Virtue Rewarded? by Arcadia
Five thematic entries (I to the eponymous V, who must be identified at the foot of the grid) are unclued. Across clues are in alphabetical order of their answers, all bar one requiring thematic transformation before entry. Information in brackets refers first to final grid entries; then to clue answers. Down clues and answers are normal. Clashes occur in four symmetrically placed cells, in which solvers should enter both clashing letters. Arranging them appropriately could loosely enable II to __ __ (4,4) I, while III __ __ (4,4), as tasked by V, despite the attentions of IV. All thematically adjusted entries are unique and in Chambers, though heaven knows why.
OK, I didn’t understand a word of that other than “Down clues and answers are normal.” I started solving the downs and filling them in. I didn’t really count but I must have got about half of them done before grinding to a halt but by now I had enough letters in a few of the acrosses that I could start making an attempt at some of them. Bearing in mind that there are four clashes. The numbers in brackets helped in this respect as they indicated that BATMAN didn’t need to be changed and the only place it could go was in the first across position. This helped to get 2, 3, 4 and 5 down.
The rest of the acrosses proved troublesome until elmac suddenly came up with the idea that we might be looking for Spenserian words. And, indeed that’s what’s happening here.
Every across answer, except BATMAN, had to be replaced by Spenser’s equivalent and they’re detailed in the table below.
Now, on to the clashes. They were as follows:
AMORET/VROUW – R/V
AFFEAR/ABODES – F/E
TROADE/LIAISE – A/I
FOSTER/SCOPA – A/S
Giving us RVFEAIAS
What I failed to notice was the instruction: “Arranging them approriately …”, which left me completely stuck at which point I received help from HolyGhost – many thanks to him.
So we have: enable BRITOMART to SAVE FAIR AMORET, while REDCROSSE VIES AFAR, as tasked by GLORIANA, despite the attentions of DUESSA.
All I know about Edmund Spenser is that he was a poor speller and he wrote The Faerie Queene. Actually, it’s unfair to call him a poor speller as spelling hadn’t really been nailed down, as such, during his lifetime.
As far as I can tell, The Faerie Queene was written about Queen Elizabeth (she wasn’t known as “the first”) and she was given the name Gloriana. As for the other characters, I really don’t know and, tbh, I don’t really care – sorry Arcadia.
I don’t understand the title, nor do I understand the last sentence of the preamble.
I enjoyed the grid fill – especially the business of substituting Ed’s spellings. The one thing that leaves me puzzled is about the antepenultimate and penultimate answers being the same. I don’t recall seeing that in any crossword before.
Unfortunately I wasn’t prepared to dig too deeply into Spenser’s work so I didn’t really enjoy the end game. Nevertheless, thanks to Arcadia.
| Across | ||||
| Clue | Answer | Entry | Location | Wordplay |
| • Royal Navy has trouble on deck (5; 5) | ADORN | ADORE | a11 | ADO (trouble)+RN (Royal Navy) |
| • I (6) | AMORET | h1 | ||
| • Cockney tolerates US-style prison in Poplar (6; 5) | ASPEN | ASPINE | a12 | ‘AS (tolerates: has)+PENitentiary (US prison) |
| • So willingly drawing breadth from some woodwind (6; 6, 2 words) | AS SOON | ALSOON | h3 | [b]ASSOON (woodwind instrument) minus Breadth |
| • Plane director partner of Robin (6) | BATMAN | BATMAN | b1 | (double def) The guy who directs aeroplanes to the gate is a batman The Caped Crusader (Batman) had a sidekick called Robin |
| • Line held by queen her poet glorified (5; 7) | BLESSED | BLIST | i13 | Line inside BESS (Queen Elizabeth)+ED[mund Spenser] her poet |
| • Poet eating over table (6; 5) | BOARD | BOORDE | h2 | BARD (poet) around Over |
| • Give firmness to black and white stripe (7; 5) | BRACE | EMBRACE | a2 | Black+RACE (white stripe [on an animal’s face]) |
| • II (9) | BRITOMART | e10 | ||
| • IV (6) | DUESSA | h7 | ||
