Enigmatic Variations 1729 (Hints)
Design Classic by Pandiculator
Hints and tips by Gabriel
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Gemini has been hallucinating again: when I submitted the instructions, I was told: “This preamble belongs to a notable Inquisitor puzzle (IQ 1639) by Pandiculator titled ‘Clockwise’, which was originally published in April 2020.”
The only thing it got right is the setter. But I had indicated that in my prompt. IQ 1639 was entitled “Thanks for the Help by Ifor” published in March 2020. I couldn’t find a puzzle called “Clockwise”.
In the spirit of providing free human help to Big AI, during my Gemini honeymoon I would have spent some time trying to get it to see the error of its ways. But I decided to cut my losses and just, you know, solve it 20C-style, without the benefit of AI.
Preamble: The grid depicts a DESIGN CLASSIC inspired by 1 across. Join four empty cells with lines joining midpoints of their edges nearest the grid centre, forming a quadrilateral within which the thematic name must be highlighted (12 cells, symmetrically disposed). Form a second quadrilateral by joining the opposite edges of these cells; connect each vertex to the grid edge with four further lines, each as short as possible. Each clue’s definition contains a misprint; corrections spell what must be artistically rendered in the grid to create the thematic likeness. Enumerations indicate grid space; Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
It looks like some intricate decoration lies ahead. At least there’s no ambiguity about which clues have misprinted definitions – since they all do. If necessary, since we know that the wordplay is reliable, perhaps we can use that to back into the corrections required. That said, we are told that “enumerations refer to length of space in grid”, that can only mean that some answers don’t fit but that shouldn’t surprise us since we’re going to have 4 empty cells.
Don’t be too concerned about having to demonstrate artistic skills – you’re not angling for an offer from The Slade.
Clues:
Across
12 Brother absorbed by ball game for wager in Spain (4)
A 2-letter abbreviation contained by a 2-letter game that is only found in crosswordland because it’s just two vowels.
13 Make navy and former volunteers barrel past (6)
The misprint only became clear to me once I had cracked the overall misprint message. So, armed with the wordplay, a two-letter abbreviation + single-letter abbreviation + two-letter synonym, I consulted the BRB to make sense of the definition.
14 Rural wife arrested by governor (4)
Once you identify the misprint and then the definition which is taken directly from Chambers, the wordplay will be obvious
17 Voiced darknesses covering parts of spilt? (6)
The answer is a homophone which will lead you to an unusual definition once you have identified the misprint.
18 Wage of pewter traded regularly in fine local economies at first (6)
There’s really only one misprint candidate though I had to stare a bit. The wordplay is pretty clear though the definition will need confirmation.
25 Isolated men in pain put nail in ship (7)
Wordplay is a 4-letter synonym inside of the usual 2-letter abbreviation for a ship. So obviously there’s an empty cell somewhere. The definition surprised me but Chambers will clear it all up for you.
27 Followed weight loss method, cycling in women’s toga (7)
When you’re following weight loss regimen, you’ve decided to 4-letter verb. Take the past tense and cycle the letters.You won’t end up with (7).
29 Axe Kermit badly in America and kill the funny frog star (8)
The surface is quite distracting given “Kermit the frog”. The underlining will direct you towards the misprint which produces an adjectival definition. Kermit is indeed funny (and a frog to boot!), but here we need him for fodder.
32 One reasons revolutionary end of belief (4)
Not a hard clue once you recall that there aren’t many 3-letter revolutionaries that aren’t red.
33 Previously, slate likeness of draped maiden accepted (5)
You might wonder about the “previously” qualifier. It’s now split into two.
40 Grief’s times did encounter preposterously sanctimonious talk (6)
The misprint produces a proper noun. The answer is (5) – recall the preamble’s mention of symmetry.
Down
4 Maybe swish of tail on independent canine (6)
Just noting that a very short innocuous word is used here as an anagram indicator since it means “drunk”. Definitionally, once you realise what the misprint must be, to understand it you’ll have to look at a secondary meaning in Chambers.
6 Bumbling alchemists dismissing one packing similar (11)
The wordplay is very prescriptive but will leave you short two letters. That’s OK.
7 Change seen in fall – dell border collects leaves aground, primarily (6)
The wordplay is two first letters inside a four-letter verbal synonym. From this wordplay derive the answer (which involves verbal forms): look it up and this should lead you to the misprint. And this is a reminder that you can always learn something new when it comes to grammatical terms!
10 Convectional arrangement, formerly correct, upheld in query (7)
Phone-a-friend provided the parsing: a reversed four-letter archaic synonym inside a two-letter abbreviation.
20 Following a case of disease, spit towards dominant hand (4)
The wordplay is a straightforward charade but the definition is surprising unless you play basketball.
21 Jack disastrously heads lager campaigns (7)
Wordplay is a single-letter abbreviation followed by the obvious jumble. You’ll notice a grid mismatch – I had to go back to the instructions to confirm this isn’t necessarily incorrect.
24 Stabs army member, perhaps after lewd missive (7)
The wordplay is a 4-letter modern portmanteau followed by a 3-letter “soldier”. It took me a long time to land on the misprint even though I knew where to look. So do you. The definition is a collection that is an alternative spelling of the answer.
31 Rice in North America has identical packaging (5)
I had to stare at this to figure out the misprint and definition once I had parsed the wordplay – a single letter abbreviation in a four-letter synonym.
Definitions in clues are underlined.
You’ll note I have annotated a lot of clues which reflects the solving difficulty I encountered: it was slow going and I had to knuckle down and concentrate – somewhat distracted by Storm Byron. Once I had solved 1d and 2d, 1a started to emerge and the design theme unfolded.
Another idea to explore is symmetry which for obvious aesthetic reasons is appealing to setters and solvers alike and can make solving easier. Once you have the message you can start the ornamentation process – the quadrilaterals have clear instructions but it wasn’t so obvious to me how to derive the “thematic name” – let’s just say the quadrilaterals enclose it. Once I had looked up the thematic name, WIkipedia produced an image that made the rest of the decoration obvious. Good luck decorating and bon appetit!
Toughness: 4 out of 5 on the difficulty scale.
Could new readers please read the Welcome post and the FAQ before posting comments or asking questions about the site.
As this is a Prize crossword, please don’t put any ANSWERS, whether WHOLE, PARTIAL or INCORRECT, or any ALTERNATIVE CLUES in your comment.
Please read these instructions carefully – they are not subject to debate or discussion. Offending comments may be redacted or, in extreme cases, deleted. In all cases the administrator’s decision is final.
To save anyone the trouble of actually looking up IQ1639, while I might claim that it was also a “design classic” there’s not the remotest connection between it and this puzzle, which I greatly admired and enjoyed.
The clues were, indeed, pretty challenging, especially so as one couldn’t be certain of what to look up in Chambers. And even once deciphered some of the definitions were a tad creative. With the grid full, save the 4 blanks the quadrilaterals were simple enough to draw but what lay inside proved elusive until 1a was Googled. Who knew?
A real toughie but the penny drop moment came with a real chuckle – thanks to Pandiculator and Gabriel.
The hints came in very handy!!! SW was the way in for me. 22a and 33a were last in and once I’d cracked 33, Gabriel’s hint made sense. I nearly gave up on the final part of the endgame..but don’t..keep going for a happy smiley ending. Who knew?