INQUISITOR 1963 Viewfinder by Luxor
Sixteen cells must each contain two letters; numbers in brackets give space available for entries. Solvers must remove a consecutive pair of letters from each clue (often resulting in non-words) before solving. When read in order these give two instructions solvers must follow to reveal the viewfinder. Finally, solvers must amend one normal cell to contain three letters, then highlight the theme in the grid (7 cells).
Gosh – where to start? Not only do we have to remove two letters from each clue, we also have to bung two letters into one square in unspecified places. Where to start indeed?
Knowing that elmac had a free couple of hours, I gave her a ring and together we made a start and, I believe that 7d was the first to fall, fairly swiftly followed by 14a and 5d.
Our first hypothesis was that all the double-letters would be in the unchecked cells in either columns 2 and/or 4 and 10 and/or 12 but that theory didn’t last long as we solved 34d. Very slowly, things started to reveal themselves but it wasn’t until the next day that we managed to fill the entire grid. At this point, we tried to make sense of the revealed instructions and came up with a giant circle connected to the middle and we thought we were done but seeing the above image as a “viewfinder” left us feeling a little dissatisfied. Of course, I had forgotten about the last sentence of the instructions.
The message, of course, was: DRAW A CIRCLE ROUND CELLS WITH TWO LETTERS, FROM EVERY CIRCLE DRAW A LINE TO ITS NEIGHBOUR AND TO CENTRE OF GRID.
Eventually, we realised that we were supposed to draw a circle around each double-letter, coupled with the seven cells down from the middle of the grid (with EYE in the bottom cell) gave us LONDONE EYE. I’ve been on The London Eye once, I think it was in 2001 and, indeed, on a fine day, it gives fantastic views – hence, it is a “viewfinder”.
A fine puzzle indeed. Many thanks to Luxor and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the running for POTY.
| ACROSS | Extra |
Entry |
Wordplay |
|
| 1. Knotty material from Scotsman on gripping unfinished drama (6) | DR |
MACRAME |
{MAC} (Scotsman)+{RE} (on) around {AM}[a] (unfinshed) | |
| 6. Speak falteringly returning novel straw carpets (6) | AW |
STAMMER |
{EMMA (novel; rev: returning) inside {STR} | |
| 11. Part of week disrupted as yacht rudder half missing (7) | AC |
THURSDAY |
{AS YHT RUD}[der] (half missing) anag: disrupted (my first attempt lead to SATURDAY, dropping CH from yacht) |
|
| 12. Air provided for hothouse plant (4) | IR |
AGAVE |
{A}+{GAVE} (provided) | |
| 13. Stay on board primarily to test climate change, checking breeze from the east (7) | CL |
TRIATIC |
{T}[o] {T}[est] {I}[mate] {C}[hange] (primarily) arounf {AIR} (breeze; rev: from the east) | |
| 14. Remarkable tracker curtailed American troops retreating (6) | ER |
SIGNAL |
{LAN}[e] (curtailed) around +{GIS} (American troops) rev: retreating | |
| 15. Four in house carelessly rash (4) | OU |
HIVES |
{HSE} (rev: carelessly) around {IV} (four) | |
| 16. Seek and seek vacuously (3) | ND |
ASK |
{A}+{S}[ee]{K} (vacuously) | |
| 19. Close society deprived of any grant – independent once (10) | CE |
COMPLETION |
{COMP[any]+{LET}+{I}ndependent+{ON} | |
| 21. Rolls around before noon rambles (4) | LL |
ROAMS |
{ROS} around {AM} (before noon) | |
| 23. Swine cropped yard like antelope (6) | SW |
INYALA |
{IN}+{Y}ard (cropped)+{A LA} like | |
| 25. Fit toilet drain but not shower overflow (5) | IT |
FLOOD |
{F}+{LOO} (toilet)+{D}[rain] (minus RAIN: shower) | |
| 27. Regularly disses golf cut from eight Japanese in Augusta (5) | HT |
ISSEI |
[d]{I}[s]{S][e]{S}+{EI}[g] (minus Golf) | |
| 28. Bent elderly woman chucking man’s coat by Virginia’s porch (6) | WO |
ASTOOP |
[m]{A}[n] (minus MaN (coat)+{STOOP} (American porch) | |
| 29. Rigorous inhalers have shields (4) | LE |
HARSH |
in{HARS H}ave (hidden: shields) | |
| 30. The latest under that heading – Rotten riots implicating dead rag-trader (10) | TT |
