Inquisitor 1934: No Matter How by Kruger

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Kruger provides this week’s IQ challenge.

The preamble: Twelve answers must be thematically changed before entry. Each clue contains an extra word of at least four characters that must be removed before solving; the position of this word within the clue indicates the position of the letter within that word that must be used to give, collectively in clue order, useful information. Enumerations and word counts in brackets refer to grid entries.

Having noted that there is an extra word in each clue, we adopted our usual procedure of diving in to see if we can solve a few clues to establish what is going on. Our first one in was 3d, followed by 15ac, 12ac, 6d and 8d. We progressed reasonably well towards the south-east corner but found the north-west very tricky.

As we completed most of the east side of the grid fairly early on, we realised that the extra letters in the last six clues spelt BREWER, and Joyce discovered that Kruger had used the ‘Brewer Dictionary of Phrase and Fable’ in a previous puzzle, and with some electronic help found the phrase ‘GENEROUS as HATIM’ which fitted with HA-I- at 9d. We had never heard this phrase before, but we realised that we could reverse-solve the clue for 9d to get ‘generous’. As we progressed we figured out that the ‘useful information’ provided by the letters from the extra words could read: ‘THEMATIC ENTRIES CAN EACH BE VERIFIED UNDER ‘AS’ IN BREWER’. Unfortunately the online Brewer Dictionary site that we had found did not recognise ‘as’ as a search word, but some of the phrases were familiar (eg ‘soft as butter’, ‘cheap as chips’, ‘near as damn it’), some we guessed and then checked (eg ‘right as ninepence’, ‘dead as mutton’) but luckily we eventually stumbled on a site that provided a list of phrases including ‘as’, which enabled us to confirm ‘game as Ned Kelly’ at 1d and ‘smart as paint’ at 13d.

We’re still not sure about the definition at 5d – does anyone have any thoughts on it?

Thanks to Kruger for the intriguing theme and original method of finding the ‘useful information’. We did however struggle with many of the unusual synonyms used throughout the puzzle which required more checking than usual in an IQ.

In the final grid below, the thematic entries are highlighted. In the parsings, the solutions to the 12 thematic clues are in BOLD GREEN text.