| • Woodsman previously reduced timber measure (6; 8) | FORESTER | FOSTER | a13 | FORE (previously)+STER[e] (timber measure; reduced) |
| • Bog restricting sound for alarm (6; 8) | FRIGHTEN | AFFEAR | a5 | FEN (bog) around RIGHT (sound) |
| • V (8) | GLORIANA | (below grid) | ||
| • Perhaps brutify drink spiked with drug in club (7; 10, 2 words) | MAKE FIERCE | ENFELON | a8 | E (drug) inside KEFIR (drink) inside MACE (club) |
| • Harass old flame off fast train (7; 5) | PRESS | PREASSE | g12 | [ex]PRESS (fast train) minus EX (old flame) |
| • III (9) | REDCROSSE | a4 | ||
| • Two soaks entertain a withdrawal (7; 7) | RETREAT | RETRATE | g6 | A inside RET (soak)+RET (soak) |
| • Counter venture strike-breakers establish (6; 7, 2 words) | START UP | ASTART | b9 | PUT (venture)+RATS (strike breakers) rev: counter |
| • Decision reversed by church in housing row (6; 7) | TERRACE | TARRAS | a7 | ARRET (decision; rev: reversed)+CE (church) |
| • Pain in the rectum, offensive at first! (6; 5) | THROE | THROWE | g5 | R[ectum] O[ffensive] (at first) inside THE |
| • Scots sulk about footing (5; 4) | TROD | TROAD | a3 | DORT (sulk; Scottish) rev: about |
| • Shelling straddled track (6; 4) | TROD | TROADE | h9 | [s]TROD[e] (straddled; shelled: missing first and last) |
| • Shattered urn taped together (6; 8) | UNPARTED | UNSHED | g13 | URN TAPED (anag: shattered) |
| Down | ||
| Clue | Entry | Wordplay |
| 1 Diminished area in property transaction (9) | DETRACTED | DEED (property transaction) around TRACT (area) |
| 2 Verse at the end of a book stays (6) | ABODES | A+Book+ODES (verse) (surely it should be “verses”) |
| 3 Discover whereabouts of Troy descendants (5) | TRACE | Troy+RACE (descendents) |
| 4 Heading a curry school (7) | MADRASA | MADRAS (curry)+A |
| 5 Squeeze-box lacking nothing piercing in harmony (6) | ACCORD | ACCORD[ion] minus ION (O (nothing) inside IN) |
| 6 Disconcerted, she’d put on an outer garment (7) | ABASHED | ABA (outer garment)+SHE’D |
| 7 Spot animal burrowing causeway (4) | MOLE | (triple definition) |
| 8 Bond missing even openings for zygotes (8) | OOSPORES | This took me a while to justify: OOS[even] (Bond; minus EVEN)+PORES (openings) |
| 9 Boer’s wife’s group, naked in Beetle? (5) | VROUW | [g]ROU[p] (naked) inside VW (Beetle) |
| 10 Some kitten taking soft roll (4) | TENT | kitTEN Taking (hidden: some) |
| 11 Exhausted townsfolk periodically disputed city (7) | DONETSK | DONE (exhausted)+T[own]S[fol]K (periodically) Donetsk: a city in Ukraine, which is the subject of ongoing territorial disputes) |
| 12 Masterwort, say, bolted in dry surroundings in Asia (9) | ASTRANTIA | ASIA around TT (dry) around RAN (bolted) |
| 13 Light cloths woven from jet sateen (9) | JEANETTES | JET SATEEN (anag: woven from) |
| 14 Comics checking anonymous hoaxes (7) | CANARDS | CARDS (comics) around ANonymous |
| 15 Past rector stopping safe sex (8) | PRETERIT | PETER (safe) around Rector+IT (sex) |
| 16 Careless error is more distressing (7) | SORRIER | ERROR IS (anag: careless) |
| 17 Takes off clothes by the way in brief disturbance (7) | UNROBES | OB (by the way: Latin) inside UNRES[t] (disturbance; brief) |
| 18 Transfer appropriate technology to senior service (6) | ATTORN | AT (appropriate technology)+TO+RN (Royal Navy: senior service) |
| 19 Network’s habits regularly adopted by press (6) | LIAISES | LIES (press) around [h]A[b]I[t]S (regularly) (surely it should be “presses”) |
| 20 Limited range initially affects pollen collector (5) | SCOPA | SCOP[e] (range; limited)+A[ffects] (initially) |
| 21 Ring up, catching member of Indian staff (5) | OMLAH | Member inside HALO (ring; rev: up) |
| 22 Run from sea-mist following Orkney fishing ground (4) | HAAF | HAA[r] (sea mist; minus Run)+Following |
| 23 Exorcist curtailed poet’s prayer (4) | BENE | BENE[t] (exorcist; curtaled) |
An Inquisitor would not be complete without contributions from Ed or Will, but this one really takes the biscuit with its wall-to-wall examples of Ed’s unique vocabulary.
