E | Y | ESCORT | COR (my) inside EST |
| 37 | Huge chunk of hot fish chokes one lacking adventurous appetite? (6) | COWARD | WARm inside COD | ||
| 38 | Team inspiring men that is on the rise again (8) | M | R | REORIENT | RENT (tear) containing OR IE – another definition you won’t have known beforehand |
| 39 | New shoe from Sweden, not a sportswear brand (4) | E | P | NIKE | N IKEa (a shop I’ve managed to avoid setting foot in to date) minus the A |
| DOWN | |||||
| 2 | Large bird’s lake home, we’re told (4) | L | T | ERNE | Sounds like EARN (take home) |
| 3 | Revisers working together tried so badly to support form (9) | O | I | COEDITORS | CO (firm) + an anagram of TRIED SO |
| 4 | Remain undecided about going below hut (5) | U | O | HOVER | H (hot) + OVER |
| 5 | Seeker having exposed lies quit search for Highlander (4) | I | E | SKER | SeeKER without the middle letters from lEEs to give our obligatory Scottish word |
| 6 | Son with support raised money (4) | S | T | GELT | T (ton) + LEG reversed |
| 7 | Caught fleer without subtlety (5) | E | Y | PLAIN | Sounds like PLANE (flyer) |
| 8 | Some players assume this male upended locks on middle of field (9, 2 words) | STAGE NAME | STAG + MANE reversed + E | ||
| 9 | Shabby cardinal consuming half of mead with pud (10) | D | B | THREADBARE | THREE containing half of meAD + BAR (pub) |
| 14 | Spoilt pooch with elite mode of transport (10) | O | R | HELICOPTER | An anagram of PORCH and ELITE |
| 15 | Love having furs on (5) | R | S | ADORE | ADO (fuss) + RE |
| 17 | Considered gross newspaper boss (5) | O | A | RATED | RAT (grass) + ED |
| 18 | Picture is for all to see, framed with tag (9) | T | B | VISUALISE | IS + U contained by VALISE (bag) |
| 20 | Heat up Asia realm for Tibetan monastery (9) | H | B | LAMASERAI | An anagram (beat up) of ASIA REALM |
| 22 | Diner tidier after toy’s removed (5) | Y | P | EATER | nEATER after the top’s removed |
| 23 | Hide containers of alcohol from relatives within two seconds (5) | SKINS | S KIN S | ||
| 27 | Second person in Brent to take coach (5) | N | S | TUTOR | TU (Brest is a French city) + TO + R (take) |
| 28 | Turned up broadcast about end of Plato (5) | O | H | SHOWN | SOWN about the last letter of Plath |
| 30 | Searched for missing ties and stake (4) | E | P | ANTE | wANTEd missing the tips |
| 32 | Waterfowl led to bite duck (4) | L | B | COOT | COT (a bed) about O |
| 33 | Pubic wig has dropped in old bit of Glasgow (4) | MERK | MERKin – I bet you sniggered childishly too |
Another challenging puzzle (to follow the last three Inquisitors I have attempted!). After solving my first clue at 39a (NIKE), I found that I could build on that answer in the SE of the grid, and from there I managed to fill the grid in two quite long sessions. Appropriately, my last in was 1a LECH, directly opposite NIKE. It was only when I finished that I noticed where the ‘unadulterated’ clues were placed: in the gaps between the words and names formed by the bogus letters – a very neat piece of design of the sort that I have seen before, probably from the same setter. (And there is no shame, Jon_S, in not noticing this until afterwards!)
Using all the collected bogus letters from the clues, it was a straightforward task to find all the thematic names and replace all three names in the grid with the surname of the forger Lee Israel.
I appreciated very much the whole thematic design of this puzzle. I had a couple of queries among the clues, but these have now been resolved.
Thanks to eXtent and Jon_S.
Arable = lee, land = Israel.
Kirsanov @2 – Thanks, I’d missed the alternative spelling of lea.
@3 I missed that too — I’d assumed the title gave Lea Israel with a “bogus” letter, to be adjusted as in so many clues to become Lee Israel.
Much enjoyed and neat design appreciated — all thanks to eXtent and Jon_S. To my possible shame I didn’t know the perpetrator, book or film, but the three familiar surnames led there very straightforwardly.
A very enjoyable puzzle only slightly held up by my initially trying to fit ISRAEL’s first names into the top two replacement boxes (LEONORE CAROL unfortunately having 12 letters!) rather than tripling up on the last name.
Grid construction, clues and letter placing were all excellent, as was to be expected from eXtent, plus an interesting topic I wasn’t familiar with. What’s not to like?
Usual superb clueing and a clear endgame. Enlightening too. More of this sort of thing please
We really enjoyed this one. We had no knowledge of the theme so needed a search online but all very satisfying.
Thanks to Jon_S and eXtent.
I can only echo the praise: an exemplary and very pleasurable entry. I did know the film, which gave me a bit of a leg-up when ‘ever forgive’ emerged. Thanks to eXtent and Joe_S.
Another great example of what it takes to make a classic Inquisitor puzzle: fine clues, a well-worked device to generate the four writers (with the inter-word spacing showing attention to detail), lovely grid layout, and a theme known by some but by no means all – me included. Bravo to the duo of setters. (And thanks to Jon_S for the blog, obvs.)