Ifor is one of the most prolific setters of Inquisitor puzzles and always seems to come up with an interesting theme
A medium length preamble told us that clues, numbered sequentially for convenience, are ordered by answer-length (ignoring spaces and hyphens; shortest first) then alphabetical order of solution within each group. Their answers must be entered where they will fit. One clue does not give an entry; its solution and position in the list will assist determination of the theme. Solvers must highlight a location, plus two erected items with their supported features appropriately placed (32 cells in total).
A quick study of the grid reveals:
4 3-letter entries;
6 4-letter entries;
4 5-letter entries;
8 6-letter entries;
16 7-letter entries and
2 10-letter entries
totalling 40 entries, which tallies with the preamble saying that one clue does not generate an entry.
That analysis gave me a good idea where each set of answers of the same length began.
For me, the first clues to fall were the 10-letter ones TAKEN SHORT and TRESPASSES at 40 and 41. The four 5- letter entries, which I solved fairly early on (APTER, EPHOR, LIMMA and LEDGE) determined the position of the 10-letter entries with TAKEN SHORT intersecting with the last letter of LIMMA in the right-hand column, and TRESPASSES crossing with the first letter of EPHOR in the first column.
The grid fill built up slowly but steadily. The last two to fall were GENESIS (the unentered clue) and LEG. I doubt if I was the only solver wondering why an anagram of GNEISS and L (left) didn’t produce anything sensible for the unclued entry. Eventually, the penny dropped and I looked up Genesis 28 in the Bible and read about Jacob’s dream and ladder. LEG was determined by my interpretation of the end-game, which may be wrong.
In an Inquisitor it’s always worth looking at the diagonals when looking for cells to highlight. In the SW to NE diagonal we have POLEMONIUM which is a plant of the Jacob’s Ladder genus.
I have struggled with the highlighting and don’t have a great deal of faith in what I have done, but I have come up with 32 cells, 5 of which are shared by the items / characters / places that I have highlighted.
I have highlighted STONE (bottom row. Jacob used a STONE as his pillow while dreaming. He also raised it as a pillar after his dream and poured oil on top of it), POLEMONIUM (Jacob’s ladder, resting upon the STONE as support), ANGEL (reading down [descending] in column 5), ANGEL (reading upwards [ascending] in column 8 – this determined the entry LEG), BETHEL (the site of the dream). This highlights 29 cells (two shared), both ANGELs intersect POLEMONIUM. Jacob dreamt he saw ANGELs ascending and descending the ladder.
I have a bit of confidence in those 29 cells but I have struggled with the remaining bit of highlighting and have come up with HEAVEN which shares three cells with the existing highlighting, giving me a total of 32 unique cells. I have highlighted HEAVEN is bold italic black type in the grid.
I don’t feel that HEAVEN is a correct bit of highlighting as I don’t see it relating to the phrtase ‘supported features’ in the preamble. Maybe the ‘supported features’ are the ANGELs . It seems too much of a coincidence to have the ANGELs on the ladder unless they are part of the thematic highlighting. I’m guessing the two erected items are the STONE and the POLEMONIUM, but this too may be wrong.
I look forward to solvers coming up with better suggestions for the highlighting. Should there be something related to the oil poured over the erected STONE?
My final grid looked like this.
The clues were typical Ifor, tough but fair. I liked the compound anagram of MATHEMATICIAN in the clue for ACHAEAN. All the wordplay is explained in the detailed table below.
This puzzle is Dreamworks II. which clearly focuses on Jacob’s dream. Ifor’s first Dreamworks puzzle was Inquisitor 1779, published on 6th December 2022. That puzzle was based on the benzene ring and scientists associated with its derivation. One of them, August Kekule had a dream that inspired his research.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Alarm rings guardian of property (3)
LAR (the God of a house; guardian of property) The clue word ‘aLARm’ contains (rings) the entry LAR LAR |
| 2 | Partial screen in front of light when turned on (3)
LEG (the LEG side in cricket is also known as the on side) GEL (abbreviation for [partial] GELatine [a transparent substance, or a sheet of this, used in theatre and photographic lighting to produce light of different colours]; partial screen in front of light) reversed (when turned) – I may be overthinking the wordplay when I suggest that partial refers to the abbreviation of GELatine. It may be that partial refers to the fact that the GEL is transparent, so only forms a partial screen. LEG< |
| 3 | A certain eternity beginning to end (3)
ONE (a certain) EON (eternity) with the first letter E [beginning] moved to the end [to end] to form ONE ONE |
| 4 | These regularly support when driving (3)
TEE (a support for a golf ball that is being n driven) TEE (letters 1, 3 and 5 [regularly] of ThEsE TEE |
