A stunning double puzzle using a novel device (and a misleading pseudonym)
The special instructions read as follows:
The puzzle is a safe. Solvers must reveal its contents using four dials, applying each to a quarter of the clues. Dial by dial in clue order, certain letters give a property of 23 cells to be highlighted:
Dial 1 clues: extra letter indicated by wordplay
Dial 2 clues: first letter of an extra word
Dial 3 clues: letter omitted by wordplay
Dial 4 clues (normal): clue’s first letter
There has been considerable ingenuity from setters in the Genius series in recent months. Last month we had the 3D puzzle from Pangakupu, and in April we had the two-stage puzzle from KGB. This puzzle had hidden depths. First, it was necessary to solve and classify the clues. It wasn’t always obvious which category any particular clue belonged to, and my initial list of letters comprising the four dials gave a somewhat garbled message. I have set out below a list of the clues classified by dial, with the key letters spelled out. Eventually, with some reverse engineering, the message became clear: CONTAINS AMELETTE RASTODAY SCRYPTIC. Adjusting the spacing, this reads: CONTAIN SAME LETTER AS TODAY’S CRYPTIC.
The Genius is always published on the first Monday of the month; the Guardian Cryptic for Monday 6 July was by a new setter, Caius, instead of Vulcan as had been expected. It transpired that this was not a coincidence, and indeed I suspect that Caius and Soup are one and the same. I hadn’t solved that puzzle but downloaded the grid and proceeded (with help from Eileen’s blog) to fill it in. My first thought was that perhaps both puzzles used exactly the same letters, but that wasn’t the case. It then occurred to me to overlay one grid on the other and see whether there were any duplications. Given that the two puzzles used different grids, there were not too many pairs of cells to check, and a pattern (shown highlighted in the grid below) began to appear. The following items, which might be concealed in a safe, emerged: DAGGER, FAKE ID, DIAMOND RING.
Dial 1 clues (extra letter indicated by wordplay):
11 ac: C
25 ac: O
28 ac: N
31 ac: T
2 dn: A
8 dn: I
20 dn: N
24 dn: S
Dial 2 clues (first letter of an extra word):
1 ac: A
13 ac: M
21 ac: E
29 ac: L
1 dn: E
9 dn: T
16 dn: T
22 dn: E
Dial 3 clues (letter omitted by wordplay):
5 ac: R
12 ac: A
15 ac: S
19 ac: T
6 dn: O
7 dn: D
18 dn: A
23 dn: Y
Dial 4 clues (normal – clue’s first letter):
10 ac: S
14 ac: C
27 ac: R
30 ac: Y
3 dn: P
4 dn: T
17 dn: I
26 dn: C
Many congratulations to Soup on coming up with what seems like a completely novel puzzle and also executing it so well.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HOLOGRAM |
Almost limitlessly whole, with zero mass, as is Arnold Rimmer (8)
|
| (w)HOL(e) 0 GRAM (zero mass). A Dial 2 clue, with Almost being the extra word. For those unfamiliar with the name, it’s a reference to the cult BBC sci-fi comedy, Red Dwarf. | ||
| 5 | RAFFIA |
Fellow welcomed by criminals lacking basis of moral fibre (6)
|
| F(ellow) inside (m)AFIA. This is a Dial 3 clue, with the initial R omitted by the wordplay. I wasn’t entirely happy with “basis of moral” being used to indicate the initial “m” which is discarded. | ||
| 10 | MANGANESE |
Style of art seen after sculpting metal (9)
|
| MANGA (style of art) *SEEN. A Dial 4 (normal) clue. | ||
| 11 | RACKS |
Rents shelves (5)
|
| (c)RACKS (rents). A Dial 1 type of clue, with the wordplay indicating the extra C. | ||
| 12 | EATABLE |
In the end, people want a kebab which’ll be possible to swallow (7)
|
| Last (“in the end”) letters of peoplE wanT A kebaB which’lL bE, with an extra A omitted from the wordplay. A Dial 3 clue. | ||
| 13 | TRODDEN |
Trampled and thumped mercilessly in the head by two short men (7)
|
| T(humped) ROD DEN (two short men). The extra word to be omitted is “mercilessly”. | ||
| 14 | DIOXIDE |
Chinese No. 1 visiting electronic component compound (7)
|
| XI (Chinese Premier Xi Jinping) inside DIODE (electronic component). A normal clue. | ||
| 15 | SINGED |
Burned some King Edwards (6)
|
| Hidden in King Edwards; the initial S is omitted in the wordplay. | ||
| 19 | HERETO |
Steel core in lead casing for this object (6)
|
| ET (core of stEel) inside HERO (lead); the T is omitted by the wordplay. | ||
| 21 | DALLIED |
Employer wasted time, passed over everyone (7)
|
| ALL (everyone) inside DIED (passed). “Employer” is the extra word. | ||
| 25 | DESTROY |
__ __ exemplify ‘ruin’? (7)
|
