We have a puzzle from a new Inquisitor setter this week. The only previous puzzle by Henri that I can find on fifteensquared is one submitted to the York Sloggers & Betters meeting last October.
The preamble was of fairly standard length and told us that single extra letters generated by wordplay in each of 22 clues spell one version of an inspirational phrase attributed to a thematic figure. A further 12 clues, for answers in six symmetric pairings in the grid, each contain a thematic element that must be swapped from each clue to its partner before solving. Swapped words suggest one part of the figure’s name; the other part should be highlighted in the grid, in an appropriate style. Finally, highlight five connected items in the grid (19 cells), each of which might arguably be considered a small realisation of the inspirational words.
There were 44 clues (22 with an extra letter in the wordplay, 6 pairs of symmetrically placed clues where one word in each pair had to be swapped before the clue could be solved), leaving 10 normal clues which were at 10a, 30a, 35a, 7d, 17d, 23d, 24d, 32d, 36d and 38d.
The paired clues and the words to be swapped were:
| Clue 1 | Word 1 | Clue 2 | Word 2 |
| 6a | singer | 40a | bellboy |
| 20a | director | 26a | inventor |
| 1d | rector | 29d | astronaut |
| 3d | bookie | 28d | teacher |
| 14d | artist | 27d | solicitor |
| 15d | guitarist | 22d | driver |
The extra letters in the relevant 22 clues spell out MAKE A DENT IN THE UNIVERSE. This is a summary of an extract from part of a longer quotation spoken by STEVE JOBS [1955 – 2011), co-founder of Apple Inc’ – “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why else even be here?”
The swapped words all define an occupation or job, so together they are JOBS which gives us one part of the speaker’s name. The next step in the endgame was to find STEVE. Given there is only one V in the grid, we were obviously dealing with SITEVE located centrally in the third column. The letter I in the column didn’t click with me immediately, but it did when I started looking for the other 19 cells we had to highlight.
In rows 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 we have PHONE, MAC, PAD, POD and CLOUD which together comprise 19 cells.
When you highlight STEVE in the grid it appears a lower case i. At this point, the final penny dropped as the names of all the highlighted products are iPhone, iMac, iPad, IPod and iCloud.
I doubt if it is a coincidence that the unhighlighted row in the block from column 3 row 4 to column 10 row 9 is I COMMERCE
This was an enjoyable solve with the endgame revealing itself step by step.
The title ‘What’s My Line?’ could be written as ‘What’s my job?’ which links to the theme.
The clues were clear even when they led to words I didn’t know, such as STEATORRHOEA, BRENNE, PADOUK, TRET, COMPO, DOU and KAROSS
The initial grid and the final grid are shown immediately below and the detailed table further below explains the wordplay in each original or amended clue.
When Kenmac knew who the setter was for this Inquisitor, he sent me a link to a YouTube interview with Henri where he explains his experiences with crosswords and his first steps in setting. The video can be found by clicking here. You may need a username and password for Google or You Tube to access the video. Henri has kind words about fifteensquared around twelve and a half minutes in.
| No | Detail
swapped words in clues indicated in fuchsia extra letters in wordplay shown in brown |
Letter |
| Across | ||
| 2 | Clever fairy with wings of lace (4)
ABLE (clever) MAB (the name of a female fairy believed to be the bringer of dreams; the queen of the fairies) + LE (outer letters of [wings of] LacE AB LE |
M |
| 6 | Saw singer on vacation either side of Wakefield (6)
Saw bellboy on vacation either side of Wakefield (6) BYWORD (common saying; proverb; saw) BY (letters remaining in BellboY when the central letters ellbo are removed [on vacation]) + W OR D (W and D are the outer letters of [sides of] WakefielD, so choosing either, you can have W OR D) BY W OR D |
|
| 10 | Reheat oats or nuts, creating excessive waste fat (12)
STEATORRHOEA (accumulation of abnormal levels of fat in the faeces; excessive waste fat) Anagram of (nuts) REHEAT OATS OR STEATORRHOEA* |
|
| 11 | Impressive new digital cameras Giles dropped (8)
