Very Difficult Times by Pointer
Across entries that are too long to fit continue at the left side of the grid in the same row; similar down entries continue at the top of the same column. In ten clues the wordplay gives rise to the answer with one letter missing. This letter in the entry should be accompanied by a “dot” placed in the middle of its cell. The ten dots must be joined together by straight lines to form a decagon (having rotational symmetry) so that, as the polygon is traced – and completed at its start point – the sequence of 11 letters at successive vertices will spell a name from a much larger set of thematic items. The resulting shape suggests another thematic name (5 letters) which must be written below the grid; in actuality, the item with this name stands above all other members of the set.
Solvers must locate ten thematic clue answers in the final grid and ring their initial letters. These letters, in an aptly selected order, form a further thematic name when an extra feature is added. An indication of this extra feature is given by a clue entry which must be highlighted in the final grid.
Insertion of bars may be helpful, but is not required.
Very Difficult Times indeed. Not to mention a very difficult puzzle. Regular readers of my blogs will know that I suffer from “carteblanchophobia” though having said that I made a fair start on my own before calling the cavalry in the form of elmac. I had messed up by inserting completely the wrong answer for the second clue in column 4. No idea how that happened.
I shelved this puzzle for a few days knowing that I should be able to finish it over the weekend of 24/25/26 January.
Then storm Éowyn happened which robbed me of three days solving/blogging. I did, of course, have internet access on my phone but so did hundreds of others in the area and the data networks were swamped to the point of being unusable.
I managed the initial grid fill relatively easily but I had nowhere near enough of the missing letters to make sense of things.
Eventually, at the eleventh hour, HolyGhost came to my rescue. I had made a slight mistake with my missing letters, which I then corrected. Joining the dots gives us STAPLECROSS in the shape of a lightning bolt. Now, what the heck does that mean?
Another nudge from H___G____ led me to Flash, the highest village in The United Kingdom. So Flash is part of a much larger set, which, presumably, includes Staplecross.
But no, Staplecross isn’t in the list. It turns out that ten of the clued answers (it actually states that in the preamble) and they are (from left to right):
They are all the names of villages in the UK (mostly in England). Other than that there seems to be no connection, at least none that this bear of little brain can see. Their first letters, when read from right-to-left (appropriately) spell WESTWARD HO!, which, of course, ends with an exclamation mark (or a SCREAMER as in row 3).
Oh, and, the title is a contraction of:
Very+ILL (difficult)+AGES (times). Sheesh!
Many, many thanks to HolyGhost for your help as you drip-fed me hints.
Thank you Pointer for an interesting puzzle. I think the lengthy preamble was quite misleading in its own way but that’s most probably a fairly weak excuse on my part.
| Rows | Clue | Entry | Unclued | Wordplay |
| 1 | Electrical units from head of government communications (4) | OHMS | From O[n] H[is] M[ajesty’s S[ervice] | |
| Local river at the end of estuary is calm (4) | EASY | S |
EA (local river)+[estuar]Y (end of | |
| 2 | Impulses flow in such a network lacking side, lacking centre (6) | NEURAL | NEU[t]RAL (lacking side; lacking centre letter) | |
| Hebridean island has not one wooden structure (4) | TREE | T[i]REE (Hebridean island; minus I) | ||
| 3 | Someone crying leads to many evacuating room after dreadful scare (8) | SCREAMER | SCARE (anag: dreadful)+M[any] E[vacuating] R[oom] (leads to) | |
| 4 | Distance between front and rear end, given answer is positive (5) | DEPTH | DE[a]TH (end) with Answer changed to Positive | |
| Puzzle without drink around is crazy (4) | WILD | [be]WILD[er] minus BEER | ||
| 5 | Germany National Guard AWOL, taking back an order (6) | DIKTAT | T |
D (Germany)+TAKI[ng] (rev: back; minus NG (national guard) |
| 6 | John cycles on his own (4) | SOLO | S |
LOO (john) with final O cycled to the front |
| Novelist has a windfall (5) | MANNA | MANN (novelist)+A | ||
