Vismut sets our challenge this week with a puzzle entitled English Translator.
The preamble was fearsome and said the clues are listed in alphabetical order of their answers and must be entered into the grid where they will fit. One clue, for a language resembling English, consists of wordplay only. Some grid entries have a specific linker occupying a cell, some appear (as is conventional) without it. In normal clue order, the first and last letter of each clue for entries with the linker and the first two and last two letters of each clue whose answer is input without it, form two columns. The first column hints at the thematic name to be highlighted, after the contents of two cells have been changed in the completed grid, the second at what else solvers must highlight (3 & 6). Enumerations are for lengths of grid entries. The singular form of one answer is in Chambers; its plural is justified by Chambers Word Wizard.
I didn’t really understand the preamble until I finished the blog. While solving, I kept changing my mind about what the instructions meant about taking letters from the clues. I also confused myself by coming across references to TITHE BARN and TOENAIL having hyphens, so I tried to include letters from their clues into the endgame before I realised these two entries did not play any part.
The linker was a hyphen, which I first deduced from the O-RING clue. For a time, I thought we were being asked to create two two-column tables: one for hyphenated entries where the hyphen was entered in the grid, and one for the remaining four hyphenated entries where the hyphen was not. Omitting the hyphen is the conventional form of entry for hyphenated words into the grid.
My first attempt at finding the messages therefore generated two tables:
1. Entered with hyphen
| Clue number | Entry | First clue letter | Last clue letter |
| 3a | FLOW-MATIC | G | T |
| 15a | O-RING | R | W |
| 34a | RE-ENTER | D | O |
| 43a | PULZA-OILS | C | I |
2. Entered without hyphen
| Clue number | Entry | First two clue letters | Last two clue letters |
| 22a | I-BEAM | AN | OC |
| 38a | SALLEE-MAN | MA | MP |
| 12d | DE-ICES | OB | LE |
| 29d | BUST-UP | OL | RS |
Reading down these columns generated no messages, so I was stuck for ideas at this point.
However, the penny-drop moment came when I researched FLOW-MATIC after noting that it was formed from wordplay alone. I learned that FLOW-MATIC was the first computer language to use English-language commands rather than alphanumeric commands, where the alpha elements did not always represent normal English words. This fitted with the preamble’s reference to ‘a language resembling English’. I also learned that GRACE HOPPER drove the development of FLOW-MATIC and contributed significantly to the development of the COBOL computer language. Further reading showed that HOPPER was nicknamed GRANDMA COBOL.
Looking at the two first columns in the tables above, I realised that the two tables could be combined to display GRANDMA COBOL reading down column 1. Furthermore, the arrangement put all entries in normal clue order, as follows:
| Clue number | Entry | Beginning clue letters | Ending clue letters |
| 1a | FLOW-MATIC | G | T |
| 15a | O-RING | R | W |
| 22a | I-BEAM | AN | OC |
| 34a | RE-ENTER | D | O |
| 38a | SALLEE-MAN | MA | MP |
| 43a | PULZA-OILS | C | I |
| 12d | DE-ICES | OB | LE |
| 29d | BUST-UP | OL | RS |
The two columns read downwards as GRANDMA COBOL and TWO COMPILERS
At this stage, the jigsaw-filled grid looked like this:
The preamble told us that the column 1 message hinted at a name to be highlighted after two changes to the grid. A quick study of the grid showed that GRACE HOPPER could be highlighted running diagonally NW-SE from the G in row 2 column 1 to the R in row 12 column 12, if the hyphens in O-RING and RE-ENTER were changed to A and E respectively. These changes gave us the real words OARING and REPENTER instead of O-RING and RE-ENTER.
The second column, TWO COMPILERS, led to the final highlighting of A-0 in the bottom row. GRACE HOPPER developed the A-0 System in 1951–1952 as an early form of a COMPILER for the UNIVAC I computer, while working at Remington Rand. A COMPILER is a program that translates each high-level-language instruction into several machine-code instructions to produce a new program that can be executed rapidly and independently.
To highlight the second COMPILER, we had to shift from the early days of computers to present-day crossword setters or COMPILERs. In column 13 we can see VISMUT, the compiler of this crossword.
In hindsight, I can see that the preamble clearly told us what we had to do to complete the endgame. I just failed to read it properly and jumped to the wrong interpretation for a while.
