V&A? by Eclogue
Unclued entries (each of two words) are defined by the title of a sitcom starring actors whose surnames are formed from an extra letter generated by the wordplay of each clue (except the first and last) when read in clue order. A thematic location (six letters in a straight line) must be highlighted in the completed grid.
Looks fairly straightforward for an Inquisitor. The first few clues I solved were fairly easy but then I started grinding to a halt as some of the clues were fairly impenetrable.
As I was watching the extra letters forming, I noticed the potential BARRON forming in 4d to 10d. That made me think of Keith Barron so I started looking at To the Manor Born (radio version) and Duty Free but that led nowhere. I then thought of John Barron but the only thing I could think of was The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, where he played CJ. I didn’t get to where I am today without knowing that John Barron played CJ in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.
Then I noticed the potential NIMMO forming from 24a to 3d. Aha! We’re getting somewhere, Derek Nimmo starred (as The Revd Mervyn Noote) alongside John Barron (The Very Revd Lionel Pugh-Critchley) in All Gas and Gaiters, which ran from 1966-1971 on BBC1.
With that information in mind, I was able to start taking a stab at the unclued entries. They are, of course, made up of a gas and a gaiter (of sorts).
Top: NEON BOOTIKIN
Right: AIR GAMBADOES
Bottom: KETENE PUTTEE
Left: HELIUM HOGGER
Filling the unclued entries, of course, allowed me to solve the remaining clues (mostly), giving the full complement of extra letters: Roberston HARE, William MERVYN, Derek NIMMO, John BARRON, Ernest CLARK
The last thing to do is find the thematic location and there it is diagonally up from k12-f7. ST OGG’S was the name of the cathedral in the show.
So that’s it, apart from the fact that I couldn’t parse 1a, 10a and 22a. Many thanks to duncanshiell for helping with them.
I don’t understand the title. I’m guessing that we’re looking for a gas and a gaiter. I can see VAPOUR as a gas and ANKLE SOCK as a gaiter but I’m not entirely satisfied.
And many thanks to Eclogue. A nice puzzle as usual.
| Across | Entry | Extra | Wordplay | |
| 1 Type of marmalade perhaps, without cover, South African man swapped for last of conserve (9) | SHREDLESS | SHR[ou]DLESS (without cover) with [conserv]E (at last) replacing OU (S African man) | ||
| 7 Estate about to cut local fenland channel (3) | EAU | H |
[c]H[at]EAU (estate; minus C (about) and AT (to)) | |
| 10 Southern athletic club seen in John o’ Groats heading off, nothing’s left – they master drudges (10) | SLAVOCRATS | A |
Southern+LAV (john)+O+AC (athletic club)+[g]R[o]ATS (heading off; minus O (nothing)) | |
| 11 Composer worried sick after Rattle ultimately cancelled (5) | WIDOR | R |
WORRI[e]D (anag: sick; minus [rattl]E finally)) Charles-Marie Widor |
|
| 12 Coregent endlessly reviewed countrymen’s name for their homeland (5) | NORGE | E |
[c]OREGEN[t] (endlessly; anag: reviewed) | |
| 13 Design abstract mural of young coral? (8) | PLANULAR | M |
PLAN (scheme)+MURAL (anag: abstract) | |
| 15 Protein from trees captured by honoured artist? (7) | EMULSIN | E |
(Tracy) EMIN (honoured artist) around ULES (Centrl American trees) | |
| 18 Old strumpets massage, overcome by juices (7) | SUCCUBI | R |
RUB (massage) inside SUCCI (juices) | |
| 19 Retired boss grasps game theory’s limits outside mathematical study (8) | TOPOLOGY | V |
GOV (boss; rev: retired) around POLO (game) all enclosed in T[heor]Y (limits) | |
| 22 Christian’s love crystal before chemical cleaner is applied (5) | AGAPE | Y |
YAG (yttrium aluminium garnet)+APE (alkylphenol ethoxylate) | |
| 23 Scots kite in highland valley repelling journalist (5) | GLEDE | N |
GLEN (highland valley)+EDitor (journalist; rev: repelling) | |
| 24 Closed-cycle control system requires this or room vents disastrously (10) | SERVOMOTOR | N |
OR ROOM VENTS (anag: disastrously) | |
| 25 Bringing back goddess’s Indian title of respect (3) | SRI | I |
IRIS (goddess; rev: bringing back) | |
| 26 Having a variety of currents, old octopus endures Mediterranean briefly (9) | POLYPHASE | M |
POLYP (old octopus)+HAS (endures)+ME[d] (Mediterranean; briefly) | |
| Down | ||||
