Preamble:
Clues to the perimeter entries are normal, but their answers must be modified before entry in ways suggested by an instruction that will appear in the grid when the central square is correctly filled. The other across clues each contain a superfluous word capable of similar modification. In clue order the letters involved spell out a second instruction which, when applied to the first, identifies the cause of the modifications (11 letters) to be written under the grid. Down clues are normal; all non-perimetrical answers are entered normally.
A strangely small grid – 11 by 11. I don’t really remember where I got started but I remember the clues being a little tricky at first and I’m still left wondering how one or two work as mentioned in the tables below. It soon became obvious that the superfluous words could be jumbled to make another word, so I fairly quickly assembled (most of) the list but what does “letters involved” mean? I took some guesses at what the first letters might be and came up with something like RESPECT ERNEST which made absolutely no sense in this context. All right, I need to find the instruction, which includes the central square, The diagonals are often the place to look but neither TELEP_RTSIG or SAPTH_CEOUS make any sense. The first one could be TELEPORTSIG which also makes no sense. Breaking it up as TELEOPRT SIG makes me wonder if there’s NAL anywhere to make TELEPORT SIGNAL but there’s nothing doing.
A fair bit of head scratching later and I realise that the perimeter entries aren’t simply anagrams of the original answer, rather they have one single letter shifted and the letters in question are S, I and G (two of each.) So the instructions are TELEPORT S, I, G. Therefore the same for the superfluous words thus clearing up any doubt as to whether, for example, LARGE became LAGER, GLARE, REGAL or ELGAR.
Now, we’re able, for certain, to identify the letters involved and we can see that they spell CHANGE PLACES. So changing places of letters in TELEPORTSIG gives us POLTERGEIST to be written below the grid.
The title, Shift Work, presumably refers to the amount of shifting required throughout as well as alluding to poltergeists who regularly work the night shift,
I found this puzzle to be quite good fun especially the end game, which I feel provided just the right amount of head scratching. My biggest gripe is the number of anagrams in the clues – unless that was deliberate given that the whole theme was to do with anagrams. So thanks Ifor – which leaves me wondering, do we pronounce it eye-for or ee-for or does it matter?
Anyway, this is my last blog of 2015 so I’d like to wish all readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for all the comments, keep them coming as feedback is always most welcome and most important.
| Across |
||||
| Entry |
Extra word |
Affected letter |
Wordplay |
|
| 1 Ratty succeeded Mr Toad in celebrity status (7) |
STARDOM / TSARDOM | Succeeded+MR+TOAD (anag: ratty) | ||
| 7 Miss out theories on specific topics (4) |
ISMS / SIMS | MISS (anag: out) | ||
| 10 French film movement won, even with [creation] Academy rubbished (7, 2 words) |
NEW WAVE | CREATION->REACTION | C |
Won+EVEN+With+Academy (anag: rubbished) |
| 11 Housewife’s best cut is [heart] every now and again (4) |
ETUI | HEART->EARTH | H |
bEsT cUt Is (alternate letters: every now and then) |
| 13 What’s dispelled gloom with weak glimmer terminally [astir] (8) |
GLOW-WORM | ASTIR-STAIR | A |
GLOOM containing With Weak glimmeR (last letter: terminally) |
| 14 Division left order briefly [open] (4) |
LOBE | OPEN–NOPE | N |
Left+OBE (order; abbrev: briefly) |
| 16 Welcome penny – or pence – thrown into [large] classical fountain (10) |
HIPPOCRENE | LARGE->GLARE | G |
HI (welcome)+Penny+OR PENCE (anag: thrown) |
| 18 Enraptured French president leaves office then wastes time switching [choice] (5) |
ÉPRIS | CHOICE->ECHOIC | E |
PRESI-den-t minus DEN (office) minus Time (anag: switching) |
| 20 Running errand right away for [parent]’s coin (5) |
DENAR | PARENT-ARPENT | P |
ErRAND (minus Right; anag: away) |
| 21 CIA’s control hired drone to fly [lower] (10, 3 words) |
RIDE HERD ON | LOWER->OWLER | L |
