Sequence 6

Another in our Sequence series for 1 Across magazine, it appeared in the October 2020 edition of the magazine as Crossword No. 1989: Sequence 6 by Eclogue.  It was introduced by the rubric:

Unclued lights provide the names of all of the holders of an office to be deduced.  Most clues contain an extraneous word, to be removed before solving.  The initial letters of these words, read in clue order, provide some help for solvers.

Solution Grid

The unclued lights are the names of all holders of the post of United Nations Secretary General, starting with the earliest: Trygve LIE, Dag HAMMARSKJOLD, U THANT, Kurt WALDHEIM, Javier Perez DE CUELLAR, Boutros BOUTROS-GHALI, Kofi ANNAN, Ban KI-MOON and currently Antonio GUTERRES.

Feedback

Disappointing. Worked out theme quicly and got all secretary generals placed. Still can’t solve 7a, 11a, 15a, 9d. Seem very obscure.

 Very good.

 Enjoyable. I think it was Waldheim which set me on the right track. Did have to check out the various UN Sec Gens and how to spell them.

 However, Eclogue’s puzzle was filled with obscure words that meant we needed to guess and then use a dictionary lots of times which was not so enjoyable.  There also appeared to be many surplus words in the clues which may have been a clever addition but, if so, went way above our heads.  The UN Secretary General theme was not too difficult to discover and we did eventually finish, we think.

 Eclogue defeated us but we managed just over 90% (no recount allowed) of the answers, including all the UN leaders.  It appeared there were superfluous words in many of the clues but we couldn’t work out the connection or reason for omission and nothing in the rubric to help.  Kudos for getting HAMMARSKJOLD into a puzzle.

 To be honest, I didn’t get on well with Eclogue although I did get the theme and the names quite early on. I couldn’t parse a lot of them so will look forward to the answers. Some clues seemed to have unnecessary words in them to me - 13, 39, 42 Across and 4, 10, 23 Down. There were also more unknown words for me than I am happy with - I don’t mind a few!

 They have set themselves a stupendous construction task: getting those long foreign names in and still filling the grid is amazing. I regularly try to compose clever thematic barred puzzles, and almost always give up. The odd obscurity is inevitable, but what is Chambers there for? I did it in a couple of hours (Mrs K/C was out and it was dark, so I just bashed right on) and enjoyed it. Lots of work for that organisation over the next fifty years: I hope they are supported in all the right places.

 An impressive feat to accommodate this set of names in the grid! The trend seems to be towards more sparing information above the puzzle, which I for one appreciate. The more obscure entries were unambiguously clued. Artfully constructed for a pleasing solve.

 

Head to Head

Published in Crossword Club Magazine issue 210, October 2020.

Preamble

All solutions are of six letters.  Counting the rings from outmost inwards, the second ring provides a quotation (in ODQ) between two protagonists going head-to-head in ring four.  Half of the radial entries are entered inwards, half outwards.  Chambers does not include two proper nouns.

Ring 2 reads “I hae brocht ye to the ring, now see gif ye can dance” spoken by William Wallace to Edward I (who go ‘head-to-head’ in ring 4) before the Battle of Falkirk in 1298.

Battle of Falkirk 1298

Solvers' Comments

"Och ay, we can dance! - and we enjoyed the dancing.  The quote eluded us until we had almost completed the ring.  Well-crafted clues made this a pleasure to solve."

"Not having the ODQ7 I found it difficult to find the corrrect spelling of the Scots version of the quote.  Still enjoyable."

"Circulars are always welcome visitors.  Some easy starters gave a false sense of security until the difficult clues set, along with (for me) an inaccessible Burns' quote - despite a broad Scottish son-in-law.  The head to head was a neat touch."

"Quite a quick start, with Braveheart revealing himself early.  Progress was then much slower as I don't have the right ODQ.  Googled it when BROCHT appeared.  Quite slow solving after that, with tricky clues and obscure (to me) answers in the top left.  Never heard of 'garden woman'.  Then quarrelled with CYPRIS sounding like CYPRESS - the last answer to go in.

An enjoyable puzzle for which I thank you."

"A very entertaining and satisfying puzzle.  Many straightforward clues to get us  going, then some impossible-looking combinations of letters till the name Wallace appeared!  I had a struggle with some radials at the end but I think I cracked them all eventually.  Many thanks."