| 2 Husband dropped into pool beneath walk – that’ll slow him down! (8, 2 words) | ROAD HUMP | M |
ROAM (walk)+Husband+DUMP (pool) | |
| 3 Author’s final words in odeon voiced (5) | ENVOI | O |
odEON VOIced (hidden: in) | |
| 4 Place lout around cove at Lulworth primarily (5) | LOCAL | B |
C[ove] A[t] L[ulworth (initially) inside LOB (lout) | |
| 5 Tinny, devilish noise initially pierces (7) | STANNIC | A |
SATANIC (devilish) around N[oise] (initially) | |
| 6 Foul tourist – don’t get involved! (6, 2 words) | SIT OUT | R |
TOURIST (anag: foul) | |
| 8 Sinner, no saint, involved with murder, could be a saboteur (10) | UNDERMINER | R |
[s]INNER (minus Saint)+MURDER (anag: involved with) | |
| 9 European leaves state holding a newspaper (5) | ORGAN | O |
OREGON (state; minus European) around A | |
| 10 Butters we snare through covert approaches (10) | SWEET-TALKS | N |
STALKS (covert approaches) around WE NET (snare) | |
| 14 Bender perhaps could result with one being articulate? (8) | LAURETTA | C |
ART[i]CULATE (minus I (one); anag: could result) Lauretta BENDER was a an American child neuropsychiatrist |
|
| 16 French to go aboard docked brig-like vessel in Italian port (7) | SALERNO | L |
SNO[w] (brig-like vessel) around ALLER (to go in French) Salerno |
|
| 17 Tender who misplaced her charges follows snake with cautious look (6) | BO-PEEP | A |
BOA (snake)+PEEP (cautious look) Bo-Peep |
|
| 18 Very good party providing wine (5) | SOAVE | R |
SO (very good)+RAVE (party) | |
| 20 Fatuous painter abruptly frames South African hill (5) | GOOPY | K |
GOY[a] (famous painter; abruptly) around KOP (SA hill) | |
| 21 Fate limited crash perhaps (5) | CLOTH | CLOTH[o] (fate; limited) |
Much enjoyed; suitably ecclesiastical thanks to Eclogue and kenmac. It all came back (which doesn’t half date me) when I saw NIMMO, though I didn’t remember the two actors who played the Dean. Nor did I fathom the inner significance of the title.
1A and 10A took a long time here too, but 22A was helped by memories of YAG laser treatment of my eye!
Although I did fill in all the answers, saw the theme and highlighted St Oggs, I found this a slightly irritating puzzle. Trawling through the dictionary for possible words that might mean “gaiter” (I am impressed by anyone who knew offhand about HOGGERs, BOOTIKINs and GAMBADOES, since I saw no alternative but to try out possible words at random); trying to identify why a LAURETTA is a Bender (I can’t find it in Chambers, but am probably missing something straightforward); struggling to parse 7A, and 4A (where I suppose “around” is simply meaning adjacent to); wondering why a ROADHUMP would slow up someone who had been dropped into a pool; wondering whether AIR is a gas in the same way as Helium, Neon and Keene are; etc. I could parse the ones that gave Ken trouble, but felt quite a bit was being asked of the solver here, and we might have been offered a tad more help (eg an anagram of the unchecked letters for the unclued entries.). Nevertheless, thanks to Eclogue, and to Ken for the blog; no doubt some clever person understands the title too.
Thanks Eclogue & kenmac, much enjoyed – the show was before my time but made for some fun research. @Sagittarius – 4d’s “around” means containing, as usual, but the final B is removed; Lauretta Bender was an American psychiatrist; agree the ROADHUMP is a tad odd, not really referring back to the wordplay as you’d expect with such a definition? Still stumped by the title!
I can’t recall an Inquisitor where I ‘knew’ so many answers but could not do the parsing (nine clues), and therefore generate the comedians. Finally Nimmo saved med (I was assuming Fools and Horses), but I was still a gas and two gaiters short (Palermo, for Salerno, didn’t help). So a bit of a slog, for me; thanks to Eclogue and kenmac
From the extra letters, CLARK, as a likely name, was revealed early on, but I had to wait until my grid was only a few entries short of completion before I had enough letters to make BARRON and NIMMO as well. I then still had no idea of what words filled the unclued entries, but everything became clear when I found the only sitcom that matched my three names. The Gases were straightforward enough, but I had to look up all four of the Gaiters.
I enjoyed solving the clues (some of which certainly showed some ingenuity) and puzzling over the extra letters.
