I’m surprised to see that this is only the seventh Listener crossword set by Augeas, and that we haven’t solved one of his for seven years.Although we are warned that there are two devices in play, extra letters to be extracted from wordplay that will spell out a three-word quotation, (these, intriguingly produced in clues whose numbers are a prime, a square, or a cube) and extra words in ‘most’ of the other clues, whose middle letters will give us the name of the originator of the quotation, this preamble is not too daunting. The three-word quotation will explain the make-up of four unclued lights that we soon see are symmetrically placed.
A final instruction: ‘One unchecked cell could logically contain either of two letters; both must be entered’. (After solving, I wondered whether this was needed to resolve a potential ambiguity – maybe spotted by the compiler’s test-solvers or one of the editors – perhaps Augeas will tell us.)
Lovely clues! Some answers like USER, SIKA, EYRAS, CLOSET, SYNCHRO, went in quickly and helped us to spot the more obscure words IDWAL indeed, for ‘In heart of Snowdonia a lake covering base of cwm (5). The letters in my grid suggested IDWAL but I needed co-solver Wiki to explain that word. The same with CANDY-STRIPER. My American offspring are staying with me at the moment but had no idea that ‘a volunteer in a US hospital wears red and white striped uniform!’ Pretty obscure for us! Not so with the lovely clue ‘Augeas is out of date when further progress is impossible (7)’. I’M PASSÉ. No, Augeas. I’m sure you have many entertaining years of Listener setting ahead and can retain your Listener oenophile status with ‘Doctor ordered latte splits made with barley (6)’ We put MD around ALTE t give MALTED (Glasses raised. Cheers!) and retained one T of LATTE for the message which gently appeared: FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION.
Whom are we quoting? The central letters of ALL-IN, COHORTS, ADJUSTS, TWICE, ARISTOS, BUSHY, INJURED, CELLS, VILLAGE, NOISY, NOVEL, SUAVE and IONIC spell LOUIS SULLIVAN.
So do we now have to find some complicated architectural terms that are ‘Not in Chambers’ to complete those four rather strange unclued lights?
Co-solver Wiki tells me ‘The phrase “form follows function” was coined by the American architect Louis Sullivan in 1896 in his essay The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered. Sullivan, often referred to as the “father of skyscrapers,” believed that a building’s form should be dictated by its function rather than decorative embellishments. His philosophy was rooted in a desire to create a distinctly American architectural identity, moving away from European historical styles.
No. No desperate head-scratching. Augeas has entertainingly given us four mathematical functions (OK, five, COS and COT had to have a shared cell) and four forms folowing CLASS, BENCH, SHAPE and ORDER. What an amusing endgame. Thanks Augeas.