ACROSS
No. Entry Letter
1 NINEPENCE T
Direct Scots joiner [parTly] avoiding Welsh (9)
wRIGHT (‘Scots joiner’) missing ‘w’ (Welsh) = RIGHT as NINEPENCE
7 SHAH H
King [CHarles], some time ago, succeeded – I’m pleased (4)
S (succeeded) HAH (‘I’m pleased’)
10 EMBARGO E
Admiralty’s [wEird] lapsed order: “Board one ship instead of another” (7)
EMBark (board) with ARGO (‘one ship’) replacing ‘ark’ (another ship)
12 APNEA M
An [iMmature] ape suffering asphyxia in San Diego (5)
An anagram (‘suffering’) of AN APE – the American spelling
14 MUTTON A
[Always] runs away from object of fear? Exactly! (6)
DrEAD (object of fear) missing ‘r’ (runs) = DEAD as MUTTON
15 KEASAR T
[Talking] parrot starts to seriously annoy Rome’s former emperor (6)
KEA (parrot) + first letters or ‘starts’ of Seriously Annoy Rome’s – an obsolete spelling of Kaiser
16 RANI I
On Sauchiehall Street, John parted from [affectIonate] Iranian princess (4)
iRANIan missing ‘Ian’ (Scottish version – ‘on Sauchiehall Street’ – of John)
17 ENIAC C
Initially earn [riCh] old man’s tribute over pioneering computer (5)
E (first or ‘initial’ letter of earn) + a reversal (‘over’) of CAIN (‘old man’s tribute’- an old Scottish word)
19 YOUR ARM E
Accented note in [QueEn] record (7, 2 words)
N (note) in LOG (record) = LONG as YOUR ARM
21 NEELES N
Disused sharp instruments butchered [spawNing] New England eels (6)
An anagram (‘butchered’) of N (new) E (England) and EELS
23 TAKE T
Pay for son leaving [subsTantial] deposit (4)
sTAKE (deposit) with the ‘s’ (son) leaving
25 LETTED R
Previously, [pRotesters] obstructed a type of race in city abruptly (6)
TT (a type of race) in LEEDs (city) missing the last letter or ‘abruptly’
27 IRN-BRU I
Ruin [cIty] bridge badly – it’s made from girders apparently (6, 2 words)
An anagram (‘badly’) of RUIN and BR (bridge) – a soft drink popular in Scotland with the now-discarded slogan ‘made from girders’
29 LOWE E
Lover, again being [recEntly] spurned, must thank Jock’s flame (4)
Lover missing or ‘spurning’ ‘over’ (again) + OWE (‘must thank’)
31 BUTTER S
Effeminate soprano frequently [abuSed] (6)
S (soprano) OFT (frequently) = SOFT as BUTTER
33 CYTOSOL C
Some elements of conspiracy [expeCted] to solicit part of cell (7)
Hidden (‘some elements’) in conspiraCY TO SOLicit
35 HEADS A
[Adult] male Saudis intermittently used ship’s toilet (5)
HE (male) + A D S (alternate or ‘intermittent’ letters of Saudis)
36 HARP N
Instrument [oNce] able to emit sounds from either end (4)
sHARP (able) missing or ’emitting’ ‘s’ (the letter at either end of sounds)
38 DAMN IT E
Arne composed [opEras] left-handed (6)
An anagram (‘composed’) of ARNE = NEAR as DAMN IT – we had to check the definition as in ‘near side’
40 HEATED A
Angry chief captures leaders of [severAl] traditional enemies (6)
HEAD (chief) round or ‘capturing’ T E (first letters or ‘leaders’ of traditional enemies)
41 PECAN C
[Criminal] nut about to be imprisoned in the US? (5)
CA (circa – ‘about’) ‘imprisoned’ in PEN (penitentiary – US jail)
42 CHARITY H
Spiritless canine [unHealthy] and abandoned (7)
C (canine) OLD (abandoned) = COLD as CHARITY
43 SEES B
[Brutally] experiences sailor’s lash, we’re told (4)
A homophone (‘we’re told’) of SEIZE (a nautical word for ‘lash’)
44 ADHESIVES E
They join sides and have [apparEntly] changed (9)
An anagram (‘changed’) of SIDES and HAVE
DOWN
No. Entry Letter
1 NED KELLY V
Lame contest [deVeloped] (8, 2 words)
Double definition = GAME as NED KELLY
2 IMMENSELY E
Slimy, [dEvious] European men irritated in a big way (9)
An anagram (‘irritated’) of SLIMY, E (European) and MEN
3 EATS R
Warms up hospital’s [impRoperly] withdrawn food (4)
hEATS (warms up) with the ‘h’ (hospital) omitted or ‘withdrawn’
4 PREACE I
Antiquarian [mIsled] to insist on quiet when entertaining king (6)
PEACE (quiet) round or ‘entertaining’ R (rex – ‘king’)
5 NOUNY F
Pigeon circling old [rooFer’s] yard possibly containing many nests, eggs or chicks (5)
NUN (pigeon) ‘circling’ round O (old) + Y (yard) – we’re not convinced that the definition = ‘having many nouns’, but it can’t be anything else can it?
6 EAT OUT I
Each solicitor to use [fashIonable] restaurant perhaps (6, 2 words)
EA (each) TOUT (solicitor)
7 SPORRAN E
Special crofter’s odd, [essEntially] new, pouch (7)
SP (special) ORRA (Scots – ‘crofter’s’ – word meaning ‘odd’) N (new)
8 AEON D
[Damaged] eternity ring retained by area nurse (4)
O (ring) ‘retained by’ A (area) EN (enrolled nurse)
9 HATIM U
Courageous outdated ruse [assUredly] gone wrong (5)
An anagram (‘wrong’) of RUSE GONE = GENEROUS as HATIM
11 OTIOSITY N
Giving up Cape [TowN] – city is too manic for idleness (8)
An anagram (‘manic’) of cITY IS TOO missing or ‘giving up’ the ‘c’ (cape)
13 PAINT D
Be punished, [saDly] – mine trucks being overturned (5)
A reversal (‘being overturned’) of TRAMS (mine trucks) = SMART as PAINT
18 OLD BOOTS E
Hooligan’s vacuous tattoo [offEnsive] – it’s horrible! (8, 2 words)
TattoO missing the middle letters or ‘vacuous’ + UGH (‘it’s horrible!’) = TOUGH as OLD BOOTS
20 RERADIATE R
Every so often, [corRupt] Mexican trader resolved to broadcast again (9)
An anagram (‘resolved’) of E I A (alternate letters – ‘every so often’ – of Mexican) and TRADER
22 EMU A
Madagascan mammal [neArly] skinned big bird (3)
lEMUr (Madagascan mammal) missing the first and last letters or ‘skinned’
24 OUTSTAYS S
Lasts longer than crooked touts [alwayS] say (8)
An anagram (‘crooked’) of TOUTS SAY
26 TWO PEAS I
Be pleased with former president supporting [favourIte] league (7, 2 words)
IKE (Eisenhower – former US president) after or ‘supporting’ L (league) = LIKE as TWO PEAS
28 BRAND N
Particular type of [jinN] spirit not unknown (5)
BRANDy (spirit) missing ‘y’ (unknown)
30 ESPANA B
E (MDMA) [taBlets] at resort not available (6)
E (ecstasy – ‘MDMA’) SPA (resort) NA (not available)
32 THANAS R
More than one [curRent] Delhi copshop has an uneasy time at first (6)
An anagram (‘uneasy’) of HAS AN with T (time) first
33 CHIPS E
Vulgar fellow devours last of [butchEr’s] waste (5)
CHAP (fellow) round or ‘devouring’ E (last letter of waste) = CHEAP as CHIPS
34 LEECH W
Cling to [loWer] edge of sail (5)
Double definition – once we had a couple of letters we guessed that leech could be used as a verb
37 AKEE E
Fruit in cake [patEntly] enough (4)
Hidden in cAKE Enough
39 MERI R
Firemen holding back club [infeRno] (4)
Hidden (‘holding’) and reversed (‘back’) in fIREMen

