Simple rubric this week, and a relatively straightforward puzzle, completed on Saturday.
In all but six clues wordplay generates an extra letter. These letters in clue order give the title of a work in which our hero makes his debut; followed by an instruction as to how the solver should amend the answers to the six normal clues before entry. The instruction also indicates how solvers must literally identify our hero in the final grid. Letter counts refer to lengths of grid entries.
I started at the bottom right hand corner, and quite soon had the impression that 32D, TENET had to be entered as TENE. I worked up from the bottom and soon 29A, SLAVE had to be entered as SLAV. The “instruction” in the rubric must indicate removing the last letter from the answer before entry. This rule held, as I gradually identified the other four: 5A GRIPPED to GRIPPE, 15A CONDOR as CONDO, 5D GLADE as GLAD and 22D HARMING as HARMIN. I must compliment eXternal on the fact (not in the rubric) that all words entered in the grid are real words. This is much appreciated by solvers!
The extra letters (after a few false starts, and a Google search for the CUREE of. . .) spelled THE CURSE OF CAPISTRANO, the first appearance of Señor ZORRO (Mr Fox!), our hero. The 1919 novella by Johnston McCulley was adapted and filmed by Douglas Fairbanks in 1920 as THE MARK OF ZORRO, after the fact that Zorro carved a letter Z into the faces of his victims with his sword. The novella was later republished under the new title.
Zorro was the pseudonym of DON DIEGO VEGA, a foppish nobleman. (The theme bears some resemblance to The Scarlet Pimpernel, pseudonym of foppish Sir Percy Blakeney.) The film has been remade twice in 1940 and 1976 and spawned a Disney TV series “Zorro” of 78 episodes between 1957 and 1959. This is important to the crossword as Don Diego Vega was re-christened as Don Diego DE LA Vega in the TV series.
So to the instruction in the rubric. The final extra letters spell CUT THE LAST LETTER which we have already noticed refers to the six modified answers, but also refers to the last letter – Z – cut by Zorro into his victims as a Calling Card. The letters (literally) of the name of Zorro, DON DIEGO DE LA VEGA can be found in the shape of a letter Z, in the centre of the diagram. But what to do with them? The instruction to “cut the letters” might mean that they should be erased, leaving a blank Z, but after all the trouble eXternal had gone to to ensure that all words were real words, I decided to cut them with a line, leaving a visible version of Zorro’s calling card.
Not too taxing, but an excellent set of clues, no question marks next to the clues on my copy and I particularly liked the last one I parsed – 4D. A very nice twist, too, so thanks to eXternal, whose fourth offering in the series this was. I blogged his first offering concerning the A-team in January 2013 (blog here). This was equally entertaining and the similarity in the diagrams means that I have now completed the A-Z of eXternal! I also spotted an oblique reference in the clue to 1D to eXternal’s previous crossword of June this year (the Daedalus labyrinth one which caused Kenmac some loss of hair – blog here) whose title was “Clue Two”!
I learned more about Zorro, having not seen any of the films, though it didn’t inspire me to read the book, despite the fact that it is available free here!
“Cut the last letter” clues |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay |
| 5A | Firmly held German, extremely drunk (6) | GRIPPE[D] | G(erman) + RIPPED (extremely drunk) |
| 15A | Bird against stick being returned (5) | CONDO[R] | CON (against) + ROD (stick) reversed |
| 29A | Liberal coming in to rescue drudge (4) | SLAV[E] | L(iberal) in SAVE (rescue) |
| 5D | Some itching lad expects to be clearing (4) | GLAD[E] | hidden in itchinG LAD Expects |
| 22D | Henry supplying weapons is causing damage (6) | HARMIN[G] | H(enry) + ARMING (supplying weapons) |
| 32D | Doctrine working both Ways (4) | TENE[T] | Palindrome (working both ways) |
Extra Letter Across Clues |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay | X |
| 1 | Doctor European counterpart contracted (6, 2 words) | DREW IN | DR (doctor) + E(European) + |
T |
| 9 | Interminably modest about working with associate of central boss (7) | UMBONAL | |
H |
| 11 | Separate and remove olden sides of execrable cut of meat (5) | ELOIN | E |
E |
| 13 | Housing society, shrinking in opposition (11) | CONTRASTING | CONTRA |
C |
| 16 | Day, according to – the French, God succeeded (4) | DIES | DIE |
U |
| 17 | Roman sent back incorrect Australasian food fish (7) | MORWONG | ROM (Roman typeface) reversed + W |
R |
| 18 | King teaches in Scotland (4) | LEAR | LEAR |
S |
| 19 | Joint adolescent finds acceptable (5) | TENON | T |
E |
| 20 | Solitary person, rascal about to go west (5) | LONER | LO |
O |