NEWSVENDOR |
{NEW} (the latest)+{SV} (under that heading)+[ROEN} (anag: riots)+{D} | |
| 35. Nerd chasing base desire (3) | ER |
BEND |
{E} (base)+{ND} | |
| 37. Discards fridge wasting free food overconsumed in this sitting (4) | SF |
BINGE |
{BIN} (discard)+[[rid]{GE} (minus RID (free)) | |
| 38. Types of green rose endlessly cultivated (6) | RO |
GENRES |
{GREEN}+{S}[e] (endlessly) | |
| 39. Gang wielding blades in meme about despicable arson? On the contrary (7) | ME |
OARSMEN |
{ME} inside {ARSON} (anag: despicable) | |
| 40. Exasperate Ms Rayner very briefly (4) | VE |
ANGER |
{ANGE} (short for Angela as in Rayner)+{R}[y] (briefly) | |
| 41. International peacemakers pry into video dimension not yet exploited (7) | RY |
UNTAPPED |
{UN} (international peacemakers)+{TAPE} (video)+{D}imension with {P} inside | |
| 42. Unduly sanguine croc is eaten partially (6) | CI |
ROSEATE |
c{RO S EATE}n (hidden: partially) | |
| 43. No case for mercy, king extracts materials for robes? (6) | RC |
ERMINES |
[m]{E}[y] (no case)+{R} (king)+{MINES} (extracts) | |
| DOWN | ||||
| 1. Insect in leaf or verge destroyed bacterial mass (13, 3 words) | LE |
MOTHER OF VINEGAR |
||
| 2. First check foot behind druggie removing sheepskin boot (5) | DR |
CHIEF |
||
| 3. Academician saw three in Lyon concealing depth of geometrical curves (8) | AW |
ASTROIDS |
||
| 4. Silently appropriating electronic dial for radio, for example (5) | AL |
MEDIUM |
||
| 5. Cain pursuing god of little value biblically (4) | IN |
RACA |
||
| 7. The same metal Mike lost, hiker discovered (5) | ET |
ALIKE |
||
| 8. Ian’s allowance from mother going without new suit originally (4) | OI |
MAGGS |
||
| 9. Significant digits of six-footer taking SATs (8) | TS |
MANTISSA | ||
| 10. Acts of handing over refreshments with large quinine shot replacing free short (13) | NE |
RELINQUISHMENTS |
||
| 11. Realign visits representing lack of importance (9) | IG |
TRIVIALNESS |
||
| 17. Topless flash by eccentric to impress greatly (4) | HB |
SLAY |
||
| 18. Came back round to express disapproval, moue extended (9) | OU |
BOOMERANGED |
||
| 20. Pray alone unrestricted in entrance to temple (5) | RA |
PYLON |
||
| 22. Mistaken to demote women in diamonds – no help backing those that might rise to the bait (8) | ND |
MORWONGS |
||
| 24. Some of clip too grammatical for verse form (8) | TO |
LIPOGRAM |
||
| 26. Giant old pretence public relations abandoned (4) | CE |
ETEN |
||
| 31. Vent nervous anger initially cornering East Indian music producer (5) | NT |
VEENA |
||
| 32. Dare to conceal love letter but not allowed lover (5) | RE |
DOATER |
||
| 33. Awareness borderline as limo fender striking the German (5) | OF |
LIMEN |
||
| 34. Distressed grebe circling two rooks in poet’s shrub (4) | GR |
BRERE |
||
| 36. Exhausted fellow rider losing jacket (4) | ID |
DONE |
An interesting puzzle with two design features (the clue manipulation throughout and the pairs of letters in some cells) that must have been as challenging to set as to solve. Some of the two-letter cells were hard to identify at first, but towards the end their symmetry proved to be a bonus as they helped with my last three clues.
The clues were excellent, as I have found (and reported) in other puzzles by this setter (the most memorable being the one about the huskies). The theme here was not actually indicated, all I had to go on being a (1950s?) viewfinder looking like a 16-spoke bicycle wheel. I thought the central L would be the one to change, just because it was the cell ‘in focus’, but of course there was nothing I could put in its place! I simply failed to ‘get’ the other sense of a viewfinder.
Thanks to Luxor for a brilliant puzzle and to Ken for the blog.
Very nice penny-drop, though unfortunately it came reading this blog rather than in solving: I just didn’t have time to search the grid, once I decided it wasn’t around the centre, though now London looks pretty obvious. Challenging but very achievable, thanks to Luxor and Ken.