The preamble told us that ‘the author associated with a well-known character appears in the initial grid, depicting a gravestone. Where an answer contains any of three thematic letters, the wordplay in the clue does not indicate those letters, though definition and grid entry are normal. Remaining clues contain a misprint which must be corrected before solving; the corrections and the misprints provide a two word phrase linking the thematic letters and the character. To finish the character solvers must exchange two thematic letters for two others and highlight the resulting representation of the epitaph."
In puzzles like this where the preamble indicates quite a lot going on, I usually try to find a few wordplays that seem rock solid and then try to work out what the preamble means in practice. Some of the acrosses were quite helpful in this respect – e,g, 6 across – RYL, 7 across UDI [probably leading to AUDIO], as were 2 down DUT [DOUBT] and 3 down HYDR [HYDRO]. This gave me A, B and O as the thematic letters. The B was confirmed from the definition to 1 down, BRAE. At this stage I didn’t make the proper connection between A, B and O although I have come across the link to blood types in a previous crossword.
The misprints and corrections, I found more taxing and usually had to reverse engineer from the definition and the liklihood that the two words were going to be COUNT and BLOOD.
BRAM and STOKER (reference BRAM STOKER author of the novel DRACULA) appeared in rows 4 and 5 of the original grid. Changing the two to Os in rows 5 and 9 of the central column to As gave us DRACULA with a STAKE through him [in the approximate position of his heart] A STAKE through the hear is one of the most effective ways of killing a vampire.
I didn’t think this was a particularly tough Inquisitor in terms of solving the clues once it was clear what was going on with the thematic letters. but it was a pleasant solve with a couple of penny dropping moments. Clearly A, B and O are the three major BLOOD groups [correct letters] whicle DRACULA was a COUNT (misprinted letters).
The grids depicted below show the entries before and after the two thematic letters were changed.
The title EPITAPH is fairly self explanatory.
Please note that this blog has been uploaded on a very poor internet connection and it has not been fully proof read. There may well be spelling mistakes and typos – Sorry!
| Across | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Omitted | Swap | Wordplay | Entry |
|
6
|
Magnificent railway line (5)
|
OA
|
|
RY (railway) + L (line)
|
ROYAL (magnificent)
|
|
7
|
Mueddin regularly produces this sound (5)
|
AO
|
|
UDI (letters 2,4 and 6 [regularly] of MUEDDIN)
|
AUDIO (sound)
|
|
8
|
Merls nest on rock plants (13, 2 words)
|
OBAB
|
|
Anagram of (on rocks) MERLS NEST
|
STONE BRAMBLES (plants)
|
|
14
|
What commuter locks up car? (4)
|
AO
|
|
UT (hidden word in [locks up] COMMUTER)
|
AUTO (car)
|
|
15
|
Take oil originally extracted from pulse to feed a furnace (5)
|
O
|
|
(R [recipe {Latin]; take] + O [first letter of {originally} OIL]) excluded from (extracted from) STROKE (pulse)
|
STOKE (feed with fuel; feed a furnace)
|
|
17
|
I’m right returning garment (4)
|
A
|
|
(I’M + R [right]) reversed (returning) (R MI)< |
RAMI (a garment made from the fibre of a plant of the nettle family)
|
|
18
|
Base makes this clue literally about height (6)
|
|
CB clue – blue
|
LIT (literally) + (SUM [height] reversed [about]) LIT MUS< |
LITMUS (a compound that reacts with an acid to form a salt, or dissolves in water forming hydroxyl ions; the presence of hydroxyl ions result in an alkaline substance that will turn litmus paper blue)
|
|
20
|
Exclaims angrily after dropping off same type of acid (6)
|
OA
|
|
Anagram of (angrily) EXCLAIMS excluding (dropping off) SAME
|
OXALIC (applied to an acid obtained from wood sorrel and other plants, used for cleaning metals and as a bleaching agent)
|
|
21
|
Just in credit, decide about dodgy tip (13)
|
OB
|
|
IN + CR (credit) + (RULE [decide] containing [about] an anagram of [dodgy] TIP) IN CR RU (PTI*) LE |
INCORRUPTIBLE (not able to be influenced by bribes; fair)
|
|
24
|
A period of inactivity Cindy’s spent securing unruly coil (13, 2 words) |
