Phi adds to his long list of Inquisitor puzzles with one entitled Split Personailty.
A medium-length preamble told us that ‘unclued items include a thematic object, its former possessor and identifiers of its current locations, along with three thematic words entered appropriately. Clues to answers that could be entered like the three thematic words have wordplay inspired by their mode of entry (though answers are entered normally). All other clues contain an extra letter in their wordplay, these letters in order spelling what the contents of the object are said to have led to’.
As is often the case, I didn’t understand the preamble fully at the beginning of the solve. For instance, how can a single object be in multiple locations? Neither was I sure about the meaning of the sentence referring to modes of entry. As usual, the solving method was to start solving and see how that helped with understanding the preamble.
Early on, I could see that we had a number of clues where the definition was in the middle of the clue rather than at the beginning or end, as is normally the case. Eventually the penny dropped when I realised that all the clues I had solved with a central definition led to answers with an even number of letters. On the other hand, the few clues generating an extra letter in the wordplay all led to answers with an odd number of letters. In the end, that separation applied to all the clues.
The first unclued lights that I deduced were CHARLES and BABBAGE at 6 and 46 across. I also reckoned that BRAIN was the likely word at 37 across. The extra letters looked as if they could form COMPUTER which is a word associated with BABBAGE.
I was aware of BABBAGE‘s Difference Engine which many consider to be the first COMPUTER, but I wasn’t aware of the addiitonal thematic allusions until I read a bit more about the great man. I learnt that, after his death, BABBAGE’S BRAIN [the object] was cut into two HEMISPHEREs [entered split into two five-letter entries at 1 and 4 across] with onhalf placed in the HUNTERIAN [1 down] Museum and the other placed in the SCIENCE [29 down] Museum. There we have the object [BRAIN}, it’s former possessor [CHARLES BABBAGE {1791 – 1871}] and it’s current two locations [HUNTERIAN and SCIENCE Museums in London].
HEMISPHERE is one of the three thematic words. CEREBELLUM,an important part of the BRAIN is the second and PARIETAL is the third. The BRAIN lies between the PARIETAL bones, both in the skull and in the grid. The three thematic words are each entered as two equal length entries, placed symmetrically in the grid.
Each of the even-length answers were capable of being entered similarly, but fortunately, Phi chose not to. The clues for these even-length entries were all constructed such that the wordplay for the first half of the entry was placed before the definition with the the wordplay for the second half following the definition.
The detailed table below shows all answers and wordplay, with the extra letters forming COMPUTER highlighted in the relevant wordplay.
I enjoyed solving this and discovering the various layers as as the solve progressed.
The clues were all very fair. The constraint of having to generate wordplay for many 2- and 3-letter strings meant that there were quite a few devices generating just one or two letters.
The title Split Personality became clear when I learnt about cutting BABBAGE‘s BRAIN in half. Phi’s puzzle often teach me something new and this one was a good example.
The completed grid is shown below with highlighting for the thematic material
| Letter | ||
| Across | Extra letters in wordplay shown in fuchsia
Normal clues are shown against a yellow background Wordplay for the first half of the entries that could be entered split into two equal halves is shown against a cyan background. Wordplay for the second half is shown against a light brown background. |
|
| 12 | Heart of upbeat lover a source of urging (4)
BEAU (lover) BE (middle letters of [heart of] upBEat) + A + U (first letter of [source of] Urging) BE A U |
|
| 13 | Court interrupted by obscure outburst from some (5)
BLURT (word rarely used [from some] to mean ‘an abrupt outburst’) CT (court) containing (interrupted by) BLUR (make indistinct; obscure) (BLUR) T |
C |
| 14 | Information women ignored? Old man raged endlessly (6)
NESTOR (an old man) NEwS (information) excluding (ignored) W (women) + TORe (raged) excluding the final letter E (endlessly) NES TOR |
|
| 15 | Ends in another failure before midshipman starts to follow every rule (6)
REEFER (slang term for a midshipman) REE (final letters of [ends in] each of anotheR, failurE and beforE) + FER (first letter of [starts to] each of Follow, Every and Rule) REE FER |
|
| 16 | Second person in France with variable source of air – 30% of atmosphere (6)
TUYÈRE (a nozzle for a blast of air; source of air) TU (one of the French words for the second person, ‘you’) + Y (letter frequently used to denote a variable in mathematics or science) + ERE (3 of the 10 [30%] letters in atmosphERE) TU Y ERE |
|
