EV 1686 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1686 (Hints)

Good Advice? by Skylark

Hints and tips by Phibs

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This week I thought I’d see if Google could point me in the direction of some Good Advice for crossword solvers.

The first result was a piece from The Guardian which began “Read the clue. Then read it backwards.” A while ago, I started setting a puzzle where some of the clues had normal surface readings but the cryptic interpretations did indeed require the words to be read in reverse order. Trust me, if you ever find yourself wanting to write clues like that, think again! I’ve produced clues in verse, clues that were actually two clues interwoven, and clues that were six individual clues one after another, but nothing will drive you crazy faster than clues that are the wrong way round. Skylark might have had a similar experience – if so, the advice that we’re looking for may well be DON’T WRITE CLUES BACKWARDS. But in any event, it’s still good advice.

Preamble: Each clue contains a single letter to be removed before solving; in clue order, these spell out what solvers should highlight in the completed grid, involving perhaps GOOD ADVICE? Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

A nice simple preamble to process. I’m a lot happier making corrections to clues than I am eliminating extra letters delivered by the wordplay, and here we have a stowaway letter in each clue, which must be removed before the clue can be solved. The removal of the letter will always leave a real word – this could turn out to be a proper name rather than a dictionary entry, but if so it will be a familiar one like ‘Tesco’ or ‘Dover’; the surface reading of the clue, though, is likely to become nonsensical. There are two particular devices to look out for in this type of clue:

(i) Where the removal of a letter produces a word with a one-letter (or possibly two-letter) abbreviation, eg ‘basis’ becoming ‘bass’, giving I as the extra letter and contributing B to the wordplay.

(ii) Where the removal of a letter from the target of a letter selection indicator allows the letter next to it to be selected. Examples would be ‘first of May’ for A (first letter of AY), extra letter M; ‘middle of town’ for O (middle letter of TON), extra letter W; and ‘end of week’ for E (last letter of WEE), extra letter K.

Across

11a  Complies with Turkish governors once after endless bout (5)
The last word of the clue loses first the stowaway letter and then two further letters, eventually contributing just the first letter of the answer.

15a  Brass banter returning outfit (4)
Regarding the stowaway, you are referred to note (i) above. The ‘banter’ provides a three-letter word which could also have been indicated by ‘newspaper’.

17a  Think Mark’s following along in Perth (4)
The bulk of the answer is provided by a Scots (‘in Perth’) word, but it doesn’t mean ‘along’.

18a  Thanks gang reviewing Asian port (5)
Perhaps a little surprisingly, ‘reviewing’ indicates the reversal of two elements, the first consisting of two letters and the second of three né four. Finding the stowaway isn’t too hard, but it’s the third headword in Chambers for the resultant three-letter word that is then relevant. I wasn’t familiar with the port, but world geography is not my strong suit.

20a  Grumbled sample tangles (8, two words)
Sometimes in ‘remove a letter’ clues the setter falls back on a change which simply produces a different inflection of a word, eg ‘diner’ becoming ‘dine’, and that is what happens in this wordplay, where the two parts contribute five and three letters to a (6,2) answer from which you may well find yourself working backwards.

21a  Flake in part outwardly rattles birds (7)
Note (i) is applicable to this wordplay, where the ‘part’ is the sort that might be taken by an actor.

32a  Fright as revolutionary ties Will’s head-coverings (8)
This one is tricky, even after you’ve made a type (i) change to produce the ‘real’ clue. ‘As’ leads to a two-letter Latin word, usually seen in a phrase meaning ‘as above’, and there are two options for the ‘ties’, both of which produce valid answers – the one to select contains an ‘O’ rather than an ‘A’.

36a  Audio’s ending, clear plant (4)
A type (ii) modification will produce a proper name which then contributes one letter to the answer, the remainder of which consists of a word often indicated in cryptics by ‘free’.

38a  Blind shunt (4)
This double definition clue is made harder by the more familiar (to all except old-school hawk trainers) definition being the one which has to be deprived of the extra letter.

Note: Sometimes solvers with electronic versions of Chambers have an advantage over those using the Big Red Book when it comes to finding certain words or phrases (compounds in particular), but here the cross-reference from the required spelling to the defining headword is fine in the paper version, but headword 3 for that spelling seems to be missing from all electronic versions based on WordWeb (WordWeb for Windows, Chambers for iOS etc). The absent entry for ??a?³ should read ‘same as ??e?¹‘.

44a Situation, say, with gold and iron outlets (13, three words)
Another type (i) deletion is required before this 5+1+2+5 wordplay can be resolved.

Down

3d  Ancient stink rising, Lambert washed elderly (6)
Another tough one, where both the answer (the definition of which must be corrected) and the major element of the wordplay (contributing all but one letter) are no longer in common use, the first being obsolete (‘ancient’) and the second – which is somewhat more accessible – archaic (‘elderly’).

4d  Glance over discarded brood, partly (7)
Another obsolete (‘discarded’) word gets the wordplay under way in this clue where the stowaway is neatly concealed.

5d  Unfinished feat collecting active insects (5)
The five-letter term indicated by a word of three letters (four as printed) in the clue may not immediately spring to your mind, just as it didn’t to mine, but the insects will be familiar – albeit by reputation only, one would like to think.

6d  Medici’s base, robust Scottish stone structure (5)
Here we have another type (ii) deletion, and the sort of letter selection that doesn’t work for me – something like ‘bottom of ocean’ for N in a down clue effectively requires the entire word OCEAN to be mentally placed in the grid and then all except the last letter removed, which seems quite a stretch. The remainder of the wordplay involves the Scots form of a common word.

33d  Upset Francis departs accepting brilliant hot drink lacking stimulant (5)
Another type (i), where the word containing the stowaway stands out, being a rare visitor to cryptic clues. Two single-letter abbreviations are manipulated around a three-letter word.

34d  Group from Ayr circling top of Sicilian volcano (5)
Another toughie, where the result of unloading the stowaway is not a household word that must be ‘translated’ into Scottish, rather it is a Scottish word which is to be turned into an everyday equivalent, prior to the inclusion of a single letter.

Definitions in clues are underlined

The message will start to emerge as the solve progresses, and even if you have a full grid but don’t know exactly what to look for, a quick web search will set you right. Trying the Chalicea Line itself doesn’t pay dividends on this occasion, but ‘school of Chalicea’ searches will prove effective. Don’t forget the highlighting.

The gimmick made for a few pretty chewy clues, but the endgame was straightforward.

Phibs Toughness Rating : 🥾🥾🥾 (Suitable for all except barred puzzle novices, but make sure that Chambers is within easy reach)

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