Enigmatic Variations 1677 (Hints)
No Fine Feathers by Vismut
Hints and tips by Gabriel
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In the olden days (15 years ago!) I was a blogger (on a couple of the other sites) but blog quality and sophistication has improved considerably since. Me not so much.
My qualification then was that I self-described as a beginner and Peter Biddlecombe (Hi Peter!) wanted to demonstrate that mere mortals such as myself were cryptically capable.
Incidentally, my solving partner (to be introduced) pointed out it’s ironic for us to be writing this blog since this is where we come ourselves for help (thanks Phibs!).
Enough about us…
Preamble: In 31 clues, wordplay omits one letter of the entry. When read from the grid these give the founder and organisation with NO FINE FEATHERS. The first letters of a further eight clues give a jumble of what this led to and what is to be approximately represented in the grid by replacing the thematic answer to the remaining wordplay-only clue, centring a circle around one black-and-white thematic entry (entered in bold) and adding two appropriate colours. The final grid consists of real words; Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
So, in this puzzle we have 3 groups of clues: 31 with wordplay omitting a letter, 1 wordplay-only, and 8 normal to keep track of. “Missing letter in wordplay” clues are somewhat harder than the “extra letter from wordplay” variant: I personally find these even more challenging when the wordplay element is a jumble: e.g. “Nudists ordered rubbish receptacles (8)” yielding DUST[B]INS*. The anagram indicator is pretty obvious: you need to jumble “nudists” but then need to find the missing letter to insert.
Most (31/40) of the clues generate an extra letter which is statistically helpful when initially assessing a clue. As per usual, while you are filling in the grid it will help to denote these missing letters to help with the endgame.
Across
1 Flood survivor’s descendant to learn about it (6)
Who might be the (biblical) flood survivor here? The wordplay elements are a 3-letter word for “to learn” around a literal two-letter word from the clue.
5 Yard wrong it will cause destruction of cells (5)
This was easier to solve by wordplay first and then to guess at the missing letter to yield a name that could work. Recall that abbreviations and short words are two fundamental tools at the setter’s disposal (respectively in this clue).
11 Now and again Meg’s like little girl (5)
When I first looked at this I thought of “Little Women” and Jo, Beth etc. but a common cryptic trope is to use a proper name as literal fodder (aka input) for the relevant device. “Now and again” indicates “regularity” of some sort but don’t forget the statistically likely clue type.
15 Endless attraction to ordinary Indian foot (7)
Wordplay has three components. But “foot” has multiple possible meanings. You might find yourself running to the “answer book” (aka Chambers) to figure out the military sense in this case.
22 Swiftly went with naughty little thing from the back and Theodore (7)
The wordplay is fairly straightforward in two parts, but be sure to identify the correct (somewhat seasonal) “naughty little thing” to get the correct extra letter. The definition is a past tense of a somewhat literary intransitive verb that is normally seen as an adjective or noun.
36 Bishop on board ship for floating masses (5)
There are two cryptic devices at work here, not to mention statistical probability. Bishop has several common abbreviations – two of them are two-letter. And “on board” is a common mechanism to indicate insertion into a two-letter abbreviation for a ship.
37 Dutch and English mums showing fluid-filled swellings (6)
Wordplay has two one-letter abbreviations and a short word for mothers. I second-guessed myself on the definition since, being somewhat transatlantic myself, I can never remember if US vs. Brit spelling is applicable. In this case, it’s not indicated.
Down
1 Colts perhaps terribly massacred, before food put out (8)
We are looking for something for which colts might be an example thereof. The wordplay looks suspiciously like a subtractive anagram: remove a two-letter abbreviation from the obvious anagram fodder but be sure to identify the Latin abbreviation here.
2 Bore cross without a name (4)
Bore is another word with multiple definitions. And wordplay-wise we are looking for a word subtracting a pair of letters. The answer is very ‘“crosswordish” in that I’ve never encountered it elsewhere but then again I don’t live near a river.
5 OT king put uniform for Victor in flat (6)
The bible is not my speciality subject, so I needed to check a reference book once I had substituted the obvious one-letter abbreviation for another in a 5-letter word for “flat”. Knowledge of a well-known early 18C satire might help as well.
16 Get book Tina edited (6)
Of course, the anagram indicator is obvious but I was struck by the observation that Tina Brown is a well-known editor (in fact, she introduced cryptic crosswords to the “New Yorker” when she was its editor at the end of the last century – sadly discontinued).
21 Goose bumps when something is this deserted about corrupted dead (7)
A charade of 3 parts. The definition is fear-inducing and the surface is slightly awkward, which hints at the clue category – the last component screaming jumble of course.
24 Danny uncovered LPs, not quiet records (6)
The wordplay comes in two parts, both with subtractions. For the second part, look for a common musical abbreviation.
29 Regularly turn pale bones (5)
Uses the same device as 11a and statistics are relevant here as well.
Definitions in clues are underlined
Once you have enough of these 31 letters in the grid, if you read them out from the grid left-to-right, top-to-bottom, the relevant phrase will appear. The wordplay-only clue will be very helpful thematically. Don’t forget to unjumble the 8 leading letters from the third group of clues (“further eight clues”) to help with the replacement and final steps. And have your coloured highlighters ready.
Toughness: 2 out of 4 on the difficulty scale (a calibration scale forthcoming).
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Fairly generous clues but a few were subtly tricky or potentially ambiguous – I took a shamefully long time to parse 31d. Reading the missing letters in the grid added an extra level of complexity, requiring the exact occurrence of the letter to be marked [with a bold dot]. The revealed name came quickly but the organisation was not of the form expected and required more Googling. The last bit of the endgame was less complex than the preamble might have suggested.
Thanks to Vismut. Welcome to Gabriel.
Agree with Halcyon. 31d hard to parse..Still not 100% sure on that one…I assume its to do with rhyming slang??? I also got stuck with 25d until the phrase yielded the missing letter. Neat little finish to the puzzle once I managed to use the 8 letters from the clues rather than the answers. Just off to find some colouring implements. Thanks to Vismut for an enjoyable puzzle and to Gabriel for the hints – I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you guys giving up your time to help the likes of me out when it all grinds to a halt!
It took me a while to realise it’s an anagram [blue]!
Ahhhh. Very sneaky!
I loved how much the theme crops up in the clues. And what a marvellous theme it is!
Thank you Gabriel for the hints as it all came together nicely in the end. Vismut – thank you too.
I might have completed this earlier had I not been out and about observing the general subjects of this puzzle. Sadly no 17a, but perhaps later in the week. Consequently the name and organisation were quite familiar to me.
Thx to Vismut and Gabriel
Took me ages to spot the common link between the 8 clues from which first letters were taken, a neat touch. I wonder if it is coincidence there is a weekend ‘event’ at the end of January initiated by the subject of this EV? Enjoyed the colouring.