EV 1685 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1685 (Hints)
Entry by Craft
Hints and tips by Gabriel

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

For me Craft is a new setter, at least of the EV series.   But I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong. Perhaps it’s an alternate identity of a well-established compiler. In any event, I must say the title didn’t provide much context.  The preamble does indicate parenthetically something “broken” – perhaps that’s a way in (apropos “entry”)?

I didn’t bother Gemini – who’s probably obsessing about “Majorana fermions” anyway as I was when I solved this and doesn’t have time for cryptic archaeology.  Unclear whether understanding topological quantum computing would help me with ENTRY or not. To be honest, I didn’t understand it. 

Preamble: The puzzle celebrates a famous ENTRY. The (broken) perimeter of the area that was entered should be shaded in the grid (17 cells). Single extra letters in most across clues (which leave real words when removed) provide a question; the single letter in the central square can be ascertained using the answer to that question (9,6). The surname of the entrant, descending into the area, should be shaded in a different colour. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 42 is in Collins.

The “most” qualifier above leaves a lot of ambiguity (all but a couple? Or 51%?) which introduces a level of uncertainty when assessing clues.  So let’s start with downs. That said, the setter generously tells us that we are left with real words in the clues after mutilation.  This of course makes it much easier to find the imposters.

Clues:

Across
7 Swine resembles chump (4)
This resisted resolution for a long time. At some point I figured out the answer from the checked letters (I had to use the BRB to reveal a surprising additional definition). Note the plural and singular spelling are the same. And beware of imposters.

11 Legate without acne runs choir (6)
Four abbreviations and only five words and given the underlining doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Only two of which are single letter. I’ve already posted the imposter warning.

14 Local runner Lambert taking pity on sloth? (7)
The capitalisation isn’t actually misleading and really results in an abbreviation. The rest of the wordplay comprises a fairly common (in cryptics!) two-letter synonym for a river surrounding something.

15 For the second time, placed quoit around pitch (6)
Archaic and obsolete usages are often indicated explicitly – not so in two wordplay elements.

19 In French, good is “haut”, not “ton” (5)
Once you have identified the extra letter the answer will become clear once you have removed the one-letter abbreviation from the wordplay element. It helps to know a smattering of French to decode some cryptic clues.

21 Loathe worn-out middle part of airliner seats from Caribbean (4)
Unusual definition, its provenance is justified but it qualifies a generic term. In this case, “obsolete” is clearly signalled.

23 Cures uncovered hams – the least portions (6)
The wordplay has two elements with the second being somewhat surprising for which I needed Chambers to confirm – recall there are imposter letters in some (many?) clues.

26 Randomly in and out? Ignore autocue’s repetition and use prompt (6, two words)
A case where underlining the definition helps a lot. An anagram minus a letter plus some royal equivalence.

41 Spring source from ancient times – location of grail in Maine? (4)
There are three wordplay elements to identify: two single letters from the first four words and recall that “Maine” might be a generic geo-indicator.

42 Boards together with men in trunks, regular features of seaside (9, two words)
Recall that “regular”, while typically selecting even or odd letters, can indicate a different interval. A bit surprising that Chambers doesn’t have the defined term since it’s in common usage.

Down
5 Two records featuring one’s final words to American (6)
The apostrophe is ambiguously possession or elision – here it’s the latter.

7 Papers lost in holiday travelling around paper storage facility (7)
There aren’t many short synonyms for “[news]paper” – the usual cryptic abbreviations are one-letter or two-letter. Also, “travelling” and “around” could serve the same purpose cryptically, but together they provide a smoother surface reading.

17 Heroin taken during debauch is mood stimulant (9)
Both the definition and “debauch” required some Chambers hunting to justify. This time “is” isn’t a link word. The only easy part of the wordplay was the obvious single-letter abbreviation.

24 White man married South African – that’s no good for leader of Limpopo (6)
This clue has three African references, two explicit and one implicit.

25 Teach about bird climbing 12? (7)
Note the underlining includes the question mark which could indicate “for instance”. The wordplay is a reversal where a 3-letter bird is enclosed by a dialect term. Sometimes, but not always, a number in a clue references the answer of another clue. Or to put it differently, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

37 Diversions with no substance; noughts and crosses? (4)
The definition could have been “medals”. The wordplay requires hollowing out something for the first two letters.

Definitions in clues are underlined

Of course you need to keep track of extras.  The high number of hints is a testament to the solving challenge but “most” was in fact the lion’s share which of course helps in evaluating a clue (recall my statistical comment of a few blogs ago).  Once you’ve identified what kind of “area” is involved, its contents will literally be very helpful in confirming its extent.

Toughness: 3 out of 4 on the difficulty scale

 

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