I thought the clues were excellent and pitched at the right level for a jigsaw. There is no doubt that knowledge of the first letter of an answer, or knowing the first letter is one of just two or three possibilities, is a great help to the cold solving of clues. I got my entry into the grid through the two intersecting pairs of 3-letter entries, GAU/FUR and RID/MRS and their relationship to other answers I already had.
It wasn’t until I filled the grid that I noticed that the four hyphens each appeared in an unchecked cells. I was expecting a couple of hyphenated entries to intersect at a hyphen.
Thanks to Vismut for an entertaining challenge.
| No | Detail |
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French cast down wild acorns taken from Arab at Tucson (6) ABATTU (a French word, in Chambers, meaning ‘cast down or dejected’ AraB AT TUscon excluding (taken from) an anagram of (wild) ACORNS ABATTU |
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Anonymous gossip is about Wimbledon champion (6) AGASSI (reference former Wimbledon champion Andre AGASSI [born 1970], American tennis player) A (anonymous) + GAS (gossip) + IS reversed (ABout) A GAS SI< |
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Before deciding Belgium’s lost in Arabic culture (9) ARREEDING (obsolete [before] word for ‘deciding’) AR (Arabic) + bREEDING (culture) excluding (lost) B (international vehicle registration for Belgium) AR REEDING |
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African people ban manipulation of toes (7) BAROTSE (member of an African people living mainly in Zambia) BAR (ban) + an anagram of (manipulation of) TOES BAR OTSE* |
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One Tooting ale holds record (6) BEEPER (a person who toots; one tooting) BEER (ale) containing (holding) EP (extended play record) BE (EP) ER |
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First off Barry Sheen misread dancing system (6) BENESH (a system of notation for detailing movements in dancing, introduced in 1955 by Joan and Rudolf BENESH) B (initial letter of [first off] Barry) + an anagram of (misread) SHEEN) B ENESH* |
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Old exiting transport explained windward end for rowers (6) BUST-UP (outcome of a row; end for rowers) (BUS [form of transport] + Told [explained] excluding [exiting] OLD) + UP (towards the wind; windward) BUS T UP – entered without the hyphen [linker] |
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Oddly cream cups make tree (6) CEMBRA (a large Swiss pine tree) CEMBRA (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of CrEaM) + BRA (an item of clothing with cups) C E M BRA |
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A COVID hell, not very funny, like a scar (9) CHELOIDAL (descriptive of scar tissue; of a scar) Anagram of (funny) A COvID HELL excluding (not) V (very) CHELOIDAL* |
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Observe daughter going around Channel Islands getting up – scrapes frost from vehicle? (6) DE-ICES (scrapes frost from vehicle) ([SEE {observe} + D {daughter]} containing [going around] CI [Channel Islands]) all reversed (getting up – this is a down entry in the grid, so getting up is a valid reversal entry) (D E (IC) ES)< – entered without the hyphen [linker] |
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Smell Henry coming back in outskirts of Delhi to get past washerman (5) DHOBI (in India, Malaysia, East Africa etc, a former [past] term for a washerman) (H [henry, derived SI unit of inductance] + BO [body odour; smell] reversed [coming back]) contained in (in) DI (outer letters of [outskirts of] DelhI) D (H OB<) I |
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Spanish peso obtaining first piece of yellow fabric once (5) DUROY (obsolete [once] word for a type of fabric) DURO (a Spanish peso) + Y (initial letter of [first piece of] Yellow) DURO Y |
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Consuming broad beans causes this energy in family (6) FAVISM (an acute type of anaemia in which haemolysis is precipitated by contact with broad beans by ingestion or pollen-inhalation; consuming broad beans causes this) VIS (force, power, energy) contained in (in) FAM (family) FA (VIS) M |
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Glum after foxtrot, power lacking in dancing impact (10) FLOW-MATIC – this is the clue, referenced in the preamble, consisting of wordplay only. FLOW-MATIC was the first English-like [language like English] data processing language, developed between 1955 and 1959 by Grace Hopper at Remington Rand for the UNIVAC I. F (Foxtrot is the international radio communication codeword for the letter F) + LOW (sad, glum) + an anagram of (dancing) IMpACT F LOW – MATIC* – entered with the hyphen [linker] |
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Cardinal pushing out egg in fine hair (3) FUR (fine hair) FoUR (a cardinal number) excluding (pushing out) O (an egg-shaped character) FUR |
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British squashed bug returning across Austria’s ancient German district (3) GAU (a territorial district of ancient Germany) bUG excluding (squashed) B (British) reversed (returning) and containing (across) A (international vehicle registration for Austria) G (A) U< |