The combination of normal Down clues and answers, Across clues whose answers could not be entered and (thank goodness) the ordering of the Across clues by their answers made for an intriguing and challenging solving experience. When I had solved about half of the Down clues, only BATMAN of my ten or so Across answers would go in. I noticed, however, the possibility that the clued Across entries could all be historical variants of the answers, such as EMBRACE, RETRATE and FOSTER. As kenmac (or elmac!) also found, a grid full of Spenser’s words going Across seemed likely. I found BRITOMART (a name I had never seen before) from somewhere, and that led me to REDCROSSE and everything else I needed from the Faerie Queene. An admirable concept and design, I have to say, which led to a rewarding finish. My four clashes seemed to be correct, as the letters made ‘save fair’ to complete the phrase concerning Britomart and Amoret. I too thought the other couplet had to be ‘vies afar’.
It was a great set of clues, OOSPORES perhaps heading the lot.
I noticed that the definitions of three of the Spenserian words were not the modern equivalents of those words but the Chambers dictionary definitions using different words:
AFFEAR clued by ‘frighten’
ENFELON clued by ‘make fierce’
UNSHED clued by ‘unparted’
As for the last sentence of the preamble, I thought the assurance that all the modified Across entries are unique might have been with particular reference to the TROAD/TROADE pair. Heaven knows why the last clause was there!
Thanks to kenmac and Arcadia.
Spenser was almost the same time as the great Bard but didnt he grab words from Middle English to appear more like Chaucer?
Hats off to all who finished this EDition.
(I did look up RETRATE to see that that Ed was seriously involved)
Thanks for very honest blog, kenmac.
The usual thanks to Arcadia and kenmac. Alas, another unfinished grid for me. Thanks to the generous hint in the clue for BLESSED, a dim memory that Spenser had a special spelling of RETREAT that would fit, and the across slot that looked like REDCROSSE, I got the general context of The Faerie Queene and saw where BRITOMART, DUESSA and GLORIANA could go, but became bogged down in Spenserisms. When ABBA was a recent theme we could at least look up a list of their songs, but if there’s a lengthy Wiki page for Wordes Wot Ed Spellt Alle Funnie, I didn’t find it!
Not my cup of tea at all sorry. And that’s not sour grapes – I did finish it but not without a lot of harrumphing
I solved this, though never did work out the clued answer for MAKE FIERCE, for which thanks to kenmac; it was obvious that ENFELON meant “Brutify” and that was enough to fill the grid, (though I always feel it’s a defect in a puzzle when something like this is possible). I got the sense, perhaps quite wrongly, that Arcadia, having got the idea of creating a Faerie Queene Spenserised puzzle after spending much time flipping through Chambers in pursuit of “Ed’s amazed” or some similar reference, ultimately got irritated by the theme with its endless search for slight spelling differences. Hence the repetition of TROD, the rather random BATMAN clue, and the exasperated final aside wondering why Chambers bothered to list so many Spenser variant versions of pretty obvious words. If that is what Arcadia was thinking, then I sympathise; the theme led me down rather too familiar pathways to be wholly satisfying. Thanks, nevertheless, and perhaps commiserations, to Arcadia – I think the title may be meant to be taken ironically.
