Inquisitor 1975: Country Profile by Phi
Apologies for the lateness of the blog. Our power went out about two minutes after cooking dinner and didn’t come back on until ten minutes after I went to bed.
Five entries are thematic; only one is by chance in Chambers. The clues to these entries are to five other words. In the initially completed grid, solvers will find a thematic name at the unclued 25a. This name must be replaced by one of his most famous creations (2 words) creating five new words, as given by the five clues to the thematic entries. The sixth component of the theme (in the original) should be written below the grid. Enumerations refer to space available in the grid.
I found this quite tough as some of the clues had no intention of submitting easily. In the end I had to consult with my fellow IQ bloggers, especially HolyGhost. I was confused (and to be honest, I still am) about “The clues to these entries are to five other words.” Anyway, eventually I had most letters in 25a filled in and a few searches here and there led me to SMETANA. Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer. One of his best known pieces is Má vlast (My Fatherland).
My classical music knowledge is limited, so it’s no surprise that I’ve never heard of this guy or, indeed, any of his compositions.
Má vlast consists of six pieces:
| # |
Piece |
Location in crossword |
| 1 | Vyšehrad (The High Castle) | 5 across |
| 2 | Vltava (The Moldau) | 11 across |
| 3 | Šárka, named after a legendary female warrior | 18 across |
| 4 | Z českých luhů a hájů (From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields) | To be written below grid |
| 5 | Tábor, a town in South Bohemia | 36 across |
| 6 | Blaník, a mountain | 29 down |
I noticed that SMETANA and MA VLAST were the same number of letters, substituting one for the other left real words in the intersecting down answers, as follows:
| Grid entry |
Original |
Replacement |
Clued at |
| 4 down | SANCTUS | SANCTUM | 29 down |
| 13 down | CHARMS | CHARAS | 11 across |
| 17 down | MEATMAN | MEALMAN | 5 across |
| 22 down | INLAND | ISLAND | 36 across |
| 26 down | ARIPPLE | TRIPPLE | 18 across |
I found the above substitutions, and their clues, a little confusing but I’m sure it was just me being thick. (“Nothing new there”, I hear my family crying)
Quite a clever puzzle that caused much head scratching. I don’t really understand the title, though. Many thanks to Phi.
| Clue | Entry | Wordplay | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Across | ||||
| 1 Porky pies not half involved in award from honours system (5) | OBESE | OBE (award) around [pi]ES (half of) | ||
| 5 Shortage of charity seen in stingy old grain-supplier (8) | VYSEHRAD (MEAL-MAN 17d) |
MEAN (stingy) around ALM[s] (charity; cut short) | ||
| 11 Charles will have a King boarding tourist coaches (6) | VLTAVA (CHARAS 13d) |
CHAS (Charles) around A+R (king) | ||
| 12 Ancient harp? Essence of such is used in dance (7) | SAMBUCA | SAMBA (dance) around [s]UC[h] (essence of) | ||
| 14 Tree in Scottish valley with a lot of heather in front (6) | LINDEN | LIN[g] (heather; a lot of)+DEN (Scottish valley) | ||
| 15 Unprofessional line taken by a current Conservative (4) | LAIC | Line+A+I (current)+Conservative | ||
| 16 Poet’s in here, maybe, after contents cleared (4) | HEME | H[er]E M[ayb]E (contents cleared) | ||
| 18 Stumble over mound, abandoning one canter in the veld (5) | SARKA (TRIPPLE 18a) |
TRIP (stumble) around P[i]LE (mound; minus I) | ||
| 19 Presentation aid excellent, used by gallery (7) | ACETATE | ACE (excellent)+TATE (gallery) | ||
| 20 Intend retracting, in the wrong about apes (6) | SIMIAN | SIN (wrong) around AIM (intend; rev: retracting) | ||
| 21 Old form of ‘you’ allowing Texan modern form of ‘you’ (4) | THOU | I just can’t work this one out | ||
| 22 Is conveying King and Knight collecting old religious images (5) | IKONS | IS around King On N (knight in chess notation) | ||
| 25 See preamble | SMETANA | |||
| 28 Principles Master dismissed in exams (5) | ORALS | [m]ORALS (principles; minus Master) | ||
| 31 Hopper situated around rear of car ferry (4) | RO-RO | ROO (hopper) around [ca]R (rear of) | ||
| 33 Assessed by the thousand, millions in danger (6, 2 words) | PER MIL | PERIL (danger) around Millions | ||
| 35 Antiquated lifts excellent in strong positions (7) | ARAISES | ARSES (strong positions) around A! (excellent) | ||
| 36 Marine location in Germany filled with a lot of mud (5) | TABOR (ISLAND 22d) |
IN+D (Germany) around SLA[b] (mud) | ||
| 37 Fool returned articles showing failure to understand as before (4) | ANAN | NANA (fool; rev: returned) (I’m not sure what “articles” is doing, other than it’s AN twice) |
||
| 38 Additional fabric being trimmed (4) | PLUS | PLUS[h] (fabric; trimmed) | ||
| 40 Bar room, part of theatre, occupied by a Parisian (6) | LOUNGE | LOGE (part of theatre) around UN (a in French) | ||
| 41 What suits woman with no time for reflection? Acanthus (7) | RUELLIA | [t]AILLEUR (minus Time; rev: for reflection) | ||
| 42 Matches putting off foremost supporters (6) | ALLIES | [t]ALLIES (matches minus first letter) | ||
| 43 Special source of rain to hint at shower (8) | SPRINKLE | SPecial+R[ain] (source of)+INKLE (to hint at) | ||
| 44 Ultimate requirements for when the computer turned useless? (5) | NERDS | [whe]N [th]E [compute]R [turne]D [useles]S I think this is &lit. but as I’ve said before, I never really understand them |