| 7 | Turn off search engine and stare (4) | OGLE | [go]OGLE search engine; minus GO (try) | |
| He gets mixed up with any scavenger (5) | HYENA | HE+ANY (anag: gets mixed up) | ||
| 8 | Making 8 eighty, for instance, considering collecting trophy for club (9) | DECUPLING | L |
DE[bat]ING (considering) CUP (trophy) replaces BAT (club) |
| 9 | Blots on the landscape in need of black wattles (9) | CARUNCLES | CAR[b]UNCLES (blots on the landscape; minus Black) | |
| 10 | Bill, a drummer, bringing forward end to hero worshipping (7) | ADORING | AD (bill)+RINGO (drummer) with [her]O moved forward | |
| 11 | Request gold be placed in hollow, not diamonds (7) | IMPLORE | [d]IMPLE (hole; minus Diamonds) around OR (gold) | |
| 12 | Jacob’s coat belongs to two old-timers (4) | WOOL | tWO Old-timers (hidden: belongs to) | |
| City tax officer collects payment (6) | TRENTO | TO (tax officer) around RENT (payment) | ||
| 13 | Tag is damaged in oriental footwear (4) | GETA | E |
TAG (anag: is damaged) |
| Playing marbles endlessly makes you more skilful (5) | ABLER | [m]ARBLE[s] (endlessly; anag: playing) | ||
| Columns | ||||
| 1 | Yes crack, no joint (3) | OKE | [j]OKE (crack) minus Joint | |
| Scary face or one going off (10) | GORGONEION | OR ONE GOING anag: off | ||
| 2 | Alien in poor shape, captured by mercury, is getting better (7) | HEALING | HG (mercury) around) ALIEN (anag: in poor shape) | |
| In past this garment could be used to make separates (5) | SAREE | &lit. S[e]P[ar]AT[es] is an anagram of SAREE and PAST | ||
| 3 | Stockbroker is jubilant when overlooking market finally on the rise (6) | DEALER | R |
ELA[t]ED (jubilant) minus [marke]T (finally) rev: on the rise |
| Some accidental damage in car crash? (4) | DENT | acciDENTal (hidden: some) | ||
| 4 | Studied freehand on a regular basis (4) | READ | [f]R[e]E[h]A[n]D (on a regular basis) | |
| Fresh toast is tops for priest (6) | COTTAS | C |
TOAST anag: fresh | |
| 5 | Knitwear item needed for this kind of exercise (6) | CARDIO | O |
CARDIgan (knitwear item) |
| Pointer’s fine not using name (5) | ARROW | [n]ARROW (fine; minus Name) | ||
| 6 | In a stylish manner? Just! – with emperor becoming a national emblem (7) | SLEEKLY | S[imp]LY (just) with LEEK (national emblem of Wales) replacing IMPerator (emperor) | |
| Apron of old maid? (4) | PRIM | P |
(double def) | |
| 7 | Couple carrying piano to tread carefully (6) | TIPTOE | TIE (couple) around Piano TO | |
| In going up to get award she became petrified (5) | NIOBE | IN (rev: going up)+OBE) (award) |
||
| 8 | Ink runs short during smart colouring (8) | STAINING | STING (smart) around IN[k] (run short) | |
| It’s seen in oral exam at the back perhaps (5) | MOLAR | &lit. ORAL+[exa]M anag: perhaps | ||
| 9 | Conservative appearing in the broadcast is real (4) | ECHT | Conservative inside THE (anag: broadcast) | |
| Groups of Roman soldiers – about a hundred; they see to provisions (9) | MANCIPLES | MANIPLES (Roman soldiers) around C (one hundred; Roman) | ||
| 10 | Fish below water’s edges make a row (7) | WRANGLE | W[ate]R (edges)+ANGLE (fish) | |
| Trustee consumes whisky – he’s determined to win (5) | TRYER | TRustee around RYE (whisky) |
Thanks and commiserations to Kenmac. I too managed to fill the grid – and draw the decagon. The only word I could think of to associate with it was “flash”, but I didn’t think of it as a village, and I had no idea how to proceed. DNF.
Thanks to Pointer, too.
I think kenmac had quite enough to do in being landed with this puzzle at all, let alone contending with hurricanes and blackouts (in other words, I got pretty much nowhere with it, even without the external distractions). Simply couldn’t solve enough clues cold to make progress with fitting anything in, and even now I struggle to remember that a dot in a cell only applies to the clue going in one direction but not to the crossing letter in the clue going the other way. I think the puzzle’s difficulty is best symbolised by being invited to pick out TRENTO from all the cities of the world without even the modest assistance of ‘Italian’ as a guide. And that’s before going hunting for the villages Ogle, Echt, Tiptoe and Wrangle (is Pointer sure that Tree, Manna and Oke aren’t also scattered somewhere around these Isles?). Special thanks and kudos to kenmac for getting through this and supplying an illuminating blog, that confirmed for me that I was never going to solve this Pointer puzzle.
