A warm welcome back to Pandiculator for his third Listener.
We last met him in 4842 in mortal combat with Bond at Aricebo after combatting Space Invaders in 4608, while he has also ventured four tines into the Magpie’s nest and once each into the EV and IQ, with a wide range of themes. What will his Romantic turn look like time?
The preamble is intriguing – and at first sight impenetrable. The first letters in extra words in clues spell a message identifying (i) a piece for “X”’ (ii) which part of a note to X to use; and (iii) what to ignore in a related note. Then follow instructio
ns to draw a path using a curly compass as a guide, which will lead to another instruction and allow the blank central cell to be correctly completed and indicate two entries to be highlighted – or something like that.
‘Tis mystery all so we start to solve and are pleased to find that the grid-fill goes disarmingly smoothly. The lull before the storm, but the message is clear enough:
OPUS THIRTY-SIX VARIATION TEN. FIRST LINE. FINAL CHARACTER.
Eschewing Google for a moment we asked an AI engine and got sent down the rabbit-hole of the Diabelli Variations, which was going nowhere fast.
Then we remembered the photo the ecclesiastical half of the partnership took outside Hereford Cathedral that morning with Edward Elgar surveying the soon-to-open Three Choirs Festival there. Doh! Back to Google to check, and the first hit is the Enigma Variations of 1898-9 tenth variation ‘Dorabella”, named for Elgar’s younger friend Dora Penny, to whom he sent an enciphered note:
The same code appears in a note Elgar had made on his programme for a Liszt concert https://www.futilitycloset.com/2017/11/07/the-liszt-fragment/. The code has not been deciphered.
Adjusting our specs, we start to trace the squiggles, ignoring the letter in the dagger in the square and using the compass to count 1, 2 or 3 squares in the appropriate direction. It’s a bit hit and miss until we get our eye in, and the additional preamble note showing which squiggles are along the cardinal directions and which aren’t is helpful, and we need to remember not to count re-used cells, but eventually we read:
USE LISZT FRAGrgMENT. ll CELL STAR
Off we go again and this time we read:
UNRESOLVEsED ENIGMAS
which shows us the two entries to highlight, while establishing the final S as the contents of the central cell. However, the workings depend on reading the circled squiggle as three Cs northwards not two so they come with a caution although the outcome for the submitted grid must be right. (Thankfully the paths do not have to be shown.)
What a fine puzzle! The clues were exemplary and our only niggle was that awkward step in the path which might just be our cloth heads anyway. Pandiculator must have needed a very clear head to manage such a clever construction so it’s not surprise if the oenophile entries are thin on the ground but we’ll allow his club membership to stand on the basis of the Bacchic merry cry at 40d.
Was it pure accident that the puzzle came out as the Three Choirs Festival began? Perhaps a Setter’s Blog will enlighten us, but great timing anyway and thanks to Pandiculator for the puzzle.