Chalicea is a regular Inquisitor setter whose puzzles cover a wide range of themes.
The preamble today told us that “In every across clue wordplay leads to an extra letter in addition to those required for the answer. Read in clue order these letters give a helpful instruction related to the generation and how it linked the unclued lights. The definition used in 13ac is in Collins.”
I made reasonable progress on first pass through the clues and the message from the extra letters in the across wordplay began to show * LETTERS *. LETTER or LETTERS are words that often appears in messages delivered in barred crosswords. Soon FIFTH became apparent as well, leading eventually to the complete phrase:
FIFTH LETTERS DOWN CLUES
A study of the these letters revealed the second message as:
SHADE SHIP IMMIGRANTS USED.
Chalicea often likes to ask solvers to shade something. The unclued light at 1 down was looking suspiciously like JAMAICA, triggering thoughts about the WINDRUSH generation which has been a subject of press comment recently. WINDRUSH can be seen in the grid running diagonally down right from the W of WEANED at 20 down and EMPIRE runs in the same direction from the first E of JEEPNEY in row 1.
There are many articles about the WINDRUSH generation on the web, and a bit of research showed that HMT EMPIRE WINDRUSH sailed from JAMAICA to TILBURY (second unclued light) and docked at TILBURY on 22nd June 1948, 76 years to the day of the publication of this puzzle. 2nd June is also celebrated as WINDRUSH day.
The detailed blog further below shows where the extra letters appear in the wordplay.
The clues were all quite clear with the usual mix of well known and obscure words that one finds in most barred grids. The wordplay involved a good mix of clue types with, in some cases, many small components.
The grid immediately below shows the unclued lights plus the location of WINDRUSH.
The puzzle title, GENERATION, has been explained above.
Thanks to Chalicea for a fun challenge. Congratulations also for writing 23 clues where the fifth letter could be used as part of a message. There were only a couple were I read the clue originally and thought that the wording was slightly odd. However, I didn’t think any more about it while solving the clues until the first message was clear.
| No | Detail | Letter |
| Across | Letters in fuchsia are the extra letters in the wordplay |
|
| 1 | Japanese coins returned after fee primarily provided customised taxi (7)
JEEPNEY (in the Philippines, a small passenger vehicle, usually with low fares, constructed from a Jeep or similar vehicle; customised taxi) J (Japanese) + FEE + P (first letter of [primarily] PROVIDED) + YEN ([Japanese] coins) reversed (returned) J EE P NEY< |
F |
| 6 | Brings into operation ways of departure involving metro from time to time (6)
EXERTS (brings into active operation) EXITS (ways of departure) containing (involving) ER (letters 2 and 4 [from time to time] of METRO) EX (ER) TS |
I |
| 10 | Not completely wrong about money; relief for the poor (4)
ALMS (relief for the poor) FALSE (wrong) excluding the final letter (not completely) E containing (about) M (money, when used in the abbreviation for monetary supply indicators such as M0, M1 etc) AL (M) S |
F |
| 11 | Gun barrels I intermittently test – most challenging! (9)
GNARLIEST (most challenging) GNARLI (letters 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 of GUN BARRELS I) + TEST GNARLI EST |
T |
| 13 | Highwayman on foot quietly had revolutionary from behind (6)
PADDER (highwayman who steals on foot) P (piano; quietly) + HAD + RED (communist; revolutionary) reversed (from behind) P AD DER< |
H |
| 15 | Some Sierra Leonean power existing from eternity (4)
AEON (in Gnosticism, a power emanating from the supreme deity, with its share in the creation and government of the universe; power existing from eternity) ALEON (hidden word in [some] SIERRA LEONEAN) AEON |
L |
| 16 | Secretary and editor united, taking on the Gaulish aged written scroll (7)
SCEDULE (former [aged] word for SCHEDULE [scroll with writing]) SEC (secretary) + ED (editor) + U (united) + LE (one of the French [Gaulish] forms of ‘the’) SC ED U LE |
E |
| 17 | Out of the elements, can provide gold (6)
INDOOR (out of the elements) TIN (can) + DO (provide) + OR (gold tincture used in heraldry) IN DO OR |
