Pride… by Nimrod
The wordplay in each clue bar one leads to the solution plus an extra letter (in the exception, two letters) not entered in the grid. In clue order. these letters spell two quotes: the first missing seven consecutive words; the second – referring to one member of an octet – missing its last two words. Noting the proximity of the other seven individuals, solvers must act in accordance with the second quote’s missing words. thereby filling several initially blank cells and creating several more. leaving real words either side of the gap and producing new ones. The contents of one cell, doing double duty, may be left intact. Enumerations refer to the space available for entries 26 may be confirmed online. one answer is a familiar abbreviation.
In anticipation of the next puzzle being a centenary (1900) I fully expected a gentle stroll in the park this week but boy! was I wrong. Anyone who has been following certain discussions on this site will be well aware that (with my admin hat on) I’ve been kept quite busy. I also had a long-planned weekend trip to Lewes (south England) to factor in. I fully expected to be home in plenty of time on Sunday evening to finish (read virtually start from beginning) this blog but flight delays and missed connections meant I was too tired and irritable by the time I got home. My Monday was taken away from me by a pre-arranged outpatient appointment which took much longer than anticipated. Anyway, I mostly finished the puzzle and sort of knew what I was looking for in order to complete the end game but I had to seek help at the eleventh (thirteenth??) hour. The two quotes spelled out: WE ARE TWO LIONS LITTERED IN ONE DAY AND I (THE ELDER AND MORE TERRIBLE AND Caesar) SHALL GO FORTH ET TU BRUTE THEN Then we have to find seven antagonists in the grid. They are, as shown, CASCA, CINNA, CASSIUS, CIMBER, TREBONIUS, LIGARIUS, DECIUS.
Apologies for the hurriedness and brevity of this blog but I know I can rely on readers to add to it. Thanks to Nimrod (I think). If I ever meet that bloke, well, I’ll not be responsible for my actions. Seriously though, thanks Nimrod for the challenge. Thanks to bellow floggers and thanks everyone for your patience.
| Across | Entry | Extra | Wordplay | |
| 1 Attempted what’s not half as bad for restructuring (8, 3 words) | HAD A STAB | W | WHA[ts] (not half) AS BAD anag (bad) | |
| 8 It’s the best stuff (4) | CRAM | E | (double def) CREAM | |
| 12 Five-cent cigar I pass back through gorge (6) | STOGIE | A | I GO (rev: back) inside SATE (gorge) | |
| 14 Light current gets behind a ferocious fish (5) | PERAI | R | PER) (a)+AIR (light current) | |
| 15 Patient takes rebel leader a drop of water (7) | CASCADE | E | CASE (patient) around CADE (rebel) JohnCade | |
| 16 With which we’re able to catch drops of liquid (4) | EARS | T | TEARS (drops of liquid | |
| 17 Andrew starts taking notes (3) | RES | W | andREW Starts (hidden: taking | |
| 18 Party to bar! (3) | INN | O | INON (party to) | |
| 19 Champion boxer’s taken with church passageways (6) | AISLED | L | ALI’S (champion boxer’s)+LED (past tense of lead) | |
| 21 Old people sadly antisocial, withdrawing a lot (5) | INCAS | I | aNtISoCIAl (minus A LOT; anag: sadly) | |
| 23 Keeper of wisdom maintained by our Nonjuror (6) | USAGER | O | OUR around SAGE (keeper of wisdom) | |
| 25 Hooked on cycling, Macbeth’s victim (5) | ADUNC | N | DUNCAN (Macbeth’s victim) with letters cycled | |
| 26 Not quite one’s most appropriate fibre (4) | IMBE | S | I’M BES[t] (most appropriate; not quite) | |
| 27 Price later smashed (4) | RATE | L | LATER (anag: smashed) | |
| 28 Communication from Macron permitted flag … (6) | LETTRE | I | LET (permitted)+TIRE (flag) | |
| 31 … his good name stored by program (3) | BON | T | BOT (program) around Name | |
| 33 Power comes and goes during the course of Thursday (3) | USA | T | ThUrSdAy (comes and goes) | |
| 35 Liberal invariably idle (6) | VERLIG | E | EVER (invariably)+LIG (idle) | |
| 37 Back one to join American theologian (5) | ARIUS | RE | REAR (back)+I+US (American) | |
| 39 Imitation gold lines couturier’s sewn in back (6) | OROIDE | D | ODE (lines) around DIOR (couturier; rev: back) Christian Dior | |
| 42 Is observing specimens at equal intervals (4) | SEES | I | SpEcImEnS (at equal intervals) | |
| 44 Amateur member of religious community’s caught in bed (7) | HAMMOCK | N | HAM (amateur)+MONK around Caught | |
