Inquisitor 1838: Blown Away by Ifor

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So, were you blown away? Or mind blown?

All clues contain an extra word. In four cases, this is a synonym or generalisation of one of the otherwise unclued three-letter entries, which when suitably ordered will assist with the theme. In the remainder, reading their second then penultimate letters, or vice versa, clue by clue provides examples of the first part of a thematic remark (across clues) and its last part (down clues). The remaining part (six letters) must be written under the grid. All across answers must be changed to new words or phrases in a way consistent with all parts of the remark, which is in ODQ.

Let’s play literary quotes.

“They f*** you up, your mum and dad.” Except that it was the gremlins at the i that had made a mess of the grid this week, with two very faint bars in the top left hand corner. That of course was the least of our problems.

“Originality is being different from oneself, not others.”

“Something, like nothing, happens anywhere.”

“Man hands on misery to man.”

You get the picture. PHILIP LARKIN seems to have been most quote-worthy, and without a handy, if expensive and rarely thumbed copy of the ODQ to hand, what chance the beleaguered solver of finding the right one?

Fair enough, we could see that the across answers had to be entered as anagrams, though you misinterpreted the preamble too and thought that meant adjustments to the completed grid at the close, didn’t you, positioned as the instruction was at the end? At least until it became clear after some time that the crossing entries didn’t work. Perhaps we needed a “must be changed before entry” to clear that up.

LARKIN too was easy to derive, based on a perusal of the unwanted bits of the clues, the synonyms / generalisations being very generous ones.

Once sense prevailed and I jotted down the second and penultimate letters from the remaining in columns, it became clear too that we had the first and last lines from Gone with the Wind:

SCARLETT O’HARA WAS NOT BEAUTIFUL
AFTER ALL TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY

What they are examples of would become evident, of course, when we had the quote. But more on that later. Let us just note that the above was a lovely solve, with everything falling into place very nicely. And that all the thematic stuff is cleverly done, when you’ve spotted it.

But then there was that quote. I could call it a something-unmentionable quote, because the above didn’t give us a lot to on. The pages and pages of Larkin quotes I found via Google didn’t actually list the required, as it turned out. At least as far through them as I ploughed. And so that familiar feeling of fear and self-loathing would begin to kick in. Perhaps I would have to ask for help from my fellow, eminently more erudite bloggers. Again.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you’re unscrupulous enough that is.

“A beginning, a muddle, and an end” from ‘New Fiction’ no. 15, January 1978 (the ‘classic formula’ for a novel), naturally. Linked rather neatly to the clues above when spotted, but you were never going to derive it independently. I would point you to the bootleg PDF of the ODQ I found online, but that would be both immoral and I suspect incur the wrath of Kenmac. But without it I’d probably still be trying to hunt down that elusive quote now.

So, did you feel aggrieved? Well, yes, a little. OK, a lot. With the ODQ to hand this was a doddle to complete, but without it nigh on impossible. Perhaps next time we could either have one that’s easier to find (and that somebody’s Googled to check), or amend the preamble to highly recommend the use of ODQ.

