A monster preamble this week. Also, so far as I am aware, a new setter for the EVs. Having so recently dodged a rather tough Ivor puzzle, I’m a little nervous about this unknown quantity. Who will have the last laugh?
As it turns out, it’s a lovely puzzle with the best-judged endgame that I can remember. It might just be how things worked out for me, but I found the final search more than a matter of moments, but not yet a hair-pulling addendum. There were a few nice clues to get one going (such as 15ac, a simple anagram that gave the whole central row), but a number of trickier efforts in there also (6dn’s ‘Manx cat’ was a particularly nice touch).
I worked out enough of the down letters to figure out that the last five words of the English version are IS WHAT TO PUT FIRST.
A simple search or two later and I could complete the perimeter, which reads LA DERNIÈRE CHOSE QU’ON TROUVE EN FAISANT UN OUVRAGE
This is a quotation from BLAISE PASCAL, whose name forms two individual triangles (after PASCAL’S TRIANGLE), with their top lines in the third and seventh rows. They form the following shapes (the letters of which are to be highlighted):
__B__ P_A_S
_L_A_ _C_A_
I_S_E __L__
Thanks to Artix. I really enjoyed this one.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | LION | Heavenly house in Stirling that was worth less than £4 (4) | |
| 9 | SPHERE | HERE (Listen to me) [after] SP (starting price) is solid (6) | |
| 10 | EL TEB | Site of battles where (in the end) SudanesE were given [dreadful] BELT* (5, two words) | |
| 11 | TSADDIQ | Holy man SAT* [around] and DD (gave to God) IQ (test of intelligence) (7) | |
| 12 | CLEANSE | Groom LEANS (bends over) [in] CE (church) (7) | |
| 13 | AMISS | AMIS (Nice friends’) S son is out of order (5) | |
| 15 | SHMO | He’s exposed by YiddiSHMOckers (4) | |
| 17 | RETROVERSION | Displacement [derived from] INVERSEROTOR*? (12) | |
| 20 | VRIL | Possible [the origins of] Vital Resource In Life? (4) | |
| 23 | ABSIT | < [Recalling] BA (degree), SIT (take exam) and leave from college (5) | |
| 25 | SPACIAL | S (Soprano’s) PAL (mate) [framing] CIA (investigators) from remote location (7) | |
| 27 | ODONATA | DONAT (Actor playing Mr Chips) [goes inside] OA (on account of) insects (7) | |
| 28 | LASSO | Rope in <COLOSSAL (huge) [return] after COL (senior officer) [quits] (5) | |
| 29 | NYLONS | ONLY* [in play] [between] NS (partners) may these be seamless? (5) | |
| 30 | STEM | Breast stroke (4) | |
| Down | |||
| H/I | 1 | MERELLS | MERE (Just) [last trio of] baLLS required for game (7) |
| R/S/T | 2 | CRIT | Informally review C (clubs’) RIT (score at Ibrox) (4) |
| T/W/O | 3 | BESOIN | In Clermont-Ferrand, desire BE SO IN (to be supercool) (6) |
| H/I | 4 | AVESTA | A VESTA (match) for Also Sprach Zarathustra? (6) |
| A/T | 5 | PASTE | Dodgy ice is [almost] PASTEL (soft) (5) |
| R/S/T | 6 | WHISHED | [Manx] WHIP (cat) [atop] SHED (garden feature) moved on (7) |
| R/S/T | 7 | NORI | In the main, weed <IRON (strength’s) [on the up] (4) |
| T/W/O | 9 | NESS | Head of the Untouchables? (4) |
| P | 14 | NITINOL | Alloy [mixing] TIN* with LION (8) (7) |
| F/U | 16 | MEMOIRS | With IR (taxmen) [implicated], MEMOS (notes) society’s transactions (7) |
| A/T | 18 | SCALAE | ‘Spirals‘ in [front of] Eye CA |
| F/U | 19 | FRAILS | Old women’s baskets (6) |
| H/I | 21 | SAPAN | Tree‘s < [toppled over] in NAPA (California valley) [with] S (spades) (5) |
| R/S/T | 22 | SPAT | Threw out gaiter (4) |
| R/S/T | 24 | TIDY | TIDDLY (A bit tight) [to forgo] DL (demand loan) that’s fairly big (4) |
| T/W/O | 25 | EELS | They slip and slide EyEgLaSs [on and off] (4) |
Yes, this is Artix’s debut EV, although he’s worked with I think a number of solvers either on their own works or in collaboration, so you will have seen some of his work in Rasputin’s EV 1023 Phoenix, from last year, and indirectly in several other puzzles. Very inventive setter and the finish to this one was remarkable. Thanks Artix!