Enigmatic Variations 1735 (Hints)
Unstated by Kcit
Hints and tips by Gabriel / Jpeg
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It looks like Kcit (one of our favourite appropriately inverted antipodean setters) is trying to present us with a fun way to state what was left unsaid in a certain poem. But which poem? Throwing this at our usual large language model, it seems really confident that the poem in question is Purple Cow by Gelett Burgess. Is it on the right track or is its confidence misplaced? Let’s see what the clues show.
Preamble: The four unclued rows are alternative visualisations of the UNSTATED end to the second verse of a poem, the verse itself not included in the original published edition.The first line of the more familiar first verse is given, with a small modernisation, by words to be removed before solving in a clue to one entry in each column, reading left to right. The second verse’s participants are given by an anagram of the two unclued entries on the middle row. The wordplay in each across clue includes an extra letter not entered in the grid; in clue order these spell the author. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
We have multiple things going on to deal with: extra letters in the across wordplays, extra words in some of the down clues (one per column), and unclued entries. It is important to keep track of all of these.
Clues:
Across
1 Pantheon is captured in concrete, seen from rear (5)
If you think Greek, you’ve been misdirected. For the wordplay, a short word is contained inside an adjective, all reversed.
11 Uncertain pride about returning a Conservative MP (6)
An MP isn’t always a member of parliament. The wordplay involves a couple of abbreviations inside an anagram.
12 Island revealed in swirl of paintbrush (4)
We need a four-letter island here. The wordplay is a reversal of a word that is also used in contexts other than paintbrushes.
30 Furthest point for one retreating into a narrow passage (6)
Decoding the wordplay required some international collaboration (not a hint!) – it’s a literal single letter word followed by a four-letter synonym for “narrow passage” containing a two-letter reversal.
Down
9 Concession amidst large cut held up overextended commitment? (7)
The defining word here is often used to illustrate risky commitments. The wordplay involves an abbreviation and one word contained inside another, again with the whole thing reversed.
12 The Turner Prize initially excited to host Couple of Ducks or Trim in Garden (9)
Because we are not domain experts here this term was unfamiliar to us, though its meaning is pretty easily gleaned from it. Don’t forget even the most basic extra small words can throw off parsing (in this case, yet again a couple abbreviations inside an anagram).
18 Island chief, scoundrel I usurp at the outset (4)
A charade of a short word and a letter yields this leader from southeast Asia.
20 Source of gold, unobstructed, first to last (4)
This use of this word is mainly antipodean (there are other, more common definitions). Take another word and move a letter to produce it.
23 European in New Zealand sees hake swimming below local settlement (6)
Kcit’s home shines again in this clue. The wordplay is a charade of two parts and the local here refers to the same place as in the definition.
26 Moulding personality with rising energy (4)
The moulding in question here is often S-shaped. The wordplay is a reversed word (this is a down clue) followed by a single letter abbreviation.
Definitions in clues are underlined.
Getting the extra letters from the first half of the across clues was quite helpful, especially combined with a couple of extra down words. However, the last bit of the endgame required some obscure knowledge for us to get the remaining unchecked letters. And Gemini’s (typical over) confidence was not well-placed.
Toughness: 3 out of 5 on the difficulty scale – due to the somewhat obscure antipodean terms involved in the endgame.
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This was pleasant enough, the clues not too taxing for kcit and the theme readily available from a quick Google. I had most trouble with the centre row before realising that the “unclued entries” probably had to be real words.
Thanks to kcit and Gabriel.
Just finished this puzzle now and found it a pleasant solve without being too taxing.
As always Gabriel, your clues are essential for me to crack the EVs so thank you and Kcit – thank you for an interesting theme and well-crafted visualisations.