Chalicea has some ‘inspirational’ COLUMNS for us this week, although my first instinct on hearing the word ‘column’ is to think of data in tables or Excel files…less inspirational than than Doric or Ionic columns, or even well-written newspaper features…
The preamble states that:
“The COLUMNS of a thematic subject (11 letters in a straight line, to be highlighted) inspired 22,30, 32 and 41. Wordplay of alternate clues leads to an extra letter in addition to that required for the answer. In clue order, these give a description of the subject which derives from 12 by 22. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
After a quick check, 12, 22, 30, 32 and 41 are all unclued Across entries, so some ‘inspired’ deduction will be needed – for which the only approach must be to solve some clues and find as many crossers as possible.
A reasonably steady grid-fill ensued, with a generous number of crossers for the unclued entries, and it soon became clear that 12A was probably STAFFA, and 22A probably YEATS or KEATS, so the inspiration was probably a pome.
Chalicea has sold us a bit of a (well sign-posted) dummy here, as her ‘signature’ style is to present thematic material in diagonal ‘stripes’ across the grid, but the title of the puzzle should make us think of verticals… Given it is COLUMNS, and not column, after an initial scan of diagonals (just to be sure), I assumed there might be more than one column involved, but in the end it was that central one – with the F of STAFFA giving us FINGAL’S CAVE.
And then all fell into place – KEATS’ poem ‘STAFFA’ includes the line ‘This cathedral of the sea‘, referring to the acoustics inside the cave, and lo and behold the extra letters in alternate wordplays gave THE CATHEDRAL OF THE SEA.
And the other inspirations? Fingal’s Cave was originally named after the hero of an epic poem by James MACPHERSON; Walter SCOTT described the cave as ‘one of the most extraordinary places I ever beheld‘; and Felix MENDELSSOHN wrote an overture, which became known as the ‘Fingal’s Cave Overture‘, based on the ‘weird echoes‘ in the cave.
Another curve ball from Chalicea is that many of her puzzle themes celebrate the achievements of notable women, but all the protagonists in this piece are male…not that I am complaining (or mansplaining), just noting!
I learned a few other things along the way – ‘RED CRAG’ as a geological time period; COLIN the Virginian Quail; and that SPRUCE beer is a thing…
My thanks to Chalicea for an inspirational and educational EV journey into the cultural significance of the geological wonder that is Fingal’s Cave, and I trust all the data in the COLUMNS below is correct…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Extra letter | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing (extra letter (b)old in brackets) |
|
| 1 | SCENARIO | Coins are juggled in this projected sequence of events (8)
anag, i.e. juggled, of COINS ARE |
||
| 7 | T | ABHOR | More than dislike sailor, Scandinavian thunder god (5)
AB (Able Bodies seaman) + (T)HOR |
|
| 14 | STRETTI | Unusually tritest parts of fugue (7)
anag, i.e. unusual, of TRITEST |
||
| 15 | H | COLIN | Most of compound found in bile in Virginian quail (5)
C(H)OLIN( [‘colin’ being the Virginian quail] |
|
| 16 | TIE | Limit local area of common land (3)
double defn. – to TIE can be to limit, restrict; and a TIE (or tye) is dialect, or local, for an area of common land |
||
| 17 | E | LAUNDRYMAN | Improper unmanly dare for worker in place where linen is washed (10)
anag, i.e. improper, of UNMANLY DAR(E) |
|
| 18 | RED CRAG | Revolutionary scoriae regularly figuring ultimately in middle division of geological epoch (7, two words)
RED (communist, revolutionary) + CRA (regular letters of ‘sCoRiAe’ + G (ultimate letter of figurinG) [Red Crag – a ‘middle division’ of the English Pliocine period] |
||
| 24 | C | G-MEN | Feds troublingly Germanic air awkwardly not admitted (4)
subtractive anagram, i.e. troublingly, of GE( [Feds as in Federal agents, aka G-men] |
|
| 25 | MINUTELY | Particular moment at heart analysed in detailed way (8)
MINUTE (particular moment) + LY (middle letters, or heart, of anaLYsed) |
||
| 27 | A | HEADS | Top dogs in the lead, succeeded (5)
(A)HEAD (in the lead) + S (succeeded, genealogical notation) |
|
| 31 | PRESA | In Paris after circulating symbol used in music (5)
( |
||
| 35 | T | AGE | Label English generation (3)
(T)AG (label) + E (English) |