DRAMATIC (impressive) Anagram of (new) DIGITAL CAMERAS excluding (dropped) GILES DRAMATIC* |
A |
| 13 | Some punks to petulantly pull the plug (6)
UNSTOP (remove the blockage or plug) UNSTOP (hidden word in [some] pUNKS TO Petulantly UNSTOP |
K |
| 16 | Casually getting drunk with Gaelic language experts (5)
ONERS (experts) ON (slang [casually] term for ‘on the way to being drunk’) + ERSE (a Gaelic language) ON ERS |
E |
| 18 | Trading force welcoming Guatemalan people (8)
COMMERCE (trading) COERCE (force) containing (welcoming) MAM (a South American people of Guatemala) CO (MM) ERCE |
A |
| 20 | Funny show leads to Sky director taking chance on me (6)
Funny show leads to Sky inventor taking chance on me (6) SITCOM (SITuation COMedy; funny show) SITCOM (first letters of [leads to] each of Sky, Inventor, Taking, Chance, On and Me) SITCOM |
|
| 21 | Chemical easily passed first parts of tests at lab (6)
ACETAL (a liquid formed by oxidation of alcohol; a chemical) ACED (easily passed) + TAL (initial letters of [first parts of] each of Tests, At and Labs) ACE TAL |
D |
| 23 | Burn outdated book on nationalists by Cummings? (6)
BRENNE (obsolete [outdated] word for ‘burn’) B (book) + RE (with reference to; on) + N (nationalist) + N (nationalist) + EE (initials of author e e Cummings [1894 – 1962], American poet and painter) B RE N N E |
E |
| 26 | Eccentric inventor up oak tree (6)
Eccentric director up oak tree (6) PADOUK (alternative spelling of PADAUK [a timber tree of the red sanders genus]) Anagram of (eccentric) D (director) and UP OAK PADOUK* |
|
| 30 | Party wrong about sex, wrong! (8, 3 words)
LIVE IT UP (have a ball; party) EVIL (wrong) reversed (about) + IT (sex) + UP (amiss; wrong) LIVE< IT UP |
|
| 33 | News reports of rioting inmates not accepted (5)
ITEMS (news reports) Anagram of (rioting) INMATES excluding (not) A (accepted) ITEMS* |
N |
| 35 | Look at you, texting socialist back more flamboyantly (6)
LOUDER (more flamboyantly) LO (look) + U (character representing the word ‘you’ in textspeak) + RED (socialist) reversed (back) LO U DER< |
|
| 37 | Poor quality not intentional, primarily lack of caution (8)
RASHNESS (lack of caution) TRASHINESS (poor quality) excluding (not) I (first letter of [primarily] Intentional) RASHNESS |
T |
| 39 | Descriptions of oil – inside messy, outside tidy (12)
DELINEATIONS (descriptions) Anagram of (messy) OIL INSIDE containing (outside) NEAT (tidy) DELINEATIONS* |
I |
| 40 | Bellboy, a little feisty lesbian (6)
Singer, a little feisty lesbian (6) STYLES (reference Harry STYLES [born 1994], English singer, former member of the band One Direction) STYLES (hidden word in [a little] feiSTY LESbian) STYLES |
|
| 41 | Perfect hour before afternoon prayers (4)
HONE ([make] perfect) H + NONE (same as NONES [church service originally held at the ninth hour, or three o’clock, afterwards earlier; afternoon prayers) H ONE |
N |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Supplies workplace for rector outside disused court (6)
Supplies workplace for astronaut outside disused court (6) ISSUES (supplies) ISS (International Space Station; workplace for an astronaut) containing (outside) SUE (Shakespearean word [disused] for woo [court]) IS (SUE) S |
|
| 2 | When the evening’s news is an Egyptian deity (4)
ATEN (Egyptian sun god; Egyptian deity) AT TEN (time when the evening news is broadcast on BBC and ITV) AT EN |
T |
| 3 | Qualified bookie’s to be a tenant in lodgings (6)
Qualified teacher‘s to be a tenant in lodgings (6) BEDSIT (lodgings) BED (Bachelor of Education; qualification to be a teacher) + SIT (be a tenant) BED SIT |
|
| 4 | Intense dislike upset lowly Japanese citizen earlier (3)
ETA (formerly [earlier], a member of the lowest Japanese class, which did work considered menial or degrading) HATE (intense dislike) reversed (upset) ETA< |
H |
| 5 | Arrive at river bringing mortar (5)
COMPO (a mortar of cement) COME (arrive) + PO (river in Italy) COM PO |
E |
| 6 | Hindu god dancing a rhumba (6)
BRAHMA (the first god of the Hindu triad) Anagram of (dancing) A RHUMBA BRAHMA* |
U |
| 7 | Win round husband with English beef (5)
WHINE (complain; beef) (WIN containing [round] H) + E W (H) IN E |
|
| 8 | Close to brother, close to parent (4)
REAR (raise; parent, as a verb) R (last letter of [close to] brotheR) + NEAR (close to) R EAR |
