“Clues are in normal order, giving every normal entry successively, in sequence. Answers must be entered routinely, in their entirety. Not all clues have orthodox solutions; seven are missing and require identifying, then answering, never straightforwardly. Highlight a phrase that identifies clues; four lines of six, symmetrically.”
Having looked at the preamble, I think I speak for us all when I say, “WHAT?!”. Maybe the title will be of some assistance, but for now we beat on, boats against the current.
…
Notwithstanding those initially concerns, the grid started to fill up nicely. Crossing letters helped with correct placement (e.g. NEEMBS located REGINA and ABUSER).
After a while, what looked like GENESIS appeared in the lower part of the leftmost column, which potentially gave SAMARITANS along the bottom.
…
Is that NACHOS appearing in the bottom right? And ANNAN, as in Kofi? Ahh! It is ANNAN, but as in ‘The Royal Burgh of’.
…
Hmm. I’ve got six regular clues left, and still no idea what’s going on… OH, HANG ON! I wondered if that funny preamble would have anything to do with it, and we have Not All Clues Have Orthodox Soloutions – NACHOS!
The first letters of each phrase in the preamble give CAINOGENESIS, AMBERITE, NACHOS, SAMARITANS, HAPTIC, FLOSS. Oh, and the title gives VOL.
Right, that gave the final push to get the grid filled. Now for the highlighting…
…
It took a while, but I spotted it! IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD.
Thanks, Ifor! That was fun.
| Definition | word |
| Indicator | [word] |
| Anagram | WORD* |
| Reversal | <WORD |
| Homophone | “WORD” |
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| [What might be COST*] without punishment? | SCOT-FREE | ||
| Base of LN (natural logarithm) [divided] [within] PITH (central part) | PLINTH | ||
| Spirit of BRO (Ifor’s much-loved birthplace) [engaging] I |
BRIO | ||
| Hooligan in DEN (thieves’ kitchen) [changing sides] | NED | ||
| Household god [broken] [AT leaving] |
LAR | ||
| SA encampments ARE* [poorly] [fenced by] L |
LAERS | ||
| Mac’s not matched [in] [wheeling] < |
ORRA | ||
| Plasters G (group of) [penetrating] PARES (cuts superficially) | PARGES | ||
| Druses {SEE GOD}* [differently] | GEODES | ||
| Behaving like a dog, THIS* [barking] [keeps] <KY (Scots cows) [back] | TYKISH | ||
| N (November) DIES (finishes) [earlier], ON (subject to) when no transactions were permitted (two words) | DIES NON | ||
| Suppliers of oil in B |
NEEMBS | ||
| Passes to Mumbai A (are) S |
GHAUTS | ||
| PL (Programming language) [missing from] { |
ENIAC | ||
| Removes lumps from F (fellow) [eaten by] SITS (bears) | SIFTS | ||
| GNASH | |||
| Small record label, IN (formerly with) DIE (stamp) | INDIE | ||
| Buffalo {ROAM AT [onset of] A |
TAMARAO | ||
| Down | |||
| Current measure ERE (before) [adopting A (active) MP (member) as precedent] | AMPERE | ||
| C (Constant) <LIE (untruth), [spinning] line | CEIL | ||
| Decorative OR (gold) E (base) [holding] <TAN (bronze) [up] | ORNATE | ||
| TIT (Tap local) RES (reserve) in measured volumes of liquid | TITRES | ||
| Stagger in RE |
REEL | ||
| Gets on to EM (Dorothy’s aunt), BAR (shut in) KS (Kansas) | EMBARKS | ||
| Silks [dressing I (one) in] MORES (social conventions) | MOIRES | ||
| Squall in Hawick <{W |
DROW | ||
| Spirits in GIN (drink) [ultimately doubled] | GINN | ||
| [Rotten] [peeled] { |
DOMATIA | ||
| Queen |
REGINA | ||
| One using deceit {AS SAB |
ABUSER | ||
| OM (Old measurement) |
OMASAL | ||
| Immediately copy document | STAT | ||
| On stage | LEG | ||
| Royal burgh AN (in the year) AN (before) [taking] N (name) | ANNAN | ||
| Heavy blow W (wide), S (square) AT [covers] | SWAT | ||
| C | A | S | C | O | T | F | R | E | E | M | F |
| A | M | B | E | R | I | T | E | M | V | O | L |
| I | P | L | I | N | T | H | E | B | R | I | O |
| N | E | D | L | A | R | A | L | A | E | R | S |
| O | R | R | A | T | E | P | A | R | G | E | S |
| G | E | O | D | E | S | T | Y | K | I | S | H |
| E | R | W | O | A | D | I | E | S | N | O | N |
| N | E | E | M | B | S | C | L | A | N | M | A |
| E | G | H | A | U | T | S | E | N | I | A | C |
| S | I | F | T | S | A | W | G | N | A | S | H |
| I | N | D | I | E | T | A | M | A | R | A | O |
| S | A | M | A | R | I | T | A | N | S | L | S |
There’s a Setter’s Blog for this crossword here https://bigdave44.com/2024/08/15/200485/#more-200485
Wow – nice work, Mister Sting – a rare DNF for me, as I had the grid mostly filled and most of the unclued words and shading, but I went off in a rabbit-hole of John 1:1 ‘In the beginning was the word…‘, and trying to work out why the entries were ‘unorthodox’… CAIN, GENESIS, SAMARITANS all had me thinking it had to be a biblical theme.
