A carte blanche grid, so no bars and no numbers. And the clues have neither numbers nor length indications, nor are they in normal order or in alphabetical order of answers. Thanks, Phi.
Clues are in alphabetical order of clue, A … M. Answers to each set start in the same column, and are entered either across or down. The grid has 90° symmetry. The single unclued entry has several plausible answers: we should observe the allocation of letters to columns to determine the correct one. (The 90° symmetry proved to be something of a life-saver.)
Settle down after a late lunch. OK, there are 11 clues that start with L, so that’ll be column 1. (It’d be good to solve those.) Some hours later, dinner preparation was beckoning. I’d solved 29 out of 41 clues, only about half the L‘s, but I had got two 13 letter answers: REMORSELESSLY (L-clue) and INTERRELATION (C-clue). The former had to run across, and, as it seemed likely that there were no more answers that long, these two probably formed the middle row and central column. (So pencil in AYRSHIRE in the last column, with ECHE above it.) And that was it for Saturday – a lot of effort for not much reward (yet).
Back down to it with a coffee on Sunday afternoon. I toyed with a few ideas (SENATORS maybe entered as 1d, but maybe across in row 6 or 7), but then solved CROQUETTE (another L-clue), and after trying (and failing) to fit it in at row 3, I slotted it in at row 10, and the floodgates opened – or at least that’s what it felt like. Stuff got entered (ÂME DAMNÉE, AYERS ROCK), bars were added – this is where the 90° symmetry played its part – clues were solved (QUAD), and the ever-decreasing spiral went on, until, almost breathless, I had a grid … complete apart from the single empty cell at r9-c1. Being one for deferred gratification, off to prepare, cook, and enjoy a fine evening meal with a glass (or three) of wine.
… an hour or so later …
Before checking possibilities for ?ACKED, I assumed that its definition/clue would begin with L since it started in column 1 – soon dismissed as a foolish notion. So, was it BACKED, HACKED, JACKED, LACKED, PACKED, RACKED, SACKED, TACKED, VACKED (yes – that means hoovered), or YACKED? Well, we should observe the allocation of letters to columns to determine the correct one, and that allocation read LJMGHACKEDIFB, and that was that.
Kipling sums up my overall feeling about this puzzle: “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” (Misattribution – see #13.)
Season’s Greetings to Phi, other setters, bloggers, contributors, and lurkers.
I assume that the editor will repeat his Inquisitor Review shortly, so I won’t steal his thunder by soliciting your favourite puzzles of 2014.
| Answer | Direction: location |
Definition | Wordplay |
| LOITERER | A: r12 c6 | A: lingering figure | [REEL + TRIO]* |
| GIFTWARE | A: r1 c6 | A: articles for present … | GIF (computer image) + [WATER]* |
| CASED | D: r5 c6 | A: in a box | CAD (assistant, obs) around SE(t) |
| ECHE | D: r1 c13 | B: bard’s to augment | (spe)ECH E(ventually) |
| AYRSHIRE | D: r6 c13 | B: breed of cattle | AYRE (old spelling of “air”, lay) around SHIR (gathering) |
| INTERRELATION | D: r1 c7 | C: connection | [ROTTEN AIRLINE]* |
| WHOM | D: r1 c10 | D: question | WHO (doctor on TV) + M(oney) |
| ENSHELTER | D: r5 c10 | D: … put under cover | ENTER (record) around SHEL(l) (outer covering) |
| LUSH | A: r10 c10 | D: drunk | FLUSH (red colouring) − F(ine) |
| RYKE | A: r13 c10 | D: Dundee’s range | (Queensfer)RY + KE(lso) |
| TOKAJ | D: r1 c9 | E: Hungarian region | KA (Egyptian spirit) in JOT< (a little) |
| LEPUS | A: r9 c9 | E: group of stars | E(nergy) + PUS (matter) after L(arge) |
| ELECTS | D: r8 c9 | E: picks | E(nglish) LETS (services) around C(hurch) |
| RESETTLE | D: r1 c12 | F: find new home | RESET (harbour, archaic Scot) T(own) L(ike) E(yemouth) |
| AYERS ROCK | D: r1 c4 | G: geological formation | ROCK (stagger) after [YEARS]* |
| QUAD | D: r10 c4 | G: space in newspapers | QUAG (morass) − G(overnment) + (earne)D |
| EARLY | A: r6 c5 | H: happening in the remote past | (n)EARLY (almost) |
| ELUATE | D: r1 c5 | H: pure stuff | U(nion) in ELATE (blissful, rare) |
| ÂME DAMNÉE | A: r4 c5 | H: henchman, say | [MADE MEAN]* + (hostag)E |
| EULER | D: r9 c5 | H: historic mathematician | E’ER (always) around U(niversity) + L(ecturer) |
| MÊLÉE | A: r8 c5 | H: conflict | (ho)ME + LEE (shelter) |
| AT ONCE | D: r1 c11 | I: immediately | AT ONE (agreeing) around C(ollege) |
| SPURRY | D: r8 c11 | I: plant | PURR (linked to catnip) in SY (Seychelles) |
| VELARISE | D: r6 c2 | J: speak in a particular way | RISE (jump up) after [VEAL]* |
| OCTROI | A: r11 c8 | K: import tax | CO(mpany)< + [RIOT]* |
| SKOOSH | A: r3 c8 | K: … – this drink | K(ing) in [SO-SO]* + (squas)H |
| EJECTA | A: r5 c8 | K: … – example of this | [JET CAR]* − R (king) after (rid)E |
| ELLEN | D: r5 c8 | K: … – the actress Terry? | N (knight) after ELLE (her, Fr) |
| CROQUETTE | A: r10 c1 | L: fried food | CROQUET (lawn game) + TE(a) (meal) |
| ACER | A: r4 c1 | L: Canada’s symbol? | ACE (leading exponent) + R(edesign) |
| CLOT | D: r10 c1 | L: … – thrombosis? | L(eft) in COT (hospital bed) |
| SENATORS | D: r1 c1 | L: legislators | N(ame) & OR (other ranks, men) in SEATS (constituencies) |
| TENDRONS | A: r13 c1 | L: … – sprouts | TENDONS (ligaments) around R(ecipe) |
| NEREUS | A: r3 c1 | L: Greek god | SUN< (light) around ERE (before) |
| TOAST | A: r5 c1 | L: food for breakfast | TO A T (like precision) around S(pecial) |
| LIGULA | A: r11 c1 | L: part of lip | LI(p) + GULA (throat) |
| REMORSELESSLY | A: r7 c1 | L: with callous intent | MORSEL (little item) in [SEER SLY]* |
| ETHYLENE | A: r2 c1 | L: gas | LYTE< (little, dialect) + ENE (even) around H(ydrogen) |
| SETA | A: r1 c1 | L: bristle | SET (located) A |
| THREAT | D: r1 c3 | M: menace | THEREAT (on that account) − E(nergy) |
| SCOGAN | D: r8 c3 | M: buffoon | COG (mere functionary) in SAN (sanatorium, hospital) |
|
|
|||
Loved this – nothing better than a blank grid, except perhaps a blank grid with no clue lengths or obvious order. A nice combination of logic, tallying of lengths and straight solving of challenging but gettable clues required.