4 comments on “Inquisitor 1934: No Matter How by Kruger”

  1. David Langford
    #1 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 10:19

    Lots of fun again. Many thanks to Kruger and Bertandjoyce. I wonder whether I was the only one who, before twigging what was going on, confidently wrote CHEAP at 33D since it didn’t at the time seem to need treatment. (No “cheap as chips” in my 2002 Brewer, but an online check confirmed it’s since been added.) Couldn’t see any other way to parse 5D.

  2. Sagittarius
    #2 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 11:21

    Various challenges here. As usual it wasn’t always clear which word is superfluous, and how to resolve clashes with what seemed perfectly reputable answers (SOFTEN for 31A, for instance, appeared to have the right number of letters, as well as CHEAP in 33D). But the real problems came once the penny had dropped, via NEAR as DAMNIT, because the fertile English language offers lots of apposite phrases (eg DEAD as A DOORNAIL, or A DODO, and NICE, NEAT or even SMART as NINEPENCE.) Disentangling this lot was enjoyable but took quite a while, and I never did work out that RIGHT was the desired accompaniment to NINEPENCE. But my final and insuperable problem was wholly self-inflicted, by mis-entering LEETED for 25A (simple misprinting; I parsed the clue fine), and thereby seeking vainly for expressions like MOONSTRUCK as MAINE. In partial defence of the failure to solve 13D, it did look as if it would include an anagram of TRUCKS going to STRUCK, and I don’t think of SMART as meaning being punished, as opposed to being in pain. However, failure is failure. I too agree, with a shrug, with bertandjoyce about 5D. Thanks to them, and to Kruger (does the title mean anything?)

  3. Alan B
    #3 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 12:49

    I rather liked the clue to NOUNY, ‘defining’ a word using more than one example, plus the use of ‘possibly’ (a ‘?’ at the end being a common alternative). In this instance, of course, there are thousands of examples of ‘noun’ that could have been used, but it was natural that the setter related them to the pigeon in the clue.

    I could not finish this puzzle as it took me far too long to unravel many of the clues before (or while) solving them. Among the letters I extracted I got ‘IN BREWER’ but not enough of the seven letters preceding that, and I never ‘got’, and therefore never appreciated, the theme.

    For my own interest, since reading the blog, I looked up a few things in Chambers and found ‘as near as dammit’ (not ‘… damn it’ as in Brewer) and ‘as near as ninepence’ (I did not know this phrase, with either ‘right’ or ‘near’).

  4. Neil Hunter
    #4 - Tue 25th Nov 25, 13:41

    I also confidently entered ‘cheap’ – partly because, at that point, all the thematic answers had been four letters long, so I was taking that as a rule. I repaired that problem, but not the feeling that all those nests and eggs sounded nooky (never mind the parsing). The penny-drop in this case (thanks to butter and old boots) was a great pleasure: thanks to Kruger and Bertandjoyce.

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