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Non-uniform estimates including nothing for painting surfaces (7) GESSOES (plaster surfaces prepared as grounds for painting) GuESSES (estimates) excluding (non-) U (Uniform is the international radio communication codeword for the letter U) containing (including) O (character representing zero or nothing) GESS (O) ES |
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African/Syrian rue hurt like that (7) HARMALA (the so-called African or Syrian rue of the bean caper family) HARM (hurt) + À LA (like that) HARM A LA |
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List‘s uncovered revolutionary items (4) HEEL (lean, list) wHEELs (objects that turn; revolutionary items) excluding the outer letters (uncovered) W and S HEEL |
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An appropriately shaped cursor‘s insertion to describe a Medoc (5) I-BEAM (an I-shaped cursor on a computer screen; appropriately shaped cursor) I-BEAM (hidden word in [insertion to] descrIBE A Medoc) I-BEAM – entered without the hyphen [linker] |
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Concerning party inside city in India (6) INDORE (city in India) DO (party) contained in (inside) IN RE (in the matter of; concerning) IN (DO) RE |
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Current tangled hose length ultimately makes lines snowing equal amounts of sunshine (7) ISOHELS (contour lines of equal amounts of sunshine) I (electric current) + an anagram of (tangled) HOSE + L (length) + S (last letter of [ultimately] makeS) I SOHE* L S |
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Colour for Will‘s oven (4) LEER (Shakespearean [Will’s] word for complexion or colour) LEER (a glass annealing oven) double definition LEER |
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Look at every other bit of clue for lion (3) LEO (the lion constellation) LEO (letters 2, 4 and 6 [every other] of cLuE fOr LEO |
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Averages with reference to a falling criminal intent (7, 2 words) MENS REA (legal term meaning criminal intent) MEANS (averages) + RE (with reference to) with the A moving down (falling) within what is a down entry in the final grid to form MENS REA MENS REA |
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After Australian and Tina are scratched Navratilova’s taken women’s title (3) MRS (a woman’s title) MaRtina‘S (reference Martina Navratilova [born 1956], former tennis player) excluding (are scratched) (A [Australian] and TINA) MRS |
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Zero woods cut with ancient Greek bits (5) OBOLS (in ancient Greece, the sixth parts of a drachma in weights or in money; ancient Greek bits) O (character representing zero) + BOwLS (woods used in lawn bowls) excluding (cut) W (with) O BOLS |
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Hums from empty orchard belonging to us (6) ODOURS (smells; hums) OD (letters remaining in OrcharD after the central letters rchar are removed [empty]) + OURS (belonging to us) OD OURS |
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Round item to stop oil leaking from drilling, not the first to blow (6) O-RING (a toroidal ring, usu of circular cross-section, used eg as an air or oil seal) bORING (drilling) excluding (not) B (initial letter of [first to] Blow) O-RING – entered with the hyphen [linker] |
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Gilt ware from new room, 50% of fortune (6) ORMOLU (gilt or bronzed metallic ware) Anagram of (new) ROOM + LU (first two letters of the four [50%] letters in LUck [good fortune]) ORMO* LU |
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Large male in charge of smells (5) OSMIC (relating to smells) OS (outsize; large) + M (male) + I/C (in charge) OS M IC |
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Local possessed finished go-cart when vehicle’s stolen (7) OVERGOT (dialect [local] word meaning possessed [the mind of]) OVER (finished) + GO–carT excluding (when … stolen) CAR (vehicle) OVER GOT |
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Lower parts of body by popular ditch in the Fens (7) PERINEA (the lower parts of the body between the genital organs and the anus) PER (by) + IN (popular) + EA (drainage channel or ditch in The Fens) PER IN EA |
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Cleansers from physic-nut, mixed lapis-lazuli and oxygen knocking out poor Ali (10) PULZA-OILS (oils/cleansers obtained from physic-nut seeds) Anagram (mixed) of LAPIS LaZUli and O (chemical symbol for oxygen) excluding (knocking out) an anagram of (poor) ALI PULZA-OILS* – entered with the hyphen [linker] |
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Dig deeper in engraving letter framing third piece of fresco (8) RE-ENTER (in engraving, cut or dig deeper) RENTER (someone who lets a house; letter) containing (framing) E (third letter of [third piece of] frEsco) RE (E) NTER |
