The instructions seemed reasonably straightforward:
A turtle starts on a perimeter cell and moves forward cell by cell. If it lands on an L, it turns 90 degrees anticlockwise; if an R, 90 degrees clockwise; otherwise it continues in the same direction.
One word in each clue must be removed before solving; in clue order, these words’ first letters provide an extra instruction.
When the turtle exits the grid after making at least one turn, its path has traced what letter?
Why a turtle, specially? It refers to a technique in computing called turtle graphics.
I didn’t have too much trouble solving the clues, or in finding the superfluous words, whose initial letters spell out TO BEGIN WITH THE TURTLE FACES NORTH. This means that we only have to look at the bottom row for the turtle’s starting point, and after a little experimentation it emerged that the letter traced out is an upper-case E. (Since it has to be made only from horizontal and vertical lines, the choice of letter is rather limited.)
Thanks to Qaos for an enjoyable, not-too-challenging puzzle.
The superfluous words in the clues are shown in bold italics below.
| Across | ||||||||
| 7 | BREATHES | British doctor hates saving toy soldiers’ lives (8) BR + HATES* |
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| 9 | EXARCH | Old church employs a rector and old bishop (6) A R[ector] in EX (old) CH[urch] |
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| 10 | OVAL | Ground beef, eggs and slice of lamb (4) OVA (eggs) + L[amb] |
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| 11 | DISCOVERED | Found smashing Easter service taken by theologian – it’s all about love (10) SERVICE* in DD (Doctor of Divinity), all around O (love) |
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| 12 | FOLLOW | Perhaps Don Juan’s retiring over other genteel ladies initially giving chase (6) O[ther] L[adies] in reverse of WOLF |
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| 14 | ERATHEMS | Time after time he’s describing iceberg’s mass in geological units (8) M in ERA T (two kinds of time) + M[ass] |
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| 16 | SELECT | Small boy leaving tiny particle to pick nose (6) S[mall] + ELECTRON less RON |
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| 18 | RECIPE | Writing piece about winning formula? (6) R (writing, one of the Three Rs) + PIECE* |
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| 21 | SPECIMEN | Example of square enclosure holding back infected rodents (8) Reverse of MICE in S[quare] PEN |
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| 23 | LAUREL | Thomas Hardy’s partner gets award (6) Double definition |
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| 24 | PARLIAMENT | Even literature’s inspiring Australian workers’ honest collective (10) PAR (even) + A[ustralian] MEN in LIT |
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| 26 | PRAY | I ask you, trace victim of attack by ear (4) Sounds like “prey” |
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| 27 | BOUNCE | Black cat hunting as Tigger might do? (6) B[lack] + OUNCE (cat) |
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| 28 | DISAGREE | In England, is a greenhouse essential? No way! (8) Hidden in EnglanD IS A GREEnhouse |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | PREVIOUS | Former Tory minister breaks parking promises (8) REV in P IOUS |
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| 2 | GAOL | Convict stealing ugly duck returns to prison (4) O in LAG, reversed |
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| 3 | SHADOW | Stock market index supports risky cryptographic algorithm for cloud (6) SHA + DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) |
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| 4 | LEMONADE | In general, during two days, adult tastes drink (8) A[dult] in MON D (two days), all in LEE (Robert E Lee, US Civil War general) |
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| 5 | GAZE | Look, Arizona backs government’s drug laws (4) G + AZ + E |
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| 6 | SCREAM | Comedian‘s best ever (6) We need to lift and separate the ‘s from Comedian’s to get S + CREAM (best) |
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| 8 | SISTER | Relative tries dancing foxtrot with son (6) Anagram of TRIES + S |
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| 13 | LILAC | Ring back to buy single ash tree (5) I (single) in reverse of CALL (ring, as on a phone) |
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| 15 | HAIKU | Poem about unseating King Charles has international leaders shocked (5) Anagram (“shocked”) of the first letters (leaders) of About Unseating King Has International. Qaos used a similar clue using an anagram of first letters in a daily puzzle that I blogged recently, where it caused some raised eyebrows, though I have no objections myself |
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| 17 | COMPARED | Equated new moped with electric car (8) (MOPED CAR)* |
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| 19 | ELEVATED | Clutching bible, sinner’s happy to be raised up (8) EV (English Version) in ELATED |
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| 20 | ENNEAD | Essentially sent one’s newest grades to set of nine (6) Central letters of sENt oNE’s grADes |
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| 22 | PIANOS | Instruments playing in soap opera (6) (IN SOAP)* |
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| 23 | LATEST | Most recent news of Los Angeles robber on trial (6) LA + TEST |
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| 25 | LINO | Floor covering part of mansion I like returning to (4) Hidden in reverse of mansiON I Like |
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| 26 | PAGE | Father finally reading the hymn sheet (4) PA + last letters of readinG thE |
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Thanks Andrew and Qaos.
Good puzzle. Enjoyed it.
After solving about half, I had the first letters of the superfluous words spell out:
?O B???? ?ITH THE TU??L? F?C?S ?ORTH, and guessed the rest; that helped with solving some more difficult clues.
However, tracing turtle’s path was not straightforward. I wondered if the turtle traveled only on lights, or on blocks as well…. also extra Ls and Rs in the grid, not in the path of turtle, as they turned out, added to my reticence. After a few random tries I was not seeing any clear pattern of a letter. I put it away, and resumed the next morning.
Logic says that the turtle started from one of the 15 cells in row 15. I eliminated one by one from the right most possible starting point.
From column 15, it exited at row 4. From column 14, it exited row 9 and so, on. From column 2 bottom letter S, I was able to trace correctly, and saw the letter E, a fat one. The middle arm of E was not exactly at the center, but the turtle is not to blame for that!
Elsewhere, I learnt about turtle graphics – fascinating stuff!
I found this very enjoyable. It took me a while to figure out where to start tracing the letter and to get the hang of making the turns correctly, but I eventually tried every column “going north,” just to make sure that no other letters emerged. I was wondering whether the E had any further significance, or whether that just happened to be a convenient letter for Qaos to work with. My final grid looks almost exactly like the one in the blog, only with a different color scheme.