Enigmatic Variations 1760 (Hints)
Poster by Robyn
Hints and tips by Phibs
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This week I gave Claude the chance to impress.
I asked, “In a themed crossword puzzle, we are told that the final grid will represent a ‘poster’ for a thematic work of six letters. We will be revealing the names of two protagonists, one on each side of the grid; one of these names must have a letter removed ‘as in the theme work’. Can you suggest what the theme might be?” This clearly gave Claude something to chew on. He went through several phases, including ‘sleuthing’, ‘mulling’ and ‘reckoning’, before coming up with his answer (slightly edited in the interests of brevity):
“A strong candidate is Hitchcock’s Psycho (six letters).
The “poster”: Psycho‘s promotional imagery/theatrical one‑sheet is one of the most iconic in film history, so a crossword grid styled as a “poster” for a six‑letter work fits neatly.
Two protagonists, one per side: MARION (Crane) and NORMAN (Bates) are the film’s two central figures, and structurally they “face off” across the story much as they could sit on opposite sides of a themed grid.
The letter removed “as in the theme work”: This is the elegant part. Drop the N from NORMAN and you get NORMA — the name of Norman’s mother, whose identity he has psychologically absorbed. The film’s entire twist hinges on Norman effectively becoming Norma. So removing a letter from his name to reveal hers isn’t just wordplay for the puzzle’s sake — it mirrors the film’s actual theme (his identity being subsumed by hers).
That gives you a tidy, thematically justified mechanism: NORMAN loses its N to become NORMA, “as in the theme work,” while MARION stays intact on the other side of the grid.”
Claude surely deserves to be right (spoiler alert: he isn’t).
Preamble: The final grid represents a POSTER for 23. Eight answers to normal clues are to be amended before entry, leaving real words: (i) four answers in one half of the grid lose a letter; (ii) four answers in the other half need two letters of the alphabet to be swapped around. Remaining clues contain an extra word, first letters of which give an instruction for the entire grid. One entry in each half of the filled grid must be amended in the same way as before. Removing the letter leaves a space, but reveals the name of a protagonist changed as in the theme work; swapping two letters leaves one non-word answer, but reveals another protagonist’s name (both two words). The Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 37 Across is in Collins.
The preamble should probably also state that one answer is an abbreviation.
So, as Loyd Grossman was wont to remark, “Let’s look at the evidence.” We can see that the enumerations for 18a, 34a, 37a and 39a exceed the number of cells available by one; therefore, the answers to these clues will each lose a letter prior to entry, with the resultant grid entries also being real words (eg the answer to one of these clues could be SOLVED and the grid entry SOLED). This tells us that the left side of the puzzle is the ‘letter omitted’ half, so the right side must be the ‘letters swapped’ half. From the 20 clues relating to lights entirely in this half, four will have a pair of letters swapped prior to entry, the grid entry again being a real word (eg the answer SETTER could have the letters S and T swapped to produce TESTER). Each of the remaining clues includes a superfluous word which must be removed before the clue can be properly solved – for example, in the clue “Setter thought Byron absurd (5)”, the word ‘thought’ must be removed leaving the definition ‘setter’ and the anagram wordplay ‘Byron absurd’, which yield the answer ROBYN. The first letter of ‘thought’ (ie T) would contribute to the message. Note that if you solve a clue that has no extra words and where the enumeration matches the number of cells available, the answer is certain to require a letter swap.
Across
1a A chauvinistic male perhaps on the radio programme (6)
The letter A is followed by a homophone (‘on the radio’) for ‘male perhaps’; the wordplay would have worked equally well without the ‘A’.
18a Articles on horse disease affecting cattle (6)
In this too-long-for-entry clue, a couple of articles follow (‘on’) an informal term for an inferior horse. The grid entry is an alternative spelling of the same word.
19a Prince’s wife advanced wearing heavy collar (5)
Two abbreviations are contained by a similarly informal synonym for ‘[to] collar’.
24a Reddish-brown hue on long lozenge (6)
A 4+2 charade, where ‘on’ yields that ubiquitous piece of commercial jargon much prized by setters.
27a Celtic animal flees dog biting vermin (6)
Two three-letter words are involved in the wordplay, the first being not a breed of dog but another crossword staple describing a worthless dog of poor lineage.
Down
2d Island tries plucking thistle-like plants (8)
The ‘island’ here is an archaic or poetic word for one which was officially divided in 1921.
6d Flipping pulpy green food right for hawk (8)
The extra word finds itself dividing the first element of the 3+4+1 wordplay, while the ‘hawk’ is the opposite of a dove.
7d Characters in hotel help to support Mountain Rescue (8)
Elements of one letter and four letters come after (‘to support’) a three-letter term for any high mountain, originally a single peak in one particular range.
12d Nothing upset ingenious lawyer Ms Blair? (5)
The definition here is one for the more mature solver, taking us back to the days when a spinning head could be pretty serious. Part of the wordplay involves a synonym for ‘nothing’ being ‘upset’.
15d Half-cut Yankee pockets black resin (5)
An eight-letter word with ‘half cut’ contains a single-letter abbreviation, but that’s not the end of the story.
22d More than one bob short, taxpayer agreed to raise shilling (8)
If you see ‘more than one x’ in a clue, rather than ‘more than an x’, the chances are that the setter is trying to disguise the definition of a plural. The lengths of the wordplay elements are 4, 3 and 1.
26d King Henry chuntered made-up lingo (6)
The key to this entertaining clue is translating ‘King’ to ‘King of rock and roll’. ‘Henry’ should really be ‘henry’, but most solvers care less than I do about the addition of a false capital at the start of a common noun.
27d Visitor heading for Channel to go across the Channel (6)
The main part of the answer is a word from ‘across the Channel’ meaning ‘to go’, and there’s still travail to do once you’ve got the answer.
30d Honey-coated tablets lessen bard’s ailment (5)
The compound ‘honey-coated’ indicates that what immediately follows is contained (‘coated’) in a three-letter pharmacological word for the sweet stuff, also used on occasion as a honey substitute in verse.
31d Part of gunpowder tea reportedly drunk by obstreperous French father (5)
I’m not a fan of the partial homophone, particularly when, as here, it leads to just a single letter to be inserted into another word from across the Channel.
32d Palms of Australian unusually hot and cold? (5)
The last three words need to be mentally prefixed with ‘things that might be labelled’ or similar.
Definitions in clues are underlined
Having entered all the clued answers (with appropriate modifications), we can reappraise our assets. The instruction derived from the extra words is clear, but doesn’t help when it comes to identifying the theme. The ‘half and half’ thing suggests that the names are likely to run vertically, but unless you are familiar with the theme work a quick look at possibilities (including a letter deletion on the left, leaving a real word with a gap in it, and a swap on the right, producing a non-word) may not deliver. If so, it comes down to that unclued entry across the middle of the ‘poster’ – my first thought was a well-known DIY store (I’ve been doing a lot of decorating recently), but my next thought was another word with the same first letter. I knew nothing beyond the title of the work, but a web search quickly told me all I needed to know about the protagonists, including the background to the letter deletion and sufficient information to enable the instruction to be carried out. Job done.
The clues were generally very fair, with the ‘letter swap’ ones being perhaps as tricky as any. There was no sure-fire way into the endgame, so solvers who were already familiar with the work will have been at a significant advantage. An honourable mention goes to Claude, who had a good stab at it before the curtain came down…but then we all go a little mad sometimes.
Phibs Toughness Rating : 🥾🥾🥾 (One for themed puzzle regulars)
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