| 18 | Individual recalled memory, substantial, from the past (5)
ENORM (archaic term meaning ‘abounding’ or ‘substantial’. Also a current term meaning immense, huge, substantial) ONE (individual) reversed (recalled) + ROM (Read Only Memory) ENO< RM |
O |
| 19 | American guy, theoretical physicist here, never European (4)
BOHR (reference Nils BOHR [1995 – 1962], Danish theoretical physicist) BO (American familiar term of address term for a man; American guy) + HeRe excluding both Es (European) (never European) BO HR |
|
| 21 | Starts to keep innumerable cows around Newcastle? (4)
KINE (cows) KI (first letters of [starts to] each of Keep and Innumberable) + NE (North East, Newcastle is located in the North East of England) KI NE |
|
| 24 | Energy in wall art describing waste (5)
UREAL (a word that is descriptive of waste) E (Energy ) contained in (in) MURAL (wall painting; wall art) UR (E) AL |
M |
| 26 | Documentation, French notion English repeated (4)
IDEE (French word for ‘idea’ or notion’) ID (identity papers) + (E [English] + E [English] giving English repeated) ID E E |
|
| 28 | Half of this area in ocean looks empty at first (4)
ISLE (an area of land in a sea or ocean) IS (2 of the 4 [half] letters in thIS) + LE (initial letters of [at first] Looks and Empty) IS L E |
|
| 32 | Duck I had fed to nobleman (5)
EIDER (a breed of duck) (I + D [abbreviation for ‘had’) contained in (fed to) PEER (nobleman) E (I D) ER |
P |
| 34 | Back at home evening in informal style, tense with energy (4)
NITE (informal term for night or evening) IN (at home) reversed (back) + T (tense) + E (energy) NI< T E |
|
| 35 | French are turning ecological communities about (4)
SERE (A series of ecological communities succeeding each other and representing stages in the biological development of an area) ES (one of the French words for ‘are’) reversed (turning) + RE (with reference to; about) SE< RE |
|
| 37 | Island party in Hawaii curtailed after appearance of the French violinist Josefowicz? (5)
LEILA (forename of the American-Canadian classical violinist LEILA Josefowicz [born 1977]) LE [one of the French words for ‘the’]) + I (island) + LUAu (Hawaiian fesat or party) excluding the final letter (curtailed) U LE I LA |
U |
| 41 | Not quick discarding Spades? Most minor article discarded by bridge player (6)
LOWEST (most minor) sLOW (not quick) excluding (discarding) S (Spades) + EaST (bridge player) excluding (discarded by) A (indefinite article) LOW EST |
|
| 42 | Very good Unionist convert in Ireland exercises right (6)
SOUPER (In Ireland, someone who dispenses soup as a means of proselytising, leading to another definition as a person really or supposedly converted in this way) SO (very good) + U (Unionist) + PE (physical exercises) + R (right) SO U PE R |
|
| 43 | Ale brewed: shed not destroyed (6)
LEAN-TO (a shed) Anagram of (brewed) ALE + an anagram of (destroyed) NOT LEA* N-TO* |
|
| 44 | Wheat satisfied recipe after the writer backtracked (5)
EMMER (species of wheat) ME (the writer) reversed (backtracked) + MET (satisfied) + R (recipe) EM< ME R |
T |
| 45 | Men backed libertine dude while hiding daughters (4)
ROUÉ (libertine) OR (other ranks; men) reversed (backed) + dUdE excluding (while hiding) both Ds [daughters] RO UE |
|
| Down | ||
| 2 | Vexed after uncovering leave – staff group has one cancelled (6)
EXEUNT (a stage direction meaning (they) go out or leave the stage) vEXEd excluding the outer letters V and D (after uncovering) + UNiT (group of staff within a larger organisation) excluding (cancelled) I (Roman numeral for one) EXE UNT |
|
| 3 | Make a poor marriage? I seem OK, but troubled about unknown quantity (7)
MISYOKE (marry unsuitably) Anagram of (but troubled) I SEEM OK containing (about) Y (a letter frequently used to indicate an unknown quantity in an equation) MIS (Y) OKE* |
E |
| 4 | Middle of winter: prisoner once called after back of gaoler (8)
INTERNEE (prisoner) INTE (central letters of [middle of] wINTEr) + (R [last letter of {back of} gaoleR] + NÉE [once called [maiden name]) INTE R NEE |
|
| 6 | Bill picked up nag, a poor horse I ditched (4)
CARP (nag about trivialities) CA (account; bill) reversed (picked up; down entry) + RiP (an inferior or poor horse) excluding (ditched) I CA RP |
|
| 7 | Shrub regularly coloured reeds, regularly (4)
HUED (coloured) HU (letters 2 and 4 [regularly] of sHrUb) + ED (letters 2 and 4 [regularly] of rEeDs) HU ED |
|
| 8 | Live in Arabia, wandering desert round North (8)
ABERRANT (wandering) (BE [exist; live] contained in [in] AR) + (RAT [abandon; change sides; desert] containing [around] N [north]) A (BE) R RA (N) T |
|
| 9 | French article about University unjustifiably pestilent – second to be cut (6)
LUETIC (an etymologically unjustifiable formation for pestilent) (LE [one of the French forms of ‘the’ {definite article}]) containing [about] U [university] + TICk (a moment; a second) excluding the final letter (to be cut) K L (U) E TIC |
|
| 10 | Bishop following European mission once congregation dismisses Bishop (6)
