Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle October 2020

 Riddles by Gnomie

Four unclued solutions, three of them translated from the original and one which is the work's title, are given as the answers to riddles in a work. The first and last lines of an aria from the work appear in the grid. The wordplay of every clue produces an additional letter that is not needed for the solution. These, read in clue order, give a further instruction.

Riddles by Gnomie PDF

Across

1  Formal proclamation sadly ruins a component (14)

11  Only brief expression of approval for system of sherry production (6)

12  Area gurus adjusted for bard's diviners (8)

15  Fashions for wry faces long ago (4)

17  A reprehensible senior journalist humbled (6)

18  Wretched little person getting round umpire on the quiet (8, 2 words)

19  Beasts' enclosure unserviceable for family of birds (5)

21  Main, central area of church company reviewed (5)

23  Of an inferior quality that's hot, deep-fried Indian bread (5)

24  Aloofly now and then assume horizontal position for skateboard trick (5)

25  Believer in taxonomic theories equipped international coterie (7)

28  Endure tasteless odds and ends in small yard (4)

31 Philosophical belief including obscenity in fact according to Voltaire (7, 2 words)

33  Israeli monetary unit in ancient market places (5)

39  Window to the sky, mostly related to gospel writer (5)

40  Runs and several series of balls for player with no fixed position (5)

44  Descendant to become weary about cloth of gold (6)

46  Leader of technicians going into 'how' in promotional leaflet for stage contraption (8)

47  In Holyrood, purposes of upset drink left finally by the French (6)

48  Building material of constructed basements etc - to seal principally (14, 2 words)

Down

2  Shelter mostly and portable winch set up for Perth's vehicle protection (6, 2 words)

3  With no limits tools rear and endlessly trim a daisy tree (7)

4  Surprisingly surer about grand impulses (5)

5  Aborigine’s food plant spread up to front entry (6)

6  Cotton company clothing Carroll's heroine (6)

7  American heroin casually turning up in cooking ranges (4)

8  Actor with no words to speak welcomes first of roles as Bard's wall (4)

9   Heather's anger over upset resin (5)

10  Entire ley strangely where growth of timber stops (8, 2 words)

11  Little boats' special promenades essentially prescribed on aft and fore of ship (11, 2 words)

13  Disconcert one in Nice born to ramble (7)

14 Openly distrustful, circling Israel in a strange and frightening manner (6)

16  Severest crit, perversely, for slogans of hawkers (11, 2 words)

20  Tune down, somewhat and bring to nothing (4)

22  Closely united but not initially celebrated (5)

23  Small bottle containing bit of pilgrims' bo tree (5)

26  Following stage of journey, returning, sell up for jokes (8)

27  Of castle constructed of mineral found in dolomitic limestone, say (7)

29  A fine South American city hairdo (4)

30  Functioning in commotion at regular intervals (6)

32  Mostly fooled about average small depression (7)

35  At a subsequent time getting into old style westerns (6)

36  As a gamble cutting back one special recipe (6, 2 words)

37  Vigour and spirit in Ed's magical, medicinal plant (6)

38  Produced dull surface on coarse metal (5)

40  Rambling detour's the road to take (5)

42  Old white gannet turning up in inner temple (4)

43  Arrange to pour water on Ian's fag end (4)

Crossword News September 2020

 

Crossword News September 2020

The August Prize Puzzle was In the Chair by Phylax. The theme of the puzzle was the BBC quiz show Mastermind. The eight modified entries must have a word meaning 'pass' removed:  SH(UTTER)ED, S(HAND)EAN, ER(EMIT)IC, SHE(CHIT)A, AR(GO)SY, S(WEAR)ING, S(COL)LOP and T(REACH)OURS. The eight unnumbered entries can all be prefixed to 'point': TRIG, VIEW, NEAR, STAND, POWER, COVER, SORE and NEEDLE. The five-word phrase is therefore EIGHT POINTS AND NO PASSES.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Great puzzle! Cleverly conceived theme and excellent clues, including some very amusing ones. Although I soon figured out how to modify the answers, the common thread "pass" eluded me for quite a while. Same thing with "point" from the narrative (an amazingly plausible narrative, given the words Phylax had to work with!). Then the whole thing fell into place all at once. Thank you, Phylax, for a most enjoyable mental workout.  