T |
| 19 | Permanent African language in political community (7)
STATIVE (permanent) TIV (South East Nigerian [African] language) contained in (in) STATE (political community) STA (TIV) E |
T |
| 21 | Password before getting into old tax-free savings scheme (7)
TESSERA (a password) ERE (before) contained in (getting into) TESSA (Tax-Exempt Special Savings Account, no longer offered in the UK [old], replaced in 1999 by ISAs [Individual Savings Accounts]) TESS (ER) A |
E |
| 23 | Contract for hiring ship corruptly reframing theft (13)
AFFREIGHTMENT (contract for hiring a ship) Anagram of (corruptly) REFRAMING THEFT AFFREIGHTMENT* |
R |
| 27 | Girl now and then cadging a dish from Italy (7)
LASAGNA (Italian meal of pasta, tomatoes, cheese and meat) LASS + AGN (letters 2, 4 and 6 [now and then] of CADGING) + A LAS AGN A |
S |
| 32 | Red one seen in beloved Scots bullfighting (7)
REJONEO (the art of bullfighting on horseback using wooden lances) RED + (ONE contained in [seen in] JO [Scottish word for ‘a beloved one’]) RE J (ONE) O |
D |
| 33 | Minutely relate lyric poem on retinue (6)
DETAIL (minutely relate) ODE (lyric poem) + TAIL (retinue) DE TAIL |
O |
| 35 | Those who act together disastrously ruin stew (7)
UNITERS (those who act together) Anagram of (disastrously) RUIN STEW UNITERS* |
W |
| 37 | Herb that is neither hay nor new grass, first of foggage, nor barley principally (4)
FORB (any herb which is not, or does not resemble, a grass) F (initial letter of [first of] FOGGAGE) + NOR + B (first letter of [principally] BARLEY) F OR B |
N |
| 38 | It’s not original jade that’s shattered, oddly: vacuum (6, 2 words)
DEJA VU (an illusion of having experienced before something that is really being experienced for the first time; it’s not original) – in fact it is original, but the illusion gives the impression that it is not original Anagram of (that’s shattered) JADE + VCU (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of VACUUM) DEJA VU |
C |
| 39 | Genuine resiliency rejecting Republican President’s follower (9)
REAGANITE (supporter of American President Ronald REAGAN [1911 – 2004]) REAL (genuine) + GRANITE (resiliency) excluding (rejecting) R (Republican) REA GANITE |
L |
| 40 | Upper-class wooer, one on drugs (4)
USER (one on drugs) U (upper-class) + SUER (wooer in Shakespeare’s English) U SER |
U |
| 41 | Render unfit one French set of rooms (6)
UNSUIT (render unfit) UN (French for ‘one’) + SUITE (set of rooms) UN SUIT |
E |
| 42 | Limits of special election government hopelessly extended (7)
LENGTHY (extended) SL (outer letters of [limits of] SPECIAL) + EN (outer letters of [limits of] ELECTION + GT (outer letters of [limits of] GOVERNMENT) + HY (outer letters of [limits of] HOPELESSLY) L EN GT HY |
S |
| Down | ||
| 2 | Industrial waste (liquid) losing all force would become this solvent (6)
ELUENT (a solvent) EFFLUENT (liquid waste) excluding both (losing all) Fs (force) ELUENT |
S |
| 3 | As a theatrical character personify doctor taking overdose in case of emergency (6)
EMBODY (personify as a theatrical character) (MB [Bachelor of Medicine; doctor]) + OD [overdose]) contained in (in) EY (outer letters of [case of] EMERGENCY) E (MB OD) Y |
H |
| 4 | NZ plant, beginnings of new growth around immature organ (5)
NGAIO (New Zealand tree [plant] with white wood) NGAIO (first letters of each of [beginnings of] NEW, GROWTH, AROUND, IMMATURE and ORGAN) NGAIO |
A |
| 5 | Round off with skill to enter speedily in the Globe (6)
ENDART (Shakespearean term [reference Globe Theatre] for dart in or enter speedily) END (finish off; round off) + ART (skill) END ART |
D |
| 6 | Raises dreadful secret (6)
ERECTS (raises) Anagram of (dreadful) SECRET ERECTS* |
E |
| 7 | Deli strangely not providing milk in Edinburgh (4)
EILD (Scottish word ,for ‘not yielding milk’) Anagram of (strangely) DELI EILD* |
S |
| 8 | Pay things back with charity at heart for first of those in need (7)
REQUIRE (need) REQUITE (retaliate; pay things back) with R (middle letter of [at heart] CHARITY) replacing (for) T (initial letter of [first of] THOSE) REQUIRE |
H |
| 9 | Public road, let it stand with engineers taken in (6)
STREET (public road) STET (restore after marking for deletion, derived for the Latin STET [let it stand]; let it be) containing (with … taken in) RE (Royal Engineers) ST (RE) ET |