Exactly the same as John Lowe @1. I would have needed to wade through several pages of Google entries for Flash. But I much enjoyed the grid fill, and I looked forward to discovering what I’d missed! Many thanks to Pointer and kenmac.
There was too much endgame for me to get through. I too got as far as Staplecross but somehow expected that there would be something unusual or special about the village that would lead to further enlightenment. In fairness the preamble didn’t suggest that this would be the case.
Nor could I get a hint of the theme from the title, so thank you for the explanation kenmac.
Overall this was a puzzle that I was never going to finish, which is a shame because I greatly enjoyed filling the grid.
Never heard of an exclamation mark being called a screamer but it’s there in Chambers. Nor could I parse diktat.
Thank you for the blog in difficult circumstances kenmac, and for the crossword Pointer. The part that I could solve was fun.
I agree with Sagittarius that not all the difficulties of this carte blanche were necessary. (Initially I thought the overlong words would be entered alongside the grid; so that was a slow start). In fact, I never fully entered Trento, though I assumed it had to be the answer; awaiting verification I never got round to. I struggle with connecting dots and discovering patterns, so never even arrived at Staplecross – but like Sammy@4, I did enjoy the grid fill (and don’t get Diktat). Thanks to Pointer and sympathies to kenmac.
Until I read this blog I was sure that the exclamation mark to find was the PLING in row 8 (I only know the word from a recent Enigmatist puzzle!) but the preamble does state that it is a “clue entry” so my bad. It’s either a funny coincidence or a sneaky prank on Pointer’s part.
I think I managed to get further with this than some folk, albeit I must confess that between a full grid and the final endgame I did solicit the assistance of another solver who dropped a little hint that unlocked the STAPLECROSS part, which in turn opened up the rest of the village list construct.
I used to fear the carte blanche too, but over time I’ve got used to cold-solving and (wearing down a rubber) working out where entries start and finish by trial and error.
A fabulous construction, thanks very much.
Another DNF (actually DNStart) the endgame. Too much endgame, and far too obscure for me. Congrats to anyone who solved it.
DIKTAT:
D = Germany, IKAT = taking reversed minus NG (National Guard)
Hmm… I wonder what happened to the rest of my wordplay. I’ll fix it
I enjoyed the grid fill. Found Staplecross and a lightning bolt. Ground to a halt. Now I’ve seen the solution I resent wasting the time I did trying to complete the end game. Maybe I’m suffering from sour grapes, but I feel sufficiently moved to cast my “NO” vote.
WE did manage to finish this and identified all the villages which was satisfying. However, we were hoping for a link between them but couldn’t see anything.
Filling the grid was a challenge but we enjoyed that. Too much time was then spent on looking at a link between FLASH and STAPLECROSS.
It wasn’t until we had the endgame that we sorted out the title which confirmed our answers.
Sorry you suffered in the storm Ken. Hope everything bis now OK.
Thanks Pointer but the end fell a bit flat. It was a pity you didn’t manage to include our village – Burton Joyce!
A rather weird solve for me and somewhat fortuitous. I identified the letters of STAPLECROSS and chuckled to myself that this was coincidentally the name of my house for a few years….I genuinely thought it no more than a weird coincidence but then when I identified the FLASH shape I had a, er, flash of inspiration: growing up 25 minutes away from the village in question (and having driven through it hundreds of times) the VILLAGES theme fell into place. I failed on the very last step although – sour grapes aside – it did feel like a step too far
A marvellous piece of grid construction but a flawed puzzle I fear. I really enjoyed solving the clues, finding STAPLECROSS and the zigzag, but then hit a brick wall. Was the shape a warning of high voltage cables, a depiction of lightning as on a weather forecast, or what? Any overlap with Staplecross? With help I focused on FLASH from the assortment of bolt, streak, flash, plus a few others, and a friend offered the idea that the italicised “above” in “stands above all other members” must be relevant, which it was. Googling “flash tallest/highest” broke through the brick wall I’d been banging my head against. I then simply (but tediously) googled “village” followed by each answer in turn, and found ten of them. And finally the SCREAMER of course. More of a relief that satisfaction.
Misread the opening of the preamble, and didn’t realise that the over-long entries REAPPEARED on the left – a bit like the ‘snake’ game on my Nokia years ago. So, even with all bar 8 of the clues cold-solved, I couldn’t make sense of the grid. In desperation put the answers into Excel so I could move them around but with still no joy.
I blame myself.