The only clue I hadn’t parsed was ENSHELTER, though I’m not sure why as it seems perfectly obvious now. It did take me a while to work out what that ‘Drama’ was doing at the start of the clue, so perhaps that threw me.
A bit like last week, my only quibble would be the slightly convoluted preamble about the unclued entry that didn’t do much in the end.
Cheers HG and Phi and a Merry Christmas.
I only managed to solve this one because I had the flu and had nothing better to do than to keep returning to it over the course of several days. Like HG I spotted that the L clues had to make up the 1st column and found the two 13-letter answers fairly early on. Unlike HG I felt I had to get all the L column answers first to make sure there were no other 13-letter words out there. This happened on the third day and after that progress was fairly rapid.
I have two quibbles. I cannot see the point of finding the word HACKED. It added nothing of any significance to the crossword (apart from supplying the title)and for some time I wondered whether there was anything more subtle involved. Secondly I thought the description of 90 deg symmetry a bit vague although I did, in fact, have the correct interpretation. Something more specific like “unchanged under successive 90 deg rotations” might have quelled some initial doubts I had.
Otherwise thanks to Phi for making the flu a little more tolerable and to HG for the blog.
Blog forthcoming in 12-14 hours or so on phionline.net.nz.
I cold-solved 30 out of the 41 clued answers, knew more or less that Senators, Clot and the 13-letter ones had to be there but still couldn’t fill them in 🙁
Still fun, though.
I full agree with OPatrick@1 that this was a real joy, with a mix of logic ( the 90 degree symmetry helped focus the mind) and straight, but mainly cold, solving.
I would add to the mix a certain amount of persistence and intuition. I tried to fit in SENATORS in rows 6 and 7, as well as TENDRONS in row 2 before trying it in row 13 and SENATORS down instead of across…..applying a light pen, having already literally scrubbed several combinations, this seemed to offer most hope of progress and so it proved. Like HG, a lot of effort at the start for seemingly little reward but quite a quick denouement.
Many thanks and Xmas greetings to Phi and HolyGhost.
I quickly realised that the answers to L clues had to be entered in column 1 but just couldn’t solve enough clues overall to get started with the filling process. Well and truly defeated, I’m afraid.
A tough puzzle!
We definitely enjoyed this – it did take us ages though. We had quite a few clues solved before we had the confidence to fit in the long answers and some of the L words.
The 90 degree symmetry seemed fine.
We have no boxes drawn around the clues which means we parsed them all but there are a number of letters which we had to erase – it is difficult to see what is underneath now.
Thanks HG for the blog.
Happy Christmas to everyone!
Blog should be up now
Happy Christmas, Phi.
Do you plan to comment on the comments, or merely (re-)advertise your blog?
Well, the blog acts as a way of commenting both on the comments and for giving more details of the setting process. It’s better, too, for the slightly longer texts that those combined processes require (and I prefer its font, as it happens).
I suppose this counts as re-re-advertising the blog…
Like a few others here, I cold solved a good 75% of the clues, including most of the ‘L’s and one of the 13 letterers (which I correctly guessed bisected the grid) but there were still so many possibilities for entry that I couldn’t progress (despite making 5 photocopies of the grid and trying various options!). I was never a fan of blank grids, but evidently others love them, so I guess I can’t complain too much.
Thanks anyway, and Merry Xmas to all.
Dan, Excel (or other spreadsheet) is the way forwards I reckon. Makes it so much easier to copy grids and fiddle about with possible patterns. It also meant I didn’t need to dig out the tippex this week.
Who is this Kipling of whom you speak?
“To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” — Robert Louis Stevenson.
Thanks #13; acknowledged – blog updated.
When the Indy was published for this puzzle, I was otherwise struggling with a terrible dose of manfluenza. Fortunately a very kind person sent me the puzzle which enabled me to complete my best ever “streak” of completed IQs.
I initially struggled with this one as I didn’t read the introduction carefully enough. Once I got my act together on that front, I managed to get the basics right which enabled me to start making headway. It came together without real difficulty, the symmetry definitely helping. Thanks to phi and HG for the entertainment