After DNFs in the previous two EVs, I was hoping for something nice and gentle for my turn to blog…reader: be careful what you wish Ifor!
The preamble states that:
“Every across entry is formed by changing its answer in one of four ways. All enumerations refer to entry lengths. Each successive GROUP OF FOUR contains one of each type (the order being different in each case), one of which is a non-word. Each type relates to a song title whose last or only word is particularly relevant to the entry method. These titles may be formed from the single extra words appearing in alternate down clues. The short three-word title which describes how each down answer is to be entered must be written under the grid. All titles are by the same GROUP OF FOUR. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
One of the more impenetrable preambles of recent times, even after the second and third reading. I didn’t make the obvious jump to a certain ‘group of four’, which would have helped, wondering if it might be an ABBA theme, with different permutations of those notes? I also wondered if the way the Down answers should be entered was ‘All Shook Up’, although Elvis is obviously not a group of four…uh-huh!
Without reliable enumerations or entry methods for the Across clues, and doubt over the method of entry of the Downs, ALL the clues were effectively cold solves from the start, and I spent time on the Sunday of publication, the Monday and the Tuesday picking off the odd one or two and wondering when I should call in some favours from the EV blogging team.
While this was all going on, a few of the extra words in Down clues had been coming to light, and at some point I spotted LOVE, YOU, NEED and ALL and finally put two-and-two together to make that group of four…The Beatles – ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE! Along with GET BACK, NOWHERE MAN and REVOLUTION.
I had a quick scan of a list looking for three-word Beatles titles, but only came up with MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR – so maybe the Downs had to be jumbled, or cycled?
A sliver of light came when I had TAMARAU at 32A and EMPUSA at 23D – unless they were both to be jumbled, then they could only cross if TAMARAU was reversed (Get Back?), and EMPUSA entered normally. but if EMPUSA was entered normally, then maybe ERASMUS was too, and then ESTROUS would have to start a cell later, leaving a blank at the start…and the only obvious thing to fill it would be an O to make OESTROUS…then
When I found myself in cruciverbal trouble
the PDM fairy came to me
speaking words of wisdom:
‘LET IT BE’!
In the face of the most dastardly deed of misdirection since somebody put up a U-turn sign in a Wacky Races episode, I realised that I had spent so long worrying about how to enter the Down clues when the actual answer was to ‘let them be’!…
This allowed me to enter a number of already solved Down entries, leading to a lot of help with Across-es and the eventual confirmation that the changes were:
- All You Need Is Love – add O, zero, love in tennis scoring, to the solution
- Nowhere Man – remove ‘MAN’ from the solution
- Get Back – reverse the answer
- Revolution – ‘revolve’ the answer(?) – still not sure how that is different to reversing, apart from the fact that one method leaves a real word and one doesn’t
And, after three-plus days of clue-staring, preamble re-reading and increasing self-doubt, in a frenzied hour-or-so I finally had the grid filled:
I’m still not convinced about the difference between getting BACK and the REVOLUTIONs, or which one left real words vs non-words – I did wonder if the revolutions were all odd-numbered lengths, ‘revolving’ around their middle letter, but there are even numbered lengths among them. I have assumed that revolutions lead to non-words, but maybe someone below will come up with an explanation or correction as to why or why not…
I am off for a lie down, after tipping my chapeau to Ifor for a stiff challenge and some silent thanks for finally finishing an EV after a couple of shaky weeks…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Change type | Solution / Entry | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/Parsing |
|
| 1 | REV | AIRPORT / TROPRIA | Transport hub direct to Prestwick, keeping parking outside of offer (7)
AIR_T (Scottish, i.e. in Prestwick, for to direct) around (keeping) P (parking, OS map symbol) + OR (outside letters of OffeR) |
|
| 6 | NM | GOURMAND / GOURD | Voracious male wolf making a comeback around pine forest (5)
