Umpire provides our Saturday work-out this week.
There’s often something going on the Saturday puzzles in the Indy, and we were initially surprised by the fact that three of the first six or seven clues that we solved included the letter Q.
We were even more surprised (and impressed!) when we realised that there are eight Qs in the grid – distributed so that there is one in each row and one in each column. It was only when Bert was preparing the blog, that he realised that Umpire was giving us a massive clue with EIGHT QUEENS at 1ac/4ac.
In order to achieve this feat, Umpire has had to introduce some Arabic words at 16ac, 22d and 24d which were previously unknown to us, but the clues are fair and we have learnt some Arabic!
Thanks to Umpire for the ingenuity!
frEIGHT (goods) missing or ‘out of’ ‘fr’ (France)
Hidden (‘stored’) in uniQUE EN Suites
cOVER (release version of) DUEt (song for two) missing the first and last letters (‘barely’)
BAROn (noble) missing the last letter or ‘short’ + QUE (‘that’ in French as spoken in Lyon)
OBE (‘order’ – of the British Empire) with LIQUor (alcohol) missing ‘or’ (other ranks – ‘soldiers’) inside
OB (out of bounds) SCENE (area)
IN (at home) + an anagram (‘novel’) of READING
First letters or ‘leads’ in Tummy Aches Leaving Aunt Queasy
TOrQUE (necklace) missing or ‘junking’ ‘r’ (last or ‘ultimate’ letter of jeweller)
G (first letter or ‘sign’ of grey) ERMINE (fur) round pATe missing first and last letters or ‘bare’
FOND (affectionate) ANT (soldier)
sQUARe missing first and last letters or ‘sides’ + TEsT (international game) missing or ‘wanting’ the third letter or ‘place’
Double definition
A clue-as-definition: an anagram (‘new’) of BOY GARB
JERk (sudden movement) missing or ‘dodging’ the ‘k’ (king) + BOA (snake)
SQUAD (team) with the first letter moved to the back or ‘cycling’
E (energy) CO (company) LOGS (records) T (temperature) round or ‘inspiring’ I (one)
An anagram (‘doctor’) of GoinG missing the middle letters or ‘on vacation’ and EARLY
TA (‘cheers’) D (date)
A homophone (‘out of trap’) of CUE (‘one used to break’ – in snooker or billiards)
An anagram (‘fancy’) of BRIDE MORE
NEeDS (requires) with the middle letter or ‘core’ changed to R (right) – we’d never heard of these American sweets
S (son) EQUAL (the same) with the ‘e’ (ecstasy) moving back or ‘dropping’ in a down clue
EndeavouR missing the middle letters or ‘lacking any guts’ in or ‘bunging’ ME
QUArK (small particle) missing ‘r’ (resistance) + E (last letter or ‘back’ of institute)
An anagram (‘prepared’) of BIG LUNCH round or ‘scoffing’ T (tons)
Alternate letters (‘every so often’) of ThAwInG + A (America)
QUEST (search) + ON (about) in or ‘stopping’ IS
QAA (Quality Assurance Association) round or ‘checking’ NT (New Testament – ‘books’) + S (first letter or ‘front’ of students)
Hidden (‘sheltered by’) in vibrANT IGUAna
A reversal (‘after reflection’) of HQ (headquarters) IF (provided) – a new word for us
A (adult) GREEd (longing) missing or ‘rid of’ ‘d’ (daughter)
A reversal (‘turned up’) of IQ (intelligence) + LA (note) round or ‘claiming’ B (bishop)
First letters or ‘toppings’ of Beef Burgers Quickly
According to Wikipedia: “The eight queens puzzle is the problem of placing eight chess queens on an 8×8 chessboard so that no two queens threaten each other; thus, a solution requires that no two queens share the same row, column, or diagonal.”
You mention that no two Qs in the grid are in the same row or column, but they don’t share a diagonal either!
Chapeau to Umpire, and thanks to B&J
EIGHT QUEENS: Superb arrangement of Q’s in the grid.
Top faves: OVERDUE, GERMINATE, JERBOA, QUESTIONS and QANTAS.
Thanks Umpire and B&J.
Even more impressive after DavidO’s observation. For a moment I wondered if NERDS referred to the kinds of character John Candy typically plays. I share KVa’s favourites.
Can one admire the ingenuity while hating the puzzle? I don’t think I have ever done a crossword with more nho words.