N |
| 9 | Poetic girl’s mother has stories written up (6)
DAMSEL (poetic term for a young girl) DAM (mother) + LIES (stories) reversed (written up; down entry) DAM SEL< |
I |
| 12 | Change not working? It’s an inevitability (4)
CERT (CERTain; an inevitability) CONVERT (change) excluding (not) ON (working) CERT |
V |
| 14 | Artist holding back involuntary response (3)
Solicitor holding back involuntary response (3) TIC (involuntary habitual response) TIC (reversed [back] hidden word in [holding] soliCITor) TIC< |
|
| 15 | Performing around clubs with old French guitarist (4)
Performing around clubs with old French driver (4) OCON (reference Esteban OCON [born 1996], French Formula 1 driver) ON (performing) containing (around) (C [clubs] + O [old]) O (C O) N |
|
| 17 | Freedom I ridiculed housing Russian communes once (4)
MIRI (peasant farming communes in pre-Revolutionary Russia [formerly; once]) MIRI (hidden word in p[housing] FreedoM I RIdiculed) MIRI |
|
| 19 | A clue about foetal membrane (4)
CAUL (the membrane covering the head of some infants at birth; foetal membrane) Anagram of (about) A CLUE CAUL* |
E |
| 22 | Device for driver over limit? Quite the reverse (4)
Device for guitarist over limit? Quite the reverse (4) CAPO (a movable bridge secured over the fingerboard and strings of a lute or guitar, to alter the pitch of all the strings together; device for guitarist) CAP (limit) + O (over) – formed in the reverse way to the clue which indicates over then limit (quite the reverse) CAP O |
|
| 23 | Obscures rubbish surrounding lime tree (6)
BLINDS (obscures) BS (bullshit; rubbish) containing (surrounding) LIND (another name for the LINDen or lime tree) B (LIND) S |
|
| 24 | European highly abrupt in any case (4)
EVER (in any degree; in any case) E (European) + VERY (highly) excluding the final letter (abrupt) Y E VER |
|
| 25 | Before capturing Chad, succeeded making cuts (6)
ETCHES (cuts or carves) (ERE [before] containing [capturing] TCH [International Vehicle Registration for Chad]) + S (succeeded) E (TCH) E S |
R |
| 27 | 17th century solicitor died, East London man (3)
17th century artist died, East London man (3) DOU (reference Gerrit DOU [1613 -1675], 17th century Dutch artist) D (died) + OU (South African term for a man, East London is a town in South Africa) D OU |
|
| 28 | Strange issue with teacher’s favourite? (6)
Strange issue with bookie‘s favourite? (6) ODDS-ON (in a bookie’s eyes, an ODDS-ON horse is favourite to win) ODD (strange) + SON (issue) ODD S ON |
|
| 29 | Retired Alaska astronaut with huge special African cloak (6)
Retired Alaska rector with huge special African cloak (6) KAROSS (a South African garment of animal skins; African cloak) AK (abbreviation for the US State of Alaska) reversed (retired) + R (rector) + OS (outsize; huge) + S (special) KA< R OS S |
|
| 31 | Prepared meals I send online (5)
E-MAIL (to send a message online) Anagram of (prepared) MEALS I E-MAIL* |
S |
| 32 | Regularly pulling exposed part of arm bone (5)
ULNAR (of arm bone) ULN (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] pUlLiNg) + AR (letters remaining in pARt when the outer letters P and T are removed, leaving AR exposed) ULN AR |
|
| 34 | Greek island needs time for carbon waste allowance from stale goods (4)
TRET (a historical term allowance to purchasers of 4lb on every 104lb for waste, presumably in relation to stale goods. Alternatively stale may refer to the fact that the word is historical) CRETE (Greek island with T [time] replacing (for) C [carbon], to form TRETE) TRET |
E |
| 36 | Flighty creature overly lonely at heart (4)
ERNE (sea-eagle; a flightly creature) ER (central letters of [at heart] ovERly) + NE (central letters of [at heart] loNEly) ER NE |
|
| 38 | Icelandic character’s hatred periodically brought up (3)
ETH (Icelandic letter [character]) ETH (letters 5, 3 and 1 [periodically brought up [down entry] in HaTrEd) ETH |
Well, if Henri is nice about fifteensquared, fifteensquared should be nice about him. An enjoyable, and not too tricky, gridfill, with an elegant, and not too tricky, endgame. I came to this site with barely any parsing queries, which is rare. Thanks to Henri and Duncan
My eyesight is not what it was – is the shaded bit on the right meant to represent something?
