Enigmatic Variations 1657 (Hints)
Dictum by proXimal
Hints and tips by Phibs
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Seeking a head start, I asked ChatGPT, “Can you think of any famous dictums that have exactly 36 letters?”
The response was relatively brief:
“Sure! One famous dictum that has exactly 36 letters is:
“I think, therefore I am.” — René Descartes.
This phrase, “Cogito, ergo sum” in Latin, has exactly 36 characters when including the spaces and punctuation:
I think, therefore I am. = 36 characters
Let me know if you’re looking for something else!”
I thought that wasn’t much help, therefore I was.
Preamble: Each clue contains a superfluous jumbled thematic word plus an extra letter. Extra letters spell out a DICTUM that should help with the two unclued entries. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.
We have a straightforward preamble and a single gimmick: a word must be removed from every clue before it can be solved, and that word contains the jumbled letters of a thematic word plus one additional letter, which contributes to a message. So if the theme was dogs and one clue was ‘Airmen flying biplanes take navigator’ for MARINER [AIRMEN* + R], the word that must be removed is BIPLANES, the thematic word is SPANIEL, and the letter B forms part of the message. You can expect the extra words to be cunningly camouflaged, but many of them are likely to be rare visitors to crossword clues and therefore will stand out from the usual cryptic elements; identifying the theme may also help when it comes to spotting the intruders. Once you’ve enjoyed the surface reading as it stands, you should treat the clue as purely cryptic, because it probably won’t make any sense as a piece of English prose once the extra word is removed.
Across
5a Danseur turning avenged Juliet in cool lift (8)
A reversal of a (1+2) pair of elements (one taken directly from the clue) is followed by a two-letter word that bears a striking similarity to the one that precedes it in the clue, and a three-letter word meaning ‘to raise aloft’. The proper name which results will be well-known to aficionados of horse racing as well as ballet.
10a New direction for musician Dvorak gives US agent (5)
If you’re trying to get a handle on the theme, this is a good place to start. The stowaway rather stands out, and there is only one possibility for the word that can be formed by rearranging all but one of its letters. The wordplay has an abbreviation being followed by a musical direction.
11a Unroped multi-coloured part of harness fop picked up (7)
I recently encountered ‘released from trap’ as a homophone indicator – a new one to me, which I rather liked and duly added to my list. The ‘picked up’ here is rather more familiar, the indications in the wordplay leading to two four-letter words for which soundalikes must be found. The convention of underlining the definition leaves the stowaway rather ‘out on a limb’.
16a Cross centre of marshy parish with great tenacity (4)
One quite often sees constructions where an imperative anagram indicator (eg ‘Police’, ‘School’) comes at the start of the clue, but an imperative containment indicator is more of a novelty. Here it tells the solver to take one two-letter element and set another two-letter element ‘across’ (spanning) it.
32a Boys clamber around northern edge and fall from cliff (8)
The stowaway here is nicely integrated into the clue, but it still stands out because it is a very rare visitor to cryptic clues. Once you’ve removed it, along with the ‘and’ which serves only to link the wordplay to the definition, things should become clear.
Down
8d Quiet action with force cutting whiskers for dog (9, two words)
There are a couple of two-letter interjections meaning ‘Quiet!’ which are popular with setters. One of them is SH!, but it is the other one which sets the ball (or barrel) rolling here. The ‘with’ joins it to the remainder of the wordplay, wherein the ‘force’ is an abbreviation for the senior service, while the ‘for’ connects the wordplay to the definition.
18d Chanter of words beginning to lift team in tie to the north (7)
Again, the stowaway finds itself isolated. The required equivalent for ‘team’ comes originally from cricket, and relates to the number of members in a side. The indicators ‘in’ and ‘to the north’ could both apply to two elements, but in each instance only the word immediately preceding is affected.
20d Capital of Estonia that’s pleasurable to go round having secured transport (6)
The stowaway, combined with the ‘of’ linking definition to wordplay, is craftily deceptive. The first wordplay element is a three-letter interjection (think along the lines of ‘that hurts’ for OW!), and if you read ‘having secured’ as ‘before securing’ the necessary manipulation will be unambiguous.
23d Rushed to monitor gecko shedding skin with convulsive movement (6)
Once more, the stowaway is neatly concealed but its rarity cannot be disguised. You may need to work back from the solution and the second wordplay element to identify the word that is ‘shedding [its] skin’.
29d Wants cash missing with bust and bronzes (4)
You might overlook the stowaway here on the grounds that it doesn’t appear to offer a jumble which constitutes a thematic item, but it does. Without the extra word, the wordplay is quite straightforward.
Definitions in clues are underlined
Once you’ve identified a few of the stowaways, you may be able to unjumble a themed word or two, whereupon a pattern will quickly emerge. Some of the extra words are quite tricky to unravel, but sufficient chunks of the message should emerge to enable you to fill in the gaps, particularly with the help of the unclued entries. It’s not strictly necessary to work out all the jumbled words (which fall into two broad categories, as befits the theme) in order to complete the assignment, but it’s well worth doing.
The clues were for the most part generous, offsetting the extra difficulty associated with the gimmick. Once the general theme became clear, sorting out the jumbles – and thus the bonus letters – was an entertaining challenge. And ChatGPT’s ‘helpful’ suggestion of what looked to me remarkably like an 18-letter dictum (so good he said it twice, perhaps)? It’s probably fair to say that its accuracy turned out to be eXactly in line with expectation.
Phibs Toughness Rating : 🥾🥾/🥾🥾🥾 (Suitable for anyone except barred puzzle novices)
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I knew a lifetime of dissolution would come in handy one day. It sure helped with the end-game, though there were 2 [6 and 12d] that took a while to disentangle.
The puzzle looked almost impossible at first until [2 clues in] I realised that the extra letters were probably all contained within the surplus words [not at all clear from the preamble]. Once that was established it was reasonably plain sailing and, with the clues completed, the 2 unclued entries were clear enough, which gave a good steer to the nature of the jumbled words. Altogether great fun.
Thanks to proXimal and Phibs.
A nicely themed puzzle, which all comprehensively came together in the end. Well crafted with fair clues, but some decidedly tricky. The unclued answers needed an on-line search as I am limited to “Romanes eunt domus” and that is gramatically E-
Thx to proximal and Phibs