Was an extremely interesting puzzle and perhaps one of the toughest I've tackled here.  A great find for the catchphrase and theme, and a nicely constructed grid.  Quite a feat to include so many thematic entries, having as many passes as points, and all the more so because there were largely no unfamiliar words.  Not that it made getting the answers any easier, the delightfully tricky wordplay in many a clue required several rounds of reading before yielding.  Even with a fully filled grid (adjustments having been made with 'educated' guesses but with no idea why) I was left staring at it trying to figure out the theme.  Went on a wild goose chase, getting reacquainted with some trigonometry in the process, till fortuitously getting introduced to 'Dadstermind', and then everything clicked.  Excellent stuff, thanks for the entertainment.  Note: 26d had me confused for quite a while, not being sure whether the narrative covered it, since it was a 'numbered' entry.  Finally slotted that as the last one in after disposing of the others, and at the very end saw that it was also part of the thematic set. A 'stand out' puzzle!

When I saw the puzzle title, I immediately thought of Mastermind, but as I filled the grid, it was only on realising that AND NO PASSES would fit on the bottom line, that I saw I had been right, that the eight narrative words could precede POINT and the words removed in modified entries were all synonyms of PASS. I liked the rather whimsical nature of some of the clues, eg for DILATORY, DEICIDAL and HITLIST. Also, some difficult clues, in particular that for SHANDEAN caused me most bother. Many thanks to Phylax.

There were 48 entries, of which 8 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat was Mark Nichols from Rugby, who will soon be receiving a prize from the Chambers range.

A solution and explanation are available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/09/solution-to-in-chair-by-phylax.html

The September Prize Puzzle is Minor Variations by Phi and you still have lots of time to solve it and email your entry. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/08/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-september.html

The October challenge will be Riddles by Gnomie.
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Steve Bartlett, editor of the Enigmatic Variations puzzles in the Sunday Telegraph has announced this on our message board.

For solvers who are interested in attempting barred puzzles, http://bigdave44.com/ is now providing a weekly hints post for the Enigmatic Variations series in The Sunday Telegraph. Solvers who are inexperienced with barred-grid puzzles can find valuable information about how to tackle these each week with information relevant to the current puzzle. The introduction of these posts runs alongside an offering of accessible puzzles for the first few EVs in September. Please do give it a try and leave a comment about your experience on the blog; it will also be good to see some new names among the entrants for the prize.
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One of the highlights of my year has been John Henderson’s York S & B meeting. However, with social distancing and the rule of six this has seemed unlikely this year. However, John thinks that there may be a chance of doing something puzzle-oriented related on that weekend and there are still rooms available at Stableside should anyone fancy a weekend in York on the 30/31 October. More details here http://www.fifteensquared.net/2020/09/14/sb-york-2020/#more-144140
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Scrabble fans who are interested in the statistics of the game might like to look at the Unscrambler site. You will find it at https://www.unscramblerer.com/scrabble-twl-dictionary-statistics/
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On the Clue-writing Competition the challenge for September is to write a Printers Devilry clue to SEVEN. The competition closes on 30 September. More details at http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php
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The BBC 2 quiz programme, Only Connect, will start a new season on Monday 21 September. I wonder if they have had to socially distance the teams!
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Having been in Portugal to see our family, we are now in quarantine. However, as Northumberland is now in special measures, I will have lots of time to solve more crosswords.

Best wishes
Derek

 

 

Solution to In The Chair by Phylax

 Solution to In The Chair by Phylax

Crossword Centre Prize Puzzle August 2020

The theme of the puzzle is the BBC quiz show Mastermind. The eight modified entries must have a word meaning 'pass' removed:  SH(UTTER)ED, S(HAND)EAN, ER(EMIT)IC, SHE(CHIT)A, AR(GO)SY, S(WEAR)ING, S(COL)LOP and T(REACH)OURS. The eight unnumbered entries can all be prefixed to 'point': TRIG, VIEW, NEAR, STAND, POWER, COVER, SORE and NEEDLE. The five-word phrase is therefore EIGHT POINTS AND NO PASSES.