Any Inquisitor published on 23rd December will be likely to have a theme ….
We had a fairly standard length preamble this week which told us that “A letter, wherever it appears, has been misprinted in the definition of 14 clues. The correct letters (ignoring duplicates within the same clue) lead to the source material of the theme. In the completed grid, solvers must change all but one of the letters of a name to reveal nine thematic words (all in straight lines, covering 59 cells) and then highlight the first letters of each of these words. The name must be written below the grid. All final entries are real words.”
14 misprints in 49 clues didn’t seem too frightening, but 59 cells to highlight out of a grid of 169 cells seemed quite a lot. I told myself it would all become clear and started to solve the clues.
It was a steady solve with the misprints slowly revealing themselves. I was struggling to make sense of the early part of the message describing the source material until I realised that we were probable going to be dealing with Roman numerals. Eventually it became clear what was going on when two of the Roman numerals were actually part of the word XMAS.
The full message was
MCMLV XMAS NO ONE – 1955 Christmas Number One
There are plenty of lists of Christmas Number Ones on the web, the one I used being accessed by clicking here
Reading the list showed that the 1955 Number One was ‘Christmas Alphabet’ sung by Dickie VALENTINE
At this point I had a good look at the grid which I don’t tend to do when I am solving. Reading across a number of the rows I saw strings of letters like APPINESS, EINDEER and ISTLETOE which were almost the same as some of the entries in the Christmas Alphabet as shown by the lyrics below.
C is for the CANDY trimmed around the Christmas tree
H is for the HAPPINESS with all the family
R is for the REINDEER prancing by the window pane
I is for the ICING on the cake as sweet as sugar cane
S is for the STOCKING on the chimney wall
T is for the TOYS beneath the tree so tall
M is for the MISTLETOE where everyone is kissed
A is for the ANGELS who make up the Christmas list
S is for old SANTA who makes every kid his pet
Be good, and he’ll bring you everything in your Christmas Alphabet
It was only at this point that I realised that the letters in CHRISTMAS were replacing the letters in VALENTINE which was a clever touch that probably increased Shark’s challenge in creating the grid. Of course it was helpful that both CHRISTMAS and VALENTINE have 9 letters. Note that the T in VALENTINE and CHRISTMAS both occur at position 6, so that letter is unchanged in the grid. The 9 items in the alphabet do indeed comprise 59 cells in the grid.
Ther chnages from VALENTINE to CHRISTMAS generates some new words in the grid s shown below. As the preamble says they are all real words (another challenge passed by Shark!)
V to C changes SIVAN to SICAN at 1a
A to H changes SAUNTERS to SHUNTERS at 1d
L to R changes TITLE to TITRE at 18a
E to I changes DEVA to DIVA at 19d
N to S changes PEPSIN to PEPSIS [cola drinks] at 16d
No change for the T
I to M [along with a N to A below] changes FORINT to FORMAT at 30d
N to A changes BENN to BEAN at 42a and [along with I to M above] changes FORINT to FORMAT at 30d
E to S changes INTERNEE to INTERNES [American spelling of INTERNE] at 44a and MESE to MESS at 37d
The graphics below show the original solved grid, followed by the location of VALENTINE, followed by an animation showing the transfer to CHRISTMAS and the depiction of the 9 items.
The final grid should have the name VALENTINE written below it.
Should you feel an urge to listed ot Dickie Valentine’s dulcet tones, there are several You Tube videos highlighting the Christmas Alphabet, one of which can be seen by clicking here You may need a Google or YouTube login to see the video.
The detailed table below shows where the misprints were located, the corrected clues, as well as the parsing for all the entries. The clues provided a typical Inquisitor challenge, and led to a few obscure words as would expect in a barred crossword.
Thanks to Shark for a fun puzzle that brought back memories of listening to the song when it first appeared in 1955. The Wikipedia link above provides an interesting social history of the changes in music genres since the early 1950s but it clear that schmaltz still plays a part and probably will do so at Christmas again in the future.
