In a blaze of publicity, celebration, and razz-a-ma-tazz, the likes of which have not been seen since the Y2K celebrations of 1999/2000, the EV series has reached its own millennial milestone…congratulations to all the setters and editors involved along the way, and thanks for all the enjoyment/frustration/challenges you have given us. I’ve been doing EVs for about 10 years now – with maybe three or four of those ‘distinctive Telegraph fountain pens’ to show for it – but I’m sure there will be some of you out there who can claim to have been in from the start…?
On to this week’s puzzle…the preamble tells us that the wordplay in ALL clues leads to something shorter than the entry length indicated, so derived answers have to be ‘augmented’ by other letters, including ‘a lot of DOLLARS ALSO’, to fill their allotted space.
I have to admit that I had been apprehensive at the thought of getting the thousandth puzzle – ever since that online-only Xmas special (no. 100,003) interrupted the blogging rota and shifted me from every fourth odd-numbered one. Was it going to be a stinker of a quotation, and/or hidden words, or maybe an unnumbered ‘jigsaw’-type affair? However, apart from the fact that I still haven’t completely fathomed the significance of ‘DOLLARS ALSO’, I found this a fairly gentle solve, once I had spotted a couple of the augmentations.
The first few Across clues didn’t jump out at me, so I tried a couple of the Downs, and immediately got ANA plus E for 2D, but expected it to be AGNAME (additional title). Then spotted that 11A was likely to be an anagram of ANT, but it needs to be a four-letter insect – maybe GNAT? So the extra letters seemed to include G and M…both of which can be indications of 1,000…which made sense, given the number of the puzzle. G can be ‘grand’, as in £1,000, or $1,000 also?
I carried on in this vein – with K making an appearance as well…and, as far as I can tell, that was it – unless I am missing something completely obvious – and if I am, I’m sure you will let me know! I couldn’t see any pattern in the positioning of the Ks, Gs and Ms, or any obvious hidden words in diagonals etc.
Although it was it was (for me, at least, in clue-solving terms) at the easier end of the EV spectrum – ‘only’ 12×12 and, with all those removed letters, less to work on with the clueing – I’m not complaining: it was an enjoyable puzzle, thank-you Rustic – and an appropriate theme for the occasion.
I did have an issue with the parsing of 16A, where the subsidiary indication seems to be an anagram of LOONIE, but the answer needs an extra N that I couldn’t justify. And 35A didn’t have an indication of grid length – (6) – so maybe a couple of the lesser-spotted EV gremlins popping up to join in the celebrations…?
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Derived Answer | Entry | Clue (definition in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1A | AIED | MAIMED | First class pressman is crippled (6) / AI (A1, first class) + ED (editor, press-man) |
| 5A | ARIN | ARKING | What Noah was doing as rain pelted? (6) / anag (i.e. pelted) of RAIN |
| 9A | REARS | REARMS | Provides more weapons from back square (5) / REAR (back) + S (square) |
| 11A | NAT | GNAT | Insect ant chewed (4) / anag (i.e. chewed) of ANT |
| 13A | ARIAN | MARIAN | Girl said to be Indogermanic (6) / homophone (i.e. said) of ARYAN (Indo-Germanic) |
| 14A | ABADO | GAMBADO | A poor piece of orange leather (7) / A + BAD (poor) + O (first letter of Orange) |
| 15A | DERI | DERIG | Ride off to remove equipment (5) / anag (i.e. off) of RIDE |
| 16A | INLENOO | INGLENOOK | Loonie shivering in alcove (9) / anag (i.e. shivering) of LOONIE – extra N missing, maybe contraction of IN? |
| 18A | REBUE | REBUKE | Check bushels stored in Mac’s yard (6) / REE (Scottish for enclosure, or yard) around BU (bushels) |
| 24A | ALISA | ALISMA | A girl’s water plant (6) / A + LISA (girl) |
| 27A | ERONOIC | ERGONOMIC | Concerning a scientific study of iron cast in Ecuador (9) / EC (Ecuador) around RONOI (anag – i.e. cast – of O (of) + IRON |
