The Inquisitor this week is Seasonal Games by Henri.
This is Henri’s second Inquisitor. His first was published just over a year ago, when he gave us a puzzle based on Steve Jobs, an inspirational statement and a number of Apple products developed under Jobs’ time at the company.
The preamble was fairly long and told us that twelve clues contain extra words (one or two) to be removed before solving. Four of these provide thematic locations; the other eight each define a pair of letters which in clue order spell a record-holder. A further seven clues contain a single-letter misprint in the definition; in clue order, correct letters provide additional information about the record. In the completed grid, solvers must highlight 37 appropriately-positioned cells giving details of the record.
I made a slow start on the clues and just seemed to be solving normal clues until a couple of the clues with one or two extra words were solvable from crossing letters. The grid gradually built up and extra words became clear. The misprints took even longer to identify, but over time and with a bit of reverse engineering, once I had deduced the theme, I found all the misprints.
The extra words or phrases defining pairs of letters were helpful in cracking the theme. Once I had OM, SE, TM, GH and AM or US, I thought there might be MAUGHAM appearing as a surname. Further study of the clues revealed words or pairs of words that could generate W SOMERSET MAUGHAM [1874 – 1965] in 8 pairs of letters. MAUGHAM was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer.
MAUGHAM’s full name is derived from extra words in 8 clues, as shown below:
| Clue | Words | Letters | Parsing |
| 16a | was heartless | WS | WaS excluding the central letter A [heartless] |
| 20a | sacred syllable | OM | A sacred syllable intoned as part of Hindu devotion and contemplation |
| 35a | Uncovered very | ER | vERy excluding the outer letters V and Y [uncovered] |
| 9d | Home Counties | SE | The Home Counties are situated in the South East of England |
| 12d | Turkmenistan | TM | International Vehicle Registration for Turkmenistan |
| 19d | gold | AU | Chemical symbol for gold |
| 32a | Ghana | GH | International Vehicle Registration for Ghana |
| 36d | American | AM | American (Am) |
The remaining extra words were found in 27a (COURT), 2d (VAUDEVILLE), 20d (LYRIC) and 31d (COMEDY). which I belatedly recognised as names of London Theatres.
Turning to the web, I learned that MAUGHAM was the first playwright to have four plays staged at the same time in London. MAUGHAM‘s achievement occurred in 1908. This feat was matched later by Noel Coward [1899 – 1973].
Not surprisingly, MAUGHAM‘s plays were staged at The Royal COURT, the VAUDEVILLE, the LYRIC and the COMEDY theatres.
The Royal COURT staged LADY FREDERICK,
the VAUDEVILLE showed JACK STRAW.
the COMEDY presented MRS DOT and
the LYRIC produced THE EXPLORER
All of these titles can be found to the left hand side of the grid and are highlighted in the graphic below. I am defeated by the relevance of ‘appropriately-positioned cells’ in the preamble and I am also unable to understand the puzzle’s title Seasonal Games. I had a look at the location of the theatres in London, but couldn’t relate their position to the pattern of the plays in the grid. No doubt solvers will tell me what I am missing.
The final piece of the puzzle is the additional information generated by the misprints. There was a bit of a chicken and egg situation for me when deriving the misprints. I could see that the misprints I had found could be part of a Roman numeral. Once I read that MAUGHAM‘s four plays appeared simultaneously in 1908, I homed in on MCMVIII as the likely additional information. This helped me identify the last couple of misprints.
The misprints were in the following seven clues
| Clue | Misprinted Word | Correct Word | Correct Letter |
| 26a | petals | metals | M |
| 38a | past | cast | C |
| 39a | veal | meal | M |
| 4d | carte | carve | V |
| 6d | as | is | I |
| 7d | strap | strip | I |
| 28d | pug | pig | I |
The clues were very fair and entertaining in many cases. I haven’t worked out where the IR comes from in the wordplay for IRIS at 20d.