I think the title is based on a phrase like Easy as A, B, C…
| No | Detail | Correct
Letter |
| Across | ||
| 1 | Might put back, in the year, month 36 (5)
SIVAN (ninth [entry at 36 down is NINE] month of the Jewish civil year) VIS (force; power; might) reversed (put back) + AN (in the year) – thanks to Holy Ghost for the parsing. SIV< AN |
|
| 5 | Nymphs, run out, in pairs (5)
DYADS (pairs of units treated as one; a bivalent atom, radical, or element) DRYADS (wood nymphs) excluding (out) R (run) DYADS |
|
| 13 | Craves fruit (5)
PINES (craves) PINES (pineapples; fruit) double definition PINES |
|
| 14 | Slash in tyre cut by tip of knife (5)
SLICE (slash) SLICK (type of tyre used in Formula 1 racing) excluding the final letter (cut) K + E (last letter of [tip of] KNIFE) SLIC E |
|
| 15 | Cotton uniform C&A banned from occasional employee (5)
Common uniform C&A banned from occasional employee (5) USUAL (common) U (uniform is the international radio communication code word for the letter U) + CASUAL (occasional employee) excluding (banned from) C and A. Although C&A closed its last store in the UK in 2001, it remains a major fashion retailer in Europe) U SUAL |
M |
| 17 | Try fizzy drinks in pubs (7)
Try fizzy drinks in cubs (7) TYRONES (novices; cubs) Anagram of (fizzy) TRY + ONES (drinks – as in I’ll just have a quick ONE) TYR* ONES |
C |
| 18 | Nave’s singer shortened service (5)
Name’s singer shortened service (5) TITLE (name) TIT (bird; singer) + LET (service in tennis that strikes the net on the way over, but is not a fault otherwise) excluding the final letter (shortened) T TIT LE |
M |
| 19 | Hidden by flower, tears dropped now and again as Ed’s showing grief (5)
DEERE (Edmund Spenser’s word fro grievous [showing grief]) ER (letters remaining in TEARS when letters 1, 3 and 5 are excluded [dropped now and then]) contained in (hidden by) DEE (name of a river [flower] in the UK) DE (ER) E |
|
| 20 | Beat Djokovic’s opener after volley (5)
TIRED (exhausted; beat) TIRE (volley or broadside) + D (initial letter of [opener] DJOKOVIC) TIRE D |
|
| 22 | Huff and puff to start with, before work returns (3)
Hull and puff to start with, before work returns (3) POD (shell;husk; outer covering; hull) P (first letter of [to start with] PUFF) + DO (work at) reversed (returns) P OD< |
L |
| 24 | Straightforward to assimilate rejected missing answer – done! (7)
Straightforward to assimilate rejected missing answer – dove! (7) ECSTASY (a dove is a tablet of the drug ECSTASY, often with a figure of a dove stamped on it) EASY (straightforward) containing (to assimilate) CAST (rejected) excluding (missing) A (answer) E (CST) ASY |
V |
| 25 | He might help to prepare white wines, unlimited in Queen Vic? (5)
VINER (vine-grower, potentially a wine maker; he might help to prepare white [wine]) INE (letters remaining in WINES when the outer letters W and S are removed [unlimited]) contained in (in) VR (Victoria Regina; Queen Victoria) V (INE) R |
|
| 26 | Abandoned fashion to squander air miles outside of terminal (7)
RAMILIE (name for several articles and modes of dress in fashion after Marlborough’s victory at Ramillies (1706), especially a form of cocked hat, and a wig with a long plaited tail. One assumes these styles are now abandoned Anagram of (squander) AIR MILES excluding (outside of) S (the final or terminal letter) RAMILIE* |
|
| 28 | Small cup from Perth (and an island heading south-east) (6)
TASSIE (in Scotland [Perth], a small cup) TASSIE (Tasmania, an Australian island South East [quite a long way South East] of Perth, Australia) double definition TASSIE |
|
| 31 | Beside Charlie, monarch’s sounding like a grandfather? (7)
TOCKING (sounding like a Grandfather clock [tick-TOCK etc]) TO (beside) + C (cocaine; Charlie) + KING (monarchs) TO C KING |
|
| 33 | Noisy plate ruffled King Charles? (10, 2 words)
TOY SPANIEL (an alternative name for a King Charles SPANIEL) Anagram of (ruffled) NOISY PLATE TOY SPANIEL* |
|
| 35 | Crescent tip of stinger (one third detached) (4)
HORN (An object or part resembling a horn in shape, such as the points at either end of a crescent) HORNET (stinging insect excluding [detached] the last two [of six; one third] letters, ET) HORN |
|
| 38 | Perhaps sit in what you might do to make a hole? (5)
Perhaps six in what you might do to make a hole? (5) DIGIT (six is an example of a digit) DIG IT (what you might do to make a hole) DIG IT |
X |
| 40 | Nationalist leader’s inbuilt fibre (5)
ISTLE (valuable fibre obtained from Agave, Bromelia, and other plants) ISTLE (hidden word in [inbuilt] NATIONALIST LEADER) ISTLE |
|
| 41 | Turn over each coin (4)
TOEA (monetary unit [coin] of Papua New Guinea) TO (turn over) + EA (each) TO EA |
|