| 5 | Bank of Scotland breaking bounds after sacking top man (4)
BRAE (Scottish word for a sloping bank of a river or seashore; Bank of Scotland) Anagram of (sounds) BREAking after excluding (sacking) KING (leader; top man) BRAE* |
| 6 | Key dates were easy to uncover (4)
ERAS (important [key] dates in history) ER (letters remaining in wERe after the outer letters W and E are excluded [uncovered]) + AS (letters remaining in eASy after the outer letters E and Y are excluded [uncovered]) ER AS |
| 7 | Insiders in jury view translated Latin by law (4)
IURE (Latin for ‘by right or by law’) Anagram of (translated) (UR [central letters of {insiders in} jURy] + IE [central letters of {insiders in} vIEw ]) IURE* |
| 8 | Go-slow, striking outside city (4)
OSLO (capital city of Norway) OSLO (letters remaining in gO-SLOw after the outside letters G and W [striking outside] are removed) OSLO |
| 9 | Time of day for local to close up (4)
SEAL (alternative spelling of SEEL [dialect {local} word for ‘time of day’]) SEAL (to close up) double definition SEAL |
| 10 | Group of cards seen dealt in situ (4)
SUIT (a group of playing cards) Anagram of (dealt in) SITU SUIT* |
| 11 | More suitable selection of secret passwords on the rise (5)
APTER (more suitable) APTER (reversed [on the rise; the clue was for a down entry] hidden word in [selection of] secRET PAsswords) APTER< |
| 12 | Former magistrates run after forlorn hope (5)
EPHOR (in ancient Doric Greece, especially Sparta, a class of powerful senior magistrates elected annually) Anagram of (forlorn) HOPE + R (run) EPHO* R |
| 13 | Rocky projection exposed promises (5)
LEDGE (rocky projection) pLEDGEs (promises) excluding the outer letters (exposed) P and S LEDGE |
| 14 | Pause when composing email immaculately concealed (5)
LIMMA (a pause of more than one mora [duration of a short or half of a long syllable] in the composition of prose) LIMMA (hidden word in [concealed] emaiL IMMAculately) LIMMA |
| 15 | Poodle lay mostly without any hair to its head (6)
BARBET (a kind of poodle) BARe [without any hare] excluding the final letter E (mostly) + BET (lay money as a gamble) – BARe is descriptive of BET so comes before it. BAR BET |
| 16 | Lawman’s pulse not rising (6)
DALTON (reference DALTON‘s Law in Chemistry, which states that, in a mixture of gases, the pressure exerted by each gas is the same as that which it would exert if it were the only gas present; lawman) DAL (the pigeon-pea; a pulse) + NOT reversed (rising; this is a clue to a down entry) DAL TON< |
| 17 | Regard joins east to west (6)
ESTEEM (regard with respect) (MEETS [joins] + E [East]) reversed (to west; this is an across entry) (E STEEM)< |
| 18 | Cloud over a mountain spread around the surrounding wood (6)
HELMET (anything resembling a helmet, such as a cloud on a mountain top) Anagram of (spread around) THE containing (surrounding) ELM (a type of wood) H (ELM) ET* |
| 19 | Nothing used up is hard smooth metal (6)
LINISH (to give a smooth or clean surface to a metal by putting it in contact with a moving belt covered with an abrasive) NIL (nothing) reversed (used up; this is a down entry) + IS + H (hard, on lead pencils) LIN< IS H |
| 20 | Young Welsh swimmers achieve victory over adult in seas (6)
SEWINS (the Welsh and Irish name for a sea-trout grilse [a young salmon on its first return from salt water]; young Welsh swimmers) SEaS with WIN [achieve victory] replacing [over] A [adult]) SE WIN S |
| 21 | Addict snorted carelessly, dropping dead (6)
STONER (a person who habitually takes drugs) Anagram of (carelessly) SNORTEd excluding (dropping) D (dead0 STONER* |
| 22 | Scots cows upset, trapped by this barking like a wild dog (6)
TYKISH (like a cur or wild dog) KY (Scottish word for cows) reversed (upset) and contained in an anagram of (barking) THIS T (KY<) ISH* |
| 23 | Greek mathematician worked endlessly time and time again, sadly ignored (7)
ACHAEAN (belonging to Achaia in the Peloponnese, or to Greece generally; Greek) Anagram of (worked) mAtHEmAtiCiAN excluding (ignored) anagrams (sadly) of TIMe and TIMe each excluding the final Es (endlessly) ACHAEAN* |
| 24 | Order Scottish Island for one heading north (7)
ARRANGE ([put in] order) ARRAN (Scottish island) + EG (for example; for open) reversed (heading north; this clue is for a down entry) ARRAN GE< |
| 25 | Issues in European combine ultimately ruinous (7)
EMERGES (issues) E (European) + MERGE (combine) + S (last letter of [ultimately] ruinouS) E MERGE S |
| 26 | Finishes like zigs and zags do? (7)
ENDINGS (finishes) Each of ziGS and zaGS END IN GS END IN GS |
| 27 | Take part in riot originally held in bar (7)
EXCERPT (to extract from, take [a] part) R (first letter of [originally] Riot) contained in (held in) EXCEPT (save; bar) EXCE (R) PT |
| 28 |
Crumbling gneiss left in eroded rock band (7) This is the clue that generates the answer that is not entered in the grid. GENESIS (rock band) Anagram of (crumbling) GNEISS and E (first letter of [left in] Eroded) GENESIS* |
| 29 | I own nothing in this year, set to keep me up (7)
