AZED 2,164 Playfair

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I admit to a slight feeling of trepidation when I opened my Observer last Sunday and noticed that it was a Playfair puzzle, knowing that it was my turn to blog.  It’s almost two years  since the last such puzzle, so far as I can tell (Christmas 2011, where it formed one of the complications in a complex puzzle) but I see that I had the good fortune to blog the last such normal puzzle (if you see what I mean) in February 2010.  I make no apology for repeating here the explanation which I gave then for those who may be unfamiliar with this particular device.

It’s a normal puzzle with the exception  (in this case) of six clues which have to be encoded before entry. The coding system known as Playfair is clearly explained in the instructions. It dates from the mid-nineteenth century and owes its name to Lyon Playfair, first Baron Playfair of St Andrews, but was actually invented by his friend Sir Charles Wheatstone, one of the pioneers of the electric telegraph. Playfair did a lot to promote the code to senior politicians, although it was initially rejected as being too complicated for use in battlefield conditions. However, it was eventually adopted by the War Office and may have been used first during the Boer War. As Simon Singh (The Code Book, Fourth Estate, 1999) points out, it can easily be cracked by looking for the most frequently occurring digraphs in the encoded material, and assuming that they represent the commonest digraphs in English. Of course, this method is of no help with such a small quantity of text to work from (until the advent of the internet…)

In the context of a puzzle of this kind, the recommended method is to solve the normal clues, which leaves you with a few blanks to complete. Unusually for an Azed grid, four of the Playfair clues have a double space unchecked. This is of course deliberate. You then solve the Playfair clues, which may be relatively easy (although 5 across defeated me) and then try and encode them to fill in the gaps. To do this you need to find the codeword, and all you know is that it has no letters recurring.  However Azed helpfully adds that it is linked in some way to the answers to two of the six clues.  He doesn’t tell you which ones, nor does he tell you the length of the codeword.

I made life more difficult for myself by my failure to solve 5 across, which just happened to be one of the answers which would give a hint to the codeword.  I wasted a lot of time looking for words connected to (Buzz) ALDRIN.  In the end, under pressure of time to finish the puzzle and write this blog, I stumbled across a website which will – amazingly – give you the codeword from just a few letters of the plain and encrypted text.  The answer was PNEUMOGASTRIC, which enabled me to reverse solve 5 Across.

I have some reservations about the helpfulness of Azed’s instructions.  In the example he gives, it is by no means clear why CR gives SG rather than GS.  A clearer explanation is to be found in Simon Singh’s The Code Book.  “To encipher the first letter of the pair, look along its row until you reach the column containing the second letter; the letter at this intersection then replaces the first letter.  To encipher the second letter, look along its row until you reach the column containing the first letter; the letter at this intersection replaces the second letter”.

This is what the completed word square looks like:

