There’s a misprint in the definition in all clues. In clue order, they spell out a two part instruction, which will help us to identify a “running joke.” Once the grid’s complete, we have to transform the rows into background noise, in a suitably repetitious manner. Finally, we’ll find several instances of one particular letter already in place.
The puzzle has a fairly straightforward rubric so, using the rule of thumb that says, “the easier the preamble the harder the puzzle”, I expected a rough ride.
This is Rasputin’s second Inquisitor outing. His previous was 1170, almost exactly a year ago and judging from the comments and the fact that I don’t remember it, I guess I didn’t finish. :-/
One or two of the misprints were fairly obvious but in general they were quite well obscured by clever word play.
The title, FOOLS, referred to the three unclued answers (a2:HARRY SECOMBE, g1:SPIKE MILLIGAN and m1:PETER SELLERS), collectively The Goons. The misprinted letters spelled out ERASE LIGHTS OTHER THAN UNCLUED AND R THEN FILL WITH RHUBARB.
Thus we had to erase the whole grid except the goons and some R’s (several instances of one particular letter) and write RHUBARB, RHUBARB, RHUBARB, etc. across the entire grid. According to Chambers, RHUBARB is a word muttered repeatedly to give the impression of indistinct background conversation and this device was, apparently, used (and abused) during recording of The Goon Show. It also means nonsense, which some may argue was The Goons’ major output.
Shown below are the original solution and the final solution (showing the original R’s). Nice one, Rasputin!
| Across | |||||
| No. | Clue | Misprint | Letter | Entry | Wordplay |
| 1 | Arrant individual spreading old rumour about me | ARRANT->ERRANT | E | ROAMER | ME inside ROAR (rumour: old word for OUTCRY) |
| 6 | Make chap take pity for poet in backward drinking place | CHAP->CHAR | R | BREW UP | REW (take pity) inside PUB (rev: backward) |
| 10 | On Spey, cause fish to run into bothy | FISH->FASH | A | HURT | R(un) inside HUT (bothy) |
| 11 | Threw up in SE Asian academy | THREW->SHREW | S | TUPAIA | UP inside TAI (SE Asian)+A(cademy) |
| 13 | Hitman essential to beat a maniac | HITMAN->HETMAN | E | ATAMAN | [be]AT A MAN[iac] (hidden: essential to) |
| 14 | Beast covered a rector in cream | BEAST->LEAST | L | BAREST | A+R(ector) inside BEST (cream) |
| 15 | Lane used by sportsmen parking behind fitness centre | LANE->LINE | I | GYMP | GYM (fitness centre)+P(arking) |
| 16 | Rotten akee top chopped, axed as well | AXED->AGED | G | EKE | [a]KEE (top chopped) (ang: chopped) |
| 17 | Maybe one taking mates to express disapproval with doubling of drug | MATES->MATHS | H | TUTEE | TUT (express disapproval) +E(cstasy) x 2 |
| 18 | Discordant sort to hear, as it were | HEAR->HEAT | T | ROST | SORT (anag: discordant) |
| 20 | Limited garden next to French-style farm dwellings in US | DWELLINGS->SWELLINGS | S | EDEMAS | EDE[n] (garden, limited)+MAS (French farm) |
| 22 | Clive might produce this in capital (as they say locally) | CLIVE->OLIVE | O | AROMA | A ROMA (in Rome in Italian) |
| 24 | Bath has marks on section – use filler to remove these | FILLER->FILTER | T | SPAMS | SPA (bath)+M(arks)+S(ection) |
| 26 | Cycling round Arabian Gulf scorched by seat | SEAT->HEAT | H | SEARED | RED SEA (Arabian Gulf) cycled |
| 28 | In the highlands, he might seek dear girl with independent base | DEAR->DEER | E | GILLIE | GILL (girl)+I(ndependent)+E (base) |
| 30 | Railroad as chance finally to flee from impurity | FLEE->FREE | R | ELUTE | EL (railroad)+UT (as)+[chanc]E (finally) |
| 33 | Free substance that is sent back round spacecraft | FREE->TREE | T | ELEMI | LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) inside IE (that is) (rev: sent back) |
| 35 | Wits mouth second bit of joke before assembly | WITS->WITH | H | ORALLY | [j]O[ke] (second bit of)+RALLY (assembly) |
| 38 | Overdue returns end elsewhere | END->AND | A | ETAL | LATE (overdue) (rev: returns) |
| 39 | Watch braid become gaudy in the middle! | BRAID->BRAND | N | OMEGA | [bec]OME GA[udy] (hidden: in the middle) |
| 40 | Tweed‘s torn on left side evenly after start of Hogmanay | TORN->TURN | U | HIE | H[ogmany]+[s]I[d]E (evenly) |
| 41 | Dudes that shift dodgy gear | DUDES->DUNES | N | AREG | GEAR (anag: dodgy) |
| 42 | Sold dish device linked to computer with special content | SOLD->COLD | C | MOUSSE | S(pecial) inside MOUSE (computer device) |
| 44 | Odd to erode standing of adult priest in front of couple | ODD->OLD | L | APPAIR | A(dult)+P(riest)+PAIR (couple) |
| 45 | Style in way of working desk? He’s born with it | DESK->DUSK | U | MELANO | ELAN (style) inside MO (modus operandi) (way of working) |
| 46 | Many a vast fleet captured by America |
VAST->VASE | E | URNS | RN (fleet: Royal Navy) inside US (America) |