| 47 Responsibilities no son willingly takes to (6) | ONUSES | O | I’m not sure of this one. I can kinda see most of it | |
| 49 Aim to lock Latin in longforgotten age (3) | ELD | N | END (aim) containing Latin | |
| 50 “Handyman” perhaps cool working as dung-spreader? (8) | MANICURE | E | MANURE around ICE | |
| 51 Peeved neighbour obscuring John’s sunset (5) | EEVEN | D | pEEVED Neighbour (hidden: obscuring) | |
| 52 An artist put off by Native American soup (6) | PHO | A | araPAHO (Native American) minus A RA (artist) | |
| 53 One’s introduced to force feed later on (7) | DINE | Y | DYNE (force) around I (one) | |
| Down | ||||
| 2 He’s here, ready to drive: is it Magnussen being held up? (8) | ATTENDEE | A | AT TEE (ready to drive) around DANE (Magnussen; rev: held up) The most famous Magnussen in my world is Kevin Magnussen but I imagine there are thousands of Danish Magnussens | |
| 3 GPs put on acts periodically (4) | DOCS | N | DON (put on)+aCtS (periodically | |
| 4 Depardieu’s provocative recording canned by chief social worker? (7) | AGAÇANT | D | AGA (chief)+CD (recording)+ANT social worker | |
| 5 Investigator giving lift to one doing rap? (3) | TEC | I | ICE T (one doing rap; rev:giving lift to) Ice T | |
| 6 Smear a press assistant at conclusion of plot (6) | BEDAUB | S | BED (plot)+A+SUB (press assistant) | |
| 7 Variety of greenish rock (7) | GREISEN | H | GREENISH (anag) | |
| 9 Line concluding vocal solo of old king (4) | RIAL | A | ARIA (vocal solo)+Line | |
| 10 Demon wind coming in behind (6) | AFREET | L | AFT (behind) around REEL (wind) | |
| 11 Bad dream is about drinking acid: fears for Macbeth? (9) | MISDREADS | L | DREAM IS (anag: bad) around LSD (acid) | |
| 12 Play with instalments newly set in Algiers (6) | SERIAL | G | ALGIERS (anag: newly set) | |
| 13 Thames at one point survives current like this (4) | ISIS | O | IS (survives)+I (current)+SO (like this) | |
| 14 John’s pagan supporter, Independent, engaged by rising parliamentarian (5) | PANIM | F | MP (parliamentarian; rev: rising) around FAN (supporter)+Independent | |
| 20 Dress for Hindu showman making second-half appearance? (4) | SARI | O | [impre]SARIO (showman; second half) | |
| 22 Old high ranker circling for one attack (5) | SIEGE | R | SIRE (old high ranker) around EG (for one | |
| 24 Tenacity needed to police active German districts (4) | GAUS | T | GUTS (tenacity) around Active | |
| 29 Time Personnel: 60 secs to join circle, round shape (7) | TROMINO | H | Time+HR (personnel)+MINute (60 seconds)+O (circle) | |
| 30 Free spin (3) | RID | E | (double def) RIDE | |
| 31 I support British sailor doing shift? (7) | BACKER | T | British+T(ACKER) (sailor doing shift) Tacking | |
| 32 Flier shouted encouragement, sustaining small group in performance (6) | ORIOLE | T | OLÉ (shouted encouragement) around TRIO (small group) | |
| 34 Make tougher blade for slicing testicles up (7) | STEEPEN | U | NUTS (testicles) around ÉPÉE (blade) all rev: up | |
| 36 Souls here in oblivion left drink unfinished (6) | LIMBI | B | Left+IMBIB[e] (drink; unfinished) | |
| 38 Good day to take in Czech play, as moneylender once did (6) | USURED | R | I know I solved this one but now it escapes me | |
| 40 Thus unshackled, open about prince (5) | RAJAH | U | [t]HU[s] (unshackled)+AJAR (open) rev: about | |
| 41 Hunt departing displays waving of arms? (5) | UNDE | T | hUNT DEparted (hidden: displays) | |
| 43 Being philosophical, it looks like a letter (3) | ESS | E | (double def) ESSE (philosophically “being”) | |
| 44 Pound a mass of earth (4) | HUMP | T | (double def) THUMP (pound) | |
| 45 Source of enlightenment, leader deserting Azog? (4) | ORC | H | [t]ORCH (source of enlightenment; minus leader) | |
| 46 Vineyard workers leaving something blocking canal? (4) | CRU | E | CERUmen (ear wax; minus MEN) | |
| 48 Bad person’s missing the last function (4) | SINE | N | SINNEr (bad person; minus last letter) |
47a: SOON (willingly) minus S(on) USES (takes to), less O
38d: need to check my notes
I too was expecting an easier one. This was a pig – easily the hardest of the year so far.
38d: USE (good) + D(ay) around RUR (Czech play), less R
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to find this heavy going! Or to fail to parse 47a, although I did get 38D. Very impressive to find seven conspirators in consecutive rows. Also the neat acting-out of CAESAR FALLS, the two words missing from the second quote.
