Double Checking by Phi
The puzzle is based on one of a set of verses. In one cell in each column the across and down answers clash; clashes to be resolved in favour of real words. Solvers will need to identify two entities to resolve remaining ambiguities. The initial misapprehension should be entered below the grid, with the double-checked observation confirming the grid entries. . All but two clues to words not affected by clashes contain a redundant word to be removed before solving: these spell repeated quotes from the verses with additional thematic material from the specific verse.
Confession time: I haven’t actually done an Inquisitor (fully) this year – up till now. HiHoBa kindly stood in for me on 1631 and life just seems to have gotten in the way, otherwise. Thus, I was a little rusty going in for the kill on this one. I’m also a little rusty on the art of blogging coupled with the fact that I’ve finally decided that I’m ditching Windows and using Linux. (For the geeks: MX Linux with XFCE desktop.) So some of the tools I’m used to are not available and I’m having to find different ways of doing things.
I found the clues, themselves, to be pretty fair but the fact that there were clashes and extra words to deal with, made things a little trickier.
The left hand side seemed to fall a little easier than the right and, looking at the clashes, I could see BAN.ERS….. and HIP.OPO….. emerging. Aha! BANDERSNATCH- it’s going to be about Jaberwocky the (nonsense) poem by Lewis Carroll. I put “nonsense” in parentheses because, to be honest, it makes perfect sense to me!
However, I don’t remember there being any hippopotamuses (sparks hippopotamuses/hippopotami debate) in Jaberwocky.
Ah well, keep plodding.
As alluded to earlier, the right side was a little less forgiving but I eventually teased out the K/S clash in the last column and suddenly, out of nowhere, BANKERS CLERK jumped out at me so I went to http://duckduckgo.com (safest search engine in town) and typed in BANKERS CLERK HIPPOPOTAMUS. This led me to The Mad Gardener’s Song, which, by strange coincidence is by the aforementioned Lewis Carroll from his last book, Sylvie and Bruno, which I’d never heard of. The fourth verse (or is it stanza, I never know) references the misapprehension that what the Mad Gardener initially thought was a Banker’s Clerk turned out to be nothing more unusual than a Hippopotamus. A case of mistaken identity that I’m sure we all suffer from time to time.
The Mad Gardener then fears that the hippopotamus may stay to dine and there won’t be much left for himself and others.
The actual verse follows and the underlined words are the extra words in sixteen of the clues.
| He thought he saw a Banker’s Clerk | 11a | 12a | 16a | 17a | |
| Descending from the ‘bus: | 19a | 28a | 30a | 34a | |
| He looked again, and found it was | 6d | 9d | 10d | ||
| A Hippopotamus. | |||||
| ‘If this should stay to dine,’ he said, | |||||
| ‘There won’t be much for us!’ | 17d | 20d | 27d | 29d | 32d |
I guess that the title refers to both the clashes in the grid and the fact that our gardener friend has to double check everything he sees.
Many thanks to Phi for introducing me to a new nonsense poem – I love ’em. And thanks, too, for an enjoyable crossword puzzle with just the right level of frustration versus enjoyment.
| Across |
||||
| Clue |
Entry |
Wordplay |
Clash |
|
| N | Y | |||
| 1 Rail at one on strike (6) | BATTER HATTER |
(double def) | B |
H |
| 7 Transfers quantity of brightness back (5) |
BLITS BAITS |
STILB (quantity of brightness) rev: back |
L |
A |
| 11 Receiver of property, a position [he] adopted before reduction in poverty (7) |
ALIENEE | A+LIE (position adopted)+NEE[d] (poverty; reduced) |
||
| 12 Artist [thought] back, in expression of gratitude for Kiwi plant (4) |
TARA | TA (expression of gratitude) around RA (artist; rev: back) |
||
| 13 Showed daughter border (4) | RAND RIND |
RAN (showed)+Daughter | A |
I |
| 14 Special nurse, an intimidating figure (6) | SCARER STARER |
Special+CARER (nurse) |
C |
T |
| 15 Brute about to be captured in defeat (5) |
BEAST BOAST |
BEST (defeat) containing About |
E |
O |
| 16 Farm animal, old, [he] kept in ancient pound (4) |
BOAR | BAR (ancient pound) around Old |
||
| 17 [Saw] middle of scene before interval, something the Comédie-Française no longer accepts (7) |
CENTIME | [s]CEN[e] (middle of)+TIME (interval) |
||
| 19 Taunt about name, [descending] to use fisticuffs? (4) |
