Enigmatic Variations No. 1076: Equivalence by Samuel

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All the hallmarks of a classic EV in the preamble: misprints in the definitions of fourteen clues leading to a ‘suggestion’ as to how to enter eight answers ‘thematically’ – with three other undefined clues leading to a phrase whose thematic ‘equivalence’ should be written below the grid. All that was missing was the advice to ‘use a pencil initially’ – which is sometimes explicitly stated – and which I almost always do anyway, on a copy of the original.

I was lucky enough to get on a roll with this puzzle and solved a relatively large proportion on the first couple of passes through – without spotting the thematic undercurrents yet, but with some fairly clear starting points. I got ‘CONVERSATION’ across the top row, but then soon realised that there were several clashes with the first few down clues – so some sort of substitution, or maybe anagramming might be needed.

In the same vein, ASTRONOMERS at 11D just didn’t seem to fit – but the ‘A-ha’ moment was probably with 26D – ELVIS had to become LIVES – to fit with crossing letters. This reminded me of those books of humorous graffiti by Nigel Rees in the early-mid Eighties – ‘ELVIS LIVES’; ‘JESUS SAVES, BUT <insert your favourite footballer> SCORES ON THE REBOUND’; and the classic removal of an ‘E’ from a town centre church sign: ‘GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGH_ST’.

So it wasn’t just any old anagram – the corrected letters spelt out ‘COGNATE ANAGRAM’, and the pieces began to fit – with some vaguely recognised from the dim and distant past:

SCHOOLMASTER becomes THE CLASSROOM

DORMITORY becomes DIRTY ROOM

DEBIT CARD becomes BAD CREDIT

BOTTOMS UP becomes PUB’S MOTTO

CONVERSATION becomes VOICES RANT ON

ASTRONOMERS becomes MOONSTARERS

ENDEARMENT becomes TENDER NAME

and ELVIS LIVES!

(Hence the usefulness of the pencil first approach…either that or have a pot of Tippex – or any other correcting fluid – handy…)

So what of those three undefined answers and the answer to be written under the grid? 36A, 37A and 21 gave TWELVE PLUS ONE – which is a wonderful anagram of ELEVEN PLUS TWO…again something I’m sure I have come across before, but long forgotten and nice to be reminded of here.

As I said, I did get on a roll with this early on, especially amongst the non-thematics, and I would suggest the difficulty of the clueing was toward the gentler end of the EV spectrum – but there were still a few gems in there: ‘OFWAT’ as the ‘regulator of Thai monasteries’ stands out! There were also a few interesting words which needed a quick check in Chambers – FUTZ, AIKONA, MOITS and RHEOMETER. And the ZYME of ‘enzyme’ was something I hadn’t come across before either.

So, a classic, but accessible EV – fun to solve, a pleasure to blog – my thanks to Samuel.