| 42 | The King of Swing’s unfinished LP (4)
The King of Swing’s unfinished MP (4) BENN (reference Hilary BENN [born 1953], Labour MP for Leeds Central) BENNY (reference BENNY Goodman [1909 – 1986], American clarinetist and bandleader sometimes known as the King of Swing) excluding the final letter (unfinished) Y BENN |
M |
| 43 | Sets tunnel to capture base alkaloid (9)
GELSEMINE (an alkaloid) (GELS [sets] + MINE [tunnel]) containing (to capture) E (base of natural logarithms) GELS (E) MINE |
|
| 44 | Lay to rest French born POW (8)
INTERNEE (Prisoner of War [POW], for example) INTER (bury; lay to rest) + NÉE (maiden name; birth name [born], word derived from French) INTER NEE |
|
| 45 | A Norse sailor’s cove from olden times (5)
A Norse sailor’s cave from olden times (5) ANTAR (Shakespearean word [from olden times] for a cave) A + N (Norse) + TAR (sailor) A N TAR* |
A |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Toddler from Australia cycling admits ignoring van (8)
Toddles from Australia cycling admits ignoring van (8) SAUNTERS (toddles is an informal word for SAUNTERS) AUS (Australia) with the letters cycled one place to the right to form SAU + ENTERS (admits) excluding the first letter (ignoring van [leader]) E SAU NTERS |
S |
| 2 | Ionian institute of actuaries to carry on virtually (6)
Ionian institute of actuaries to carry on virtually (6) IASTIC (musical term meaning Ionian) IA (Institute of Actuaries) + STICK (continue; carry on) excluding the final letter (almost all; virtually) K IA STIC |
|
| 3 | Uninterested Henry overlooked describing animals with similarities (8)
Uninterested Henry overlooked describing animals with similarities (8) APATETIC (of an animal’s coloration or marking which closely resembles that of another species or of its surroundings; describing animals with similarities) APATHETIC (uninterested) excluding (overlooked) H (symbol for henry, a unit of inductance) APATETIC |
|
| 4 | Pope falls when looking up (3)
None falls when looking up (3) NIL (nothing; none) LIN (alternative spelling of LINN [waterfall]) reversed (when looking up) NIL< |
N |
| 6 | Questionable figure hitherto north of India (4)
YETI (the abominable snowman, a figure that may or not exist [questionable]) YET (hitherto) + I (India is the international radio communication code word for the letter I) YET I |
|
| 7 | When unknown number celebrated on return … “veni, vidi, vici”? (9)
ASYNDETON (a sentence or construction in which the conjunctions are omitted – ‘veni, vidi, vici’ or ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ is such a sentence) AS + Y (letter frequently used to indicate an unknown value in mathematics) + N (number) + NOTED (celebrated) reversed (on return) AS Y N DETON< |
|
| 8 | After power outage, pitch black (4)
SLOE (black) SLOPE (pitch) excluding (outage) P (power) SLOE |
|
| 9 | One breaks white goods socket (6)
LINE-IN (input socket in an electrical device) I (Roman numeral for one) contained in (breaking) LINEN (example of white goods) LINE (I) N |
|
| 10 | In times past, make nut roast without oven in sight (6)
In times past, make out roast without oven in sight (6) SCERNE (archaic [in times past] word for discern [make out]) ROAST excluding [without] OAST, i.e just R remaining, contained in (in) SCENE (a sight) SCE (R) NE |
O |
| 11 | Engineering degrees barrier to abolish apartheid (11)
DESEGREGATE (abolish racial segregation; abolish apartheid) Anagram of (engineering) DEGREES + GATE (barrier) DESEGRE* GATE |
|
| 12 | Scottish peer on high having turned Ireland (4)
Scottish poor on high having turned Ireland (4) PUIR (Scottish word for poor) UP (on high) reversed (having turned) + IR (Ireland) PU< IR |
O |
| 16 | Life with crime – it causes a breakdown (6)
PEPSIN (any of a group of digestive enzymes in the gastric juice of vertebrates, which breaks down proteins under acidic conditions; it causes a breakdown) PEP (spirit; life) + SIN (crime) PEP SIN |
|
| 19 | Wasted ditching regular, good spirit (4)
DEVA (a good spirit) DEVASTATED (laid to waste; wasted) excluding (ditching) STATED (established; regular) DEVA |
|
| 21 | African rhino goes on after uprooting leaves (7)
DALASIS (the standard monetary unit of Gambia; African rhino [money]) SALAD (leaves) reversed (uprooting; down entry) + IS (exists; goes on) DALAS< IS |
|
| 23 | Upset after No 1’s forgotten from Dickie’s homeland (6)
CISKEI (former South African homeland for the Xhosa people) Anagram of (upset) DICKIES excluding the first letter (after No 1’s forgotten) D – the clue alludes to the thematic Dickie Valentine CISKEI* |
|
| 27 | Signing machine’s gold type originally widely spaced (7)