I |
| 12 | For a poet, rustic cultivated sly front (6)
SYLVAN (literary and poetic term for rural or rustic) Anagram of (cultivated) SLY + VAN (VANguard; [those at the] front) SYL VAN |
P |
| 14 | Rancid area, essentially a filthy place (6)
REASTY (rancid) RE (middle letters of [essentially] AREA) + A + STY (filthy place) RE A STY |
I |
| 18 | Both me and my partner’s times, we hear (4)
OURS (belonging to me and my partner) OURS (sounds like [we hear] HOURS [times]) OURS |
M |
| 19 | Sign marking repeat of congestion partly coming up (5)
SEGNO (a sign to mark the beginning or end of repetitions) SEGNO (reversed [coming up; down entry] hidden (partly) letters in CONGESTION) SEGNO< |
M |
| 20 | Deprived of mother’s milk, wee and troubled (6)
WEANED ([of a baby or young animal] accustomed to nourishment other than the mother’s milk; deprived of mother’s milk) Anagram of (troubled) WEE AND WEANED* |
I |
| 22 | Item gets repaired and put into circulation (4)
EMIT (issue; put into circulation) Anagram of (gets repaired) ITEM EMIT* |
G |
| 24 | Incorrectly resentful missing most of turn arranged to strip skin (6)
FLENSE (flay; strip skin from) Anagram of (arranged) RESENTFUL excluding (missing) TUR (most of the letters of TURN) FLENSE* |
R |
| 25 | Sat back after following a jig mostly, a Mexican speciality (7)
FAJITAS (Mexican dish of strips of spiced chicken, beef, etc, served hot, wrapped in flour tortillas) F (following) + A + JIG excluding the final letter (mostly) G + SAT reversed (back) F A JI TAS< |
A |
| 26 | Not entirely impulsive drives to pick up palms (6)
GRUGRU (a name for several tropical American palms related to the coconut palm) (URGE [impulsive drive] excluding the final letter [not entirely] E + URGE [impulsive drive] excluding the final letter [not entirely] E, giving drives) all reversed (pick up; down entry) (GRU GRU)< |
N |
| 28 | Erratic regent, one who rarely rules (6)
GERENT (rare word for a ruler; one who rarely rules) Anagram of (erratic) REGENT GERENT* |
T |
| 29 | Some so closely attached when growing up in Somerset and Avon (6)
ADNATE (attached, especially by the whole length [closely] to a different kind of organ) ADNATE (reversed [growing up; down entry] hidden word in [in] SOMERSET AND AVON) ADNATE< |
S |
| 30 | One supporting system of Lao-tzu regularly at war or in disheartened set (6)
TAOIST (follower of Lao-Tzu [born 571BC), author of the fundamental text of Taoism) TAOI (letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [regularly} of AT WAR OR IN) + ST (letters remaining in SET when the central .letter E is removed [disheartened]) TAOI ST |
U |
| 31 | Hides make this container of cassis drink look not out of date (6)
KIRBEH (water container made from animal hide) KIR (drink made of white wine and blackcurrant syrup[cassis] or liqueur) + BEHOLD (look) excluding [not] OLD (out of date) KIR BEH |
S |
| 34 | Garden in East London never tidied up (5)
ERVEN (South African [East London, town in South Africa] word for a garden plot) Anagram of (tidied up) NEVER ERVEN* |
E |
| 36 | Ecuadorian native heading north under cover of huge tree (4)
TEGU (large black-and-yellow S American, Ecuadorian native) TEGU (reversed [heading north] hidden word in [under cover of] HUGE TREE) TEGU< |
D |
See also the diagonal from square 2 (the E of JEEPNEY) down to the E from SEGNO for the full name of the ship, which then “links the unclued lights” JAMAICA and TILBURY. Lovely puzzle, thanks Chalicea and duncanshiell 🙂
I couldn’t make sense of “fifth letters” for a while, having decided they would apply to the answer to the down clues, rather than the clues themselves. However, having actually solved the clues fairly quickly, JAMAICA stood out; TILBURY quickly followed (the port terminal is still there and active; I’ve walked past it along the Thames Estuary), and it was then fairly straightforward to find the Empire Windrush. Right at the end I penetrated the final message, and as so often wondered why I hadn’t done so sooner. Thanks to Chalicea and Duncan.
cranberryfez@1
Thanks for pointing out the omission. I’m kicking myself over that one as I had included EMPIRE in the name of the ship elsewhere in the introduction. Also, Chalicea has set puzzles before where shading has occurred in more than one diagonal, so another ‘clue’ I should have picked up on.