ERRAND (archaic [once] word for ‘mission’) E (European) + RR (Right Reverend, form of address for a Bishop) + bAND (a group of people, such as a congregation) excluding (dismisses) B (Bishop) E RR AND |
|
| 11 | Scot abandoning company aircraft no longer dismissing Director (4)
STOL (an aircraft that can operate under the STOL [Short Take-Off and Landing system]) ScoT excluding (abandoning) CO (company) + OLd (former; no longer) excluding (dismissing) D (director) ST OL< |
|
| 20 | In ditching high honour, person succeeding is radical at the outset (4)
HEIR (a person who actually succeeds to property, title, etc on the death of its previous holder) HE (letters remaining in HomE [in] when the central letters OM [Order of Merit, a high honour] are excluded (ditching) + IR (initial letters [at the outset] of each of Is and Radical) HE I R |
|
| 22 | Red Sea, to me, strangely afflicted with excess fluid (9)
EDEMATOSE (afflicted with a pathological accumulation of fluid in tissue spaces) Anagram of (strangely) RED SEA TO ME EDEMATOSE* |
R |
| 23 | Book One in America, where mentioned above, promoted artist (8, 2 words)
UBI SUPRA (Latin for ‘where mentioned above’) ([B {book} + I {Roman numeral for one}] contained in [in] US [America]) + UP (promoted) + RA (Royal Academician; artist]) U (B I) S UP RA |
|
| 24 | You are texting with points from the Herald, leaders from Daily Express (4)
URDE (heraldic term for pointed or having points) U (textspeak for ‘you’) + R (textspeak for ‘are’) + DE (initial letters of [leaders from] each of Daily and Express) U R DE |
|
| 25 | Story about medium wall covering was provided by husband (8)
LIMEWASH (a milky mixture of slaked lime and water, used for coating walls, etc) LIE (story) containing (about) M (medium) + WAS + H (husband) LI (M) E WAS H |
|
| 30 | Target rising smelly atmosphere, less than half of smell beginning to appear (6)
MIASMA (unwholesome air; smelly atmosphere) AIM (target) reversed (rising; down entry) + SM (first two of the five [less than half of] letters in SMall) + A (first letter of [beginning to] Appear) MIA< SM A |
|
| 31 | Echinoderm not a gastropod? Zero data, perhaps (6)
STROMB (a very large gastropod related to the whelk) STaR (starfish [an example of an echinodem]) excluding (not) A + O [character representing zero) + MB (megabyte [unit of measurement for data]) STR O MB |
|
| 33 | Here’s me carrying large overcoat, even places in the dry excluded? (6)
ULSTER (a long loose overcoat) US (informal term for’me’) containing (carrying) L + TER (letters remaining in ThE dRy when letters 2, 4 and 6 [even places] are excluded) U (L) S TER |
|
| 38 | Record reversing vulgarian decline? Not entirely (4)
PLEB (person of vulgar tastes; vulgarian) LP (long-playing record) reversed (reversing) + EBb (decline) excluding the final letter B (not entirely) PL EB |
|
| 39 | Cow disease gutted calf, perhaps, turning gross (4)
BERG (a CALF is an iceberg that has broken off a glacier or larger iceberg) BsE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy [disease of cows]) excluding the middle letter, S [gutted]) + GR (gross) reversed (turning) BE RG< |
|
| 40 | Tree repelling one cutting tool, one not new (4)
FROE (cutting tool with a blade at right angles to the handle, used especially for splitting wood) FiR (tree) excluding [repelling] I [Roman numeral for one] + OnE excluding (not) N (new) FR OE |
Sometimes one gets an early sense of the “point” of a puzzle; sometimes one wades through feeling wholly bemused about where it will all end up, and then has a Eureka moment. This was firmly in the second category, since it was obviously something to do with the brain, but unclear how that might link to Science, Babbage, or splitting up answers. And then, with the inevitable aid of the internet, all suddenly became clear. a very enjoyable example of useless but interesting knowledge; classic crossword stuff. Many thanks to Phi and Duncan.
Echoing the many thanks to Phi and duncanshiell! I went through much the same solving process as in the blog and @1, hindered in its middle period by a sense that BRAIN would be a metaphor for the Difference or Analytical Engine. Had no idea that BABBAGE’s personality had been literally split, but the Internet is a wonderful thing.
Trivia point: there’s a bit missing from the quoted preamble in ‘unclued items include a thematic object, its former [possessor and identifiers of its] current locations …’
Lovely stuff from Phi! CHARLES and BABBAGE were also my first two unclued words to fall, and BRAIN soon followed. Googling got me the theme proper, and staring at ELLU_ then yielded the thematic words, in a flash of inspiration, and it was straightforward from there. I only spotted at the end just how cleverly the clues had been done though!
Thanks to Phi for an excellent crossword, and to Duncan for the comprehensive blog.
Very much enjoyed this
As others have said – an excellent puzzle to while away some hours.
We also knew nothing about Babbage’s brain being split.
Thanks to Phi and Duncan.
David Langford @ 2
Thanks – preamble updated to include the missing words.