EV 1676 (Hints) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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EV 1676 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1676 (Hints)

Snack Time by The Ace of Hearts

Hints and tips by Phibs

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A very happy New Year to all EV solvers. As of next Sunday, a new EV blogger will make their début, sharing duties with me on an alternating basis. I will let them introduce themselves when the time comes, but this is the moment to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the Numpties, who got these hints off the ground back in September 2020 with Chalicea’s The Beagle Has Landed (EV 1451), wrote all the blogs until June 2022, and then took turns with me until the end of last year – in the process covering something like 150 puzzles. Suffice to say that the existence of these hints is a direct result of their enthusiasm and effort.

As I work my way steadily but inexorably through the seasonal treats (no Twiglets this year – formerly a favourite, but now a pale shadow of their earlier selves, superseded in my affections by black pepper cashews and M&S Outrageously Chocolatey biscuits), I reckon that any time is snack time.

Chambers suggests that there are plenty of rather charming terms available for snacks. In the US weary hikers will nibble on some gorp, while their antipodean counterparts will pull out the scroggin. In Russia, a break for zakuska would be in order, while the Scots might enjoy a chack. The English will on occasion take a nacket, nocket, butty or snatch, but the word I’ve always liked is  ‘snap’, used by authors from DH Lawrence to George Eliot, the latter writing about “two hearty meals that might have been mistaken for dinners, if he had not declared them to be ‘snaps’.” Are any of these relevant to this puzzle? Only time will tell…

Preamble: One letter must be added to each clue to enable solving. In clue order these letters spell most of one definition (with three words abbreviated) of a hyphenated subhead (which could be called SNACK TIME) in Chambers Dictionary (2016), to be highlighted in the completed grid; the last four words are hidden in the completed grid and must also be highlighted.

A nice short preamble, which tells us that we’ll be looking in the grid for one of those Chambers entries that appears in slightly smaller type underneath a headword (eg clued-up under clue). The difficulty is going to result from those missing letters. You find when writing this sort of clue that it’s often a lot easier to accommodate the gimmick in the wordplay than in the definition, so we will need to be on the lookout for: (i) words which can be turned into a word with a single-letter abbreviation, eg TIE becoming TIME, extra letter M, contribution to answer T; and (ii) words which can be turned into cryptic indicators, eg LASTED becoming BLASTED, extra letter B, indicating an anagram. With type (ii) words, particularly when they are anagram indicators, you may find yourself getting the answer from the general ‘shape’ of the clue and then working out what the missing letter is.

Across

1a  Goat finally butting border authorities (4)
A single letter and a three-letter word combine to provide the answer, the relevant definition of which can be found in Chambers under its nominative form.

12a  Oho! The Parisian review of malignant trilobite genus (9)
We are looking at a type (i) word in this wordplay, where the largest chunk of the answer is provided by a ‘review’ (in the sense of ‘looking back’) of a word meaning ‘malignant’ or, perhaps more commonly, ‘morose’.

15a  Elly turned during Virginia dance (6)
It’s not hard to spot the word which needs to be enhanced, but there are a few possibilities for the new first letter. The right one gives a word which then leads to another word having the same meaning and pronunciation, but a different spelling and a separate entry in Chambers. No one will convince me that ‘during’ is a valid insertion indicator, but since even the Listener editors allow it, I need, as they say, to suck it up.

25a  Daughter to destroy scratching women’s garb in Australia (5)
Usually when a setter offers a qualified definition such as ‘beetle in Oz’ they are telling us that the answer is an Australian word for a beetle. But on occasion it works the other way round, the answer in fact being a standard English word which equates to an Australian meaning of the word ‘beetle’. For instance, ‘canny Scots’ could well indicate SKEELY, a Scots word for ‘skilful’ (a standard sense of ‘canny’), but it could also define LUCKY, which is a specifically Scottish meaning of the word ‘canny’ itself. Of course, if the key word is missing a letter, that makes things a little trickier.

27a  Hating to dress one flat gravestone (9)
The wordplay (not subject to modification) delivers elements of 3, 1 and 5 letters. The first is more familiar in the sense of ‘to give a new soundtrack’, while the last could also be indicated by ‘chart’.

30a  Moths snarl and curse heartlessly cavorting in prophetic state (12)
The tricky part of this wordplay is the three-letter element that starts it off, indicated by a word which must itself be determined by the solver (and it isn’t ‘months’).