DING | DIG (taunt) around Name | ||
| 21 Dodges? Every clue has at least a couple (though not original) (7) |
RACKETS PACKETS |
[b]RACKETS – every clue has them (minus first character) |
R |
P |
| 22 Address in Japan criticises Chinese boats (7) | SANPANS SAPPANS |
SAN (Japanese address)+PANS (criticises) |
N |
P |
| 25 Observe gander’s return (4) |
KEEP KEMP |
PEEK (gander; rev: returns) |
E |
M |
| 28 Old explosive to become concealed [from] being placed round half of London (7) |
GLONOIN | GO IN (to become concealed) around LON[don] (half of) |
||
| 30 [The] elect, taken short about Liberal showing some potential difference (4) |
VOLT | VOT[e] (taken short) around Liberal |
||
| 31 Street contributing to function expenses (5) | COSTS COOTS |
COSine (function) around STreet |
S |
O |
| 34 A Scottish coin allowing Bishop to board [bus] in Scotland (6) |
ALBION | A+LION (Scottish coin) containing Bishop |
||
| 35 Mark’s kind exploit (4) | MILK MILS |
Mark+ILK (kind) |
K |
S |
| 36 Aussie’s to pass on concern from an earlier date (4) |
CARK CARP |
(double def) | K |
P |
| 37 Historic bottles? The French will pen articles containing information (7) |
LAGENAE | LA (the in French) containing A A (articles) around GEN (information) |
||
| 38 Part of flower to close up after injection of phosphorus (5) |
SEPAL | SEAL (close up) around Phosphorous |
||
| 39 Only last pair of versifiers in garrets (6) | SOLERS SOLEUS |
SOLE (only)+[versifie]RS (last pair) |
R |
U |
| Down | ||||
| 1 Hard wooden box – listen (4) | HARK | Hard+ARK (wooden box) |
||
| 2 Took off, circling lake and island like a bat? (6) | ALIPED | APED (took off) around Lake Island |
||
| 3 They cut manipulation of news – Trump’s sulk will be held up (8) |
TINSNIPS | SPIN (manipualtion of news)+SNIT (sulk in North America) all rev: held up |
||
| 4 Space, endless space, after which there’s no more to be said (5) |
ENVOI | EN (space)+VOI[d] (space; endless) |
||
| 5 Change in state upset politician (6) |
REVAMP | AVER (state; rev: upset)+MP (politician) |
||
| 6 [He] cracks, releasing tense strap (4) |
JESS | JES[t]S (cracks) minus Tense |
||
| 7 Small thing in Ayr: tit, flapping, caught by Scottish cat (7) |
BITTOCK | BOCK (Scottish cat) around TIT (anag: flapping) |
||
| 8 Turkey’s official bill – NZ flyer upset about that (6) |
ATABEK | TAB (bill) inside KEA (NZ flyer; rev: upset) |
||
| 9 Entertainment agreement [looked] incomplete (5) |
TREAT | TREAT[y] (agreement; incomplete) |
||
| 10 Grain, fish, dried fruit – one I dropped [again] (8) |
SARRASIN | SARgus (fish)+RA[i]SIN (dropping one letter I) |
||
| 17 Rescue missions [won’t] set up old conveyance around grottoes (8) |
CASEVACS | SAC (old conveyance) around CAVES (grottoes) all rev: set up |
||
| 18 Treatment for depression? Exercises second method (8) |
PEMOLINE | PE (exercises)+MOment (second)+LINE (method) |
||
| 20 [Be] a shy chap once initially in girl’s embrace – it’s giving you the vapours? (7) |
GAS-COAL | GAL (girl) around A S[hy] C[hap] O[nce] (initially) |
||
| 23 Choreographer’s favourite beer (6) |
PETIPA | PET (favourite)+IPA (beer) |
||
| 24 Lass upset about acceptable Sanskrit verses (6) | SLOKAS | OK (acceptable) inside LASS (anag: upset) |
||
| 26 Spicy dish – rising out of bed to consume unfavourable one (6) |
PILLAU | UP (out of bed; rev: rising) around ILL (unfavourable)+A (one) |
||
| 27 [Much] wild love involving active parts of the hands (5) |
VOLAE | LOVE (anag: wild) around Active |
||
| 29 Old name [for] old region of New Zealand (5) |
OTAGO | Old+TAG (name)+Old |
||
| 32 Barely functioning, library showing [us] no heart (4) |
ONLY | ON (functioning)+L[ibrar]Y (no heart) |
||
| 33 Plans to ditch earliest customs (4) | USES | [r]USES (plans; minus earliest letter) |
||
All thanks to Phi for a fun IQ and to Kenmac for explication. This was one of those happy occasions when my subconscious mind (if there is such a thing) stepped in. I’d solved only a few clues without seeing any clashes or surplus words, and the one verse of the Gardener’s Song that I know came floating through my mind. “He thought he saw an Argument / That proved he was the Pope. / He looked again, and found it was / A Bar of Mottled Soap. / A fact so dread, he faintly said / Extinguishes all hope!” Well, the pattern of the song did sort of fit the preamble, and two phrases are repeated in every verse. After which it was quite a shock to see “He thought he saw …” lurking in four across clues.