HAVE-NOT (a person who lacks possesions; I have nothing) HA (latin hoc anno; in this year) + (TV [{television} set] containing [to keep] ONE [me]) all reversed (up; again this answer is entered down) HA (V (E-NO) T)< |
| 30 | This involved an individual protein (7)
HISTONE (any of a group of five simple proteins) Anagram of (involved) THIS + ONE (an) HIST* ONE |
| 31 | Invitation to bar promiscuous sinning (7, 2 words)
INN SIGN (a SIGN designed to invite you into a bar [INN]) Anagram of (promiscuous) SINNING INN SIGN* |
| 32 | Will’s negative side affected any child in care (7)
NAYWARD (Shakespearean [Will’s] term for ‘the negative side’) Anagram of (affected) ANY + WARD (child in care) NAY* WARD |
| 33 | Easter continually welcoming sermon book (7)
RESERVE (book) EVER (continually) reversed (easter can be descriptive of a wind from the east) containing (welcoming) SER (sermon) RE (SER) VE< |
| 34 | Money coming in, just in pity for the elderly (7)
REVENUE (income; money coming in) EVEN (fair; just) contained in (in) RUE (archaic [for the elderly] word for ‘pity’) R (EVEN) UE |
| 35 | Gentleman restraining spiteful chap turned up implements with teeth (7)
RIPSAWS (cutting instruments with teeth) (SIR [form of address for a gentleman]) containing [restraining] WASP [spiteful chap]) all reversed (turned up; down entry) (RI (PSAW) S)< |
| 36 | List of jobs taking up a very hot day (7)
ROASTER (a very hot day) ROSTER (list of jobs) containing (taking up) A RO (A) STER |
| 37 | What goes around that can also come around? (7)
ROTATOR (a thing that goes around) ROTATOR is a palindrome, so when it comes around, it is still a ROTATOR ROTATOR |
| 38 | More considerable climbing on public transport (7)
SMARTER (more considerable [a usage more often adopted by an American]) (RE (with reference to; on] + TRAMS [public transport]) reversed (climbing; down entry) (SMART ER)< |
| 39 | Parasite losing temperature shivering in shrub (7)
SPIRAEA (a plant or shrub of the rosaceous genus Spiraea, having flattened or plume-shaped heads of small pink or white flowers) Anagram of (shivering) PARASItE excluding (losing) T (temperature) SPIRAEA* |
| 40 | Desperate to go in court, wrong to stay badly shaken (10, 2 words)
TAKEN SHORT (desperate to urinate; desperate to go [to the loo]) TORT (a legal term for a ‘wrong’) containing (to stay) an anagram of (badly) SHAKEN T (AKEN SH*) ORT |
| 41 | Illegally enters resort, breaking locks (10)
TRESPASSES (illegally enters) SPA (a type of resort) contained in (breaking) TRESSES (locks of hair) TRE (SPA) SSES |
According to me, the erected STONE is in the tenth column with OIL (not in a straight line) poured over its top, and the STONE REST in the bottom row is a red herring. I ended up with the same explanation of LEG.
David Langford @ 1
Thanks
You describe a far better solution for highlighting than I do in the blog. I was never confident in HEAVEN as something to be highlighted.
I never saw STONE in column 10 and was fixated on the STONE I viewed as a pillow in the bottom row.
I filled the grid relatively quickly, rumbled the general theme, saw Bethel and Stone then decided to file the puzzle in the ‘life’s too short’ part of my brain
A very fair gridfill, although only once both the 10s had been correctly identified and placed, with TAKEN SHORT taking me rather LONGer than it should have.
Then onto the endgame…I saw the STONE/OIL combination in about 10 seconds, the ANGELs in maybe 10 minutes (as I had LED not LEG), and then spent forever trying to find a ladder to connect them, without success. It never occurred to me to look for the botanical equivalent, which I guess is fair enough (and I really should have looked in the diagonal rather than primarily between the angels).
Having said that, given duncanshiell didn’t see all of it and neither did Bingy, I guess it didn’t quite pass the “most people should get the endgame in a reasonable time” test.
A good puzzle otherwise and an interesting story; as an atheist while I had vaguely heard of Jacob’s Ladder, I had no idea about the detail so it was illuminating to spend at least a little bit of time reading bible extracts!
I found the angels, and the two stones, but was looking too literally for a ladder and had never come across the Polemonium. Enjoyable but therefore unfinished (and quite glad to find I wasn’t alone in struggling with the end-game). Thanks to Duncan for the blog, including the parsing of HAVENOT, and to Ifor for the puzzle.
A slower but steady solve for me, speeding up once the gridfill started, though for me the two 10-letter clues were actually some of the later ones to fall.
Theme-wise, I had also got hooked on the GNEISS + L combo, and as a result hadn’t solved that clue (and thus was still unaware of the theme) when I started scanning the grid. I first saw Polemonium, and googling that led me to the theme and then GENESIS.
I also highlighted the horizontal STONE first, but then found the vertical one with the OIL on it so can agree with David @1 as to that being the intended solution.
Thanks to Duncan for the blog and Ifor for the puzzle.
I’ll respond more fully later, but to save any further debate – sorry, Duncan – David @1 has the intended solution.