A 2.5 km walk in the rain, back along the Rochdale Canal, to get the papers, and 4 km to rejoin the narrow boat – dedication. (I’m filling in for Duncan this week, and he’ll reciprocate in late July.)
Answers to six clues need two or more letters removing before entry (a real word); the rest have a misprinted definition. The removals spell out one erroneous version of a statement, the corrections spell out another. The unclued phrase across the middle describes the group associated with the correct version of the statement, and is cryptically indicated by the group’s common name.
First clue: answer PHONIEST, entry is 4 letters, clearly we need to remove HONI. What ‘statement’ starts thus? It must be Honi soit qui mal y pense, which I recalled was rendered by Sellar & Yeatman in 1066 and All That as something like “Honey your silk stocking is …” – the penny had pretty much dropped at the very first hurdle (disappointment).
That obviously helped me a lot, but not overwhelmingly as a lot of the clueing was pretty nifty. However, having spotted the misprinted K in 1d, I could see that all the ‘removals’ came from answers to across clues, a number of which offered themselves up as distinct possibilities. The clues tumbled in fits and starts, I realised that the unclued phrase came from the ORDER OF THE GARTER which moved things along, and finally the lower left quadrant fell into place.
On my return (to a warm dry home), I checked my 1973 reprint of the book to confirm that the rendition of the motto there is “Honey, your silk stocking’s hanging down“, but they give the original as Honi soie qui mal y pense – a typo? Who knows? And the cover illustrates the incident in question.
Thanks to Ifor for bringing it elegantly to the wider world.
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Answer | Removed letters |
Correction to definition |
Wordplay |
| 1 | PHONIEST | HONI | [HOPE ISN’T]* | |
| 5 | APPEAR | H: have a part | A (article) in [PAPER]* | |
| 11 | REHOUSE | O: room again | [ESTATE − STAT (statim, immediately) + HH (hours)]* | |
| 12 | AREA | N: land | (b)ARE A(djusting) | |
| 13 | SUSPENSOID | SOI | [ENDS UP + SO IS] | |
| 15 | CHAPATI | E: bread | CHAP (crack in skin) + ITA (palm) rev. | |
| 16 | EQUIDISTANCE | EQUI | [DANCE IS QUITE]* | |
| 17 | TIC | Y: golfers’ yips | C(aught) I (one) T(rousers) rev. | |
| 18 | HASTY | Y: cursory | [STAY H(ard)]* | |
| 21 | FOR THE GREAT | see preamble: [OF THE GARTER]* | ||
| 26 | TRYPS | O: a form of infectious agents | [PARTY’S − A]* | |
| 28 | EAU | U: Pau‘s water | [A(fter) U(sing) E(lectricity)]* | |
| 29 | KINEMATICS | MA | KINEMA (cinema, flicks) + TICS (twitches) | |
| 31 | RELENZA | R: cure | EN [ZEAL]* after R(ubik’s) | |
| 34 | DOWN–LYING | LY | OWN (have) L(eft) in DYING (ending) | |
| 35 | RARE | S: seld back a bit | RA + RE (Royal Artillery + Royal Engineers, couple of regiments) | |
| 36 | ALIENEE | I: he might have willed property | (s)ALIEN(t) EE (bases) | |
| 37 | MYRTLE | L: plant that smells | [MET(a)L YR (year)]* | |
| 38 | DISPENSES | PENSE | DIES (finishes) around S(quare) PENS (boxes) | |
| Down | ||||
| No. | Answer | Correction to definition |
Wordplay | |
| 1 | PRAM | K: it accommodates kids | PRO(fessional) + AM(ateur) − O (nothing) | |
| 2 | EERY | S: presenting fear | E’ER (ever, always) Y (unknown) | |
| 3 | TOAST | T: hot bread | OAST (oven) after T(emperature) | |
| 4 | MUSCAT | O: it’s laid down in bottles | CAT (tom) after MUS (mouse {Latin}, Jerry) | |
| 6 | PESACH | C: feast celebrating scape | CH(urch) after [APSE]* | |
| 7 | PUPPETRY | K: Punch’s kit once | PRY (nose) around PET (favourite) after UP (success) | |
| 8 | EXEATS | I: these might allow living moves | EX (without) EATS (bites) | |
