EV 1725 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1725 (Hints)

10 Across by Raffles

Hints and tips by Gabriel

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

Gemini is improving. When I asked it how to deal with the preamble below it actually proposed a sensible structured solving process. Some of its comments were obvious or inaccurate but some were slightly helpful. In the obvious category: “be prepared for obscure words”. Inaccurate: “the theme will be the final answer for the entry at 10 Across” (to be fair I didn’t give it the actual clues). Slightly helpful: “for 13 clues, solve the wordplay first to get the answer. Then, use the correct answer to determine which letter in the definition must be changed to make it accurate.” An example from another puzzle: “Clubs in support for hitter (4)” which could yield A(C)ID with misprinted bitter as its definition. 

Preamble: The grid contains 10 unclued entries which have something in common, collectively described as 10 ACROSS, perhaps. 13 clues each have a misprint in the definition part of the clue. The correct letters, in clue order, give two works that outdid the grid in this respect. Wordplay in the other 26 clues gives an extra letter. These letters, in clue order, give a third such work, the name of which is partially encrypted. Solvers must write the unencrypted second part under the grid. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 28 is in Collins. 

It’s always helpful to know how many of each clue type there are – as I solve, I highlight the extra letters in different colours (red and black). The encryption instruction is a bit scary – hopefully won’t need to factor a large multiple of two primes. You will immediately note that there is no clue 10 across – well, there’s a 10 down, maybe that will help. Next, all you have to do is follow Gemini’s plan:

• • Solve the Easy Ones First: Focus on the 13 misprinted clues (type 2) and the 26 extra-letter clues (type 3).
  • Separate Your Notes: Use two distinct columns or lists to track the extra letters (Type 3) and the replacement letters (Type 2). 
  • Find the Unclued Entries: Once you have some intersecting letters, use the grid structure to determine the 10 unclued words (Type 1).
  • Identify the Theme: Determine the connection between the 10 unclued words and 10 ACROSS
  • Assemble the Messages:
    • Combine the 13 replacement letters to find Two Works.
    • Combine the 26 extra letters to find the Third Work (Encrypted).
  • Decrypt the Final Part: Use your knowledge of the Third Work’s name to decrypt the final portion and write it under the grid.

Clues
Across
9 Flower seed’s measure of acidity with warm outside (8)
A very unfamiliar flower (thank-you BRB). Wordplay is a 3-letter synonym and a 2-letter abbreviation contained by a 4-letter synonym which of course yields 9 letters).

15 Discarded legal oversight shortly to take form of trouble (7)
An archaic term for a mistake in a legal plea where the wordplay is a truncated 4-letter (unusual) synonym, with a two-letter word literally provided followed by a 3-letter synonym. That adds up to (9) meaning we have something extra.

19 Cage for unruly hags to shout uncontrollably (5)
The underlining implies that there are really only two candidates for the misprint. The wordplay is a single letter abbreviation for a little word followed by a four-letter verb.

26 Right behind dog’s bum (4)
I needed to consult Chambers to ensure I had found the correct misprint – and indeed I was wrong at first and needed the endgame in order to see the (correct!) light. The good news is the wordplay is quite transparent.

37 Girl favoured by God regularly used tavern in bay (4)
The Chambers “Some first names” appendix (in the print edition) can be very helpful. “Regularly” regularly appears as a letter selector. Don’t forget about interlopers.

38 Intelligence brought back that glue is binding weapon shows lost case for IS (11, two words)
I really didn’t know this term though Chambers did – and it turns out that it’s a N Am term which provides a very strong hint as to the misprint. Its wordplay involves reversing the canonic 3-letter term for info inside another 3-letter synonym for something sticky followed by a 5-letter weapon (that featured in the Bible).

 

Down
3 Stadium dropping national track (4)
The wordplay was obvious at first glance but it took me a surprisingly long time to figure out the misprint.

4 Wham! once forbidding following Raffles (6)
Note who set this puzzle. And since there’s nothing extra generated by the wordplay there must be a misprint in the definition. I needed to check Chambers to confirm the meaning. Reminder that qualifiers like “once”, “dusty”, “hoary”, “long ago” often just indicate that the term is archaic.

6 Flower of Scotland Royal Highness pens now in Latin (5)
My Latin is very weak. OK non-existent. So I translated “now” to Latin manually (aka Google Translate). Which helped – it’s contained in a 2-letter titular abbreviation.

27 I’m unsure square peg’s bottom is fitting in receptacle (6)
Ur, I suppose the definition works, just barely. A “square” can be an actual number.

28 Addict from Australia happened upon three parts of water? (5)
Well, you’ll need Collins (conveniently available online) indeed to confirm the answer. The wordplay is a 3-letter synonym and a 3-letter representation of a water molecule. Obviously there’s an interloper somewhere.

34 Join cast when contracted (3)
I only managed to figure this out once the grid had forced me into a solution. Wordplay is a truncated 4-letter synonym – so we know we have a misprint.

35 No longer stops natives of Indiana getting half-cut (3)
I’m very impressed that Chambers knows what nickname is used for natives of Indiana. Wordplay requires taking half of that and producing a 3-letter definition,

Definitions in clues are underlined.

The clues are pretty hard – after several iterations I had only solved 3 or 4. I found myself often understanding the wordplay but stymied by the definition misprints and was reduced to enumerating the alphabet and brute-force substituting. Yikes.

Some of you probably solve The Spectator as well which always uses the same mechanism of 8-12 unclued thematically related entries. But, In this case, there are additional challenges; harder clues, misprints, extra letters not to mention cryptography.

At some point, you’ll note that the unclueds are all nouns of a certain type and, while at first it might appear they have nothing in common, you’ll all of a sudden (aka the PDM) realise that they do share something syntactic. The title and the answer to 10d might help you unravel this. I managed to confuse myself by inverting ten and thirteen so I kept reviewing and recounting everything until I self-healed from my hallucination.

Be forewarned that some of the 10 thematic entries are fairly obscure (though wikipedia knows about them).

Encryption wasn’t enigma-grade – basically a cryptic representation of the third title in a trilogy (don’t forget to write it under the grid). By the way, you’ll do well to remember that the preamble tells us that we’re looking for two things in the misprints.

In my opinion, a tour de force: an epic and enormous achievement! Not for the faint of heart but very satisfying.

Toughness: 4 out of 5 on the difficulty scale.

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