EV 1692 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1692 (Hints)

Anonymous by Ifor

Hints and tips by Phibs

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This week I thought I’d do a search on Dave Hennings’ excellent database of themed crosswords (xwdb.info) to locate earlier puzzles that had a connection with the word ‘anonymous’.

The search returned only six results, with four being EV puzzles. The first of these involved an anonymous quotation from ODQ, “Would you like to sin with Elinor Glyn on a tigerskin? Or would you prefer to err with her on some other fur?” (fair question, but to be honest these days I’d probably favour a mug of tea with the fair Miss G on a nice settee), as did the second, the quotation this time being “The Dilly Song” (aka “Green Grow the Rushes-O”). The third related to Alcoholics Anonymous, with answers to clues marked ‘A’ having the drink contained within them repeated, while those marked ‘AA’ had their drink removed. In the fourth puzzle, actually entitled Anonymous, James Bond attempted to retain his anonymity by removing a ‘double O’ from 7 answers. Is any of this going to help with today’s puzzle? Two chances, I reckon – fat and slim…

Preamble: Clues are in normal order, with enumerations referring to answer lengths. In each of two adjacent cells, two entries overlap by their non-matching first and last letters. Both letter-pairs must be entered in an order that allows completion of the single entry crossing these cells. The two cells must be barred off as a pair, appropriately highlighted, and the ANONYMOUS entry thus created (10, 4) named under the grid. No other bars are to be shown. Its circumscribing letters comprise a thematic surname; its letters must be carried away (as the named individual wished) and separately deposited prior to solving in ten of the clues to normally-entered across entries. All changes to grid and clues create new words. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

We have a carte blanche, and a pretty oddly shaped one at that. A careful read (or two) of the preamble reveals that the answers to both across and down clues are to be entered in conventional order, and that they will also be entered normally except that (i) in one instance an entry will have two pairs of letters sharing adjacent cells, so if the enumeration is ‘(n)’, the number of cells used for the entry will be n-2; and (ii) two pairs of entries running in the other direction will overlap ‘tail on head’, so if one of those pairs were FISH and CHIPS, the ‘H’ of FISH and the ‘C’ of CHIPS would share a cell. If the crossing entry in this scenario were LUNCHTIME, then the C would precede the H in the shared-occupancy cell, and the other overbooked cell would either contain U+N or T+I.

Although the preamble says that ‘No other bars are to be shown’, for the purposes of solving the puzzle we should insert bars as soon as we can identify where they go, with the first one coming between the two cells on the top row. There can’t be another bar directly below this, which means that the first and second cells on row 2 must have a bar between them (the 5-letter entry must be either in cells 2-6 or 3-7 of that row).  Once the grid is complete, the bars can be rubbed out prior to submission. A pair of cells cannot be circumscribed by more than 10 cells, so each clue to which a letter is added must receive exactly one letter. We can safely assume that these clues will not be solvable without the supplementary letter: if, for instance, a clue were “Setter returned microfibre cloths (4)”, the missing letter would be an E, turning ‘cloths’ into ‘clothes’, and the answer would be IFOR (hidden in micROFIbre reversed) – the clue with ‘cloths’ makes no sense cryptically.

Across

*  Recce party dismissing time of old evidence (5)
When you work out the (6-1) wordplay and look up the answer in Chambers, make sure to check carefully whether the definition given there matches the definition in the clue as written.

*  Like a dam labourers constructed after objection is overturned and dismissed (7)
The anagram fodder here is deprived of two letters prior to rearrangement, each step of the operation being clearly described in the wordplay. A word in the definition has obviously lost something…has Ifor blundered and left out two letters rather than one? No, we are looking for a rather unlikely Scots word which could perhaps be something enjoyed by whisky dwinkers north of the border.

*  Lost tax returns behind order of raw fish (7)
The ‘order’ is a new order, while the ‘lost’ (ie obsolete) word for tax is the same one that appeared in EV 1690, a clipped form of the 6-letter word for what HMRC do to your income before they tax it, but this is the spelling which starts with ‘S’ rather than ‘C’.

*  One casing perfection, as opposite is originally tempting (7)
A 2+2+2+1 charade, the hardest bit being the first element, the Latin word for ‘as’ most often seen in the Latin phrase for ‘as above’.

*  Sag treated after base fails badly (6)
Once again, solving the anagram, where the fodder is reduced by one letter prior to rearrangement, is a lot easier than working out what is missing from the definition.

*  Many grumble at Holyrood (4)
This is a double definition clue, but the definition of one of the words (shown by Chambers as ‘dialect’) has lost a letter while the other word is a somewhat obscure Scottish (and Shakespearean) one with a variety of spellings. The extra letter could conceivably be a ‘K’, but it isn’t.

Down

*  Platform exercise repeatedly missing one line upset girl (8, two words)
The first four letters of the answer are provided by a word meaning ‘[to] exercise (soldiers etc) repeatedly’ missing one instance of the usual abbreviation for ‘line’.

*  Fish rocky coast south of Hebridean island, keeping up at the front (11)
A 5-letter element, which follows another 5-letter element, forms the container for a single letter. If you fly to the Hebridean island in question, you will have the unusual experience of landing (by design) on the beach.

*  Most profitable folio disregarded manifest (6)
Thinking of the sort of cats who have made a lot of money may help with the key element (7 letters) of this wordplay, where you need to imagine a comma (or a pause of some kind) between ‘profitable’ and ‘folio’.

*  Skin in rash? Blame metal in catalysts (7)
Elements of 2 and 5 letters combine to produce the name of a metal which is indeed frequently used in catalysis, although this aspect is not verifiable using Chambers.

*  Excess overflows backing up onto emptied trench (6)
The main wordplay element, which undergoes a single manipulation, can also be used to describe what a putt does when getting the ball very close to – but not into – the hole.

Definitions in clues are underlined

Although there is no symmetry to assist, with the clues being in conventional order the grid fill should proceed steadily; once you’ve worked out which the entry occupying (n-2) cells must be, you can be sure that all entries will be normal apart from the two overlapping pairs intersecting it. You may identify the surname either from the ‘extra’ letters in the clues or from the circumscribing cells; I got it from the grid, which enabled me to ‘tidy up’ a couple of the extra letter clues. There’s quite a bit to do after filling the grid: removing all bars except the ones around the outside of the double-entry pair; highlighting this pair of cells appropriately (I’m sure a degree of latitude will be allowed here); getting rid of the letters which have been ‘carried away’; and writing the name of the ‘anonymous’ entry under the grid. When it came to that name, I needed the help of the web, but had no trouble finding the answer there. Once you have pinpointed the theme, the shape of the grid will make sense.

A very cleverly constructed puzzle with a lot of thematic stuff going on. Thankfully, the setter must have been in a generous mood when he wrote the clues, because they were very much at the gentle end of the Ifor spectrum. He exacted a measure of revenge, though, by not telling us that the letters ‘carried away’ were all deposited in the definition parts of clues.

Phibs Toughness Rating : 🥾🥾🥾/🥾🥾🥾🥾 (Not suitable for barred puzzle novices, but not as daunting as it might appear at first blush)

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