Oh dear, a Playfair code-square. And the preamble says that there’s a four-word code phrase, which is going to greatly complicate things. An inauspicious start, so how are things going to work out?
Aaaaaand, things went pretty badly.
In fact, if it wasn’t for some judicious online lurking, which gave me the first two words of the code phrase, I don’t think I’d have finished this. It was darn hard, at least if for someone like me, who has done one other Playfair code-square in his life. Even then I used an online Playfair solver.
I found the clues very tricky, with lots of cold solving. Admittedly, 16ac, 19ac, 32ac, 34ac, 1dn, 2dn, 17dn and 22dn all gave ways in. So should have 15ac, 25ac and 13dn – potential gifts all, and it was my solving skills that failed me. Added to those, the multiple use of the ‘advanced anagram’ technique in 24ac, 26ac and 9dn – a trick I enjoy, and which should have provided some meat for Playfair solving – and you have about 40% of the clues.
Unfortunately, the puzzle failed to find my brain fizzing. Though it wasn’t just my brain; there were a fair number of ‘unknown unknowns’ – that is, clues where answer and subsidiary indication both contain words the solver hasn’t previously encountered. Into that (subjective) category fell 1ac, 18ac, 31ac, 33ac, 6dn, 8dn, 10dn, 20dn (in that definition) and 21dn.
Two of those (18ac and 10dn) use AS=bank. I can’t explain the equivalence, unfortunately. I rely on the Chambers app, and maybe it’s let me down, or maybe I’ve just missed it.
In any case, I did finish the puzzle, albeit by rather underhand means. The diagonal has FLASH PICTURE. Given the nature of a Playfair square, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the other two words are BY NOD. Thus the square looks this this:
| F | L | A | S | H |
| P | I | C | T | U |
| R | E | B | Y | N |
| O | D | G | K | M |
| Q | V | W | X | Z |
Armed with that information, of course, the grid fill becomes a lot easier.
Please post a comment if the explanations are not clear.
Notation
old tune = definition
[turns back] = (anagram/homophone/container/etc.) indicator
TOSLICELAYER* = anagram
< = reversal
EFFETE = unused letter(s)
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FYTTE | < |
|
| 5 | WANHOPE | Ancient despair W (with) A N (new) HOPE (craving) (7) | |
| 11 | RLLRTUCHIEYK | EFFECTUALITY | [Nearly] EFFE |
| 12 | OKAYING | Passing OKA (Canadian cheese) on Y (unknown) ING (meadow) (7) | |
| 14 | NPHS | RUSA | Large deer seen in JERUSALEM (sacred Israeli city) (4) |
| 15 | COPAIBA | COP (Policeman) [starts to] attack informant bringing amber resin (7) | |
| 16 | DTHEDV | KILNED | [Nearly] KIL |
| 18 | HSHS | SA SA | Interjection to incite < AS (Roman coin) AS (bank) [to return] (4, 2 words) |
| 19 | OENEKP | DRY ROT | D (Lord) R (runs) <TORY (Conservative) [over] for concealed degeneration (6, 2 words) |
| 24 | IBESMR | CEYLON | CEYLON* (This) OLDISLAND* [might become] LONELYANDISCOLD* [at sea]! (6) |
| 25 | CTMR | ICON | [Seconds] from linear accelerator could enlarge image (4) |
| 26 | EPSCSH | RIATAS | FINDING RIATAS* (these ropes) can be ANAIDIFSTRINGS* [broken] (6) |
| 27 | USEABLE | SEA (Marine) B (bass) [in] ULE (rubber) is fit for purpose (7) | |
| 30 | TYCN | STUB | B (Bishop) takes N (knight) in STUN (shock) end (4) |
| 31 | DEGAUSS | DES (Some French) [surrounding] GAUS (old German districts) to keep safe from mines (7) | |
| 32 | FSEMDYBPLURL | HANDKERCHIEF | HANKER (Yearning) [to contain] [last bit of] cold with CHIEF (head) rag (12) |
| 33 | SESSILE |
Fixed bygone tax that is stopped by Liberal (7)
|
|
| 34 | UTUBE | UTU (Maori settlement) adjacent to [empty] B |
|
| Down | |||
| 1 | FRONTON | FRONT (Boldness) O (over) N (National) architectural feature (7) | |
| 2 | YLKPBECTSASE | ESOTERICALLY | Secretly [curious] TOSLICELAYER* (12) |
| 3 | TRYSTED | TRY (Seek) STED (place once) arranged to bring together (7) | |
| 4 | ETIY | YITE | Local bird [almost] YE |
| 6 | ACGODF | WADMOL | WAD (Aberdonian’s to marry) [short] MOL |
| 7 | HIKA | LUGS | Carries |
| 8 | OECISTS | Penn and Endecott, perhaps, < SIC (so) E O (game) [returning] before T (Thailand) S (succeeded) (7) | |
| 9 | PYHBHKMRCSRB | TRANSMONTANE | [Criminal] WANTED* with TRANSMONTANE* (this barbarian) could be MEANANDWASNTROTTEN* (12) |
| 10 | EKKAS | Indian gigs [invest] KK (thousands) in E (electronic) AS (bank) (5) | |
| 13 | CPVEBC | JUDICA | JUDA |
| 17 | HKNEBH | SMYRNA | [Heads] of state may yet rebuild North African city and port (6) |
| 20 | NEMESES | NE (Not primitive) MESES (notes) that can’t be beaten (7) | |
| 21 | GESTALT | GEST (Early romance) [precedes] ALT (high tone in voice) pattern (7) | |
| 22 | BRANSLE | BRANSON (Virgin billionaire) [loses] ON (leg) [before] LE (the French) dance (7) | |
| 23 | TPLDYL | CUVÉES | UV (Light) rosé finally [put into] CES (these French) blended wines (6) |
| 25 | CUFFS | Beats CULLS (dupes) with [repeated] F (force) [ousting] LL (lines) (5) | |
| 28 | ASMS | LAKH | LASH (Whip) K (king) for S (square) number that’s enormous (4) |
| 29 | RGPU | BOUT | BOT (Computer program) [contains] virus’ [fourth] attack (4) |
I think AS = kame = ridge = bank in Chambers dict.
I managed to solve this, more by luck than judgement and having plenty of time on my hands. After I had most of the clues in (and a lot of the playfair clues solved, I read, and re-read the preamble several times – thinking there must be a simple way to get into this.
Several thoughts occurred to me. The first two words in the grid must be obvious to get anywhere (i.e. if they was placed across different rows/columns how can you get anywhere without the keyword?), so I started to look at the perimeter etc. Then I noticed a lot of the playfair clues had repeated reversed ‘pairs’, so I could start to put in a few letters around the grid.
After a long while, I saw flash appear in one of the diagonals, and again, re-reading the preamble and title ‘flash picture’ came to me (after flash photography and other things).
After that the rest became a bit easy.
Bloody tough puzzle, though.
Nick