Stepladder

Published in the  September 2019 issue of 1 Across as:

CROSSWORD NO. 1925: STEPLADDER by ECLOGUE

The puzzle's grid is presented with a number of cells already highlighted and solvers are advised that these may be of some use.

Solution grid

Stepladder

The solution notes reveal that the highlighted cells provide the alphabet in order and that the solution is a double pangram.

Font Feet

Published in theSeptember 2019 issue of The Magpie as puzzle no 201.5.

Six clues lack definitions, the solutions for which indicate the method of entry only. These clues also contain a four-letter word, the contents of which must be replaced to make a new word in a similar manner to the transformation shown in the title.  The replacement letters comprise the first and last letters of an extraneous word occurring either end of the same clue.  When rearranged, the new letters provide a producer and a cast member.  Three other unclued entries and the central square must be filled to complete the theme.  Answer lengths refer to grid entries.  One cell will share entry methods.

The theme is the 1992 film, RESERVOIR DOGS (defined by FONT FEET), the first film of Quentin Tarantino telling the story of a bungled diamond heist.  Six of the characters bear colour pseudonyms, Mr White (Harvey KEITEL), Mr Orange (Tim ROTH), Mr Blonde (Michael MADSEN), Mr Pink (Steve BUSCEMI), Mr Blue (Edward BUNKER), and Mr Brown (Quentin TARANTINO).  Three other key cast members are Chris PENN, Lawrence TIERNEY and Kirk BALTZ.  The replacement letters in four-letter words in clues spell the remaining main cast member Randy BROOKS and the producer, Lawrence BENDER.

Solvers' Comments

I had only solved one of the special clues (31d) when I had filled enough of the grid to see the theme on the diagonal, and then it didn't take long to solve four more of the special clues. I have seen the film, but it was a long time ago and I eventually used the internet to remind myself that the last colour was Blonde. I understood the title once I knew what the theme was, and I suppose the title was the inspiration for the unusual device used in the clues lacking definition. The process of solving 1d seemed particularly strange to me: the first and last letters of 'badge' replace the middle letters of 'okay', then the middle letters of the resulting word replace the first and last letters of 'club'.

I filled in KEITEL and MADSEN in white (honest guv) [cells blank] == I'm not quite sure about the finale to Font Feet - still, it looks rather pretty the way I've presented it. [no letters, just colours] == Not enough info in Halliwell so needed pub googlers to sort this out. Didn't bother deriving the producer/cast member so hope that doesn't matter.

Well done for fitting so many thematic elements in.

I was really surprised when I searched 'Reservoir Dogs' on xwdb and found that it hadn't been used before, and the way Eclogue managed it has surely got to be the best way. Really packed a great deal of the film into the puzzle. I only have a minor reservation, which was the gimmick... Was it meant to be Stuck in the middle with you? If so, it could perhaps have been made more explicit... But I think I'm being a bit grumpy there. Really enjoyed it, thank you Eclogue.

Whilst living in London I was up to date with recent film releases worth seeing but sadly those days are long gone. Haven't even seen RD but I probably enjoyed this puzzle as much as I would have the film.

I may have tackled this had I not been away last week on the storm-girt Isles of Scilly.............

I know I'm going to regret asking this, but is there a significance to the title other than demonstrating the cluing device?

It's difficult to believe this film has has not been used before for a puzzle. Eclogue elegantly implemented the theme, using some very tough clues for the colours. TARANTINO gave me the information I needed to crack the puzzle. Very good debut puzzle; welcome Nerk and thank you.

It may be difficult to read Keitel in white, but it's there.

Just had to write as soon after completing as possible. Superb! Really enjoyed this one, the third completed this month. Saw the possibility of Tarantino and Penn earlyish which suggested Reservoir Dogs but it was quite a while before enlightenment dawned. 1 down saw that flash of realisation and then it filled in quickly.

It took ages for my penny to drop on this one. RESERVOIR DOGS in the diagonal finally got it for me. The 6 clues lacking definition were so tricky, however, that I had to fill in the answers first (using Google) and work backwards to understand the clues !

Neatly constructed. Took a while to see what was going on but spotting Tarantino emerging made everything fall into place. Some doubt about how to indicate white text and the blue/pink clash but presumably reasonable attempts will be accepted. Overall a nice challenge.

I found this one slightly odd: clueing the characters by their colours was fine, but the gimmick of 'transforming' four-letter words seemed a bit arbitrary. But it was an admirably comprehensive treatment of the theme.