EV 1744 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1744 (Hints)

Reassuring by Chalicea

Hints and tips by Phibs

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

It’s probably fair to say that in my four years of doing EV hints a significant majority of the puzzles have been beyond an imaginary halfway line in terms of difficulty.

I do think it’s important that every so often there is a puzzle which is suitable for less experienced solvers of themed puzzles, including blocked puzzle solvers looking to dip a toe in bar-infested waters. Chalicea has demonstrated time and again that a good themed puzzle does not have to be a hard puzzle, and it would be nice to think that other setters might occasionally set out to produce a puzzle at the accessible end of the difficulty spectrum. Memo to EV setters, copy to self…

Preamble: The unclued entries identify two people and two places connected with the REASSURING quotation that circles the grid in a clockwise direction beginning at the circle. Two clues contain an extra word that must be removed before solving. Their fifteen letters provide a jumble of the unchecked letters in the perimeter. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

The only gimmick in play is that two clues feature an extra word which must be removed before the clue can properly be solved. We can expect these words to be plainly surplus to requirements, as in the clue “Setter caught prince with reserve American goalkeeper”, where the answer is CHALICEA [C+HAL+ICE+A] and the word ‘goalkeeper’ is very definitely an interloper; the word ‘with’ is superfluous when it comes to the cryptic reading, but the clue can be solved while it remains in place. The combined length of the two extra words is 15 letters.

Across

15a  Rat in river for number of years (6)
A three-letter ‘rat’ or ‘bounder’ is contained by the name of a river located largely in Wales with a little stretch in Cheshire.

25a  Run to higher ground on horseback chased by preposterous rapacious creature (6)
A two-letter word meaning (among many other things) ‘on horseback’ is followed by a reversal (‘preposterous’ = ‘literally inverted’, see Chambers) of a proverbially rapacious creature.

32a  Person from north, east and south (4)
The wordplay is a charade of two abbreviations, the first of one letter, the second of three.

37a  You beat recorded number (7)
A homophone of a (3,4) phrase leads to an answer which is whimsically defined by ‘number’, this being a putative agent noun of the verb ‘numb’.

Down

1d  Caper marked with frenzy after fragment lost (5)
A seven-letter word meaning ‘marked by hurried activity or frenzy’ loses a two-letter abbreviation.

3d  The old filling set over small hole (6)
An archaic word for ‘the’ (ie ‘the old’) is contained by a reversal of an informal name for a ‘set’ or ‘the box’.

10d  Obtain favour with outdated penny before word of refusal comes up (5, two words)
A three-letter obsolete slang term for a penny is followed by a reversal of a word of refusal; the answer might seem to suggest a successful wager.

27d  Coat with protective material almost all relating to endocrine tissue (6)
A four-letter word meaning ‘[to] coat with clay, cement or other material used as a protective covering’ (also the name of an old stringed instrument) is followed by a word from the clue, missing its last letter.

Definitions in clues are underlined

The grid fill is likely to have proceeded steadily. The perimeter quotation should yield readily, at which point two of the unclued entries will have been fully revealed. The long one across the top should follow, and even if, like me, you didn’t know the second person and their place, googling the quotation is likely to confirm the accuracy of any guesses which you may have made. Cross off the 15 unchecked perimeter letters in the two extra words just to be on the safe side, and it’s job done.

As befits a puzzle with several unclued elements, the clues were a friendly bunch, and the endgame of this enjoyable crossword was well signposted.

Phibs Toughness Rating : 🥾/🥾🥾 (Suitable for all, and ideal for those new to barred puzzles)

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