GO_D (dog, male wolf, making a comeback) around URMAN (Russian, swampy pine forest) |
|
| 10 | GB | DIAPER / REPAID | Cover preventing leaks to FBI director overseeing copy (6)
DI_R (director) around (overseeing) APE (copy) [FBI is a clever misdirection, indicating the US-ness of ‘diaper’, and nothing to do with the Director of the FBI!] |
|
| 12 | AYNIL | AIDS / AIDOS | Helpers weakening disease (5)
double defn – AIDS can be helpers; and AIDS can be an immunity-weakening disease |
|
| 13 | REV | SCLERES / SERELCS | Hard parts of sponge scratching a careless bum (7)
subtractive anagram, i.e. bum, of C( |
|
| 14 | AYNIL | VIRES / VIREOS | Authorised financial transfers take in previous bids (6)
VI_ES (vie being obsolete, i.e. previous, for a bid, or stake) around R (Latin, recipe, take…) [vire being the verb form of virement, French, for balancing books by moving money around; nothing to do with ‘wiring’ money, which is usually a transfer to another person] |
|
| 15 | GB | SEDILE / ELIDES | Seat for clergy reflected effective restraint in diocese (6)
SE_E (diocese) around DIL (lid, effective restraint, reflected) |
|
| 16 | NM | DISMANS / DISS | Belief in small buoys causes crew to be taken off (4)
D_ANS (small marker buoys) around ISM (belief, doctrine) |
|
| 19 | GB | TAPS / SPAT | Instruction to turn in listening devices (4)
double defn – TAPS is a military bugle call, indicating lights out; and a TAP is a listening device |
|
| 20 | AYNIL | ESTROUS / OESTROUS | Turning serious, with temperature knocking one out of heat in Arizona (8)
substitutive anagram, i.e. turning, of SER( |
|
| 22 | REV | STRUMPET / TEPMURTS | Trustworthy person taken in by hardened hooker (8)
S_ET (harden) around TRUMP (who would have thought it, but one meaning in Chambers is ‘good trusty person’…now go and look up ‘irony’…) |
|
| 25 | NM | FORMANT / FORT | Grass lacking in anything providing a definition (4)
( |
|
| 28 | NM | REMANDS / REDS | Sends back needs insistently expressed, right over donor’s head (4)
( |
|
| 30 | GB | STIRPS / SPRITS | Branch of family in prison perhaps missing inside (6)
STIR (prison) + PS (PerhapS missing inside letters) |
|
| 31 | AYNIL | PELTA / PELOTA | Hide, acting as shield (6)
PELT (hide) + A (acting as) |
|
| 32 | REV | TAMARAU / UARAMAT | Buffalo are becoming the focus of trauma when running wild (7)
TAM_RAU (anag, i.e. running wild, of TRAUMA) with A (are, metric land measure) in the middle, or focus |
|
| 33 | AYNIL | SCAR / OSCAR | Panic after shaving last bare place on face (5)
SCAR( [bare place on a cliff face] |
|
| 34 | GB | GELDER / REDLEG | Without any wavering, legendary criminal individual taking crown jewels (6)
subtractive anagram, i.e. criminal, of LEGE( |
|
| 35 | NM | LAMANTIN / LATIN | Marine creature, not animal exhaling oxygen at sea (5)
subtractive anagram, again!, i.e. at sea, of N( |
|
| 36 | REV | ENISLES / SELSINE | Places on key being discovered bent used less (7)
two anagrams – ENI (bEINg, uncovered of outer letters, and ‘bent’) + SLES (anag, i.e. used, of LESS) |
|
| DOWN | ||||
| Clue No | Extra word | Solution / Entry | Clue (definition underlined, extra word in bold))
Logic/Parsing (extra letter bold in brackets) |
|
| 1 | TRAVESTY | Irritable about variety sent up as mockery (8)
T_ESTY (irritable) around RAV (var, variety, sent up) |
||
| 2 | NOWHERE | REBID | What might be double birdie, leaving second shot nowhere (5)
subtractive anagram, i.e. shot, of B( [re-bid in bridge, to double the bid?] |
|
| 3 | PALEST | Hazy pastel, very much without colour (6)
anag, i.e. hazy, of PASTEL |
||
| 4 | REVOLUTION | ID EST | That revolution is for Spartacus, but sedition mounts up (5, two words)
reversed hidden word, i.e. mounted in and up, in ‘buT SEDItion’ [Latin phrase, hence ‘for Spartacus’!] |
|
| 5 | ABREAST | Base rate cut, moving side by side (7)
anag, i.e. cut, of BASE RATE |
||
| 6 | GET | GAELS | Old people get in line, taking ages shuffling around (5)
GAE_S (anag, i.e. shuffling, of AGES) around L (line) |
|
| 7 | OILIER | Nothing craftier; not weak, more like Uriah Heep (6)
O (zero, nothing) + ( |
||
| 8 | BACK | ROSEAU | Capital Gold went back up on top (6)
ROSE went up) on top of (for a Down clue) AU (Aurum, gold) [capital of Dominica] |
|
| 9 | DSOS | Crosses thus entered in document signed (4)
D_S (document signed) around (entered by) SO (thus) [dso, or zo being a Himalayan cross between a yak and a cow] |
||
| 11 | LOVE | PERIAPT | Will’s love charm appropriate to support fairy (7)
PERI (fairy, Persian mythology) supported by (for a Down clue) APT (fitting, appropriate) [periapt being a Shakespearean, hence ‘for Will’, amulet] |