Clue Extra Word Unclued Entry (where applicable) Answer Entry (if different) Wordplay
ACROSS
1 Non-chargeable funeral bill cobbled together without right to access bier (10) ACCESS UNFILLABLE UNFALLIBLE An anagram of “funeral bill” without the right-hand letter from “bier”
7 Part of Primrose League copies martyrs retrospectively (5) MARTYRS SEPAL SPEAL L (league) + APES, all reversed
9 Person blinded taking risks where radiation’s partly reflected (5) BLINDED DARER DREAR Reverse hidden in wheRE RADiation
12 Relish acts going wrong, as far as stupidity (6) STUPIDITY CATSUP CAST UP An anagram of “acts” + UP (as far as)
13 Legislature without chairperson unveiled later (6) CHAIRPERSON SENATE STEANE SEN (without) + lATEr unveiled
14 Insolence that may be seen leaving without going on for ever (7) INSOLENCE LIP ETERNAL ENTERAL ExTERNAL (that may be seen) without the X (Ex: Latin, without)
17 A time where free poetry’s anything that matters (7) MATTERS WHATEER WEATHER An anagram of A T WHERE
18 Snare once bit around dawn, empty again (6) DAWN TRAPAN TARPAN PART reversed + AgaiN emptied
21 Run stake higher before backing robber of harmless Scots (6) HARMLESS REIVER RIEVER R + REVIE (stake higher) reversed
23 Unpleasant indigestion following depression, causing painful spasms (7) INDIGESTION COLICKY COCKILY COL ICKY
26 Obsolete treasure all over the place after sacking penultimate grave (7) OBSOLETE AUSTERE AU RESTE An anagram of TREASUrE without the last R
27 One preserving letter originally suggested change (6) LETTER PHI SALTER STELAR S ALTER
28 Fast waiter shelled oily seed for food (6) WAITER LENTIL LINTEL LENT + oILy shelled
29 Assets active in people’s  budgets (5) BUDGETS MEANS MANES A (active) in MENS
30 Sat, maybe afraid, on one’s own, alas (5) AFRAID TODAY TOADY TOD (on one’s own) + AY (alas)
31 Construction of suitable deck in shed framed by cedar left out (10) SUITABLE CARD-CASTLE CATS-CRADLE CAST inside an anagram of CEDAR L
DOWN
2 Wise old king sent out official troops (6) OFFICIAL NESTOR An anagram of “sent” + OR
3 Previous passage starred alto trumpet (5) STARRED ALURE A (alto) + LURE (a Bronze Age trumpet)
4 Yarns cured loneliness, wanting one new password (6) PASSWORD LISLES An anagram (cured) of LoneLInESS without “one” and N
5 Flexible washer gripping about vent (8) FLEXIBLE BREATHER A B(RE)ATHER can be a vent
6 Wash through corsets, every one separately by length (5) CORSETS LEACH L EACH – wash through
7 Embrocation is beginning to mobilise underlying upset muscles, twitching in disbelief (10) EMBROCATION SCEPTICISM PECS reversed + TIC + IS M
8 Dessert of soft peeled and mashed bananas, covering cranberry bed (10, 2 words) CRANBERRY PANNA COTTA P (soft) + an anagram of bANANAs peeled about COTT (bed)
10 Unusually tipped forward as well as down, keeping extension to ramp in support (10) DOWN ANTEVERTED AND about VERT (an extension to a ramp in skateboarding) which is held too within TEE. Phew.
11 Turning distrust back, see terrors developing earlier (10) DISTRUST RETRORSELY An anagram of “terrors” + ELY
15 Casino bosses escaping prisons (4) CASINO CAPI Some wise guys hidden in esCAPIng
16 Part of inflorescence destroyed like potato being eaten by uncontrolled pest (8) POTATO SPIKELET An anagram of LIKE (destroyed) inside another anagram of PEST
19 Cuckoos regularly cheep until in the way of nestling (4) CHEEP ANIS Regular letters from uNtIl inside AS (in the way of)
20 Racial crusade animated destroyer of Rome (6) CRUSADE ALARIC An anagram of RACIAL gives the name of a Visigoth king
22 Nun believes God talks inwardly (6) GOD LAR VESTAL Hidden inside belieVES TALks
24 Notch five scores near different fairways (5) FAIRWAYS CRENA 5×20 (a score) = C (a hundred) + an anagram of NEAR
25 Family porcelain manufactory near Italian borders (5) FAMILY KIN ARITA Hidden in neAR ITAlian

22 comments on “Inquisitor 1838: Blown Away by Ifor”

  1. I found this one a bit of a roller coaster between bafflement and PDMs, finally leading to a very satisfactory finish. The first problem was the clashes – we had to change the across answers before we knew what was going on! After a bit more solving, it became fairly clear that the alterations were anagrams, which was a great help in anticipating some checked letters for the unsolved down clues. In the completed grid, it seemed, again fairly clear, that the shaded cells led to Philip Larkin, confirmed by the 4 defining extra words. Having found the two quotes, I recognised the second as the last words of GWTW but assumed that the first was from Larkin, so spent far too long searching for it until, eventually, the truth dawned on me. Consulting my ODQ led me to Aristotle’s original quote but then another look at the quotes by Larkin led me to MUDDLE, which explained the relevance to the across answers. I had noticed that the first and last letters of the anagrams were unchanged and now I knew why.
    The usual clever cluing by Ifor, although I could not parse 14 or 21, and an ingenious and witty theme.
    Thanks to him for the challenge and to Jon S who had similar problems to mine.