| 29A | DIEO | DIEGO | Maradona’s to take great risks with ball (5) / DIE (dice, gamble, take risks) + O (ball) |
| 30A | HANIES | HANKIES | Chinaman that is needing seven Scots napkins (7) / HAN (Chinaman) + IE (that is) + S (seven) |
| 31A | INTIA | INTIMA | Innermost parts in island turned over (6) / IN + TIA (ait, or island, turned over) |
| 32A | AE | GAME | Contest one in Perth (4) / AE (one, Scottish) |
| 33A | ALEA | AGLEAM | Shining on a pasture (6) / A + LEA (pasture, meadow) |
| 34A | EYNES | KEYNES | Economist with aged eyes starting to squint (6) / EYNE (archaic for eyes) + S (first of Squint) |
| 35A | EONIS | EONISM | Unnatural one is cross dressing (6) / anag (i.e. unnatural) of ONE IS |
| Down | |||
| Clue No | Derived Answer | Entry | Clue (definition in bold) / Logic/Parsing |
| 1D | UER | MUGGER | You reported engineer’s rearing crocodile (6) / U (homophone of ‘you’) + ER (RE, or Royal Engineer, rearing) |
| 2D | ANAE | AGNAME | Additional title found in literary anecdotes – English (6) / ANA (literary anecdotes) + E (English) |
| 3D | ET | MET | Came into contact with alien (3) / ET (Extra Terrestrial, alien) |
| 4D | DREDER | DREDGER | Specialist vessel painted redder (7) / anag (i.e. painted) of REDDER |
| 5D | AO | AMMO | One round bullet (4) / A (one) + O (round) |
| 6D | ARENA | KARENA | Girl’s sphere of action (6) / ARENA (sphere of action) |
| 7D | NAIOS | NGAIOS | Trees one planted in temple … (6) / NAOS (temple) around I (one) |
| 8D | INO | GINGKO | … holy Japanese one in circle (6) / IN + O (circle) (one referring to ‘tree’ from previous clue) |
| 9D | RAS | RAMS | Artist’s sheep (4) / RA (Royal Academician, or artist) + S (pluralised) |
| 10D | IRONS | GIRONS | Presses lines on the escutcheon (6) / IRONS (presses) |
| 12D | NANIN | NANKIN | Grandmother in buff coloured trousers (6) / NAN (grandmother) + IN |
| 17D | EALIN | EALING | Fish reported in part of London (6) / EAL (homophone of EEL, fish) + IN |
| 19D | BEETS | BEGETS | Produces vegetables (6) / BEETS (vegetables) |
| 20D | TAABLE | TAMABLE | Board contains one capable of being subdued (7) / TABLE (board) containing A (one) |
| 21D | EDIC | MEDICK | Short order for clover (6) / EDIC = EDICT, or order, cut short |
| 22D | CRINE | CRINGE | Scots shrink and cower in fear (6) / CRINE (Scots for shrink, or shrivel) |
| 23D | LOION | LOGION | Saying “Diver seen round island” (6) / LOON (diving bird) around I (island) |
| 25D | NEES | MNEMES | Capacities for retaining personal experiences perceived in retrospect (6) / NEES = SEEN (perceived) backwards, or in retrospect |
| 26D | ANSEL | ANSELM | Archbishop of Canterbury leans drunkenly (6) / anag (i.e. drunkenly) of LEANS |
| 28D | SIA | SIAM | Country one in South America (4) / SA (South America) around I (one) |
| 30D | HAS | HAGS | Keeps witches (4) / HAS (keeps) |
| 32D | AN | GAN | One begun early (3) / AN (one) |
Thanks, mc … good blog. Re the Gs, Chambers gives under G: ‘grand (1000 dollars)’. As for 16ac, it looks like another EV gremlin, although, unlike most, I’ve no idea what it was intended to be! Without being too critical, I think a more challenging puzzle would have been appreciated for this milestone.
I hesitate to criticize but I was rather disappointed. I had expected something more special.
Thanks for the feedback, Dave & Tony.
Tony @ #2 – I assume you are talking about the puzzle itself, and not my blog (;+>), and also that by ‘special’ you mean something more ‘challenging’?
As I said in the blog – I did think it was at the easier end of the spectrum, but that in itself is not a bad thing…pour encourager les autres, etc. As a non-setter myself, I don’t feel qualified to criticise, as I wouldn’t know where to start producing something like this.
Of course, mc! Sorry for any confusion – your blog was first rate, as usual. I must admit I couldn’t compile these puzzles either and there have been some weeks when I have wished it was a bit easier, so I should take the smooth with the rough.