All the time it was staring me in the face! And the preamble is punctuated so that each word is a separate sentence/phrase. Nice touch.
And ‘Grrrrrr…‘ to Ifor – you win this time!
Congratulations on spotting that! All rather I Spy, but still….
I would be genuinely curious to know how many correct entries were submitted for this
A clever and unusual thematic puzzle with excellent clues. I got off to a good start, solving 34 of the 35 clues and entering their answers ‘routinely’ in the grid. Before starting to puzzle over the strangely worded preamble I resolved to solve my last clue (PLINTH). Its destination could have been any of three consecutive entries, but I finally got the idea, after eliminating some clever misdirections.
I pencilled in CAENOGENESIS, SAMARITANS and two or three other likely words in the relevant incomplete entries, but I could see no connection. Nor could I see any give-away 6-letter strings in the grid. I guessed ‘verse’ might indicate a verse in the bible rather than a poem. I got lucky when I saw the word BEGINNING (prompted, I think, by GENESIS in plain sight), and then the four six-letter groups in symmetry spelling out the opening line, not from Genesis but from the Gospel of John! The puzzle, though, was still not finished, and I think I must have decided to ‘sleep on it’, because reading the preamble again the next day revealed all – lucky again, and what a revelation! I just needed to change the long word going down to one of its other two spellings (CAINOGENESIS) and complete or confirm the others. I noted that the title was in effect to be treated as part of the preamble.
Thanks to Ifor for creating such an original and classy themed puzzle, which must have taken a lot of skill and effort to design. And thanks to Mister Sting for the blog.
Bingy at #4 – at least two – Mister Sting and Alan B! (or maybe one, as I think I remember Alan B saying he doesn’t actually submit entries?)
The (updated) rules of EV Club:
1. You do not talk about EV Club
2. Especially, do not comment on any online blogs, as this may increase the popularity of EV Club (;+>)
3. Check leading and opposite diagonals
4. Check preamble and first letters of clues for Acrostics
Thanks Ifor for a really unique puzzle. Didn’t complete it but wiled away a good few hours trying. Kicking myself now I’ve seen the solution.
mc_rapper @6
It’s true that I don’t submit my completed entries. I do, however, show my interest in the weekend thematic puzzles that I most often attempt (usually three each week) by contributing to blogs such as these.
Also, as you see, I have acknowledged the element of luck which is often a factor in the endgames of these puzzles. On another day I would not have seen the remarkable acrostic in the preamble. (I did miss a clever acrostic in a recent puzzle elsewhere.)
My thanks to Mr S for his typically thorough exposition. Comments here and elsewhere suggest that both routes to the solution (highlighting then inspection of preamble, or the reverse) were employed. It’s good to see that something a bit different was enjoyed, even by those who fell at the final hurdle and said as much with good grace and a touch of humour.
Alan@8 – can I encourage you to email an EV entry? I started doing so when the series was under threat and have fallen into the habit so as to show that there’s interest out there.
Late to this, but just wanted to note down what extraordinary fun the penny drop was. There was something just a shade fishy about the wording of the preamble, but nothing at all obvious. Great fun when it all came together, and such an original achievement.
Many thanks as ever to Ifor, and to Mister Sting for the blog.