    Bye the way, the David W who posted last week is not me. I don’t think I’ve spotted him before so “Welcome to the club, David”

  2. A classy Inquisitor puzzle with some challenging clues and a theme that took quite a lot of working out. I was nearly halfway through the grid when I realised how to treat all the Across answers. The penny dropped with CAT’S-CRADLE, an excellent and unexpected anagram. It was an amazing piece of design to have anagrams of the answers in all the Across lights.

    The name Philip Larkin came easily enough and, next, the two quotations from Margaret Mitchell’s book Gone With The Wind. These were in fact (as I soon discovered) the first words and the last words of that long novel, and that just left me with the task of finding what Philip Larkin said or wrote about that, and there it was in my ODQ. A witty conclusion to a well-conceived and clever theme.

    I must admit that without the ODQ I would not have been able to put the finishing touch (MUDDLE) to this puzzle. Thanks to Jon_S for the blog and for persevering so long and hard just to find that word.

    And thanks to Ifor for the excellent puzzle and for the teasing preamble that gave just enough and no more.

  3. I must thank Dave W for pointing out that the anagrams left the first and last letters in place, in keeping with the theme.

  4. I too was blown away. All thanks to the amazingly ingenious Ifor and to Jon_S.

    Not much to add. That across clues went in as anagrams soon became clear — after cold-solving my first few I was lucky enough to see the clash between COLICKY and ALARIC, and the fact that COCKILY would fit looked awfully tempting. Still took a long time to realize that first and last letters were unchanged. And longer, I confess, to spot where the emerging quotes appeared in Gone with the Wind.

    My old ODQ with only five Larkin items didn’t help, but — when the P had finally D’d — Googling “larkin beginning end” instantly delivered the goods. I also found the bootleg ODQ online and confirmed that the “remark” was there, but felt guilty about it. Honest I did.

  6. Having assumed, like our blogger, that alterations came at the end, I ground to a halt after a swift start. But I had enough to reverse engineer the entry device without finding Larkin or unravelling the messages in the extra words (this was where I got particularly confused by the preamble, but that’s on me).

    Finding the quote was straightforward…I don’t have an ODQ (and I solved this a long way from home) but I can gain online access with my library membership…I’m not sure if this is widely appreciated.

    A very satisfying solve but I was a little perplexed by the juxtaposition of Larkin and Scarlett. Is there something I’m missing?

    In any case, thanks as usual to blogger and setter.

  7. I found Scarlett and tomorrow soon enough; when I finally got to Larkin, rather late in the day, I assumed all would become clear. Not so, of course; this puzzle too devious for standard search engine strategies. Thanks to Phil K for pointing out potential library access to ODQ. Despite my failure (and I’ve heard the muddle line before), I thought this was a really enjoyable Inquisitor; many thanks to Ifor and Jon_S

  8. Everything up until the final bit of the endgame was good but , not having ODQ, I ground to a halt. I’m afraid that rather soured the whole thing for me. I don;t mind puzzles in which the ODQ is helpful. I do mind them where it is essential

  9. An enjoyable solve once I overcame the same problem as Jon_S, namely the absence of “must be changed before entry” – but it became evident fairly quickly.

    I didn’t think the ODQ was essential here; merely the stamina to wade through a lot of Larkin quotes online, or the stroke of luck in using the right search terms to begin with.