Enjoyed here too. All thanks to Henri (whose name I didn’t recognize but thought I might just have forgotten) and duncanshiell. The job-swapping exercise was great fun once the penny had dropped.
bingy @ 2
I wondered about that too, but I can’t make it into anything that might connect to Apple. Often, when you look at shadings in crosswords from a distance, it is easier to discern an important shape. Putting the Ipad at one of the room and looking at it from as far away as I can get, I still don’t see a recognisable item. I think it just reflects the way Henri managed to get the various Apple devices into the grid.
Setter popping in (for it is I, known locally as Rob T) to say a big thanks to duncanshiell for an excellent analysis, spot on. To bingy @2 and duncan @4, the actual shape of the ‘connected items’ isn’t intended to mean anything, it’s simply how the words fit into the grid and still allow crossing words without jumping out too much visually. Although if anyone does discern a significant shape, I will retrospectively claim it! 🙂
I’ll take this opportunity to express my huge gratitude to the IQ setter known as Cranberry (elsewhere, Fez) who acted as mentor, tester, adviser, sounding board and all-round cheerleader throughout the production of this, which was in fact a version of the very first barred thematic I ever set. Without him, etc.
Cheers all!
The preamble says “… the other part [Steve] should be highlighted in the grid, in an appropriate style.” So I decided to enter those cells in lower case, since the devices are known as iPod, iPad, iPhone, and so on. Anyone else have a view? Maybe if Henri pops back in he could enlighten us to just what is the “appropriate style” that he had in mind.
Anyway, thanks for the blog and for the puzzle – not too hard as others have said.
HG @6 – how Duncan has it in the blog is exactly how I intended – the “appropriate style” is simply highlighting the S/TEVE in the shape of a lower case ‘i’ 🙂 … as the instruction was “highlight” rather than “modify”, your interpretation actually didn’t occur to me…!
Lovely puzzle with a fun play on the ‘jobs’. Thanks Henri, much enjoyed!
Thanks to Henri for dropping in and to kenmac for providing the link to the interview. We haven’t had time to listen to it all but pleased that fifteensquared features favourably.
We certainly enjoyed the challenge – some smooth surfaces which we like. It also wan’t until we had filled the grid that we located the items which was excellent.
Thanks to Duncan for the blog and hopefully we will see another Henri IQ.
Like HolyGhost@6, I couldn’t make sense of the “appropriate style” phrase and concluded it was something to do with having an i in the middle of Steve. The actual answer is much more elegant of course, and as such I ought to have seen it, despite still feeling doubtful whether it’s in a style; the point is to highlight the letters of the name so,as to to form an appropriate shape. Otherwise it was straightforward and agreeable, with added interest from the job swaps, so welcome and thanks to Henri, and to Duncan for the blog.
I enjoyed the challenge of the three types of clue, of which only ten were ‘normal’, and found that I coped with the ‘extra letter’ clues better than those with the wrong words. I got the theme from the extra letters, and when I realised that it was the ‘job’ words that interfered with the reading of those twelve clues it made solving them a bit more straightforward! The theme was familiar to me, and finding the items was no trouble. I didn’t ‘get’ the way S_TEVE was laid out, but I highlighted it anyway.
Thanks to Henri and Duncan.
Thanks Rob/Henri for an interesting puzzle. I did get there and even started to understand the endgame (although I missed the Steve in the appropriate style). Sorry I haven’t responded before this blog appeared.
Thanks also to duncanshiell, and kenmac for the video. It was full of useful advice to the would be setter. I’ve only corresponded with Rob by t’internet so far and it was interesting putting a face to the name. The accent also made me nostalgic for my past life.
Bertandjoyce @9, I suspect we’ll see a fair bit of Henri in the future.
Thanks again duncanshiell and Henri.
An enjoyable challenge, and swapping the jobs to solve some of the clues was a particularly cute move. 9/10 for me this week, as I couldn’t solve 1 down and although I found Steve, I didn’t twig the neat arrangement of the letters forming an i prefix to the devices opposite.
A very enjoyable crossword. We thought that using the letter “I” to split S from the rest of the forename and create the lower case i was the Icing on the cake.