| You have to fill in the blanks to read “Does Troy exemplify ruin”? The O in “does” is the extra letter. | ||
| 27 | AMNESIA |
Remembering a name is tricky with this! (7)
|
| *(A NAME IS). If not an & lit, then at least a semi-& lit. | ||
| 28 | SERAI |
Bad weather in Kent caravan site (5)
|
| SE (South-East, or Kent) RAI(n) (bad weather). The final “n” is the extra letter. | ||
| 29 | OUTNUMBER |
Have more than one rum – but long, not neat (9)
|
| *(ONE RUM BUT). “Long” is the extra word. | ||
| 30 | ADAGES |
Years after Christ’s birth, wise men discovered Proverbs (6)
|
| AD (years after Christ’s birth) (s)AGES (wise men). I thought that “discovered” implied removing letters from both ends of the word, but in fact here it refers only to the initial letter, making this a normal clue. | ||
| 31 | RANDIEST |
Psychic debunker with screen turned on to max (8)
|
| (James) RANDI (famous debunker of fake psychics) (t)EST (screen). The first T in “test” is the extra letter. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HUMMED |
Stuck moving forward at first, eventually was busily active (6)
|
| GUMMED (stuck) with the first letter (“at first”) moving forward from G to H. “Eventually” is the extra word. | ||
| 2 | LENGTHIER |
Boiling heat? Linger, taking more time (9)
|
| *(HEAT LINGER) with A being the extra letter. | ||
| 3 | GEARBOX |
Punch with seething rage on top part of car (7)
|
| *RAGE, BOX (punch). A normal clue. | ||
| 4 | AXE-HEADS |
Tools to dispose of board (3-5)
|
| A simple charade: AXE (dispose of) HEADS (board). Another normal clue. | ||
| 6 | A PRIORI |
A perfectly reasonable, intrinsically rational inference – from what goes before? (1,6)
|
| Initial letters, with the O being the omitted letter. | ||
| 7 | FACED |
Stood opposite transport café (5)
|
| *CAFE, with D being the letter omitted by the wordplay. | ||
| 8 | ARSENIDE |
Get up, Ed – and, in getting up, reveal poison (8)
|
| AR(i)SE, IN ED (rev – “getting up” in a down clue). The “i” in “arise” is the extra letter. | ||
| 9 | LENTO |
Fast trumpet concerto’s closing slow passage (5)
|
| LENT (fast) (concert)O. “Trumpet” is the extra word. | ||
| 16 | GUESSABLE |
Beau’s legs toned with exercise – no working out needed (9)
|
| *(BEAUS LEGS). “Toned” is the extra word. | ||
| 17 | RHODESIA |
I advanced to south of island in Ian Smith’s land (8)
|
| RHODES (island) followed by I A(dvanced). A normal clue. | ||
| 18 | HAMARTIA |
Travelling up Great North Road by electric vehicle, husband exhibits fatal flaw (8)
|
| H(usband), A1 (Great North Road) TRAM (electric vehicle) (all rev). This was perhaps the most (or only) obscure word in the puzzle. The second A is the letter omitted by the wordplay. | ||
| 20 | TERMITE |
Bird, arachnid and insect (7)
|
| TER(n) (bird), MITE (arachnid). The “n” is the extra letter. | ||
| 22 | LANGUID |
Generation eschewed speech, inward, vacuous, emotionless and lazy (7)
|
| AGE (generation) removed from LANGU(age), ID (InwarD – empty or vacuous). “Emotionless” is the extra word. | ||
| 23 | NYLON |
Thread evenly uncoiling from the end (5)
|
| Alternate (“evenly”) letters in uNcOiLiNg, reversed (“from the end”) with the Y being the letter omitted by the wordplay. | ||
| 24 | CARROT |
They transport compost: it’s dug into the soil (6)
|
| CAR(s) “they transport” ROT (compost); the root of the carrot digs in to the soil. The “s” in “cars” is the extra letter indicated by ther wordplay. | ||
| 26 | SYRIA |
Country east of Cyprus, bright and open to the north (5)
|
| (cypru)S (east, or right-hand side of Cyprus), AIRY (bright and open, rev (to the north in a down clue)). A normal clue. |
Thanks Soup and bridgesong.
After much effort I had: CONTAIN S (gibberish) DAYS CRYPTIC.
Only after adding “23cells” as subject to the phrase, I determined it is CONTAIN and S belonged to the next word. Quickly checked the few of the previous week’s puzzles and came up with nothing. Then it had to be today’s, I figured, and looked at Caius puzzle of the same day.
That for so long (until Thursday) the phrase could not be formed because of incorrect selection of letters for Dials 2 and 3, just meant that I had incorrect parsing though the grid was filled (quite shameful).
Then patient comparison of the two grids, yielded the 23 letters – the contents of the safe. Quite satisfying.
I think Caius is none other than Soup himself; it is ironic that Vulcan had to be bumped that day – a setter who also sets as Imogen. Now Soup has two avatars, like Imogen?