Blog updated to show full highlighting.
I have had a quick look for HMT as well, but I can’t see that.
I whizzed through this in next to no time & finished in an hour or so. When I say “finished” I should add that in my haste I too overlooked shading EMPIRE (and now with same reaction as Duncan), tho’ I did look unsuccessfully for HMT.
Ah well, thanks anyway.
Fun but indeed very straightforward (as often the case with Chalicea) – and I too missed EMPIRE and was left a little disappointed that Jamaica and Tilbury weren’t fully connected. Great to see that indeed they were!
Thanks to you both.
I had FIFT- LET-ERS, and somehow decided this must be fifty letters, though no idea how or what to do with it. On the other hand I’d already spotted and, for the hell of it, shaded Empire Windrush, so I guess I solved it. Thanks to Chalicea for a gentle week, and Duncan.
Yup, I also missed EMPIRE! I was so confident I knew it all that I did not check any references. Like HG last week (a DNF for me), I got the theme before completing the grid when I spotted WIND… on a diagonal, so the message from the extra letters was not really needed.
As usual, an enjoyable puzzle from Chalicea. Thanks to her and to Duncan.
Fun — enjoyed — nothing to add but further thanks to Chalicea and duncanshiell! Like others I saw WINDRUSH first and had to think a bit before adding EMPIRE.
Another excellent puzzle from Chalicea with a lovely set of clues as ever. I too missed EMPIRE on the first pass but looked again once I had re-read the preamble. Very nicely done.
Thanks Chalicea and Duncan.
I confidently shaded Windrush and left it there.
My entry into the theme was similar to Dave W’s (@7). On getting JAMAICA, having Generation in the title and seeing IND in the diagonal, I dared to pencil in WINDRUSH. That helped me with some clues in that part of the grid, and it was satisfying to see the theme completed with the link between JAMAICA and TILBURY.
Thanks to Chalicea and Duncan.
Put me in the ‘missed EMPIRE’ gang as well
Another who sailed through this but left without EMPIRE.
I cracked (what I thought was) the entire endgame long before the grid was full, which was nice, but then I had to finish up without any mystery remaining. A reminder of why I usually try to avoid looking at generated messages etc too early.
Perhaps that was why I didn’t check the full name of the ship. I don’t know, but I take much consolation that I’m in very good company!
Thanks Chalicea and duncanshiell.
By my count, out of the 13 solvers that commented only 5 shaded EMPIRE and the other 8 omitted to. I feel that that says something about the puzzle & preamble – but I’m not sure what.
Many thanks to all and particularly to duncanshiell. I honestly hadn’t the slightest desire to mislead so many with the EMPIRE WINDRUSH in two separate diagonals but to have included them in one straight line would have widened the grid by two columns leading to too many clues for an IQ.
Apologies for an almost identical grid in the following day’s EV. The IQ was, of course, date-related for Windrush Day but we don’t choose when most of our puzzles appear and the similar EV was pure chance (or luck?)
Holy Ghost. I am usually the first to shout when a majority of solvers get something wrong (like the famous Listener Poat ‘hare’ where 70 solvers were knocked out of the ‘all corrects’) I seem to have scored an all-time record of errors in my recent Message Board Omar Khayaam crossword where they put GLASS for FLASK. I usually shout that the preamble should have a prompt, but in both of these cases, smartly smack the hand of careless solvers (most of the 8 you mention above admit their careless failure to check – especially as the two words of EMPIRE WINDRUSH did diagonally link the two ports). I suspect that in this situation, you have to just retire and lick your wounds.
I don’t think that pursuing an online discussion about what the setter “suspects” or the solvers’ admissions of “careless failure” is really worthwhile.
I agree HolyGhost that this isn’t a discussion that’s worth continuing … but (admitting that by typing this, I’m continuing it) agree with Chalicea in that I wouldn’t hold the setter responsible for the high non-completion rate. Not in this instance.
I can only comment for myself, but I would definitely categorise my own omission as purr carelessness. (That was obvs a typo for “pure” but I like it so am keeping it in!) In fact I’d have used much stronger language to beat myself with were it not for the implication that by calling myself a big stupid silly (or whatever words I may have chosen!) I might be in effect calling many of you wonderful fellow solvers the very same thing.
I’m reeling from the very sad news of a crossword friend (if you haven’t heard, take a deep breath and see this post; for which I am still trying to find the right words to add my tribute), so replying mainly with a reminder that life is too short.
Let’s keep the kindness and generosity of spirit that categorises the vast majority of contributions to this blog.