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Free papers chasing losing American rear admiral (3) RID (free) RA (Rear Admiral) excluding (leaving) A (American) + ID ([identity] papers) R ID |
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Qualified for governing true old fables, all laid bare (7) RULABLE (governable; qualified for governing) RU + L + ABLE (letters remaining in each of [all] tRUe, oLd and fABLEs after the outer letters are removed [laid bare]) RU L ABLE |
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Marauder at sea, Heartless Devil, guarding lee beam regularly carrying top of lamp (9) SALLEE-MAN (Moorish pirate ship; marauder at sea) SAtAN (Devil) excluding the central letter T (heartless) containing (guarding) (LLEM [letters 1, 3, 5 and 7 [regularly] containing [carrying] L [first letter of {top of} Lamp]) SA (L (L) EE M) AN – entered without the hyphen [linker] |
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Closes ranks and forces right for wrong (5) SERRS (closes the ranks of) SERviceS (armed forces) with R [right] replacing [for] VICE [a wrong] to form SERRS SERRS |
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No hot pies put back missing base or way to draw off liquid (6) SIPHON (draw off liquid) NO Hot PIeS excluding missing (E [base of natural logarithms] and TO) then reversed (put back) to form SIPHON SIPHON< |
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Worker in plaster when firm gets into random recuts (8) STUCCOER (worker in plaster) CO (company) contained in (gets into) an anagram of (random) RECUTS STUC (CO) ER* |
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Church gathering shed metal around the pub (9, 2 words) TITHE BARN (a shed built to hold tithes paid in kind to the church; church gathering shed) TIN (a metal) containing (around) (THE + BAR [pub]) TI (THE BAR) N |
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Digital protection for unfinished ENIAC in production line (7) TOENAIL (a protection for a body digit [TOE]) TO (for) + an anagram of (in production) ENIAc excluding the final letter C (unfinished) + L (line) TO ENAI* L |
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Hot tear after tense Murray’s last point (6) TRENDY (currently popular; hot) T (tense) + REND (tear) + Y (final letter of [‘s last] murraY) T REND Y |
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Once Scottish match a roll of banknotes maybe (3) WAD (old [once] Scottish word for WED [join in marriage; match] WAD (word to refer to a roll of banknotes) double definition WAD |
Most enjoyable and rather up my street as a long-time writer of computer programs, though never in COBOL. I’m usually nervous about getting started with jigsaws, but FLOW-MATIC was revealing since it would go only in the top row and led straight to GRACE HOPPER, whose likely presence in a diagonal soon emerged. I had some trouble with the two-column message because I thought of OVERGOT and TITHE BARN as hyphenated (I shouldn’t have in the second case because the clue said “2 words”. A-0 was nicely placed and I laughed out loud on seeing Vismut’s sneaky self-insertion. Many thanks to Vismut and duncanshiell.
After last week, this felt like a return to more typical Inquisitor fare, illuminating an important but lesser-known (to me) historical figure. I managed to sort out the columns without too much difficulty, but spent a bit of time researching early compilers to accompany A-O before taking a step back and thinking more imaginatively. I never parsed OBOLS, being fixated on the idea that there must be an alternative spelling for BALSA with an O; Duncan’s version is obviously correct. A very enjoyable solve; thanks to Vismut and Duncan.
I was aware of Grace Hopper (she’s perhaps better known for her discovery of a moth trapped in her computer, which lead to the popularisation of ‘bug’ as a computing term). It was nice to learn more detail about her though, even if I did fail completely to find A-O (not having realised its significance – I didn’t read up enough, obviously!)
I also failed to parse Oboli, like Sagittarius getting slightly stuck on a possible alternative spelling of balsa.
Thanks to Vismut and to Duncan.
I wasn’t sure which were the words that deserved hyphens (toe-nail?), and the four with linkers hadn’t offered an encouraging set of letters, so I cut my losses after spotting Ms Hopper. Did better than last week, though. Thanks to Vismut (quite cool to ‘sign’ your work) and Duncan
I realise that after last week’s comment I may come across as sour-graped but this was for me yet another Inqy where the preamble instructions were just too vague/ambiguous to enable full decryption of the endgame unless – as with the above commenters – you already had an idea of what it’s about
The blog says:
“Looking at the two first columns in the tables above, I realised that the two tables could be combined to display GRANDMA COBOL reading down column 1. Furthermore, the arrangement put all entries in normal clue order, as follows”
That says it all – the wording of the preamble re the ‘first and last letters’ could be read in so many different ways that the key would only emerge if you actually had an idea what you were looking for in the first place.
Can we have clear preambles and less telepathy please?!