EV1646
Borderline by Vagans
Setter’s Blog
The solution to this crossword was published on 20th June. What follows is a belated setter’s blog, apologies to Vagans for not publishing it originally
Extra letters give SHADE NATIONAL BORDER, TWO NAMES AND SYMBOLS. OFFA’S DYKE and WYE separate CYMRU (LEEK) and ENGLAND (ROSE); three words of Welsh origin are located appropriately.
Setter’s Blog
When I retired we moved to Hereford, where Offa’s Dyke gives way to the Wye as one version of the Welsh/English border. Academically I have been writing about how moveable the border was (parts of Hereford Diocese were fully Welsh-speaking until quite recently) and how a Borderland is a better term anyway, as patterns of belonging and jurisdiction overlapped and changed, with the idea of fixed BORDER being a rather modern construction.
You can’t put all of that into a crossword puzzle, but when I saw that OFFAS DYKE and WYE made 15 letters, I had to have a go at one with them running down the centre. At first I was going to have DRAGON and LION in the two halves and ask you to draw them, or perhaps the national flags, but wiser counsel prevailed and I settled for a LEEK and a ROSE. Perhaps some solver will have added an illustration…
Putting the names of the two countries in the outer columns was also an early intention, and the linguist in me felt it had to be CYMRU not WALES, even if Chambers doesn’t include it directly. And then I got carried away and thought that all the words in the leftmost column should be Welsh as well, though in Chambers this time, hence CAM and HWYL.
And that was it really. Not too hard a solve I hope, and do come and find out how wonderful Hereford and the Wye are soon.
Vagans
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A full review of this puzzle can be found here: Enigmatic Variations No.1646 – Borderline by Vagans – Fifteensquared