AAA |
|
Anagram of (spent) CINDY’S containing (securing) an anagram of (unruly) CURL [coil] CNI (CULR*) DYS* Having wrongly suggested that another compiler used an indirect anagram in a clue recently, I hesitate to suggest that CULR is an indirect anagram. Should the clue have said CURL instead of COIL? |
CANICULAR DAYS (dog days; periods of inactivity)
|
|
25
|
Paid out ten old pence (5)
|
A
|
|
Anagram of (out) TEN + D (symbol for old [pre-decimal] pence in the United Kingdom) NTE* D |
ANTED (paid [usually with up])
|
|
26
|
Record concerning Turkey (5)
|
O
|
|
RE (concerning) + TR (international vehicle registration for Turkey)
|
RETRO (reminiscent of the past; formerly; RECORD can aslo be defined as ‘formerly’)
|
|
27
|
Salute Royal Engineers that catch hoods (5)
|
|
OL hoods – holds
|
GET (catch) containing (holds) RE (Royal Engineers) G (RE) ET |
GREET (salute)
|
|
28
|
Records kept back to transfer to store pending processing (5)
|
O
|
|
LPS (long playing records) reversed (kept back) SPL< |
SPOOL (computing term describing a transfer of data to store pending processing)
|
| Down | |||||
| No. | Clue | Omitted | Swap | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Bank to burn note (4)
|
BA
|
|
RE (second note of the tonic solfa)
|
BRAE (a slope or bank at the side of a burn; Scottish term)
|
|
2
|
Question tax docked (5)
|
OB
|
|
DUTY (tax) excluding the final letter (docked) Y
|
DOUBT (question)
|
|
3
|
Hotel gas supply gone off (5)
|
O
|
|
HYDROGEN (gas) excluding (off) OGEN (an anagram of [supply; think supple] GONE)
|
HYDRO (hotel)
|
|
4
|
Canoe caught out in extra spurt of speed (5)
|
AA
|
|
KICK (extra burst of speed) excluding (out) C (caught in cricket scoring notation)
|
KAIAK (variant spelling of KAYAK [canoe])
|
|
5
|
In Detroit look at line in General Motors (4)
|
O |
|
L (line) contained in (in) GM (General Motors) G (L) M |
GLOM (American [Detroit] slang for ‘look at’) Detroit is the home of General Motors
|
|
8
|
Glossy magazine mostly about a Frankish tribe (5)
|
A
|
|
SLICK (glossy magazine) excluding the final letter (mostly) K
|
SALIC (a tribe of Franks who established themselves along the Yssel river in the 4t century)
|
|
9
|
Do up during massage (5)
|
A
|
|
UT (a syllable representing the first note of the scale, now generally superseded by doh or do) reversed (up; down clue) + IN (during) TU< IN |
TUINA (a Chinese therapeutic massage system in which vigorous hand movements are used)
|
|
10
|
Enmity spread yet excluded ancient Egyptian and Greek departments (5)
|
OO
|
|
Anagram of (spread) ENMITY excluding (excluded) YET
|
NOMOI (provinces or departments, especially in ancient Egypt or modern Greece)
|
|
11
|
Free hairband (5)
|
BA
|
|
RID (free)
|
BRAID (hairband)
|
|
12
|
Blunt actress or butch limey? (5)
|
|
UO butch – botch
|
Anagram of (botch) LIMEY
|
EMILY (reference EMILY Blunt, British actress)
|
|
13
|
Chauffeurs left nut in pieces (5)
|
|
NO not – out
|
SLICES (pieces) excluding (out) L (left)
|
SICES (chauffeurs)
|
|
15
|
Saturates children right in middle of great waves (10)
|
A
|
|
(CH [children] + R [right]) contained in (in the middle of) SURGES (great waves) SUR (CH R) GES |
SURCHARGES (saturates)
|
|
16
|
Former wife brought up limited right concerning items not in dowry (10)
|
AOA
|
|
EX (former wife) + ([LTD {limited} + RT {right}] reversed [brought up; down clue]) EX (TR DTL)< |
EXTRADOTAL (concerning items not in the dowry)
|
|
19
|
Extremely fashionable stud lifted skirt (8) |
O
|
|
CULT (extremely fashionable) + (SET [stud] reversed [lifted; down clue]) CULT TES< |
CULOTTES (divided skirt)
|
|
22
|
I took silver metal cross nun found in upended cleaner (8)
|
|
TD metal – medal
|
Anagram of (cross) NUN contained in (found in) (PURER [cleaner] reversed [upended; down clue]) R (UNN*) ERUP< |
RUNNER-UP (the contestant who takes the silver medal position)
|
|
23
|
Old gun revolutionary held up in person (8)
|
AO
|
|
(RED [revolutionary] reversed [held up; down clue]) contained in (in) PER (person) P (DER<) ER |
PADERERO (variant spelling of PEDERERO [an old gun for discharging stones, pieces of iron, etc, also for firing salutes])
|
I would like to take issue with the definition at 26 across.