Down

2d  Sound of boy beginning to rattle tin in Slovakia (5)
The ‘missing letter’ gimmick gives setters a chance to do some interesting things with familiar phrases, and the first wordplay element here is a good example of that. When it comes to the definition, clue writers have a great many ways of deceptively indicating foreign money, such as ‘Brazilian’s ready’ for REAL, ‘African rhino’ for NAIRA, and ‘stumpy Estonian’ for KROON.

4d  Sight molecule close to containers of opium in French sea (7)
I’m not sure that Lise Meitner (EV 1673) would ever have described a molecule in quite the way required here, but I think we can allow the setter such leeway as is required to accommodate the gimmick. I pondered awhile whether ‘containers’ (rather than ‘container’) could legitimately indicate the first and last letter of a word; I know what I think, but you may feel more kindly disposed towards it.

11d  Doze in Scotland until meeting prophet regularly by vacant factory (7)
The words ‘meeting’ and ‘by’ in the wordplay are there simply to connect the elements of 2, 3 and 2 letters. The note for 25a applies again here in its entirety.

17d  Simulate ash to display drop of sealing wax (7)
A tricky clue, and one of those to which you will probably find the answer before working out the missing letter. The two-part charade has a word which is often defined in cryptics by ‘broadcast’ being followed by a fanciful term for a drop of sealing-wax accidentally (or perhaps deliberately) allowed to fall beside the seal itself (Thackeray, Vanity Fair: “It’s Peggy O’Dowd’s fist’, said George, laughing. ‘I know it by the ????es on the seal.”).

19d  Previously noisy in boom over in Russia (7)
Another one where the missing letter completes a common phrase, this time of two words. The ‘over’ here indicates not a reversal but an abbreviation.

26d  Led to about two thirds of cruise missiles exploding at the front (5)
Does ‘two thirds of…’ mean the same as ‘the third letters of the two words…’? It does in the 2+2+1 wordplay here.

28d  Maybe sounder characters in gazebo rose (4)
Another option for setters of missing letter clues is to remove the letter from the hiding place in a ‘lurker’, although of course the missing letter has to be part of the answer, otherwise you wouldn’t know it was missing. An example would be ‘Wasp hiding in Steve’s place’ for VESPA, ‘place’ becoming ‘palace’. Chambers will help with the definition (which is by example, hence the ‘maybe’).

Definitions in clues are underlined

Having filled the grid, the title may be more helpful than the message in guiding you to the required string. Once you’ve found it, Chambers will tell you what those last four words are (googling might leave you in some doubt); collectively, they might suggest the subject of my own recent EV (1672). Don’t forget to highlight all five chunks of text.

The gimmick meant that some of the clues were quite tricky, and a short period of staring at the grid may have been required, particularly if you hadn’t established what you were looking for, but overall the puzzle provided a reasonably gentle beginning to the Enigmatic Variations year.

Phibs Toughness Rating : 🥾🥾/🥾🥾🥾 (Suitable for anyone except barred puzzle novices)


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6 comments on “EV 1676 (Hints)
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  1. Quite a relief after the last two but some of the clues were indeed rather tricky and a couple were questionable. Surely 2d is “old tin in Slovakia” and, yes, no respectable chemist would describe a molecule [4d] in that way [tho I for one am happy with containers plural]. The endgame – scouring the grid until something resembling “snack time” emerged – didn’t take long and the rest was, mercifully, clear enough.
    Thanks to The Ace and to Phibs for the hints.

  2. I enjoyed this. It’s not easy to write clues that require a letter to be added – the potential for ambiguity is always there – so congratulations to TAOH for choosing to use the gimmick and doing so successfully.

  3. Phew. Finally got there. I found the SW corner really hard to crack…not helped by making a guess at 19d…which as I should know by now you can NEVER do with an EV. Can I just say a big thank you to the Numpties and Phibs. I used to glance at the EV and realise it was way above my pay grade, but with a bit of help I got into them. The EV is now my (time consuming) highlight of the week. Its really satisfying when you crack them..and learn something new!

  4. I got disheartened with my lack of progress yesterday (Sunday), but today was another day. A tricky gimmick to generate the definition, and some decidedly tricky clues.
    I think I have the four hidden words, but with two being short and common I scour the grid for better alternatives.
    EV is one of the week’s highlights for me, especially with the slightly inclement weather dissuading me from more active pursuits
    Thx to The Ace of Hearts and Phibs

  5. As a gardener this EV’s tickled me pink. Thank you to Phibs for the hints (though I can’t solve 30a and it haunts me still!) and The Numpties for previously helping me out as I got into EVs only last year.

    Thank you too to The Ace of Hearts.

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