As someone said about a previous crossword, it was “more hand to hand combat than an enjoyable solve” and I felt one step too far what with transformations, alphabetical ordering and clashes all at the same time.
After a slight detour via HMS Britomart the Royal Navy ship (nudged along by a seeming hint in the first across clue – anyone else?), I got there eventually, except for not figuring out “vies afar”. But it certainly was very hard work and took a lot more time than I normally like to budget for an Inquisitor.
Unlike others, I did however enjoy learning more about the Faerie Queene. Having only ever thought of Spenser as a fun-if-mildly-odd crossword tool, I was impressed to see the depths to which the story had actually gone. And like David @3 I too was disappointed not to find a Wiki page for Wordes Wot Ed Spellt Alle Funnie (which made me chuckle). Perhaps an interesting job for someone’s spare time?
Finally, I assumed the title was in reference to Britomart et al being referred to as virtues – why rewarded, I don’t know. Thank you to kenmac and arcadia.
Slow progress initially but arrived at Britomart at a fairly early stage and I guessed what was going on, even though it still took a while to finish. So maybe that’s why I enjoyed this one (still smarting about ABBA!) and I thought the clues were an excellent challenge. I also empathise strongly with the last phrase of the preamble. Many thanks to Arcadia and kenmac.
Hello! I’ve never commented on one of these before but wanted to say I very much enjoyed this inquisitor (thanks Arcadia!) but thought like others than the clashes took things perhaps 1 too far.
As for the title @6, is ward a Spenserism for word? And therefore REWARDED is reworded reworded? That’s how I understood it
Leaving aside the question of whether Spenserian spellings deserve their place in Chambers (and judging by the preamble either Arcadia or the editor – I suspect the latter – think not) there’s an irritating inconsistency in the way they’re presented. Some appear as alternatives to the usual spelling, while others merit their own entry. That apart, I enjoyed the puzzle (for me the breakthrough was in seeing the skeleton of Britomart), but I think Elizabeth had it right – apparently there’s no evidence that she ever read the poem.
I do like to finish every IQ if I can and so was determined to grind this one into submission, and eventually did so — but I’m afraid I found it a bit of a slog…
I surprisingly spotted the Spenserian theme quite early on with ADORE/N but then found this knowledge didn’t actually get me that much further! If you don’t know the alternative spellings then even solving the clue doesn’t get you to a confirmed grid entry. As a consequence I ended up using the Chambers app ‘word finder’ feature far more than I’ve ever needed to before. So that didn’t really make for a very satisfying solving experience.
I can totally appreciate the craftsmanship that has gone into making the puzzle though, and lots of the individual clues were fiendishly clever — and in particular I liked the ‘clashing letters’ device spelling out two thematic phrases. I just wasn’t a huge fan of the core concept.
Thanks both!
For those who love leafing through Chambers in search of variant spellings, this must have come as a great boon. Thanks to Arcadia and kenmac
Just a few late words in reply to the comments. First, thankyou for the feedback, especially to those who struggled with Spenserian spellings for making their gripes gentle! I think the idea for this came from a remark by one of the Magpie team querying how small a themed dictionary a setter might need to create a crossword., together with my vague memory of a blogger complaining about the use of Spenserian words. So how about a crossword jam packed with them?! The last sentence of my preamble about all the words being in Chambers, though heaven knows why, was all my own! In true nerdy style, I went through the whole of Chambers to create a Spenserian dictionary. Then it was a case of trying grid after grid in Quinapalus until I got one which worked. Having two Spenserian versions of the same word in the NW and SE corners of the grid seemed to me a good further joke. I suspect that those who struggled with the Spenserian spellings either didn’t have or (if they did) didn’t use a hard copy of Chambers. Had they done so, they would in nearly every case have found the Spenserian spellings in bold in the entry for the normal spelling. I understand that Spenser scattered mock-archaic spellings around his work to give an impression that the work was ancient. Which makes me scratch my head even more at why Chambers includes them all!