My thanks to Nimrod and (with added sympathy) Kenmac.
Well this was certainly a difficult set of clues, as I would expect from Nimrod. The end game for once was pretty straightforward once I’d worked out the instructions and stopped assuming that the two quotes were neatly divided into the across and down clues; the first quote does seem to end very naturally with “one day”, and I spent quite a bit of time looking through Julius Caesar for a suitable counterpart that said something about going forth. But all the conspirators are lurking contiguously in plain sight (a considerable achievement by the setter), with Caesar symbolically at the top of the grid, and I was duly grateful to be able to confirm ONUSES and USURED which, like Ken, I couldn’t parse, though the solutions looked obvious. I am told by Google that the 1920s Czech play Rur gave the word “robot” to the world, but searches on-line for famous Czech plays did not produce anything useful and I’m impressed that HolyGhost above simply knew it! The title seems to be a combination of referencing the imaginary pride of lions that included Danger and Caesar as cubs, and a critique of Caesar’s arrogance in ignoring a lot of ominous auguries and going off to the Senate to be murdered. My sympathy to Ken for getting this particular puzzle at a busy time, and thanks to him, Nimrod and HolyGhost.
Another quality Inquisitor puzzle to follow last week’s, and even better for me because I managed to resolve this theme completely.
The clues took a long time to solve, mainly because of the extra letter device but also (later on) because of the unknown placement of the blank cells. Two clues (PHO and CRU) were particularly tough, and after solving them by virtue of their crossing letters I persevered until I worked out the subtraction device in each case. Completing the grid and extracting all the extra letters was, in the end, a very enjoyable and rewarding task.
The densely packed thematic material in the grid was amazing. All I saw before I set out to follow the thematic instructions were CAESAR and CASSIUS. I looked up the others, and BRUTUS was of course elsewhere.
Thanks to Nimrod for a well-designed and well-clued Inquisitor, and to kenmac for all his hard work (both on this puzzle and on fifteensquared!).
No one has yet mentioned 1a being highly thematic …
To get seven conspirators in seven consecutive rows is amazing. Unlike others, I’ve been expecting a beast after a run of relatively smooth puzzles, but fortunately the internet yielded the quote with relatively little information. The bottom of the grid, with all the empty cells, was a real struggle, so solving it was very satisfying; thanks to Nimrod and kenmac.
Ken
I would just mention that the last two (missing) words of the second quote (following “ET TU BRUTE, THEN …”) are “FALL, CAESAR”, which we are to enact in the grid in the way that you have demonstrated above, in colour.
… and I had 38d USURED as USE + D taking in RUR, the first R being the extra letter. I thought ‘Good’ = USE, as in ‘no good’ = ‘no use’.
Alan B @9: that’s essentially what I wrote @2
Ken, your comments about what you might do if you were ever to meet Nimrod are similar to those expressed by Simon Anthony on Friday at the Word-Puzzle conference. Simon was late arriving in Oxford as a result of his having to spend over two hours solving that day’s Times crossword for his regular Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel. He described it as the hardest puzzle in 10 years and had to break his self-imposed rule and use a dictionary in order to complete the solve. In the event , despite Simon pointing in an accusatory manner at Mr Henderson, there was no violence.
The conference itself was well worth the modest entry fee and was greatly enjoyed by this blogger.
Enjoyed this puzzle immensely, and only latterly realised that, of course, it was published on the ‘Ides of March’! It made it easier (for me) to look up the characters in Shakespeare. Just a little clarification, 1A, the not half refers to the word ‘as’.
Thanks to Nimrod for a great and satisfying workout, and to Ken and all contributors for finalising a few of the details.
A tour de force of setting!
HG @10
I’m sorry. I thought I had read all comments before posting mine, but somehow I missed yours.
Absolutely brilliant. I enjoy a beast of an IQ every now and again, and this was one of those. Superb how Nimrod managed to incorporate all those names into consecutive rows.
Bravo to setter and blogger. I could not parse Cru for the life of me so thank you for clearing that one up.
Tough but very satisfying as it all unfolded. Definitely an achievement to get all those names lined up like that. At the end I did notice 1a and the publication date with a chuckle.
Thanks Nimrod and kenmac
How did we miss the publication date significance? Probably in the same way that it took us far too long to find CAESAR in the grid. We tried dropping separate letters which all looked a bit messy – definitely not what we would expect from Nimrod.
We actually breathed a sigh of relief that we weren’t blogging before we started. However, although it took a while we weren’t blogging before able to steadily chip away at things until we had the grid fill. It did worry us that we couldn’t identify any empty cells for quite a long time. A very challenging puzzle to set with all the names.
Our son also enjoyed the challenge.
Thanks kenmac – sorry you had such a stressful time. Hope you are fully recovered from all the delays etc.
Thanks also to Nimrod of course.