A Nimrod puzzle from our esteemed Editor, so not likely to be a pushover!
The complicated rubric read:
The final grid represents an early scene in a work of fiction involving three individuals, two of whose identities are initially unknown and are to be deduced. Excepting Row 1, each clue is really two clues run together, one for the left-hand and one for the right-hand answer; either may come first. The Row 1 clue leads to three answers, clued in a significant order; from each, one letter is to be removed before entry and entered below the grid in an appropriate form. One or more letters are not given by wordplay in the clues for 13 right-hand (non-Row 1) entries: these letters must be highlighted in the grid, together with two relevant locations and the three missing items from the title of the puzzle (49 cells in total).
The right-hand answer at 16 is in Collins; the untreated answer to the right-hand 3ac is in SOED. An asterisk indicates that one answer is of two words.
My first day’s attempt at this puzzle yielded precisely seven answers. Fortunately one of them had a letter missing in the wordplay, so I was able to locate them in the correct half of the grid from the off. Slow progress over the next two days gradually filled the bottom half of the grid and I was able to creep upwards.
I noted in the bottom row ST MARY MEAD which rang an immediate bell, though I couldn’t think why, so I Googled it and was reminded that it was the home of Jane Marple, one of Agatha Christie’s great creations. So the puzzle clearly referred to one of the Miss Marple novels, but which one? There are sixteen, plus two collections of short stories. My slow upwards creep had, by this time, got ??PA????GT?? in the top row. One of the novels 4.50 from Paddington would allow PADDINGTON and ST MARY MEAD to be the two locations mentioned in the preamble. Another Google of the novel title gave me the plot and the characters involved.
A murder is witnessed by Mrs McGillicuddy, a friend of Miss Marple. She is travelling on the 4.50 train from Paddington to St Mary Mead, represented by the left hand diagram. The murder takes place on the train going in the opposite direction from her own, represented by the right hand diagram. GILLICUDDY was already visible in the grid, so the addition of MC allowed me to complete 5a and 7a. [MCGILLICUDDY is entered in cells going from top to bottom – i.e. from Paddington to St Mary Mead.] The murderer was DR QUIMPER who killed his wife, going under her stage name of ANNA Stravinska. They are the two whose identities are initially unknown and are to be deduced. Anna was clearly visible in the grid, but I had to search (and incidentally rethink my answer to 6D) for Dr. Quimper. His name was round a curve and one of the plot devices involved locating where the train went round a curve so that the body could be dumped, and Dr Quimper is on that curve. [He and Anna are printed in cells going upward from St Mary Mead to Paddington.]
I had found the names in the grid before finding the thirteen non-wordplay letters which were ANNADRQUIMPER and I had to do quite a considerable amount of reverse engineering to discover them all. I was hampered by not having read the rubric carefully enough, and so not realising that more than one letter could be missing from the wordplay in a single clue. Several of the thirteen letters are cross-checked and are omitted in the wordplay from both clues. They are indicated by enclosing them in [] in the answer column and listing them in the final column. I failed to find the second N of ANNA in the 13 non-wordplay letters until, while checking this blog, inspiration struck. The clue for 15DR has no wordplay – so all three letters of ANN are omitted. Brilliant Nimrod!
This left the fraught problem of the Row 1 clues and the missing letters. The three solutions (in order of clueing) were TON(I) (the SOED word, deduced from wordplay alone), (V)AMP and ADD(L)ING, so the three omitted letters to be written below the grid were IVL. In Roman numerals this was 4.50. Result!!
I thought that was it, but when I counted up the letters to be highlighted there were only 44 cells involved, so I had another 5 to find.
The rubric required us to locate the three missing items from the title of the puzzle. In my reading of the Wiki article I saw that it was published in America under the title What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw. The puzzle’s title What…! led me to look for MRS and SAW. SAW was clearly in the bottom right corner and MRS was in the bottom left corner. This required an extra 5 cells giving the required 49. Phew!