| 23 | Baron supplies money to German leagues (5) | BUNDS | B(aron) + |
F |
| 25 | Shaped as geometric figure, one Shinto temple gateway (5) | TORII | TORI |
C |
| 27 | Mock-heroic expression of grief, king leaving US state (4) | ALAS | ALAS(k) |
A |
| 28 | Abnormal stretching from opening of cakehole, struggling with pasties (7) | ECTASIS | [C(akehole) + |
P |
| 31 | French holiday homes in possession of a computer tycoon (5) | GATES | (Bill Gates of Microsoft): G |
I |
| 33 | Multilingual men got Sunday off (11) | MANY-TONGUED | [MEN GOT |
S |
| 34 | Very small earl swallowing ecstasy is visible (5, 2 words) | IN EYE | |
T |
| 35 | Unchangeable, bird with genuine restraint (7) | ETERNAL | |
R |
| 36 | They observe no signs of crying (6) | NOTERS | NO + TE |
A |
| 37 | Leave sermon in depression (6) | DESERT | DE |
N |
Extra Letter Down Clues |
||||
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay | X |
| 1 | Sweet daughter taking over from wife in unravelling “Clue Two” (6) | DULCET | Substitute D(aughter) for W(ife) in “Clue Two” and anagram [CLUETD |
O |
| 2 | Church of England head climbing rare tree (4) | EBON | |
C |
| 3 | Amazingly weak, your unsold novel (10) | WONDROUSLY | [W(eak) YOUR |
U |
| 4 | Scotsman’s near farmhouse, taking his self out of Hollywood (6) | INTOWN | Lovely clue! Hollywood is |
T |
| 6 | Settling with grand raised to submit (6) | RESIGN | RES |
T |
| 7 | Balancing man doing acrobatics with his rope (6) | POISER | [ |
H |
| 8 | Circle round nurse and US soldier with claret (6) | ENGIRD | EN (nurse) + GI (US soldier) + R |
E |
| 10 | Traitor’s article in Paris on navy veteran (6) | ARNOLD | Reference to Benedict Arnold who defected from the American Army to the British in the war of Independence: |
L |
| 12 | Publicly disgraced snide Mafia criminal (9) | INFAMISED | [SNIDE M |
A |
| 13 | Commissioner on executive committee is inclined to confess (9, 2 words) | COME CLEAN | COM(missioner) + EC |
S |
| 14 | Prehistoric creatures box on prolonged journeys around South Africa (10) | TELEOSAURS | TELE (TV = box) + |
T |
| 21 | Rarely boasting, solicitor knocked back wine (6) | OSTENT | SO |
L |
| 23 | Steel helmet’s worthless meshed fabric (6) | BASNET | BAS |
E |
| 24 | More elegant gossip about Spain (6) | NEATER | NAT |
T |
| 25 | Person under surveillance set up bomb in gallery (6) | TAGGEE | EGG (bomb) reversed in TA |
T |
| 26 | Abuse cooking utensil (6) | INSULT | [UT |
E |
| 30 | Half of meat-eaters vanished in Orkney bays (4) | VOES | Another good clue! Half of (CARNI)VO |
R |
All rather nice and surprisingly easy – I was expecting another extended workout from eXternal, especially after a similarly gentle IQ last week. My finished grid is hard to read though what with the three slashes through it – was that not what the ‘literal’ identification involved?!
Just noticed this from eXternal’s comment on his previous puzzle, Clue Two: “The next one will be easier, promise!”
I hadn’t thought of physically cutting the Z out! I thought that cutting its letters with a line counted. I’ll be interested to hear what others think.
It isn’t possible to cut the Z in the blog!!
Another twist in 1d is that ‘doucet’ (anagram C
LUETDO) can also be defined as ‘sweet’ (among other even less savoury things). That delayed my passage to the final cut.Must admit that I assumed that you had to take the page, pin it to the wall and then cut the letter with the tip of a sword before submitting it. However, although I did complete the grid (a rarity for me) I failed to spot the name in the completed grid so it never got that far.
I thought I needed to cut the last letter so, if I had sent it in, I’d have highlighted “Don Diego de la Veg”. But I didn’t so it’s academic. Just completing the grid and spotting the name was good enough for me.
I went for the standard Tipp-Ex removal of the name – would hope that that was satisfactory.
Back-to-back completed entries for me: it’s rare enough that I complete one Inquisitor, let alone two in consecutive weeks!
Thanks to eXternal and Hihoba.
It seems that the only thing wrong with this nice little puzzle was the ambiguity over how to identify Zorro in the grid.
The decisions/possibilities considered seem to be:
(a) cut the letters with a line (as in the blog), (b) use three slashes (#1), (c) maybe physically cut the cells out (#3), (d) highlight all the letters of his real name except the last (#6), (e) paint them white (#7).
Evidence of ambiguity indeed.
Myself, I took “literally” to mean “using a letter”, so I highlighted the letter Z, though I was edging towards making 3 fine straight cuts.
Anyway, thanks to setter & blogger.
Failed at the final hurdle 🙁
I thought the instruction, “CUT THE LAST LETTER” meant cut the last letter of ZORRO and since there was a scattering of O‘s throughout the final grid, I tried to make a Z shape out of them.