|
| 17 | WOOD OWL | Flyer torn low down, almost covering over (7, two words)
WOOD_WL (anag, i.e. torn, of almost all of LOW DOW( |
||
| 18 | NEED | ESTRANGE | Remove customised grants accessing limits of eligible need (8)
E_E (outer limits of EligiblE) around (accessed by) STRANG (anag, i.e. customised, of GRANTS) |
|
| 21 | ERASMUS | Age adds up for elderly humanist (7)
ERA (age) + SMUS (sums, adds, up!) [Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, 15/16C humanist] |
||
| 23 | YOU | EMPUSA | Spectre dressed you up as me (6)
anag, i.e. dressed, of UP AS ME [Empusa being a Greek mythological goblin/spectre] |
|
| 24 | MOIRAI | Fates of oppressed majorities when judge set out exits (6)
subtractive anagram, i.e. oppressed, of MA( [the Moirai or moera being the three Fates] |
||
| 25 | MAN | FELIDS | Man handles skilfully with one dropping ounces, say (6)
F( [members of the Felidae, cat, family] |
|
| 26 | STARN | Sailor in unoccupied sunken rear of ship (5)
S_N (SunkeN unoccupied, inner letters removed) around TAR (jack Tar, sailor) [nautical dialect for stern] |
||
| 27 | IS | SPARE | First slice of sirloin is cut lean (5)
S (first letter, or slice, of Sirloin) + PARE (cut) |
|
| 29 | STEEN | Line with stone sent out to retain earth (5)
STE_N (anag, i.e. out, of SENT) around (retaining) E (earth) |
||
| 30 | ALL | SKOL | Good health seems to rise, having lost all heart (4)
LO( |
|
Thanks for the thorough blog. My understanding was that ‘revolution’ entries are all anagrams of their answer and therefore real words. “Get back” ones are entered backwards, producing non-words.
To be honest, I overlooked the suggestion that Down words might be entered differently and was blindly writing them in from the start. It was only right at the end when I realised that I might have made a mistake but by that point it appeared impossible that they could be anything else. From there I found the appropriate 3-word title fairly quickly.
Many thanks to Ifor.
Thanks, Kippax at #1 – the official solution published on the BD site confirms your analysis – although it refers to the REVOLUTION answers as ‘anadromes‘ – which is a TILT (thing I learned today)! Anagrammatic palindromes?!
NB. ‘anadrome’ is not in Chambers, but according to the Collins site it was coined in 2022 and is being ‘monitored for evidence of usage’…
If I can summon the energy in this heat, I will adjust the blog to reflect this…
Wow, that’s a new one on me too! And I hadn’t realised until studying your blog again that these entries were something other than simple anagrams. Amazing!
Thanks, both. It’s really good to read a solving blog that’s not only accurate (bar one entirely trivial error) but also sets out the thought processes with its attendant frustrations and PDMs. Incidentally the use of “short” in describing the endgame title was designed to obviate doubt.
As to “anadrome” I may be able to claim first crossword usage – at any rate, it appears in the explanation to a Magpie puzzle of mine from Dec 2013, where the editors saw fit to define it as well as use it. It’s surely preferable to the alternative “emordnilap”.
One other point – I received an editorial pat on the back for 22 by avoiding the obvious wordplay element. We debated what I might have got away with.
Kippax at #3 = yes, my confusion was that they were all reversals, but one lot were also real words
Ifor at #3 – thanks for popping in, and for your kind words. You need to get on to Collins to provide them with some more ‘evidence of usage’ and see if you can get your earlier date into their citation.
I was rather surprised to see that definition of the T word as part of 22A. Not something that springs to mind. Whereas the second definition of ‘mike’ is to ‘loiter idly’, which is a pretty accurate description for a large proportion of my 59 years (;+>)
Mike (is it Mike, then?) I didn’t invent the word, so must have picked it up from somewhere even earlier. If I can find / recall where, I’ll adopt your suggestion. It’s a word that fills a linguistic gap so is worth bringing to more general notice.
Great blog! I had a very slight different interpretation for 33 across.
“Panic after shaving last bare place on face”
SCARE missing it’s last letter (not just the last letter of bare!) forming SCAR… and scars on faces don’t tend to have hair growing on them!
Thanks again for the comprehensive post.
Thanks, Latimer at #7 – I have tweaked the parsing to include ‘bare’ in the definition…good to know someone is reading it all in detail…much appreciated!