Challenging stuff Nimrod. Thanks for the workout and a nicely constructed grid. Some of the wordplay was pretty obtuse, but we can’t have it easy every week. Pity about RE-SAW not being in Chambers (an odd omission) and a pity about TONI requiring the SOED, which I, along with many others, don’t have. The word did not respond well to Googling. I have assumed that my answer is correct from the wordplay alone. I have been unable to check the definition. Comments are welcome.
Across |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay | X |
| 1R | Boat headed for, say, Belfast (4) | TON[I] | SOED definition unconfirmed: TO (headed for) + NI (Northern Ireland – Belfast say) | I |
| 1L | repair, siren (4) | [V]AMP | Double definition (1 and 2 in Chambers) | V |
| 1M | going off: throw in rope for tarry-breeks (7) | ADD[L]ING | ADD (throw in) + LING (Scots term for a line/rope – tarry-breeks is a Scottish sailor) | L |
| 5R | City name is scrubbed (6) | AMIENS | [NAME IS]* | |
| 5L | off renumbered sequences movement checker (6) | FRENUM | hidden in ofF RENUMbered | |
| 7L | Fox News wage packets beginning to cover (6) | FENNEC | NN (2 x new) in FEE (wage) + C(over) | |
| 7R | second degrees for US mothers (6) | MOMMAS | &lit-ish clue: MAs for MOM | |
| 9R | Tube scare: train (6) | [U]RET[E]R | hidden in scaRE TRain | U E |
| 9L | carries sailor through capital in fits and starts (6)* | A SALTI | SALT (sailor) in AI (capital) | |
| 10L | In late shifts outwork (6) | TENAIL | [IN LATE]* | |
| 10R | Arabian ‘engaged in’ sloth (6) | [Q]ATA[R]I | AT (engaged in) + AI (sloth) | Q R |
| 11L | Singers’ hearts inspired by Pink (6) | CHORAL | CORAL (pink) round H (hearts) | |
| 11R | Isle and river through country to West Province (6) | [R]AETIA | AIT (isle) + EA (river through country) all reversed (to West) | R |
| 13L | As top one slashes (6) | SOLIDI | SO (as) + LID (top) + I (one) | |
| 13R | foppish behaviour, I’m thinking to scorn dons (6) | [D]UDISM | UM (I’m thinking) round (dons) DIS (scorn) | D |
| 15L | Neighbours bringing stress, reviewer sees a different side (6) | CLITIC | The neighbours refer to the preceding or following word: CRITIC (reviewer) change R to L (different side) | |
| 15R | of us posties forwarding mail (6) | [A]RMOUR | Lovely clue! RM (Royal Mail – posties) + OUR (of us) | A |
| 18R | Intellect is so damaged around home, ultimately (6) | [N]OESIS | [IS SO]* round (hom)E | N |
| 18L | medic in employment went hunting (6) | MOUSED | MO (medic) USED (in employment) | |
| 19L | Spot queer friend (6)* | RUM BUD | RUM (queer) + BUD (friend) | |
| 19R | turn in boring “Short” John Silver (6) | [A]LBATA | BAT (turn in cricket) in (boring) LA(v) (short John) | A |
| 20R | A little country making me bother with (6) | MEADOW | ME + ADO (bother) + W(ith) | |
| 20L | Virgin flying Mrs T? Nay, Branson’s heart’s not in it (6)* | ST MARY | [MRS T (n)AY]* (braNson – heart removed) | |
Down |
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| No. | Clue (definition) | Answer | Wordplay | X |
| 1L | Crackpot initially kicked out of The Ark – trust (4) | AFFY | Obsolete word (of the Ark): DAFFY (crackpot) minus initial letter D | |
| 1R | one’s bouncer’s left foot (4) | IAMB | I AM (one’s) + B (Bouncer’s left letter) | |
| 2R | Employed hole-maker in sleeveless jacket (8) | GI[M]LETED | GILETED (in sleeveless jacket) | M |
| 3L | Ring, having this bit of fun with reduction in payment, (10) | ANNULARITY | LAR(k) (bit of fun with reduction) in ANNUITY (payment) | |
| 3R | met up with comic actor on trial (10) | TEM[P]TATION | MET reversed (up) + (Jaques) TATI (comic actor) + ON | P |
| 4L | Scheduled times one works (6) | DUETTI | DUE (scheduled) + TT (2 x time) + I (one) | |