I was unable to explain Record as a definition of Retro, and Duncan’s explanation doesn’t seem to help. Looking at the entry in Chambers, I find “formerly” used twice:
n. /rek’ord, formerly ri-kord’/ a register; …; a disk (or formerly a cylinder) …
Neither of these instances is a definition of Record. Is there any other explanation?
I had the same issue with 26a as John@1 and wondered at the time if it might be a reference to a vinyl record which some might classify as RETRO.
Otherwise a nice puzzle and not so difficult as a first glance at the grid and preamble might suggest. I was amused to find BLOOD COUNT appearing again a couple of days later in Independent 8413 by Hob.
Thanks to Ferret for the puzzle and Duncan for the blog.
A lovely puzzle, and a very helpful blog for some of the trickier parsing. I assumed coil was a misprint for curl in 24a.
Unfortunately I was prevented from getting to Blood Count, having decided that ‘hoods’ should be ‘hooks’ in 27a; and ‘nut’ should be ‘not’. Seemed to make perfect sense.
Solving STOKE & RAMI straight away, quickly followed by STONE-BRAMBLES gave me the theme so early, including the thematic A, B, O missing from the wordplay, although I (along with the blogger) didn’t appreciate their relevance for a while.
As with the other commenters, I had a big question mark against 26a RETRO and a smaller one regarding CURL/COIL in 24a. And I sympathise with Neil @3: in 13d I had ‘nut’ changing to ‘not’ for ages, before realising it had to be ‘nut’ changing to ‘out’. (Small typo in blog reflecting this?)
Rather easy, and pleasant rather than challenging. Thanks Ferret for another interesting puzzle & a novel grid, and also Duncan for the blog.
Like HolyGhost @4, this was one I cottoned on to fairly quickly: the thematic letters, two-word phrase and character came pretty quickly.
Not having read the book, my only exposure to the story was via those late-night Hammer films, so the only thing that threw me a bit me was the title of the puzzle as I started thinking I was missing some famous epitaph/phrase hidden in the grid somewhere.
Nevertheless an enjoyable solve and thanks to Duncan and Ferret.
Well I completed this one — which is a very rare occurrence for me. My way in was “oxalic” which jumped straight out at me, indicating O and A as spare letters, which soon gave me Kaiak, but after that I was slow to get going.
But I take issue with the clue to “Canicular days” — it’s not a phrase I’d heard before, and it had an unfair indirect anagram embedded in it: “Curl” = “coil”, “unruly”. I knew it could not actually be an anagram of “coil” because of the O in it, so I was hunting a synonym for “unruly coil” which clearly wasn’t going to come. Only an internet hunt gave me the final answer, from which I reverse engineered the wordplay.
There were a few other solutions whose derivation and/or definition was obscure to me (e.g. Retro, Auto, Stoke (strangely) and Tuina) but which fell to the cross-fire. But all in all a satisfyingly do-able crossword.
I’m either getting better or they’re getting easier, because I’ve either completed or almost completed several this last few weeks, after a barren period where there have been several I haven’t been able to make inroads in at all.
I liked the thematic elements…blood extraction, blood count and stake through the heart…clever!
A very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to Ferret and Duncan.
This was a difficult one to get started. Our first one in was OXALIC as well which blew away the first idea of RIP being the missing letters!
We didn’t like RECORD = RETRO either.
However, an ingenious puzzle which kept us guessing even after the grid was complete.
Thanks to Ferret and Duncan.
We have now caught up with the Inquisitors we missed whilst we were away, just in time for tomorrow!
Hello everyone. “Ed.” here.
You’ve all been frightfully polite about the two errors that occurred in this puzzle, which somehow went unnoticed by setter and editor at all three of the proofing stages.
Once I’ve done the solving and the retyping of the puzzle and sent it to the setter (first proof), I check the final proof (from the Indy’s production editor) against the second proof (the version that Eimi sends to the paper) only. So it’s very, very unusual to have one, let alone two mistakes in what goes to press.
Clue 24ac has “curl” instead of “coil”, and clue 26ac has “Record” instead of “Rocket”. Both were correct in the version from Ferret which I solved myself.
I hope you’ll forgive me.
I’ve corrected both mistakes in case a book ever happens!
Best,
John