HIRED DRONE (anag: to fly) |
| 25 “Reverse direction of number” must [mean] the other way around (4) |
TURN | MEAN->AMEN | A |
Number+RUT (must) (rev: the other way round) |
| 27 Just like a wuss, [cries] when cap’s knocked off mischievously (8) |
IMPISHLY | CRIES->RICES | C |
wIMPISHLY (just like a wuss) minus first letter |
| 28 [Agree] age’s right delaying special auditor’s capital projections (4) |
EARS | AGREE->EAGRE | E |
Not entirely sure. There seem to be too many words in the clue. I presume that ERAS (ages) comes into it and the S and the A seem to move but otherwise I’m stumped. |
| 29 Sentence structure having regard to [stated] meaning, binding once date’s passed (7) |
SYNESIS | STATED->TASTED | S |
SYNdESIS (binding once) minus Date |
| 30 Time to latch onto sin sadly doesn’t exist (4) |
ISN’T / SNIT | SIN (anag: sadly)+Time | ||
| 31 Glue back folio page bit by bit to avoid gap left in novel (7) |
GELATIN / ELATING | Not sure about this one either 🙁 | ||
| Down |
||
| Clue |
Entry |
Wordplay |
| 2 Showy American growth goes wild (4) |
SEGO | GOES (anag: wild) |
| 3 Woodpeckers in rural surroundings heard everything murmured, so nothing escapes (8) |
AWLBIRDS | AWL BIRD (sounds like ALL (everything)+BURRED (murmured)+So (minus O: nothing) |
| 4 Foster-child of Scots scientist not willing to take part (4) |
DALT | DALTon (scientist: John Dalton) minus ON (willing) |
| 5 Moulding volunteer took endless faffing about (5) |
OVOLO | VOLunteer+tOOk (endless) anag: faffing about |
| 6 Confines deep thought to Listeners (4) |
MEWS | MEWS sounds like MUSE (deep thought) |
| 7 Special education prisons were provided with drains (7) |
SEWERED | Special EDucation contains WERE |
| 8 Fish Romans used regularly, cooking it locally (6) |
MURENA | RoMaNs UsEd (regularly) anag: cooking it – not sure where “locally” comes in 🙁 |
| 9 Engaging fully in chorus, always in Tannhäuser as lead (9) |
IMMERSING / SIMMERING | SING (chorus) follows IMMER (always in German; Tannhäuser was a German poet) |
| 12 Long passages of Elgar’s lie abandoned (9) |
GALLERIES / ALLERGIES | ELGARS LIE (anag: abandoned) |
| 15 Muslim sectarian raised questions about denial of belief (8) |
SENOUSSI | ISSUES (rev: raised) containing NO (denial of belief) |
| 17 Religious reformer fits, despite being unmasked criminal (7) |
PIETIST | fITs dESPITe (minus first and last: unmasked; anag: criminal) |
| 19 Street trader playing cinema piano when cold’s struck (6) |
PIE-MAN | cINEMA Piano (minus Cold; anag: playing) |
| 22 Radical hairstyle spreads out in new fashion (5) |
ETHYL | HairsTYLE (minus AIRS (spreads); anag: in new fashion) |
| 23 Existence seen as unlikely without name accepted (4) |
ESSE | SEEn aS (minus Name & Accepted; anag: unlikely) |
| 24 Pressure if applied to this bone could be painful unfortunately (4) |
ULNA | pAiNfUL (minus Pressure & IF; anag: unfortunately) |
| 26 Spoil game by batting (4) | RUIN | RU (game)+IN (batting) |
I thought this an enjoyable puzzle, marginally let down by the endgame. I was waiting for a grand reveal, but felt in the end that it seemed a bit contrived. However, the solving experience itself was great – just enough back and forth between the clues, the extra words and the phrase the letters formed to give hints when they were needed.
In 28A I think it is ERA with its R ‘delayed’ followed by S[pecial], the whole definition being auditor’s capital projections. 8D is missing the final A from the anagram, so I assumed that ‘it locally’ could be A, but I’m not sure where the locale is – it doesn’t seem to be Latin or Italian, which would make most sense.
I was going to say that I couldn’t work out 31A either, but I think that I just have – it’s an anagram of GAP LEFT IN with F and P removed – the bits of F[olio] P[age].
Thanks to Kenmac and Ifor, and a Merry Christmas too.
Thanks for the blog, Kenmac; you have explained it very clearly. I filled the grid but failed to make the leap required to make sense of the instructions.
However, I think I can help with 28, where the definition is “auditor’s capital projections”, where ‘capital’ refers to the head. The wordplay is still a bit of a mystery, though.
Thanks to Kenmac and Ifor.