  10. On the hard side but an enjoyable work-out. I got to the novel about halfway through and soon after found LARKIN. Luckily for me I immediately connected to MUDDLE as I knew the quote, principally from a previous IQ puzzle: #141 Formula by Kea from 2009. So the endgame was over well before the grid was complete.
    As with Phil K @6 I spent a bit of time wondering why this particular novel had been chosen by Ifor – any ideas?
    Many thanks to him for another fine puzzle, and to Jon_S for the blog – no trouble with the preamble for me (good fortune smiled).

    BTW: The Chambers CD refers “trapan” (see 18a) to trepan^1 (skull saw) which doesn’t work with the clue; however, the Chambers app links it to trepan^2 (snare) which does. No matter.

  11. Mindless googling got me to the quotation fairly quickly. I see from my search history I googled “Philip Larkin Scarlet Thora” (a typo I guess, or possibly a Freudian slip), then “Philip Larkin Scarlett O’Hara quote”, then “Philip Larkin Gone With The Wind quotation”, then “Philip Larkin beginning ending quotation” – the fourth one brought it up at the top of the page. Spaghetti at a wall basically.

    I liked the puzzle. Having to change all those clues to make them fit – which bewildered me for a long time – was challenging but ultimately a good extra wrinkle, and slowly realising what had to happen to them was fun too. That part of the construction (the muddled middles) is particularly impressive.

  13. Phil K @6, HolyGhost @10

    It’s not for me to say, but I can guess why this novel was chosen (apart from being well-known): the beginning and end quotes had the right number of letters for Ifor’s clues. In fact they have the same number of letters!

  14. Excellent blog, thank you Jon_S.

    This was a mind-boggling construction. I was pretty stunned that every across answer was entered as anagram. But to just realise, thanks to Dave W, that the first and last letters remained in situ….Well, bravo Ifor. Quite ridiculous!

    I had no problems finishing this without the ODQ. It didn’t take much of a Google effort with some key words once the theme was discovered. I’ve also used the library card entry method in the past to access ODQ. Not necessarily my library card, but I don’t think that’s the crime of the century.

    Superb from Ifor, for which many thanks.

  16. My thanks to you all, especially Jon for persisting with what he evidently wasn’t fully enamoured of. The clue parsing is spot-on. A few thoughts in reply:

    I always check my themes for online accessibility; in this case I went via Philip Larkin quotes>AZ quotes (top 25, on the basis that if it’s in ODQ it should be fairly prominent) where it’s about halfway down.

    The preamble says that answers must be changed; as a rule if modifications are needed subsequent to a fill then the reference would be to entries.

    And as far as I’m aware there’s no connection between Larkin and GWTW; Alan@13 has it exactly right.

  17. I’ve been doing Inquisitors for a year or two and only just found this site! Great to see I have a place to come to delve into the details. I really enjoyed this one – got stuck about half way but finished 1839 more quickly than usual so went back to it.

    Like others I had no trouble finding the quote without ODQ, and loved that the anagrams all had unchanged first and last letters to stick to the theme.

    One question – I got ‘senate’ and adjusted it to ‘steane’ but use Collins and couldn’t find steane as a word. What am I missing and where would I find it?

    Thanks! Enjoyed reading the thread.

  18. Kate G, Steane is in Chambers – a stone or earthenware container.

    Thanks for a great blog, and thanks to Ifor for a great puzzle. I didn’t do any of the ‘second and penultimate letters’ work, it didn’t seem necessary! Having read all about the GWTW stuff, it might have confused me, slowed me down.

  19. We were expecting a challenge seeing Ifor’s name but actually we managed to solve this reasonably quickly (for an IQ!). We realised that we had the first and last lines from GWTW but the quote took a bit of finding, so pleased to know that we can access the ODQ on-line in future.

    What we hadn’t realised until we came here was the subtlety involved in the changes – very neat Ifor.

    Thanks for the blog Jon_S

  20. Kate G @17: welcome, but probably best not to say anything about a live puzzle, even implicitly; your “finished 1839 more quickly than usual” is a strong suggestion that it was on the easy side, which some solvers could find helpful (or indeed unhelpful).

  21. Ah – sorry Holy Ghost! Still learning the ropes of the site! I’ll be more careful in future. Thanks for the tip.

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