I enjoyed this puzzle, as I did Henri’s previous Inquisitor. I look forward to more from him
| No | Detail | Extra Words | Letter |
| Across |
Clue Amended Clue |
||
| 1 |
Mossy plant sadly struggling next to pier’s cap (12) LADY’S CUSHION (the mossy saxifrage; mossy plant) Anagram of (strugglng) SADLY + CUSHION (in architecture, the cap of a pier) LADY’S* CUSHION |
||
| 10 |
Preferred “Knowledge” before starting taxi (9) PREFLIGHT (ff or relating to the period just prior to a plane taxiing for take off) PREF (preferred) + LIGHT (understanding; knowledge) PREF LIGHT |
||
| 14 |
Ecclesiasticus taking time to get out of bed (4) STIR (be active after a rest; get out of bed) SIR (Ecclesiasticus is also known as Sirach or SIR, reference the Book of Sirach in the Apocrypha – Bradfords Crossword Dictionary lists SIR[ach] for Ecclesiasticus) containing (taking) T (time) S (T) IR |
||
| 15 |
Specification for screen actor’s tape I misplaced (11, 2 words) ASPECT RATIO (the ratio of the width to the height of a reproduced image; specification for a screen displaying an image) Anagram of (misplaced) ACTOR’S TAPE I ASPECT RATIO* |
||
| 16 |
Flower was heartless, caught fly (6) Flower caught fly (6) CALDER (reference the River [flower] CALDER, of which there are a number in Northern England) C (caught) + ALDER (an artificial fishing fly; there is also an ALDER-fly [riverside insect]) C ALDER |
was heartless WS |
|
| 20 |
Sultan’s decrees raised about sacred syllable (6) Sultan’s decrees raised about (6) IRADES (written decrees by the Sultan of Turkey) Anagram of (about) RAISED IRADES* |
sacred syllable OM |
|
| 22 |
Doctor heartbroken, less upset than anthropologist (7) KROEBER (reference Alfred KROEBER [1876-1960], American cultural anthropologist) Anagram of (doctor) hEaRtBROKEn, excluding an anagram of (upset) THAN KROEBER* |
||
| 23 |
Submarine has latitude to replace a fastener (5) U-BOLT (A metal bar bent into the shape of a U and threaded at both ends to receive securing nuts: used to secure leaf springs, ring bolts, shackles, etc; a fastener) U-BOaT (German submarine) with L (latitude) for (to replace) A U-BOLT |
||
| 25 |
Abruptly seize twisted sawlike item (5) SERRA (anything sawlike; sawlike item) ARRESt (seize) excluding the final letter T (abruptly) and then reversed (twisted) SERRA< |
||
| 26 |
O’Neill’s fancy decorative petals (7) O’Neill’s fancy decorative metals (7) NIELLOS (decorative metals) Anagram of (fancy) O’NEILLS NIELLOS* |
M | |
| 27 |
Court counsellor denying blame for religious type (6) Counsellor denying blame for religious type (6) THEIST (one with a belief in the existence of God; religious type) THErapIST (a type of counsellor) excluding (denying) RAP (reprimand; blame) THEIST |
Court |
|
| 29 |
I’m surprised fruity tobacco’s not finished (6) SHEESH (exclamation of surprise) SHEESHa (tobacco that is flavoured with fruit and molasses; fruit tobacco) excluding the final letter A (not finished) SHEESH |
||
| 31 |
Vehicle following cycle in eastern end of Istanbul, past Aegean Sea (11) ARCHIPELAGO (a sea studded with islands. Apparently the term referred originally to just the Aegean Sea, an area of many islands) ARC (CAR [vehicle] cycled one letter left and round to the end) + HIP (trendy; in) + E (Eastern) + L (last letter of [end of] istanbuL) + AGO (past) ARC HIP E L AGO |
||
| 35 |
Uncovered very crazy way of working in Alaska (4) Crazy way of working in Alaska (4) AMOK (in a frenzy; crazy) MO (modus operandi; way of working) contained in (in) AK (abbreviation for the State of Alaska) A (MO) K |
Uncovered very ER |
|
| 38 |
Cross back after gates out past entrance (9, 2 words) Cross back after gates out cast entrance (9, 2 words) STAGE DOOR (theatre entrance for the cast of a play) Anagram of (out) GATES + ROOD (cross) reversed (back) STAGE* DOOR< |
C | |
| 39 |
Party with Thailand ambassador and MBEs etc, perhaps serve veal (12, 3 words) Party with Thailand ambassador and MBEs etc, perhaps serve meal (12, 3 words) DO THE HONOURS (perform a task, especially the duties of a host, such as serving a meal) DO (party) + T (International Vehicle Registration for Thailand) + HE (His Excellency, the form of address for an Ambassador) + HONOURS (MBEs are HONOURS) DO T HE HONOURS |
M | |
| Down | |||
| 2 |
Vaudeville theatre and other cultural pursuits are not quite this vacuous (4) Theatre and other cultural pursuits are not quite this vacuous (4) ARTS (a term that can be used to describe theatre and other cultural pursuits, including painting and sculpture) ARe excluding the final letter E (not quite) + ThiS excluding the central letters HI (vacuous) AR TS |
Vaudeville |
|
| 3 |
Upper parts of ship, reportedly (3) DEX (a short form of DEXedrine , Dextroamphetamine, a stimulant or upper) DEX (sounds like [reportedly] DECKS [parts of a ship]) DEX |
||
| 4 |