"An entertaining quotation, thanks."

"For a 'first' puzzle this was pretty straightforward, the only hold up was confirming the Scots dialect quotation.

Thanks for a neatly constructed puzzle."

"Not Eclogue's best.  No PD moment - just a search to find the archaic Scots quotation.  Very friendly clueing."

"Am I getting better or are they getting easier?!  This was enjoyable, aided by a relatively swift spotting of Wallace and knowledge of Scots dialect.

Initially snooty about 19, I forgave it on the basis that the two words have totally different etymologies.

I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to work out how 22 worked!"

"The quotation took some digging out, but that made it more of a challenge.

Many thanks."

"Good one.  All dropped into place once quotation identified - except for clue 40, which took too long."

Eclogue's response

Many thanks to all solvers who passed comment with the vast majority offering a single malt rather than sharpening their skean-dhu.  The observant solver will have noticed the presence of the word “ring” in the quote which led to the circular treatment of this puzzle. By 1298, King Edward was the only monarch of that name, of course, so we latched onto this small piece of historical licence by omitting his regnal number in the grid, allowing everything to fit rather neatly.  For Club puzzles, we will always try to offer a book reference where possible (here ODQ7), so while Eclogue have access to a couple of ODQ editions, the quotation (which may well appear in other editions too) was equally supported through the usual internet sources.  Are we getting easier?  This charge has been levelled at us on a couple of recent occasions, but we’d like to think that we can provide puzzles across the spectrum of solving abilities and hope that every solver picking up an Eclogue crossword will find something to interest or challenge them.  Haste ye back (as they apparently say north of the border). 

Cryptic

Cryptic

Three interwoven tongue-in-cheek themes.  One for Christmas (green), one for the frustrations caused by Eclogue puzzles past (orange) and one for our response (yellow).

Editorial Remarks

Slot 5 This proved difficult with a 71% success rate – not quite the SIMPLER ECLOGUE promised by the Nina. The African country TOGO lost 12 dots (with TOGS and TOGA representing popular alternatives). MISLABELS caught 5, OZZY 2 and A BOMBS 2 (H BOMBS) .See explanations

 Solvers' Comments

I thought this was simpler than the usual Eclogue. Then I saw why! Len Colgan

I liked the “Simpler Eclogue” Nina. Shame I didn’t notice it until I had finished!! Julie Leigh

Sadly my midirons are used for fairly short shots now.Roy Taylor

Took me a while to wake up to ENZED! Nea Storey

SIMPLER ECLOGUE as a NINA! I enjoyed this puzzle very much. Thank you. Some great clues. Ann Millard

Very enjoyable. Ulla Axelsen

I like the way Aussies and Kiwis are linked in bottom right! Is that a prophecy about COVID’s end, or am I clutching at straws? Jenny Madden

SANTA and ENZED were fun. Kathy Horadam

Indeed it was. Andrew Patterson

“OLD GLORY” flying in St. Petersburg ? Not even today! [Only in Florida – Adj] Max Roddick

Challenging puzzle fingers crossed! Joan Smith

Fascinating clues and challenging answers. Lynn Jarman

Liked ENZED and IBEXES in particular Michael McCabe

Simpler Eclogue? Cheryl Wilcox

Couldn’t be simpler, Eclogue! David Parsons

Well, perhaps it was a “SIMPLER ECLOGUE”? Time will tell. Richard Skinner

Thankyou for some interesting clues. Jean Evans

Definitely a ‘simpler Eclogue’ - it must have been, because I solved it without resorting to 7 down. KathHarper

It was with not a little trepidation that I embarked on this puzzle, having attempted Eclogue’s previous offerings (and the September mind bender in the 3D puzzles). The “simpler” offering was much appreciated! Feel free to continue in this vein. I gave STARS AND STRIPES my COTM vote. Andrew Miles

As someone pointed out to me, this was a “SIMPLER ECLOGUE” but still a challenging puzzle! Bev Cockburn

A NINA of “Simpler Eclogue”! Marian Procter

‘Banner over St Petersburg’ was a great clue. Very hard to choose COTM. Anastasia Webster-Hawes

Great to have the 15-letter solutions as the scaffold. Didn’t understand 17ac though [Ra the god and NI the metal – Adj]. Gabriel Fuller