I enjoyed this one, though it took me an unconscionable time to realise that we had to switch one letter, rather than form anagrams!
I had a couple of questions marks, one of which you explained, kenmac, (18A – EPRIS) and the other (31A GELATIN) explained by OPatrick above. I had the same explanation of EARS as both the above comments.
Not sure about the “locally” in 8D, though the relevant meaning of cook is a “slang” one according to Chambers, Perhaps that counts?
Nice PDM for me
Chambers gives ‘A'(2) as a dialect term for he, she, it or they which I think explains the ‘it locally’ for the missnig A in 8d.
I enjoyed this a great deal.
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
I enjoyed this very much. Unfortunately I had misspelled SENOUSSI as SENOUNSI which meant I could not guess POLTERGEIST. I took the CHANGE PLACES as an instruction to switch the places of the I and N to convert my TELEPORTNIG to TELEPORTING. Thanks to Kenmac and Ifor.
In 28, would “ages, right delaying” be ERAS with the R “delayed” to appear after the A i.e. EARS. Just an idea.
I thought the same way as nmsindy above, and that “special” is a misprint, possibly left over form an earlier draft of the clue.
@6 & @7: no, no – OPatrick @1 has the right idea: there’s an apostrophe in “age’s” so it’s the R(ight) of ERA that’s delayed, and S(pecial) provides the plural.
But I didn’t understand the “back” in 31a.
And up till now, no-one seems to have pointed out that the letters that have moved are all from or to the start of the word.
Anyway, I enjoyed the journey, but am in broad agreement with OPatrick @1 – a bit weak at the end, and not one of Ifor‘s best. (An earlier one of his will be in my top three puzzles of this year.) Nevertheless, thanks to him, and to kenmac for the blog.
@8: I think that in 31a “back folio page bit by bit to avoid” should be interpreted as remove (avoid) f{olio} p{age} in the opposite order (back) and not contiguously (bit by bit).
Much enjoyed. I thought for a while that it was going to be TELEPORTING down the diagonal, but eventually sorted out the bottom right-hand corner and (after a somewhat shameful interval) made the PDM connection with the letters that moved. Poltergeist activity was a nice idea.
I’d been thinking of Ifor as the Welsh equivalent of Ivor, pronounced the same way.
HG, I wonder if the ‘back’ is there so that the F and P are every 5th letter of the phrase ‘back folio page’ – i.e. bit by bit.
John Lowe @9: now you mention it, that’s just what I now remember thinking at the time (regarding “back” & “bit by bit”) – thanks.
HG @8 – you are certainly correct there.
“eye-for” or “ee-for” & @10:
Ifor himself, in a comment on his own puzzle earlier this year, said that the pseudonym is derived from his given name rather than alluding to Welshness.
My thanks for the exhaustive blog and the many comments; all I would add to Kenmac’s thoughts is that while poltergeists may well be more active at night, it’s their tendency to shift things around that inspired the title and thematic changes. Ultimately the various comments on individual clues got to the bottom of what was intended in each case.
Bonus points to HG at #14 for an impressive feat of memory – it is indeed I for I****** (with the number of *’s arbitrary rather than specific) and not (as he says) any claim to Welshness.
Ifor
A rare foray into the world of IQ’s, tempted by an easier-than-usual listener and an IQ that looked to be, and was, entertaining without being too tricky. Thanks, Ifor!
I found this one fine, but more by following my hunches than through adopting an analytical approach.
It looks like there was some scope for interpretation of the bit in the preamble around “the letters involved…” but I guessed this was a reference to single letters, having got the TELEPORT SIG bit from the diagonal. It also helped immensely when it became clear, as HG@8 points out, that the moves were solely to or from the start of the word.
I also guessed before the reveal of the single letters from the extra words that TELEPORT SIG was an anagram – what a strange phrase to use otherwise – but the aptness of the use of the word TELEPORT became obvious only afterwards.
Thanks Ifor, really liked this, and to kenmac.
8D ‘a’ is local, dialect for ‘it’, to add a tail to the anagram.
Really enjoyed the puzzle. Stuck for a while thinking that one letter always moved off the front, so ‘change places’ looked for a while like it was going to spell out ‘chaos ….’ which put me off the scent. The review of the ‘impossible’ numerical puzzle #149 on the same page also helped persuade me that maybe the square contained a number such as 1 (-one) to be added to those surrounding it. The diagonal reveal came just in time!!!