Groom devours starter from la carte (5) Groom devours starter from la carve (5) SLICE (carve) SICE (a groom or mounted attendant) containing (devours) L (first letter of [starter from] La) S (L) ICE |
V | |
| 5 |
Top of cemetery is priest’s last and final resting place (4) CIST (a tomb consisting of a stone chest covered with stone slabs; final resting place) C (first letter of [top of] Cemetery) + IS + T (final letter of [last] priesT) C IS T |
||
| 6 |
Fairly, maybe Brian dismissed this as awful (3) Fairly, maybe Brian dismissed this is awful (3) UGH (an expression of opinion that ‘this is awful’) enoUGH (fairly) excluding (dismissed) ENO (reference Brian ENO [born 1948], rock and pop musician) UGH |
I | |
| 7 |
Sagging at first? Try strap (5) Sagging at first? Try strip (5) SHEAR (strip) S (initial letter of [at first] Sagging) + HEAR (try, in a court of law) S HEAR |
I | |
| 8 |
South American capital – once fashionable, note (4) INTI (former [once] unit of currency [capital] in Peru, a South American country) IN (fashionable) + TI (a note of the tonic sol-fa) IN TI |
||
| 9 |
Home Counties co-chair regularly and repeatedly exposed boozy state (4) Co-chair regularly and repeatedly exposed boozy state (4) OHIO (one of the 50 States of the USA) OHI (letters 2, 4 and 6 [regularly] of cO-cHaIr) + O (letter remaining in boOzy when the outer letters are removed [exposed] twice [repeatedly) O H I O |
Home Counties SE |
|
| 11 |
Holy Roman Emperor’s daughter in bold, timeless deception (9) FREDERICK (There are were three Holy Roman Emperors named Frederick) (D [daughter] contained in [in] FREE [unrestrained; adventurous; bold]) + tRICK (deception) excluding (-less) T (time) FRE (D) E RICK |
||
| 12 |
Turkmenistan hockey player does this special throw, it’s fantastic (9, 2 words) Hockey player does this special throw, it’s fantastic (9, 2 words) WRIST SHOT (a stroke made with a short backswing, using power mainly from the wrist. A shot made by hockey players, although cricketers and golfers also use their wrists to play shots) Anagram of (fantastic) S (special) and THROW IT’S WRIST SHOT* |
Turkmenistan TM |
|
| 13 |
Lightweight coat and hat, both outdated (9) JACK-STRAW (a man of straw, a lightweight) JACK (medieval defensive coat, especially of leather; outdated cot) + STRAW (an old hat) JACK STRAW |
||
| 14 |
Provider of creature comforts at all beds in resort (9, 2 words) STABLE LAD (someone whose job is to look after the horses at a racing stable; provider of creature [horse] comforts) Anagram of (in resort) AT ALL BEDS STABLE LAD* |
||
| 17 |
$100 knocked off charge for contemporary art (3) ARE (the modern [contemporary] form of the word ART – You ARE, rather than Thou ART) fARE (charge) excluding (knocked off) F (Wikipedia tells me that while the $100 bill is historically called a “C-Note” (using the Roman numeral for 100), modern connections often tie it to the letter F due to the portrait and regional bank coding) ARE |
||
| 18 |
Learning about supporting 70s band having sacked leader (4) LORE (learning) eLO (70s band) excluding (having sacked) E (first letter [leader]) + RE (with reference to; about) – as this is a down entry, the letters RE are ‘supporting’ the letters LO LO RE |
||
| 19 |
Children tempted to pocket gold revenue (4) Children tempted to pocket revenue (4) RENT (a form of revenue) RENT (hidden word in [to pocket] childREN Tempted) RENT |
gold AU |
|
| 20 |
Lyric writer Rice wanting cool island plant (4) Writer Rice wanting cool island plant (4) IRIS (a plant) IR (I am not sure how these two letters are derived. There is an IR in bIRO, a writer, but that ignores Tim, and also can’t see a link to cool. There is SIR TIM Rice who wrote the lyrics for many musicals, but again I can’t see how we just get to IR)+ IS (island) IR IS |
Lyric |
|
| 21 |
Work at unfinished arable allotment (4) DOLE (allotment) DO (work at) + LEa (arable [land]) excluding the final letter A (unfinished) DO LE |
||
| 24 |
Philosopher retains former reputation (3) LOS (obsolete [former] word for reputation) LOS (hidden word in [retains] phiLOSopher) LOS |
||
| 28 |
Ed’s named after singular young pug (5) Ed’s named after singular young pig (5) SHOTE (a young pig, especially one that just been weaned) S (singular) + HOTE (Spenserean word for ‘named’) S HOTE |
I | |
| 30 |
Old ebony had originally been damaged (5) Old ebony had originally been damaged (5) HEBEN (an obsolete [old] form of ebony) H (first letter of [originally] Had) + an anagram of (damaged) BEEN H EBEN* |
||
| 31 |
Comedy magazine contents are principally Max Miller obituaries (4) Magazine contents are principally Max Miller obituaries (4) AMMO (ammunition; contents of a magazine for a weapon) A (are, a metric unit of land measurement) + MMO (initial letters of [principally] each of Max, Miller and Obituaries) A M M O |
Comedy | |
| 32 |