||
| Down | ||||
| 1 Graduate embracing University lecturer – set the stage for procreation? (7) | OVULATE | OVATE (graduate) around University Lecturer | ||
| 2 Make pale line in the sand? (6) | BLEACH | BEACH (sand) around Line | ||
| 3 Case is quite complicated, without question (4) | ETUI | [q]UITE (minus Question; anag: complicated) | ||
| 4 Hymn, note, used in prayer in South America (7) | SANCTUS | Note inside ACT (prayer) inside South US (America) | ||
| 5 Athletic man taking lead in dance (6) | VALETA | VALET (man)+Athletic | ||
| 6 When upset, home is most sensible (6) | SANEST | AS (rev: upset)+NEST (home) | ||
| 7 Hot ray from Sun doing for building support (5) | H-BEAM | Hot+BEAM (ray from Sun) | ||
| 8 Small person going round carnival city is to go wild (7, 2 words) | RUN RIOT | RUNT (small person) around RIO de Janero (carnival city) | ||
| 9 Indian dress account Knight put in name of German? (7) | ACHKANS | ACcount+HANS (a German name) around Knight | ||
| 10 Fellow brought in wretched climbing mammals mentioned in the Bible (6) | DAMANS | SAD (wretched; rev: climbing) around MAN (fellow) | ||
| 13 Cocaine is damaging for more than a spell (6) | CHARMS | Cocaine+HARMS (is damaging) | ||
| 17 One forecasting welcoming a food salesperson (7) | MEAT-MAN | MET MAN (forecaster) around A | ||
| 22 Independent retaining network away from the coast (6) | INLAND | INDependent around LAN (network) | ||
| 23 Holiday more expensive, leading to divorce (7) | BREAK-UP | BREAK (holiday)+UP (more expensive) | ||
| 24 Conflict about abandoning obscure bird (7) | WARBLER | WAR (conflict)+BLE[a]R (minus About) | ||
| 26 Promoters of science in computer company making waves? (7) | ARIPPLE | APPLE (computer company) around RI (promoters of science) | ||
| 27 Hold attitudes Society always replicated (7) | POSSESS | POSES (attitudes) with both occurrences of S duplicated | ||
| 28 People choosing aircraft heading away (6) | OPTERS | [c]OPTERS (aircraft; minus first letter) | ||
| 29 Chief points about legislation involving new place for privacy (6) | BLANIK (SANCTUM 29d) |
SUM (chief points) around ACT (legislation) around New | ||
| 30 Grey sea repeatedly upheaving without singular sea-goddesses (6) | GRAEAE | GRey+[s]EA+[s]EA (repeatedly; minus all occurrences of S) | ||
| 32 Declined to abandon France, given a new life? (6) | REUSED | RE[f]USED (declined; minus France) | ||
| 34 Root vegetable, second with oil dressing (5) | MOOLI | MO (second)+OIL (anag: dressing) | ||
| 39 Retreat left one captured by soldiers turning up (4) | LAIR | Left+RA (soldiers; rev: turning up) around I (one) | ||
The clues to the entries are to the words created by the words created by amending SMETANA to MA VLAST
I thought this was excellent.
For 21a I had tho’ (American spelling of though = allowing Texan) followed by u (modern form of you).
It took me some time to realise that the amended words are also clued.
Many thanks Phi and Kenmac for the crossword and the blog.
I think the six pieces of Ma Vlast are collectively meant to give a musical panorama of Bohemia (as it was when Smetana wrote); hence the Country Profile title. 21A is THO (American form of Though, or allowing, plus U as modern text speak for You. I had ANAN as a triple definition (or, strictly, two sets of wordplay and one definition). I agree with Ken that this took a bit of time, but once SMETANA looked likely the remainder followed fairly quickly. I wonder if Phi considered cluing Z CESKYCH LUHU A HAJU. Thanks to Phi and Kenmac.
After I guessed ‘Smetana’ (with Sm…n.), it was actually a bit of a sprint: he was obviously going to become Ma Vlast, and its sections would explain the otherwise inexplicable messes in certain parts of the grid. I did pause in my sprint to notice the brilliance of construction: it may be a case where it’s easier for the solver to work out what needs doing, than for the setter to explain the task. I don’t get ‘nerds’ either. Thanks to Phi and Kenmac
I agree with kenmac that NERDS is an &lit. Reading the clue as wordplay gives the last letters. Reading it again as a definition I think the idea is that a nerd might be able to fix your computer when it goes wrong. The Chambers definition: “a clumsy, foolish, socially inept, feeble, unathletic, irritating or unprepossessing person, although often (eg in computers) knowledgeable”. Possibly not Phi’s finest ever clue.
I was another who spotted the name after getting M as the second letter of 25ac. My classic music knowledge is also limited though so needed the Wikipedia search to explain the VLT… in the NW corner.
I didn’t parse THOU but now you all have, I think it’s a great clue.
Thanks kenmac for the blog and to Phi for the interesting challenge.
NERDS is an andlit. The wordplay leads to the solution but the whole clue also defines the solution. Nothing more than that
It’s a case of “horses for courses”. I made a start at the top of the grid and, after getting about a dozen, it became clear that 5A was a theme entry and foreign. The PDM then came when I had VLT–A for 11A. Having cruised on this river through Prague some years ago and enjoyed the music celebrating its journey from the hills to the Elbe, I was able to pencil in at 25A the composer and his creation. The rest was, for a Phi puzzle, relatively plain sailing.
Thanks to Phi for another good one and to Ken for persevering with a subject unfamiliar to him.