Ah, a game from Jacques to pass the time on a Sunday. Well, I’m game. What its name? ‘Name Game’. A shame my fame came… ah, phooey. I’ve never been any good at writing these intros.
This puzzle filled up in just the way puzzles should. It was a steady grid fill and the endgame did indeed take place at the end, and without undue head scratching or hair pulling. That said, I found 31ac particularly tricky to parse. For a long time, I just couldn’t see the meaning of ‘ha-has’, despite it staring me in the face.
On the subject of the endgame, the extra letters spell: SIX WORDS THAT CHANGE ONE LETTER PER STEP LEWIS CARROLL
The words to be highlighted are:
ALICE
SLICE
SLICK
SNICK
SNACK
SNARK
A lot of fun, and a very nice touch with the ALICE -> SNARK progression.
I’d like to leave on a little song in roughly the same spirit. Here‘s Shirley Ellis performing ‘The Name Game’ on the Merv Griffin show in 1965.
Notation
(xxx) = definition
[xxx] = anagrind or homophone/container/etc. indicator
XXX* = anagram
< = reversal
I am aware that I have pared down my clue explanations, so please post a comment if they are not clear.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| S | 5 | PARAMESES | Pyramid Age’s [beginnings] and RAMESES (Pharaoh) notes stone above the central one (9) |
| I | 12 | WOORALI | WOO (Seek the support of) [shabby] LIAR* that’s pliant yielding poison (7) |
| X | 13 | CENT | Fraction of currency is C (caput) and [collapsing] NExT* (4) |
| W | 14 | INGENU | Wartless boy is IN (concerned with) GENU (the knee) (6) |
| O | 15 | BOTARGO | TAR (Sailor) [after] BO (moan in Nantucket) GO (is to be sold) tuna product (7) |
| R | 16 | GOADS | Sticks with trips having a point, GADS (wanderings) about O (over) (5) |
| D | 17 | EMEER | E (Based) MEER (ancient absolute) ruler in the East (5) |
| S | 18 | HAN | [Score to] enHANce Chinese (3) |
| T | 20 | ACKNOWNE | In the past recognised ACNE (disease of the skint) [without] K (a thousand) NOW (at the time in question) (8) |
| H | 21 | COWS LICK | OWS (Expressions of pain) [cutting into] CLICK (what sounds like a thick) tuft of hair (8, two words) |
| A | 23 | TRY | RY (Railway) [tracks] T (short time) ago (3) |
| T | 27 | NONPLUS | N (Newt) pONd [essentially] PLUS (rather more than) a perplexity (7) |
| C | 29 | ODE | O (Cold) D (dead) E (English) poem (3) |
| H | 31 | SNICKERS | SNICK (Hedge) and ERS (bitter vetch) in ha-has (8) |
| A | 33 | NACARATS | <CAN (Tina) [returned] ASTAR* [arranged] in brightly coloured fabrics (8) |
| N | 36 | TOR | T (Then local) OR (soldiers) make rocky height (3) |
| G | 37 | OPALS | GOwn’s [opening] [by] PALS (friends’) gemstones (5) |
| E | 39 | KARRI | K (Knight) ARR (arrived) with [heart of] admIrer and sort of wooed (5) |
| O | 40 | MARITAL | RoAM* [about] and [corrupt] TAIL* is relating to husband (7) |
| N | 41 | OUTATE | OE (Grandchild in Glasgow) [to receive] [nasty] TAUnT* and stomached more (6) |
| E | 42 | BOSN | Naval warrant officer B (bases) OS (ordinary seaman) [beside] [stern of] galleoN (4) |
| L | 43 | ARKOSES | ASKSOREl* [to be reapplied] in sandstones (7) |
| E | 44 | RESTRAINT | Lack of freedom in S (second) TRAIN (sequence) [absorbed by] RET (rote) |
| Down | |||
| T | 1 | TWIGHT | Ed’s to upbraid TIGHT (drunk) [fostering] W (wont) (6) |
| T | 2 | MONOACID | MONO (Record) [initially] tAxes CID (police department) having one part of first element replaceable (8) |
| E | 3 | LOGAN | NOGALe* [moving] rocking stone (5) |
| R | 4 | PREDAWN | PAWN (Prop) [holding] RED (Alastair’s comb) in the very early morning (7) |
| P | 6 | ALULA | A (Academy) [mostly] LUL |
| E | 7 | ACOCK | OK (Acceptable) [to suppress] [hint of] Chuckling [following] A (acting) C (corpse) defiantly (5) |
| R | 8 | ENAMOR | <ROMAN (Novel’s) [brought up] after Emotion’s [heard] to inspire with love in Hollywood (6) |
| S | 9 | STREWTH | Oath STREW (scatters) [half of] THem (7) |
| T | 10 | EUGE | <EG (Stay) [back] [supporting] EU (European Union) – well done! (4) |
| E | 11 | STOREYS | STORY (Yearn) [to consume] [last of] cakE with square tiers (7) |
| P | 15 | BICIPITAL | [Preset] TIBIA [with] CLIp*that’s two headed (9) |
| L | 19 | DSOS | Crosses SO (in duel course) [between] D (duke) and S (son) (4) |
| E | 22 | KUKU | Large pigeon and KUDU (antelope) [losing] D (head shortly) [for] K (king) (4) |
| W | 24 | RESORTED | RESETwORD* [changes] and put in a different order (8) |
| I | 25 | MONOMER | Kind of chemical building block in MO (second) R (ruin) [found around] NOME (ancient Egyptian province) (7) |
| S | 26 | DECARBS | Cleans the engine of sold CAR (vehicle) [amongst] DEBS (those making their first appearance) (7) |
| C | 28 | SENATOR | Legislative member cARTSONE* [about] (7) |
| A | 30 | GALIOT | Small Dutch boat < TAG (shared) [around] OIL (news from down under) [on return] (6) |
| R | 32 | DRIEST | Most restrained in writ and TRIES* [poorly] [after] [first sign of] Defence (6) |
| R | 34 | ANANA | A (Race) NANA (grandma) for fruit (5) |
| O | 35 | SCORN | S (Soon) CORN (to preserve in brine) for elderly to scoff (5) |
| L | 36 | TRASH | Williams’s to check RATS* [destroyed] H (holt) (5) |
| L | 38 | PATE | PAT (Small mass of butter) [on] E (European) pile originally (4) |
Thanks, Mr S. ALICE to SNARK is a nice touch and SNICK SNACK reminds me of Jabberwocky. I wonder whether this progression was devised by Jacques or Carroll himself.