EV 1712 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1712 (Hints)

Obstacle Courses by Luxor

Hints and tips by Phibs

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

I felt that I’d set Claude a pretty tough challenge last time out, so I gave him a chance for redemption, asking “A themed crossword involves four ‘obstacle courses’, which have to be spelt out by joining 30 letters together in the grid, and includes a two-word phrase which describes what their constructors did to make them. Can you suggest what these obstacle courses might be?”

Like a flash, Claude had it all worked out.

“Looking at this crossword puzzle description, I need to think about obstacle courses that would fit thematically and could be spelled out by connecting letters in a grid. Given that there are four obstacle courses and they’re described as being constructed by people who did something specific (captured in a two-word phrase), this sounds like it could be referring to mazes. The four obstacle courses could be:

HEDGE MAZE (9 letters)
CORN MAZE (8 letters)
MIRROR MAZE (10 letters)
WATER MAZE (9 letters)

These would total 36 letters, which is close to your 30 letters – the exact count might depend on how the crossword constructor chose to implement them. The two-word phrase describing what their constructors did could be “LAID OUT” – as in, the maze designers “laid out” these obstacle courses.”

Sounds reasonable – prepare to be a-maze-d…

Preamble: All answers are eight letters in length and must be entered around the numbered square, clockwise or anticlockwise, beginning anywhere. The wordplay in every clue provides an extra letter not required for the answer and this must be entered into the numbered cell. A two-word phrase (10 cells in a straight line to be highlighted) states what constructors did to make the four OBSTACLE COURSES; solvers must draw a continuous line linking the shaded cells, tracing a path in which letters in numbered cells spell out the OBSTACLE COURSES. The twelve unchecked corner cells could spell out LEND STERN CRY. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 11 is in Collins.

We have an Eightsome Reels puzzle with a twist – the wordplay delivers an extra letter which goes into the relevant central cell. So if the clue for reel 1 were “This setter’s among select element”, the wordplay gives FLUXORINE (LUXOR in FINE), the answer to be written around the perimeter of the block is FLUORINE, and the extra letter to be entered in the cell numbered ‘1’ is X.

When it comes to filling the grid, the clues have to be relatively straightforward in order to compensate for the initial lack of structure, so once you’ve got started things gradually become (at least a little) easier. To gain that initial toehold, one needs first of all to blind solve the clues to two adjoining ‘reels’ – let’s assume that they are side by side, and the solutions are TWISTING and CURTSIED. The three consecutive shared letters are IST/TSI, so there are only two ways these can be entered (below). The fact that the shared letters are reversed in the second solution means that the entries will both run clockwise or both anticlockwise (if they were in the same sequence, eg TWISTING/BRISTLED, then one will run clockwise and the other anticlockwise).

If you can then solve a clue to a ’reel’ above or below either of these two (here we have ENTWINES to go underneath TWISTING), you can then confidently enter all three solutions into the grid.

We should end up with a full grid and twelve otherwise unchecked letters in the corners which can be crossed off in the ‘unch message’ LEND STERN CRY.

This sort of puzzle raises a particular point when it comes to the use of indicators in clues. All indicators should refer to the clue as it is written, ie horizontally from left to right, and the answer is established without reference to the orientation of the entry in the grid. In practice, all this means is that reversal indicators such as ‘rising’ or ‘from the south’ which are normally only allowed in down clues cannot be used.

It is generally considered desirable to avoid the use of ‘link’ words between wordplay and definition in ‘extra letter’ clues such as these, since the wordplay and definition lead to two different letter strings, but setters do not always adhere to this principle.

Clues

1    Smartly adjusting time round working – like some mature women
The ‘adjusting time’ here means that the usual abbreviation for ‘time’ in a word in plain view must have its position changed.

4  Daughter intermittently laying her bucket down at first outflow system
The three wordplay elements of 1, 4 (originally) and 4 letters must be arranged in the order A, C, B such that the word answering to ‘bucket down’ is only ‘at first’ relative to the other four-letter element.

11  Headgear on one bloke not fine but possible to be put right
Each of the first four words in the clue leads to a separate element, while the ‘not fine’ means that a two-letter word meaning ‘fine’ or ‘all right’ must be removed from the last of them. The extra letter comes from the first element.

12 Apt to be satisfied having knocked back carrot drink after siesta on vacation
As in 4, three elements (of 4, 3 and 2 letters) make up the wordplay, but this time they must be arranged as C, A<, B (where ‘<‘ indicates reversal). The extra letter comes from part B, while the ‘carrot’ is the sort which could be an alternative to the stick and might be prefixed with ‘jail’ or ‘click’.

13  Turned axe against communist seizing outlaw in religious attire
The ‘turned axe’ indicates the reversal of a three-letter word meaning ‘to axe’ or ‘to divide’ which will give up the extra letter. The rest of the wordplay involves one three-letter word containing another.

14  People bestowing authority originally encourage new inventors
The tricky bit here is the ‘inventors’, which leads to a word of seven letters (before deductions) that describes people who make things up, specifically stories.

15  Supplies additional drinks in scripture lesson by temple god
Elements of 2, 3 and 4 (reduced to 3)  letters contribute to the answer; the temple is of the Thai Buddhist variety and might be more familiar to some as the first name of the revolting Mr Tyler. There’s a problem with the definition, in that ‘supplies additional drinks’ indicates an intransitive verb, while the answer is an inflection of a transitive verb – ‘supplies additional drinks to’ would get over the problem, although ‘irrigates again’ would be more accurate.

16  Cupboard drawer to remain in place after struggle
Here the wordplay elements are of 2, 2, 2 and 3 letters, including an abbreviation and a word straight from the clue, and they need to be put in the order D, A, B, C, with B surrendering the extra letter.

17  Design ring in costly American manner
‘Design’ in the cryptic reading is a verb which leads to a four-letter word that, when followed by a single letter, is contained by another word of (originally) the same length. The ‘American’ indicates a US spelling of a familiar word.

20  In drowsy state put primitive cooking vessel in oven? On the contrary
Instead of putting a five-letter (gross) ‘primitive cooking vessel’, such as a your average swagman might possess, inside the four-letter word for a glass-annealing oven, the latter is put inside the former.

26  Attempts to pinch diminutive hobbit’s hats
‘To pinch’ indicates containment while ‘diminutive’ tells the solver to remove the last letter from a proper name.

Definitions in clues are underlined

Once the grid is full, the next step is to locate the two-word phrase, which shouldn’t prove too difficult. This gives a clear idea of what sort of thing the four ‘courses’ are going to be, and we then need to look at how we can make a progression from square 1 to square 30, spelling them out. Or do we? The preamble doesn’t tell us which of the shaded cells to start in, so we could be heading in either direction – and the phrase suggests taking a different tack. The navigation will surely involve going only left, right, up or down in single steps, and we know from previous puzzles that Luxor likes neat patterns, so it seems like a good idea to start with the most orderly possibilities of all. This approach pays dividends and allows us to draw the connecting line which completes the assignment.

Getting started is the hardest part of a puzzle like this, particularly with the added complexity of the gimmick, but the clues were for the most part pretty user-friendly. I got going with 1,2 and 8, making steady progress from there through to the endgame, which I’m sure that Winston Churchill would have enjoyed. And Claude? A pretty good effort, I thought – 8/10 for him.

Phibs Toughness Rating : 🥾🥾🥾 (Suitable for all  except novices, although getting started may prove tricky)

---

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.

---