(I found all the gaiters under Gaiter in Bradford’s ‘red book’ [Crossword Solver’s Dictionary]. The one near the top of the grid is definitely COOTIKIN and not BOOTIKIN [which is a word but is not a gaiter]. Cootikin is in Chambers under Cuit.)
Thanks to Eclogue and kenmac.
David @1
[… and I had said YAG laser treatment on my right eye just two days before this puzzle was published!]
@Sagittarius @Cranberryfez…Perhaps the title comes from Video and Audio? Because the sit-com was on TV and radio?
Thanks to cranberryfez@3 for the enlightenment about Lauretta Bender; another knowledge gap filled. I think Alan B above illustrates my point about the gaiters; there’s no obvious reliable way to check the answers. I agree that “cootikin” must be right, because it’s actually defined as a gaiter in Chambers, but bootikin is apparently “an infant’s legging”, and I can’t feel very guilty about deciding this could count as a gaiter, if AIR can count as a gas alongside Helium and Neon.
A fun finish but a bit of a struggle getting there, as already observed. I completed the grid but could not parse 7A and did not find the required definition for Bender (thanks, cranberryfez @3). Like Alan B, I found Bradford essential to find the gaiters.
Thanks to Eclogue (both of you) and to Kenmac.
Sorry everyone, I meant to put in a link to Lauretta Bender – done it now. I would have done it earlier but I went here for the afternoon: https://www.cullodenestateandspa.com/art-soul-sculpture-exhibition/
One of the more unsatisfactory Inquisitors – far too much googling and guessing for my taste. Even when you’d solved all the clues. Bootikin? Gambadoes? Really? And when did goopy start to mean fatuous? No idea about the title either. All gas and gaiters indeed.
I have just realised, instead of Bootikin, I had Cootikin, as given in Bradford and confirmed in Chambers, which also defines Bootikin as a Scottish child’s small boot.
It would be interesting to know how many solvers had BOOTIKIN (as I did, together with Ken, and quite a few others) instead of COOTIKIN. Of course, the issue could have been avoided had we been provided with a jumble of the unchecked/mutually checking letters in the unclued entries.
I think this is the first time nobody has deciphered the title of an Inquisitor. I’m as bewildered as everyone else. Perhaps the setter or editor could put us out of our misery?
@Herb The sitcom was on both TV and Radio.
Perhaps V relates to video ( television) & A relates to audio ( radio)
Just an idea!
@Keith
I suppose it’s possible, but in my opinion that would make it a terrible title, not at all typical of Eclogue!
Herb @14 & @16: To put you out of your misery
V+AMP(ersand) is a gaiter, A is the old symbol for Argon
All Guess and Gapers for me this week, although I spotted Nimmo, and remembered the sitcom he was in. Google helped with the other actors’ names and the church. Got Helium, Neon, Ketene and Puttee, but ran out of gas struggling with a number of clues that (rather like the title) bordered on the obscure. Finished most of the grid, so 6/10, but not a labour of love this week. Thanks to Ken for doing the hard yards.
I guess Ken thought that Bootikin was dodgy when he wrote “gaiters (of sorts)”. In Chambers, one definition of it is legging which is then NOT specifically defined as a gaiter. Cootikin, however, is defined as a gaiter and nothing else. We shall see tomorrow which way Eclogue jumped but I have every confidence that it was the right way.
Dave W above: I don’t think anyone doubts that cootikin is the correct gaiter. The issue (if one can call it that!) is whether those of us who entered bootikin had reasonable excuse for doing so. It probably never occurred to Eclogue that there was an ambiguity (why should it? If one knows cootikin is a gaiter, one wouldn’t instinctively think that bootikin might be thought to be one). However, in retrospect it must be unsatisfactory if experienced bloggers like Ken and HolyGhost can enter the wrong answer believing it to be correct. Hence the suggestion that the unchecked letters of unclued lights might have been presented in an anagram, which is a standard device for enabling solvers to resolve this sort of uncertainty. But meanwhile, thanks to HG for interpreting the title!
Thanks HG – I think I’m out of my misery now.
HG @17: But is a vamp a gaiter? I have consulted Chambers and Collins and both seem to state that a vamp is part of the shoe, whereas a gaiter covers the (lower leg and) ankle and perhaps part of the shoe as well. Is there a source which equates the two?
Myself@22: I was so late in commenting that there were no replies, so I emailed Inquisitor’s editor and received the following:
“Thanks for your email, passed on to Eclogue.
“In reply, one of the Eclogue team writes:
“All of the ‘gaiters’ referenced are included under that heading in Bradford’s and the question-mark covers off any potential dubiety (as it does for the use of the old symbol for Argon).
“Hope that answers your query!”
The importance of a question-mark!