Bob formally dropping case of Ghana booze racket in Perth (4) Bob formally dropping case of booze racket in Perth (4) RORT (informal Australian [Perth] term for a din or racket) RObeRT (Bob) excluding (dropping) BE (the outer letters [case of] BoozE) RORT |
Ghana GH |
|
| 33 |
Dance movement takes guts initially (4) POGO (a popular puk form of dance from the 1970s) POO (bowel movement) containing (takes) G (first letter of {initially} Guts) PO (G) O |
||
| 34 |
Finally enjoying our Scottish sugar (4) GOOR (unrefined sweet can esugar) G (last letter of [finally] enjoyinG) + OOR (Scottish form of OUR) G OOR |
||
| 36 |
Revolutionary possessed heavy American knife (3) Revolutionary possessed heavy knife (3) DAH (a heavy Burmese knife) HAD (possessed) reversed (revolutionary) DAH< |
American AM |
|
| 37 |
Tiny amount of money being left aside (3) SOU (a tiny amount of money) SOUl (innermost being or nature) excluding (aside) L (left) SOU |
|
It took me most of the gridfill before I eventually sorted out who the record holder was, slowed up by a couple of errors and not recognizing the theatres. I couldn’t parse the IR in IRIS either, nor determine the significance of the title, but I did work out the relevance of the plays’ grid placement – they were West End plays hence appear in the ‘west end’ of the grid.
Thanks to Henri for the puzzle and Duncan for the blog.
I found this an easy enough gridfill but a very hard endgame, not helped by the sneakily placed red herring locations of Turkmenistan and Ghana. Did anyone else think we were looking for the World Nomad Games?
It was a very interesting story though, so I’m glad I persevered.
I reckon Iris is parsed as:
I = Writer
R = Rice wanting cool (ice)
IS = Island
And thank you to yogdaws for pointing out the ‘West End’ location of the plays, like ds I also looked for the physical theatre locations as well as a (non-existent) link to the clue numbers.
Thanks Henri for a good workout
I think this must be the third time recently that I can report having enjoyed a good set of clues but having no endgame to enjoy (either for lack of time, as now, or simply not getting the theme). I have only just solved my last two clues (1a and 2d) and still had some queries to resolve before I could work out the theme.
I too parsed IRIS as did Arnold @2.
Thanks anyway to Henri, and to duncanshiell for revealing the theme (and all the tricks in the clues).
Thanks to Yogdaws for the West End illumination. Seasonal Games must be something Plays, but I can’t see what. Winter? Summer? Limited-duration? Maugham seems to have had a lot of ephemeral plays around 1908, and my first researches suggested that Penelope, rather than The Explorer, was the fourth one, which caused some delays, but got there in the end. Thanks to Henri and Duncan.
The title – Somer/summer, seasonal and Set, games (tennis,maybe others?
I enjoyed this puzzle..
I guess this was OK. I parsed IRIS as others have, but failed with SHEESH(a) probably because it’s not on the Chambers CD-ROM, so thanks Duncan. I got the West End location too, but am still not convinced by the title.
I didn’t think that Roman numerals added anything, quite possibly the opposite. I went looking for the I that I was missing and chose 5d – tip for top – but on reflection I think Duncan’s 6d is for as is better. A slightly grudging thanks to Henri.
Setter popping in to say thanks to solvers and especially to Duncan for the excellent deconstruction. Thanks also to yogdaws @1 for correctly spotting the ‘running together in the West End’ highlighting. Caran @5 is spot-on with the title. Parsing of IRIS is as per Arnold @2 et al. A correction: the intended parse of ARE is in fact (c)ARE not (f)ARE, with ‘care’ being a synonym for ‘charge’.
Cheers all!
HG@6; I found the extra I in 21D (Work it, rather than Work at), but we were both ignoring the instruction that the misprint is in the definition, not the wordplay, so the 6D This Is awful is the only option that fits the bill. Congratulations to Caran for getting the title, and thanks to Henri for coming to confirm it and adding the “running together” refinement; but I am dubious about Somer being asked to mean seasonal or Summer outside of the Middle Ages.
Sagittarius @8 – it’s just a silly soundalike thing, no deeper meaning intended 😁
Not sure if UBOLT reaching to the right edge of the grid was a deliberate red herring but I was convinced for a while we were going to be looking at a specific olympic sprint race and record with other runners in the grid, and the AM letter pair was going to finish off JAMAICA RELAY TEAM
Matt @10 – total coincidence, but thanks for the future puzzle idea! 😆
I was convinced that this was going to relate to a marathon record, with it falling on the weekend of the London race. Was very interesting to unravel once it became apparent that I had been barking up the wrong tree, thanks Henri.