P

N

E

U

M

O

G

A

S

T

R

I

C

B

D

F

H

K

L

Q

V

W

X

Y

Z
Across
1 LUNGED Did some fencing – with breathers (6)
Two meanings.  After encryption, the grid entry is YSGIMC.
5 OMASAL Part for Thomas Allen – not far from tripe! (6)
Hidden in Thomas Allen.  It refers to the omasum, a ruminant’s third stomach, tripe coming from the fourth.  Although “part” was a clear indicator of a hidden word, this was so obscure that I initially dismissed it as a possibility without even checking Chambers.  The grid entry is TPSTSK.
9 MOTHER LYE Residual liquid from ore blasted with methyl (9, 2 words)
*(ORE METHYL).
12 PARAQUAT Weedkiller to distribute with water in (8)
AQUA in PART.
13 BONY Thin young chap grasping end of baton (4)
(bato)N in BOY.
14 ODIOUS I love appearing in production of OUDS, offensive (6)
I 0 in *OUDS.  Grid entry after encryption is TRRGSB.
15 AVGAS A vessel containing good plane fuel (5)
G in A VAS.
16 BROIDER Having gone wrong, redo rib stitch (old-fashioned) (7)
*(REDO RIB).
19 QUELEA Mozambique leafage conceals this destroyer of local crops (6)
Hidden in “Mozambique leafage”.
21 SWEARD Undated clothes display former brand (6)
WEAR in SD (sine die).  An old word for a sword.
24 GENAPPE Smooth yarn from chap on mixed course at uni (7)
GENA, PPE.  Gena means a cheek, or chap.
25 ORRIS Gold centre of Irish or Italian flag, might one suppose? (5)
OR (I)RIS(h).  It can mean a type of Italian iris, or flag.
27 ALDRIN One left beverage unfinished – it could kill insects! (6)
A L DRIN(k).  Nothing to do with Apollo 11.  The grid entry is SKRIHG.
29 WAIF Skinny young model – mostly pale condition (4)
WA(n), IF.
30 ENCAENIA Length of rule more advanced, we heah, for which top dons dress up? (8)
Sounds like EN (a printing term), SENIOR.  The whole means an Oxford commemorative celebration.
31 ASAFETIDA One secure on returning passage? Indian chef may use this (9)
A SAFE, ADIT(rev).
32 BUREAU Lover conceals last pair of letters from amour here? (6)
UR in BEAU.  The grid entry is LSCPSE.
33 ZEUGMA Clever word play wherein Azed endlessly plays with mug (6)
*(AZE(d) MUG).  This article gives lots of examples of this figure of speech.  Grid entry is XMNSET.
Down
1 YMPT Once reflighted, met prey flying (ree zapped out)? (4)
*(MET PREY) minus REE.  Even by Azed’s standards, this is an obscure word, a Spenserian spelling of a falconry term.
2 SPARROW-GRASS Bird on lawn speared plant (12)
SPARROW GRASS.  A simple charade, with a misleading surface.
3 GARROTE The Boston Strangler? A blend of rat and ogre (7)
*(RAT OGRE), with a nod to this American spelling.
4 IMAGINAL Con received in mail deviously describing picture (8)
AGIN in *MAIL.
5 THAW Detente with a woman (in part at least) (4)
Hidden in “with a woman”.
6 PETASUS Glut in drink rising? Very old hat (7)
SATE in SUP (all rev).  A hat from Greek antiquity.
7 SYNADELPHITE Compound mineral salt extracted from shaly tin, deep mined (12)
*(SHALY TIN DEEP).
8 KEY STAGE Grand aim, when about to follow curriculum level (8, 2 words)
K, STAG in EYE.  To stag can mean to stalk, or follow.
10 TUBER Swelling on bottom coming up (5)
RE BUT (all rev).  BUT with this spelling is an alternative to BUTT.
11 LOGY Dull – how science often ends up? (4)
Cryptic definition of a completely unfamiliar word (to me, at least).
16 BESTOWAL Act of awarding first, one bagged by night bird (8)
BEST, A in OWL.
17 CESAREAN Section of America, central, fringing southern region (8)
S AREA in CEN(tral).  It’s an American spelling of Caesarean (as in Caesarean section).
18 FRISEES Gutted sole surrounded by chips and endives (7)
S(ol)E in FRIES.
20 LUPINES Flowering plants completely in rows (7)
UP in LINES.  “Completely” is the 30th (of 31) different meanings for “up” in Chambers.  This is an American spelling.
22 PESCI US film actor who’s played in epics (5)
*(EPICS).  Joe Pesci was a familiar name to me, although I couldn’t put a face to it.
23 ARIA Solo cantata, e.g. a full-toned one church summarily rejected (4)
I think the wordplay is simply A RI(ch) A, full-toned being one of the many meanings of “rich”.
26 ANTE Stake consumed incorporating Joan’s end (4)
(Joa)N in ATE.
28 GANT Past gin time? It shows Jock’s ready for a kip (4)
GAN T.  Chambers explains that GAN is the past participle of GIN, used poetically in the sense of did. The word is a Scottish term for a yawn.

*anagram

7 comments on “AZED 2,164 Playfair”

  1. Thanks Azed for the crossword and bridgesong for the blog – a very clear explanation of how Playfair works. It seemed about time for a special but I have to say that Playfair is my least favourite of all the standard specials. However, in this case, I managed all of the Playfair clues unaided and was able to complete the puzzle in just under double my normal solving time for a plain Azed.

    The double unches on the top and bottom rows are something that Azed introduced to Playfair puzzles and certainly are kinder to the solver than two separate unches in a six-letter word.

    My main gripe with the grid was the way that 1dn and 28dn were positioned so that only one of the four letters in each answer was checked by another non-encoded answer.

    11dn: I took the wordplay here as the fact that LOGY is the end of the name of many sciences (such as biology).

  2. The key to finding the codeword is to find letter pairs in which the same letter occurs in the plain and coded versions. Azed always helpfully chooses the coded words so that there are one or two such pairs. For example, in 1ac., the letter pair NG becomes GI. This tells you that the letters NGI occur consecutively in the same row or (in this case) column of the Playfair square. Also, in 27ac., DR is encoded as RI, and DRI occur consecutively in the same row, except that you have to regard the row as wrapping round cyclically and it turns out that D is at the end of the row and RI at the beginning. With that basic structure in place, it is not hard to fit in other letters until the word PNEUMOGASTRIC jumps out at you.

  3. Pelham, I agree about 11 but forgot to point it out.

    Chris, I did get the two inroads into the code word which you mention, but ran out of time in what was a very busy week, both at work and at home. I’m sure that I would have got there in the end, especially had I solved 5 ac! I had forgotten that the encrypted clues are intended to be relatively easy, so should have persevered with checking all possible hidden words.

  4. Thanks for the blog. Unlike many others I enjoy a Playfair, and this one wasn’t too hard as they go, including the word itself, although I did have a bit of trouble in the SE. However, I can’t believe how much time I spent wanting 1a to be Gilled (didn’t have a dictionary handy) and trying to find a 6-letter word ending in **cide(r) where Aldrin was far more obvious.

  5. Thanks for putting me out of my misery. I solved all the clues, and had even figured out that NGI and DRI should appear together in the square. However if “it is not hard to fit in other letters until the word PNEUMOGASTRIC jumps out at you” then I must be thick! I think I can see how you do it now, though, so I look forward to having another go in a couple of years’ time…

  6. Yes, thanks for that. I too finished it all except 5a. Spent hours looking for parts sung by T Allen with no success. Also worked out the DRI and NGI but was not Lucky enough to tumble on the helpful website. Perhaps you could tell us what it was?

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