AUTOPEN (A mechanical device used to produce imitation signatures) AU (chemical symbol for gold) + T (first letter of [originally] TYPE) + OPEN (widely spaced) AU T OPEN |
|
| 29 | Takeaway’s advanced state (7)
INDIANA (American State) INDIAN (reference an INDIAN takeaway food supplier) + A (advanced) INDIAN A |
|
| 30 | Wishing to have international currency (6)
FORINT (standard monetary unit of Hungary; currency) FOR (in favour of; wishing to have) + INT (international) FOR INT |
|
| 31 | Old French tax having no end, finally scrapped (twice) (6)
TAILLE (tax levied by a French king or overlord on his subjects; old French tax) TAILLESS (having no end) removing the final letter S and then removing the final letter from the remainder, also S [finally scrapped twice) TAILLE |
|
| 32 | Day on surface beside fireplace, I launder (5)
DHOBI (an Indian washerman; a launder is also a washerman) D (day) + HOB (surface beside a fireplace) + I D HOB I |
|
| 34 | Metal disc’s practically ingenious (5)
PATEN (metal disc) PATENT (ingenious) excluding the final letter (practically) T PATEN |
|
| 36 | Dog excreting about square (4)
NINE (the square of three) CANINE (dog) excluding (excreting) CA (circa; about) NINE |
|
| 37 | Vote for Greek sides of Mediterranean Sea in pairs (4)
Note for Greek sides of Mediterranean Sea in pairs (4) MESE (in Greek music, the note of the middle string of the lyre) ME (first pair of letters at the left hand side of MEDITERRANEAN) + SE (first pair of letters at the left hand side of SEA) ME SE |
N |
| 39 | Do you see heartless brat, according to Hamilton (4)
GEIT (Scottish [Hamilton is a large town in Scotland] word for a brat) GET IT? (do you see?) excluding the middle letter (heartless) T GE IT |
|
| 41 | Brow of hill in the end snubbed by duck (3)
Brew of hill in the end snubbed by duck (3) TEA (a brew) TEAL (duck) excluding (snubbed) L (last letter of [in the end] HILL) TEA |
E |
An excellent crossword with many imaginative and challenging clues. The endgame was made difficult for me because (1) I was one letter short of the 14 I needed to collect from the clues and (2) one of my letters was wrong. When I eventually got my last letter, S, from 1d I had MCMLV (= 1955) followed by BMASNOONE. I guessed the message would end in ‘No. 1’, and that led me to ditch BMAS in favour of XMAS. (I may have been the only solver to ‘correct’ SIT to BIT instead of SIX in 38a! Both of these corrections are valid, each being an example of a digit.) The endgame was in the end very enjoyable, and I appreciated the whole thematic design of this puzzle.
Thanks to Shark and duncanshiell.
Great fun thank you, despite the very tricky additional letter sequence. I too guessed the first part might be roman numerals, but it took me way too long to understand that “noone” was actually “no.1”.
I’m in complete awe about the grid construction to enable the VALENTINE > CHRISTMAS changes in order and creating new words throughout. In defiance of instructions I thus highlighted all 9 words because I was so impressed 🙂
PS: Neither CISKEI nor AUTOPEN were in my Chambers App.
Your blog and animation of the grid is very impressive.
PEPSLN and PEPSLS at 16dn confused me initially. May need a tinker?
Like Arnold, we took too long to work out that noone was actually No 1. We noticed the possibility of HAPPINESS, MISTLETOE as well as a few others but needed a google search to find the No 1 which revealed the missing ones – CANDY and ICING.
Perfect Christmas IQ, thanks Shark.
Thanks also to Duncan for another exemplary blog.
Happy New Year to all.
Jo @ 3
Thanks – I have now uploaded the correct graphics to the site and amended the blog to point to the correct images, but it seems that the original graphics have been cached and are still being displayed. Hopefully, the cache will expire soon nd the correct graphics will then appear.
Pleasure, Duncan
Much enjoyed — thanks and Happy New Year to Shark and duncanshiell. As others have said, it’s a splendid grid construction. I’m wondering how many others fell into the cunning trap at 24A where the “obvious” misprint correction seemed to be P giving DOPE rather than V giving DOVE?
Agree with arnold @2 about the grid construction and the puzzle in general.
I highlighted VALENTINE in blue, and the 9 thematic words in red, so CHRISTMAS ended up purple – the rubric doesn’t tell us not to highlight anything else, so I simply went ahead.
Thanks to Duncan for stepping in for Ken, and to Shark for a wonderful present.
Finally cracked this earlier today after a protracted struggle and was very glad that I did – a brilliant construction! Many thanks to Shark.
Now to hurriedly finish a handful of almost-completed 2023 IQs so that I can enter my votes…
Alan B @1 Bit not Six here too. Held me up for way too long! 🙂