| 9 | AUNTIE | N: national network | [ANTI-EU]* | |
| 10 | RADICATES | G: digs in well | [CAT RAISED]* | |
| 14 | ASAR | S: sandy banks | A(dvanced) SALARY − [LAY]* | |
| 16 | DUFFERDOM | H: handless state | [FROM FEUD]* around D(uke) | |
| 19 | STAKE NET | A: fishy trap | TAKEN (observed) in SET (series of games) | |
| 20 | YET | N: even | YE(s) (indeed) + T(ime) | |
| 22 | EPIC | G: great | [PIEC(e)]* | |
| 23 | PAEONY | I: it has pistils and shoots | [ANYONE]* with P(oliceman) for (policema)N | |
| 24 | TULWAR | N: Indian brand | RAW (fresh) L(ength) (c)UT rev. | |
| 25 | FINIAL | G: gable decoration | I (one) in FINAL (ultimate) | |
| 27 | REAGIN | D: hay fever … too much of this in blood | I (one) for D(ay) in [GARDEN]* | |
| 30 | TIRED | O: pooped | TIRE (equipment, archaic) D(eparts) | |
| 32 | ARES | W: god of war | AREAS (regions) − A(nswer) | |
| 33 | LEES | N: shelters from the wind | SEEL (season, dialect) rev. | |
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Here is the preamble for 1233:
Six answers to normal across clues must have two or more letters removed, leaving a new word as the entry. In order these omissions give a first erroneous version of a statement; corrections to single-letter misprints in definitions in remaining clues spell out a second. The 3-word phrase at 21 might describe an interpretation of the group associated with the correct version, and is a cryptic rendering of that group’s common name.
To expand on the blog entry slightly:
The six altered entries were stated to be in across clues. So all the downs could be safely solved as normal clues, each subject to a misprint in the definition.
The blogger had it easy knowing that Sellar & Yeatman quote, but like him I started quickly having solved the simple 8-letter anagram in 1ac and grabbing the most obvious “honi” reference. In due course, with a fair amount of downs solved and misprints identified, I used the internet to find the “silk stocking” quote which of course requires “soit” to become “soie” (Fr, silk).
“For the great” describes the purpose of the Order of the Garter and is also the result if you order “of the garter”.
I will add a Lansdowne fairness analysis later, but briefly this Inquisitor passes easily.
To be honest, I hadn’t noticed that we were told that the removals were from answers to across clues. (Must pay more attention in future.)
I’m not sure why “soit” is required to be written “soie” – they are homophones, which is what matters – any more than the verb “penser” needs to be changed to “pendre”. As for “Honi” …
My thanks for the blog and to Lansdowne for the additional clarifications. HG – I’m unclear about your meaning regarding soie / soit, I’m afraid. To emphasise Lansdowne’s point – the text in 1066AAT of course uses “soie” deliberately so that the cod “silk” rendition becomes more apposite / amusing. Since the text is (obviously!) written their homophonic nature is irrelevant, surely?
It’s a matter of fogeyish regret that so many of the clever puns, misprints and misapprehensions in 1066AAT are incomprehensible to anyone over the age of (insert number as required).
Ifor – Although the text is written (obviously!), the humour relies on “soie” and “soit” sounding the same, and also on “pense” sounding similar to the French verb pendre, to hang. For me, the pun would work fine without the altered spelling – but it’s no big deal.
And do you really mean “anyone over the age of …”?
My slip is showing as clearly as my age!
I suppose it’s fortunate that S and Y did make the soie / soit switch – squeezing the motto into the number of lines available might then have proved a step too far. As to how the humour works, I think, like history for S and L, we should bring the disussion to a. Thanks again for the blog.