Yes, this was fun. I guessed Carroll immediately, although like you kenmac I wasn’t familiar with the particular set of verses. I never quite understood 21 across, so thanks for explaining that.
Yep, lots of fun. I spotted HIP… pretty early thankfully, and together with the snatches of the verse it was then pretty obvious what we were looking for. The clashes made things trickier for a long time until I had a list of letters from the two alternatives to tick off, but from then on in it was plain sailing.
This was a Saturday to Thursday puzzle for me! I struggled with the clashes and was misled by the rubric stating that the extra words “spell” repeated quotes – I was therefore looking at initial letters for a long time. I eventually found HIPPOPOTAMUS and Googled Carroll Hippopotamus to find the poem. It was an excellent grid with clever clue construction; I just made heavy weather of it. Thanks to Kenmac and Phi.
All puzzles are ‘Saturday to Thursday’ for me (actually, Tuesday to Monday)! This one very tricky; I confess I went to google (but will now more safely go to duckgogo!) with not much (he thought he saw… he looked again), and up came Carroll. I don’t know how I’ve never come across this poem before; it’s wonderful.
Thanks to Phi for another great puzzle and kenmac for the brackets of 21a (I should have looked harder).
I really enjoyed the process from start to end and actually solved it in toto.
I agonized to no end about these two sentences in the preamble though:
(1) Solvers will need to identify two entities to resolve remaining ambiguities.
(2) The initial misapprehension should be entered below the grid, with the double-checked observation confirming the grid entries.
since I had parsed them as two separate unrelated instructions. I felt I had understood (2) (B’s C and H). And then tried to figure whatever (1) might mean…
An excellent puzzle. I recognised the theme from some of the redundant words in the clues when I was about three-quarters of the way through solving. That gave me “Banker’s Clerk” for the misapprehension. I wasn’t so sharp in the follow-up, though. It took me a while to realise that the HIPPOPOTAMUS would resolve all the clashes, including the ambiguities, and duly trample on the unwanted letters. Filling that in was of material help in completing some ‘sticky’ clues, as I was not familiar with TIN-SNIPS, ‘snit’, BLITS or ‘stilb’.
Much later, when I was comparing notes with a friend, I realised I had completely overlooked what the rejected letters from the clashing pairs spelled out: BANKER’S CLERK. I’m glad my attention was finally drawn to this additional piece of the clever design.
It was a great idea to hide just snatches of the poem in the clues such that they made no sense to read but were sufficient to identify the poem – and indeed for me to recognise it without having to search for it (but I did look it up to check it and to enjoy the whole poem again).
Thanks to Phi for a well-designed and interesting puzzle and to kenmac for the blog.
Aptly put, Kenmac, “just the right level of frustration versus enjoyment”. I found the journey quite difficult in places, especially the top right and 24D, SLOKAS, is not in my Chambers and I had to confirm it on line. I am sure encountered the poem in the dim and distant but now needed the internet to rediscover it from the fragments in the clues. A very satisfying finish as everything fell into place.
Nice one, Phi, thanks to you and Kenmac.
A rather enjoyable puzzle, but I was glad when I’d finished. (It was only a few days later when I did a final check that I became aware that the redundant word in 28a was “from” not “old” and I still don’t understand why GLONOIN is an “old explosive”.)
Not mentioned by ken the blogger (to whom thanks) were that 1a BATTER/HATTER and 1d HARK/BARK could be resolved either way, as could 39a SOLERS/SOLEUS and 26s PILLAU/PILLAR – but only one way leads to HIPPOPOTAMUS. Also overlooked was the fact that all the resolutions to the clashes came from the down answers, so those across answers were amended. Thanks to setter too.
HG @9
You mentioned two of the ambiguities we were warned about, but there was a third, I think, with MILK and UKES, resolved in favour of MILS/USES for HIPPOPOTAMUS.
HG @9
I think GLONOIN is an ‘old’ explosive because it is no longer a name used for the explosive (nitroglycerine) – now only for its medicinal use.
Gosh – you’ve all got ahead of me. Here’s the usual blog: http://phionline.net.nz/setters-blogs/inquisitor-1635-double-checking/
I just googled “looked again”and got lucky.
Delightful lot of nonsense
Thanks Phi, kenmac and LC
Lots of fun and frustration.
We had to resort to an internet search to find the poem which was a fun read.
Thanks to Phi and kenmac.
I forgot to say that I knew the word SLOKA from youthful reading of the Just So Stories by Kipling. In “How the Rhinoceros got his Skin”. The quote is:
Then the Parsee came down from his palm-tree and put the stove on its legs and recited the following Sloka, which, as you have not heard, I will now proceed to relate:–
Them that takes cakes
Which the Parsee-man bakes
Makes dreadful mistakes.
After finishing I wondered whether Phi had dropped an extra hint by including the extra Carrollian apostrophes in ‘bus and wo’n’t, only for the subs to take them out again!