| 4R | historical engine, being paid silver (6) | ONAG[ER] | ON (being paid) AG (silver) | ER |
| 6L | Energy-saving trick to make something else of (5) | RE-USE | RUSE (trick) round E(nergy) | |
| 6R | game in which one guesses name of woman (5) | MO[I]RA | MORA (guessing game) | I |
| 8R | Solo, uplifting broadcast overseen by a (4) | ARIA | AIR (broadcast) + A all reversed (uplifting) | |
| 8L | policewoman, is good and bad (4) | GILL | G(ood) + ILL (bad) | |
| 12R | Crown’s beer cut by euro – fantastic (7) | AUREOLE | ALE round [EURO]* | |
| 12L | last offer (7)* | HOLD OUT | Double definition | |
| 14L | Policeman regrets picking up entertainer (6) | DISEUR | DI (policeman) + RUES (regrets) reversed | |
| 14R | in haste – action of court holds baron over (6) | SUBITO | SUIT (action of court) round B(aron) + O(ver) | |
| 15R | Kirkman’s widow received this (3) | [ANN] | There is no wordplay, so all three letters are omitted from the wordplay!!! | ANN |
| 15L | Scot, making way up University stream (3) | CAM | MAC (Scot) reversed | |
| 16R | There’s a way in which to further cut (5) | RE-SAW | hidden in theRE’S A Way | |
| 16L | rent of old village idiot (5) | CUDDY | Double definition | |
| 17L | Act so audience may see but not hear toeless mother (4) | MUMM | MUMMY (mother) minus last letter (toe) | |
| 17R | beast escape barred cages (4) | PEBA | hidden in escaPE BArred | |
You’re absolutely right. You see Nimrod and you want to run away!
I stayed the course, though. And I’m pleased that I did.
I agree with TONI. Surely we could have been given a more accessible definition.
I noticed that both halves of the grid were laid out the same and began entering answers. Luckily I chose the correct halves from the outset.
Oh, and, thanks to all involved.
Somewhat above my pay grade but a masterpiece nevertheless.
Thanks for great blog and stunning puzzle Nimrod
Thank you copmus. When speaking to Ho about the puzzle (he had never read any Agatha Christie) he said he recognised instantly the name MACGILLYCUDDY (sic). He had come across it in his school days, and remembered it ever since. It refers to an Irish nobleman called, amazingly, MacGillycuddy of the Reeks, the Reeks being mountains in County Kerry.
I’ve read the novel, and seen several adaptions, so this should have been a pushover. 😉 I managed to sort out what went where pretty sharpish, the non-standard clue entries being on the RHS a pretty handy hint as it turned out. Spotted the station at the top, and thought of a certain bear, before I spotted the location at the bottom, and then the witness, victim and murderer. Most of my time seemed to be spent though looking for what would complete the puzzle title, as I wasn’t aware of the alternative title, and was evidently not reading the Wiki page closely enough.
Ironically, the significance of the puzzle number (1650) only occurred to me several days later!
A great blog for a superb puzzle! I did wonder if someone had made a bet with JH that he couldn’t include the name McGillicuddy in a crossword. If so, they lost the bet. Incidentally here is the OED definition of TONI:
†(a) A small South Indian sailing vessel. Obsolete. (b) A dug-out boat. (c) A ferry boat. The last citation given is from The Times of India in 1978.
Incidentally Hi, there is a small error in the grid: you have omitted the bar under the second N in ANN.
I solved this as (in effect) a themeless puzzle to start with, and I very much enjoyed it. The clues were excellent, many of them exemplars of economical clueing of which I’d like to highlight two: CHORAL (“Singers’ hearts inspired by Pink”) and IAMB (“One’s bouncer’s left foot”).