I must admit, I still don’t really understand, “The instruction also indicates how solvers must literally identify our hero in the final grid.” 🙁
I was slightly disappointed in this, unfortunately. I always feel conned where there are so many fully-checked entries – in this case 24 of the 42 entries have no unchecked letter – so there were clues that I simply didn’t bother solving as I already had all the crossing entries so knew the answers. I don’t ever recall seeing a puzzle with fully-checked entries that are 11 letters long, as there are here. Coupled with the somewhat imprecise requirement for the last step made this puzzle a no-no for me. Apologies to the setter.
Thanks for the comprehensive blog, Hihoba. I am pleased you enjoyed the puzzle and that the clues all pass muster. I do know that solvers prefer real words in the gird, so glad you appreciated this step.
The instruction CUT THE LAST LETTER is to be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, to remove the final letter of all normal clues before entry. Secondly, as OPatrick and Dormouse identified, to physically cut (with scalpel, scissors, rapier, whatever) the last letter (of the alphabet) Z through DON DIEGO DE LA VEGA. The solver is then enacting how the hero leaves his Calling Card (the title is intended as some help). It is a thematic step in a thematic puzzle.
A lot of creative work and time goes into producing these sort of puzzles, so it is always saddening to read that some element causes controversy. I had hoped the final step would yield a satisfying penny-drop moment. Feedback taken on board, so thanks to commenters. I will sharpen my pencil for the next one.
I enjoyed this one, not least because I managed to finish. I mage decent headway in the SE corner to get going, noting that TENE was missing its last letter. The rest of the puzzle was a little quicker than average for me to complete an Inquisitor and the final stage with the full name etched as a Z raised a gasp of appreciation and admiration. I did send this one off but just with a drawn line through the Z. My epee being lost in the loft somewhere.
Lovely construction eXternal thank you and bravo to hihoba for another great blog.
For what it’s worth I see the uncertainty about exactly what to do with the Z at the end as a feature, not a bug.
Hadn’t even noticed how many clues had no unchecked letters, though thinking back I do remember seeing several answers before getting any part of the clue.
eXternal #11 – I thought this was an excellent puzzle, and the uncertainty about the final ‘cut’ was absolutely appropriate.
I had never heard of Zorro, but as soon as I found a summary of his activities on the web the literal meaning of the instruction combined with the title removed all doubt. So out came the scalpel.
I am constantly amazed at, and in awe of, the skills that allow you to create these puzzles – solving is the easy bit!
I passed an enjpoybale Sat. afternoon with this puzzle.
I guessed the “cut the last letter” instruction quite quickly through solving several of the missing letter clues. I was looking for a Z somewhere in the grid but it took me some time to spot it.
Isn’t what you do with it, highlight or cut, rather an academic argument ? Many thanks eXternal, I can only appreciate your effort, and to Hihoba for the blog.
A little late to the party this week but we just wanted to add that we spent an enjoyable few hours completing the puzzle too. Bert remembered the pseudonym for Zorro – the rubbish that fills his brain still amazes Joyce!
We didn’t send in our completed puzzle – we rarely do but if we had done, we would only have shaded it in.
Thanks Hihoba and eXternal.
Hi all, Ed here.
Very surprisingly to me, I had quite a lot of emails about this one, on the same lines as above about the final step.
I couldn’t, and still can’t, see any other interpretation of what to do at the end. People tell me that with a lot of Inquisitors they feel like getting a razor blade out: here it’s as good an edge as any other if you don’t have a sword lying about.
OK, much easier than Clue Two – but a fine, just as enjoyable – and unequivocal – final step.
I should warn you now that you’ll need Tippex (probably better one of those Tippex pens) and a ballpoint pen for the Christmas IQ.
Thanks everyone for your continued input, here and in emails.
John H
Hello Ed, thanks for dropping in.
This was the first Inquisitor where the grid had to be physically mutilated, and my guess is that this contributed to the uncertainty some solvers felt. (Doubtless, the Listener crowd wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.)
Also, I was slightly put off by “literally” being emphasized …
I still don’t understand the instructions for this puzzle as the six normal clues also generate an extra letter which is not entered in the grid. Consequently I was not able to distinguish between the two types of clue to extract the theme. Can anyone advise on the distinction between the 2 types of clue?
#19 – In the six thematic clues the definition does not match the entered answer. In the others it does.
HG @18 – I remember the Independent crossword (probably wasn’t “Inquisitor” then) in 2005 at the time of the Ashes Series where the completed grid had to be burnt and the ashes sent in. We won the champagne!
HG #19 The use of italics was my decision, because I wanted to avoid any ambiguities with the final step.
Well, you live and learn…
J
#20 – Thank you for that. Found it very confusing as, for example, I mistakenly thought 5A was a special clue parsed as G+RIPPED = GRIP(P)ED meaning firmly held; and that 9A was a normal parsed as (H)UMBL(E)= Interminably modest, about ON + A. Grrr…. :-))
Also late to the party on this one. For what it’s worth I thought that the instructions couldn’t have been clearer given Zorro’s calling card. In fact, I was so keen to get the rapier out and start slashing that Mrs. BF had to point out that it might be useful to decide where to make the cuts before starting. It was only then that I saw DON DIEGO DE LA VEGA in the grid. I enjoyed this one immensely so thanks to eXternal for the puzzle and to Hihoba for the blog.