Enigmatic Variations No. 1153: The Square and Compass by Ranunculus

First of all, apologies for not alerting fellow EV solvers to the early entry date for this puzzle. Although I saw that mc had put up a placeholder last week, I didn’t think to check the closing date for this week’s entry (Tuesday, 30th).

We had another new setter here, this time in the shape of Ranunculus, someone who is perhaps equally at home in their garden as behind a crossword grid? Two types of clue faced us: across clues needing a letter to be added to the definition part before solving, and down clues needing a letter to be removed.

EV 1153After my first pass through the clues, I had well over half solved. However, that is not to criticise in any way. They were solid clues with some entertaining misprints. I especially liked the clue to 17dn, and it’s a good job that I keep up with the latest music trends (22ac)!

Thus the quotation was revealed to be from Man’s Place in Nature by TH Huxley: “The necessity of making things plain to uninstructed people was one of the very best means of clearing up obscure corners in one’s own mind.” This quotation, “together with the puzzle’s title”, suggested how eight letters needed to be replaced.

Despite being sure that the reference to the Square and Compass of the freemasons was a red herring, seeing FREE diagonally in the bottom four rows and ONRY to its right did make me wonder. I also saw SILVER going up in column 7, and 7ac could change to PLATE but that seemed even more tenuous. However, it did make me concentrate on the corners as the quotation seemed to be alluding, and the strange words found in each.

Eventually, after another 40 minutes, compass directions NW, NE, SE and SW were slotted into the corners to make much more common words.

As a debut, this was a fine puzzle from Ranunculus, neat and elegant, even if not too taxing.

Legend:
Definition in clue
X = missing/extra letters
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden

ACROSS
No Entry Missing
Letter
Clue and Explanation
2 MELDER V Quantity of Goan Govan meal leads to me exclaiming loudly and demanding extra ration (6)
first letters of Me Exclaiming Loudly & Demanding Extra Ration
7 PLAST E Pot’s Poet’s found a home in hoop?la stall (5)
in hooPLA STall
11 EYRIE R Bid Bird might be placed on this superior accommodation I found in better half of Rochester (5)
I in EYRE; reference to Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester
12 AEROBIC Y I race wildly around old barrels as man many exercises (7)
IRACE* about O (old) B (barrels)
13 STUN B Knock out with low blow, loopy counter (4)
NUTS< (loopy); counter = the opposite way
14 VIVACE E Loew’s Loewe’s lively 5-4-1 formation (6)
V (5) IV (4) ACE (one); reference to composer Carl Loewe
16 TOPSOIL S Loot I sorted out when holding proper séance, initially owing sowing medium (7)
(LOOT I)* about PS (initials of Proper Séance)
19 LIPREAD T In the first place, I peer at the edges to see what’s old told (7)
I PR (PeeR at the edges) in LEAD (the first place)
22 NICETY M One sees seems unusually subtle rapper in New York (6)
ICE-T (rapper) in NY (New York)
23 SEVERE E Auster Austere coming from east in peculiar verse (6)
E (east) in VERSE*
25 FEEDER A One who is lying laying on board’s paid price regarding back (6)
FEED (paid price) + RE< (regarding)
26 BRACES N They’ll sort out fags fangs (British ones) (6)
BR (British) ACES (ones)
27 ART DECO S Redcoat rocking in style of Cliff’s good goods? (7, two words)
REDCOAT*; reference to art deco style of Clarice Cliff’s pottery
33 UNEARTH O A runt he’s prepared to bring into the pen open (7)
(A RUNT HE)*
35 TREMOR F Result of right fright characters appearing in Cromer theatre retrospective (6)
reversed in cROMER Theatre
36 NINE C Loud Cloud number could have made one cross in Rome (4)
9 = Latin IX (one cross); reference to being on cloud nine
37 DEMERGE L Drizzle’s beginning to become known as ‘spit’split’ (7)
D (first letter of Drizzle) + EMERGE (become known)
38 SCOUR E Rang Range about modelling course, ignoring rear end (5)
COURS[e]*
39 REEDE A University fellow leaving to train again in former tech teach (5)
REEDUCATE (train again) – U (University) CAT (fellow)
40 STEERY R Bust Burst up in Waverley station briefly getting frightening for American (6)
STA (station, briefly) with A (American) replaced by (EERY (frightening); reference to Walter Scott’s novel, Waverley; I think a hyphen is needed here for both ‘bust-up’ and ‘burst-up’ as ‘commotion’ is a noun
DOWN
No Entry Extra
Letter
Clue and Explanation
1 KEST I Veteran lobbied lobbed knight about French art (4)
KT (knight) about ES (as in French tu es = English thou art)
3 ERUPT N Looking back, perfect time to make gent get angry (5)
PURE< (perfect) + T (time)
4 LINSEED G Glint Lint in eye when embraced by lord (7)
IN SEE (eye) contained by LD (lord)
5 DEPORTEE U One forced to leave statue state from Rhodes originally in warehouse near centre of Greece (8)
R (first letter of Rhodes) in DEPOT (warehouse) + EE (centre of grEEce)
6 EASILY P Yes, Ali works without needing to get paid aid (6)
(YES ALI)*
7 PRIG T I’m pit pi pony, initially coupled up to equipment (4)
P (Pony, initially) + RIG (equipment)
8 LOVER H The first to leap on top of one getting hit it regularly (5)
L (first letter of Leap) + OVER (on top of); I would have thought a ? would be appropriate here, or a !, or both
9 ABATE E Moderate, as guests gusts might ultimately become after a drunken spree (5)
E (last letter of becomE) after A BAT (drunken spree)
10 SICE O Capo Cap may indicate his position thus (with equine’s head) (4)
SIC (thus) + E (first letter of Equine); reference to a chauffeur’s cap
15 ELDEST B Most bold old, mixing steel with a hint of daring (6)
(STEEL D (hint of Daring))*
17 INFANT S My nightly accommodation’s cost cot absolutely nothing in hotel close to cesspit (6)
FA (absolutely nothing!) in INN (hotel) T (last letter of cesspiT)
18 TIER C Big cat’s no good for crow row (4)
TIGER (big cat) – G (good)
20 PERVERSE U I’ll abandon pie recipe and serve shredded suet set on different course (8)
PIE – I + R (recipe) + SERVE*
21 AREA R Range of sturdy study Shakespeareans includes it (4)
in shakespeAREAns
24 VALANCE E Rode Rod concealed by this, perhaps, from Virginia with cavalry weapon (7)
VA (Virginia, state) + LANCE (cavalry weapon)
26 BONNET C Bishop and cardinal certainly not turning up for a chat hat (6)
B (bishop) + (TEN (cardinal number) NO (certainly not))<
28 THEME O Article on Middle East gives poet pet idea (5)
THE (article) + ME (Middle East)
29 DOMED R March day is about like one’s heard head? (5)
(DEMO (march) + D (day))<
30 PRIOR N Prince Ferdinand, maybe, first to rebuke man in charge of cannons canons (5)
P (prince) + RIO (Ferdinand, footballer) + R (first letter of Rebuke)
31 GREE E Oddly, garden close to lake is steep step on the way out (4)
GRE (odd letters of GaRdEn) + E (last letter of lakE)
32 FORE R Brow Bow perhaps regularly furrowed when worried (4)
FROE* (regular letters of FuRrOwEd)
34 HERY S Reverse Revere past lady’s yard (4)
HER (lady) + Y (yard)

 

3 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No. 1153: The Square and Compass by Ranunculus”

  1. I enjoyed this one from Ranunculus. The clues somehow had an Azed-y feel, and the endgame took some thinking about, but I knew I was right once I’d sussed it.

    There have been a few EV debutants recently, which is nice to see. I think the last year has seen first-time puzzles from Ferret, Gaston, Gila, Artix, Ian & Steve, proXimal, Raffles, Ranunculus and Charismatix.

  2. A few of those debutants are just new names for regular/ previous setters (Charismatix and Ian & Steve in particular), but yes, it’s good to see a few new faces and Gaston/ Ranunculus in particular haven’t set anywhere before the EV that I’m aware of.

  3. Sorry about the missing hyphen in ‘bust-up’/’burst-up’ – it seems to have gone AWOL somewhere during the proofing process and I didn’t notice its defection.

    Thanks, Mike, for your kind comments – to have the name of one of my crossword ‘heroes’ (and the only one still setting) so much as mentioned in connection with my clues is a boost.

    And no, I haven’t had a puzzle published anywhere else before – this was the first complete cryptic puzzle I’d compiled (well, actually the second in the sense that the first version of The Square and Compass was rather unwisely set before I had the EV Guidelines for Setters and turned out to break a rule or two! Cue rewrite…)

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