I spent a pleasant Sunday, on and off, completing the grid except for the top row. The checked letters in that row were sufficient to determine which side was which for all the other rows. I left Row 1 for later. The name MsGillicuudy led me to The 4.50 from Paddington and its US title and thence to the two placenames.
I had the same experience as yours (Hihoba) when I had only 12 of the 13 clues that would yield a letter or letters. But I remembered the ‘strange’ clue for ANN that had no wordplay, and that, of course, was the point – all three letters were surplus. Highlighting the two names in that half of the grid meant that I had to change the extra letter in the clue to RAETIA from T to R. (Of the two ways to parse that clue I chose the wrong one at first.)
Finally to Row 1. I got TONI first, despite not knowing what it is or where to find it (I forgot the advice about the SOED). Having bagged the I, I got the idea of making ‘4.50’ from IV and L, and this undubtedly speeded up my final two solutions (V)AMP and ADD(L)ING.
I thought the thematic design and construction were brilliant – an excellent crossword throughout.
Thanks to both Nimrod and Hihoba.
Jon_S @5. The significance of the puzzle number (1650) had escaped me entirely, so thank you for pointing it out!
bridgesong @6: Missing bar inserted now, thank you.
Really enjoyed this. Theme right up my street, a taxing but rewarding challenge and as usual some superb clueing. I do share the reservation re TONI but it’s a quibblet
Excellent puzzle, not too hard by Nimrod’s standards. It helped that the first clues I solved had missing letters, which got the grid fill off to a good start. I didn’t notice the significance of the puzzle number either, which is a shame.
I share the reservations about the definition for TONI. Google was no help at all on this. Wouldn’t the female name have a more accessible definition, perhaps with reference to Toni Morrison?
Never heard of ST MARY MEAD, but guessed it from its position in the grid relative to PADDINGTON. Then Google confirmed the theme, and gave me the 2 names.
I thought the shape on the right wasn’t the bend in the track, it was the murderer bending over his wife.
Super puzzle, all complete and nearly all parsed, but I failed to spot the significance of the puzzle number. I have a friend who works in a railway station, and he always refers to times in the 24hr format.
NNI @12
I agree concerning the shape on the right.
Mrs McGillicuddy [I’ll spell her name correctly this time] on the left sees only the back of Dr Whimper, who is bent over in the act of strangling his victim. By the way, the trains are going (in parallel) from Paddington to St Mary Mead, Mrs McG having done some shopping in London.
I don’t know the story, but I found a good plot summary online.
Tricky but a nice challenge. I managed to spot Quimper fairly early in the solve. This gave me a subject to use for googling to discover the theme (of which I was ignorant). I was able to check TONI through the online access to OED that you can get if you are a member of a public library. Finally, I assume you were meant to write “4:50” under the grid (extra letters in appropriate form?).
Phil K. The ‘4.50’ stuff is mentioned in the blog, para 5 (I think). I almost missed it. I also missed the link of the puzzle number, and feel rather silly!
This was one of those satisfying puzzles with lots of clever parts that all came together very neatly and well.
Thanks too to Hihoba, for the terrific, comprehensive blog.
A suitably Nimrod puzzle involving lots of head scratching.
We needed a search as neither of us had read any Agatha Christie novels and had never heard of any of the characters. We were very surprised to find McGillicuddy appearing in the grid.
We completely missed the significance of the number of the puzzle so well done to anyone who did.
Thanks Nimrod for the puzzle and Hihoba for another detailed blog.
Just before we get on to the next puzzle, I’d just like to say that I didn’t get on very well with this one; I marked it down as “unnecessarily hard” (whatever that means). I did manage finish it before the deadline line – but not by much – and my attempt at the wordplay for TON missing an I was wrong. (It relied on the Irish pronunciation of TOWN being TOIN.) Payoff/effort ratio was on the low side for me.