| 47 | Outside right wildly paces side of pitch | PITCH->DITCH | D | ESCARP | R(ight) inside PACES (anag: wildly) |
| 48 | In hindsight, golden pubs (as it were) shimmer | SHIMMER->SHAMMER | A | SNIDER | RED (golden)+INS (pubs) (rev: in hindsight) |
| Down | |||||
| No. | Clue | Misprint | Letter | Entry | Wordplay |
| 2 | Dove better than rotten headless fish as starter | DOVE->DONE | N | OUTGONE | [p]OUT (fish) (headless)+GONE (rotten) |
| 3 | Complex unknown areas Will’s to bring up from head | HEAD->DEAD | D | ARAYSE | AREAS+Y (unknown) (anag: complex) |
| 4 | How surfers record ‘Match of the Day‘? | MATCH->MARCH | R | ETAPE | (perhaps E(lectronic) TAPE (record)) |
| 5 | Editor supported leak with files | FILES->TILES | T | RUNED | RUN (leak)+ED(itor) |
| 6 | One side of Abba’s live disc | DISC->DISH | H | BABE | [ab]BA+BE (live) |
| 7 | Cunning art is advanced means of handling boasts | BOASTS->BEASTS | E | RIATAS | ART+IS+A(advanced) (anag: cunning) |
| 8 | Before closing of bar, drain pinta | PINTA->PINNA | N | EAR | EA (drain)+[ba]R |
| 9 | Cree joins, changing surname right away | CREE->FREE | F | UNSEAM | SU[r]NAME (right away) (anag: changing) |
| 12 | Second suit lacking one in hand | HAND->HIND | I | RETRAL | RETR[i]AL (second suit) (lacking one) |
| 19 | Biting mole | MOLE->MOLL | L | TART | (double definition) |
| 21 | Carbine butchered game | CARBINE->CARLINE | L | MAGE | GAME (anag: butchered) |
| 23 | Commode area contains places for shoes | SHOES->SHOWS | W | ODEA | [comm]ODE A[rea] (hidden: contains) |
| 25 | Private loan in emergency: initially this funds one in lowered position | FUNDS->FINDS | I | PLIE | P[rivate]+L[oan]+I[n]+E[mergency] (initially) |
| 27 | Taxi for one, heading off arrogance | TAXI->TATI (Jacques Tati) | T | AUTEUR | [h]AUTEUR (heading off) |
| 29 | Save vision of Wise Men entering in East | SAVE->HAVE | H | IMAGINE | MAGI (wise men) inside IN+E(ast) |
| 31 | Stretch part of New World ditty | DITTY->DIRTY | R | LIMOUS | (stretch) LIMO+US (new world) |
| 32 | We’ll delete series after long time | WE’LL->HE’LL | H | ERASER | ERA (long time)+SER(ies) |
| 34 | Glided past channel in two ways | GLIDED->GUIDED | U | STEARD | EA (channel) inside ST(reet)+R(oa)D (two ways) |
| 36 | Sends over the French solution shortly | SENDS->BENDS | B | LEANS | LE (the in French)+ANS(wer) (shortly) |
| 37 | Source of ten pro bono rises? | TEN->TEA | A | YAPON | NO PAY (pro bono) (rev: rises) |
| 40 | Believe brat’s losing his head | BELIEVE->RELIEVE | R | HELP | [w]HELP (brat) (loses head) |
| 43 | What’s essential to Scotsman’s rig? For him quite the opposite | RIG->BIG | B | SMA | [scot]SMA[n] (hidden: essential to) |
I enjoyed this one a lot. An accessible theme and it’s always nice when you solve 1A on first read. I got held up slightly by the …AND R… part of the instructions, but all became clear once I’d checked all my answers and the rubric.
Excellent blog as always, though I think you’re ‘his previous outing’ needs to be ‘their….’. This is a joint effort I think and at least one of the team is female.
I always enjoy Inquisitors and this one was no exception. I too was a bit flummoxed by ‘AND R’, was convinced for a while that I’d gone wrong with those particular clues.
I do love setters with a silly sense of humour – this brought back happy memories of those old radio shows and this puzzle made me laugh.
Thanks, Kenmac for the blog and Ra-ra to Rasputin.
Dear Kenmac,
Your 22 across solution is delightful, but I think you are more likely to smell a CLOVE than an OLIVE.
Great blog, thanks.
Nice blog, kenmac, and my comments are exactly as those from Ali & regalize. Regarding 22ac misprint, I’m not sure now whether I was in the Clove or Olive camp, but suspect it was the latter!
Really enjoyed this puzzle, so, many thanks go to “Rasputin”.
Thanks, also, for the blog kenmac!
I found it hard to complete the final step after working SO hard to get the answers. Tremendous fun.
#3 Chalicea,
I confess I never even thought of CLOVE. The Italian connection had me in no doubt that it was OLIVE.
Is Italy renowned for its cloves? Do olives produce a significant aroma?
These questions will keep me awake for … at least 5 minutes 😉
Entertaining, enjoyable, and not too hard, not too easy.
Unlike kenmac, I had CLOVE and it was OLIVE that never occured to me.
And as Ali says at #1, Rasputin is a team of 3 (Chalicea herself, together with Ilver and Artix – FMM I believe).
Whether or not that gives her greater authority over 22a, I leave to others.
And I wonder if the other connection between RHUBARB and FOOL (a purée of fruit scalded or stewed, mixed with cream or custard and sugar) was intentional, or accidental …
Prdximity to April 1st and fruity connections were indeed both intentional – thanks for all of your generous comments and especially to KenMac for excellent initial solver’s blog….