|
| 36 | SPRUCE | Neat type of beer (6)
double defn. – SPRUCE can mean neat and tidy; and SPRUCE beer is a drink fermented from sugar/treacle and the tops of the spruce tree) |
||
| 38 | H | ALTHAEA | Bring to a stop shearer now and then primarily axing rose of Sharon (7)
(H)ALT (bring to a stop) + HAE (alternate letters, or now and again, from ‘sHeArEr’) + A (first, or primary, letter of Axing) |
|
| 39 | AVENUE | Broad city road, a place where things happen (6)
A + VENUE (place where things happen) |
||
| 40 | E | AERIAL | Lofty frolicking Airedale daughter abandoned (6)
subtractive anagram, i.e. frolicking, of AIRE( |
|
| 42 | MOROSER | Gloomier doctor closed session with Republican (7)
MO (Medical officer, doctor) + ROSE (closed session, as in the judge rose to close the session) + R (Republican) [not sure you would hear ‘moroser’ in regular conversation, ‘more morose’ rolls off the tongue a bit better?] |
||
| 43 | D | STEWED | Pie-eyed and somewhat exhausted, we dozed (6)
hidden word in, i.e. somewhat of, ‘exhauSTE(D) WE Dozed’ [stewed as in drunk, pie-eyed] |
|
| Clue No | Extra letter | Solution | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing (extra letter (b)old in brackets) |
|
| 1 | SASTRA | Holy writing of branches of learning Anglo-Saxon set up (6)
ARTS (branches of learning0 + AS (Anglo-Saxon), all set up = SASTRA [Hindu holy texts] |
||
| 2 | R | CUTIE-PIE | Funny picture that is a poppet (8)
CUTIE_P (anag, i.e. funny, of PICTU(R)E) + IE (id est, that is) |
|
| 3 | EARED | Component in machine, a redesign with lugs (5)
hidden word in, i.e. component of, ‘machinE A REDesign’ |
||
| 4 | A | ATTAR | Essential oil of a Mongol warrior (5)
A + T(A)TAR (Mongol warrior) |
|
| 5 | RATU | Despicable person, upper-class Indonesian chief (4)
RAT (despicable person) + U (upper class, not non-U!) |
||
| 6 | L | OFF-DUTY | Toff duly out of order; not currently working (7)
anag, i.e. out of order, of TOFF DU(L)Y |
|
| 8 | BUOYAGE | Lad, we hear with a good base for system of floating beacons (7)
BUOY (boy, we hear, homophone) + A + G (good) + E (logarithmic base) |
||
| 9 | O | HELMSMAN | Extremely virile fellow embracing blind salamanders; he’s one who guides (8)
HE_MAN (extremely virile fellow) around (embracing) (O)LMS (blind salamanders) |
|
| 10 | OPIATE | Work I took in; stupefying thing (6)
OP (opus, musical work) + I + ATE (took in) |
||
| 11 | F | RENNIN | Enzyme‘s curiously finer with new name (6)
anag, i.e. curiously, of (F)INER + N (new) + N (name) |
|
| 13 | ACRES | Races around estates (5)
anag, i.e. around, of RACES |
||
| 19 | T | CRUDS | Unpleasant things, diamonds surrounded by dry, scaly covering (5)
CRU_S(T) (dry, scaly covering) around (surrounding) D (diamonds, cards notation) |
|
| 20 | GALS | Turning up, verbally abuse young ladies in dialect (4)
to SLAG (off) is to verbally abuse, and turned up this gives GALS (dialect for girls, or young ladies) |
||
| 21 | H | INNER EAR | Less apparent to be informed location of labyrinth (8, two words)
INNER (less apparent) + (H)EAR (be informed) [the labyrinth of cavities in the inner ear, not the one at Knossos in Crete!] |
|
| 23 | EELS | In Scotland sly, backward, evasive folk (4)
SLEE, or sly, Scottish, backwards = EELS |
||
| 26 | E | TEACUPS | Support American conservative successes drinking from these? (7)
TE(E) (support, e.g. for golf ball) + A (American) + C (conservative) + UPS (successes) |
|
| 27 | HOTTEST | Currently fashionable examination; most exciting (7)
HOT (currently fashionable) + TEST (examination) |
||
| 28 | S | DOGEATE | Magistrate’s office once to track East European (7)
DOG (track, tail) + EA(S)T + E (European) |
|
| 29 | SWEALED | Settled irrevocably about wife wasted away in the country (7)
S_EALED (settled, irrevocably) around W (wife) |
||
| 31 | E | PSALM | Sacred song after death including obligation to secrecy (5)
P_M (post mortem, after death) around (including) S(E)AL (obligation to secrecy) |
|
| 33 | CAVER | Beware queen, one exploring underground (5)
CAVE (Latin, beware) + R (regina, queen) |
||
| 34 | A | THROE | Oscar beset by troublesome heart pain (5)
THR_E (anag, i.e. troublesome, of HE(A)RT around (besetting) O (oscar, phonetic alphabet) |
|
| 37 | UNCO | Some gun control’s remarkable thing in the Gorbals (4)
hidden word, i.e. some of, ‘gUN COntrol’ [unco being Scottish, i.e. in the Gorbals, for something remarkable/unusual] |
||