Pack Drill

Submitted to 1 Across 24/3/20

Pack Drill Solution Grid

The theme was card games:

Patience, Casino, Blackjack, Quadrille, Euchre
Piquet, Klondyke, Baccarat, Quinze

For good measure, the suit Diamonds was thrown in as well.

The Secret Seven

 Appearing on the Indian 1ACross site.

The Secret Seven

Highlighted letters provide the names of the dwarfs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Elementary

 Preamble

All clues are normal, but are divided into four sets of twelve solutions each, as follows:-

A) A     Each solution is entered with one letter added – the added letters could be rearranged to form BAND USES DEMO

B) B     Each solution is entered with one letter subtracted – the subtracted letters could be rearranged to form GROUP FOUNDED

C) C     Each solution is entered as a single word anagram

D) D     Each solution is entered normally.

All resulting entries are real words or proper nouns. Taking one original solution from each of the three sets will provide a musical group, three current or former members of which appear as entries in the final grid which should be highlighted, together with one of their hit singles (nine letters in a straight line, enabling the central square to be completed).  Four clue solutions provide two other hit singles by way of confirmation.  All enumerations refer to the length of grid entries.  One solution is in Collins.

Maurice / Verdine WHITE (38a), Philip BAILEY (6d) and Ronnie LAWS (12a) are/were three current or former members of EARTH (35), WIND (38) & FIRE (26d).  Their hit singles included LET’S GROOVE (24/41) and BOOGIE WONDERLAND (9/1d) and SEPTEMBER (highlighted diagonal – which with the help of the letter string in the preamble also resolves the two occurrences where the added letter is otherwise unchecked at 24a and 3d).

Solvers' Comments

Either the description was very generous, or I've been listening to this song too much, because my very first action was to pencil in "September" down the diagonal. Anyway, this was a lovely puzzle with clues that made me grin.

The four methods of entry provided an interesting challenge. After a lot of cold-solving, the single-word anagrams became relatively easy to spot, and the provision of the letters added and subtracted kept the level of difficulty to a C-grade.

I suppose it was deliberate that WATER is the answer to a type D clue. I tried to see how much I could enter without guessing and without using that the final entries are real words, and was happy that most of the grid could be filled under these conditions, but obviously several of the added letters appear in unchecked cells so I eventually had to check if some things were real words.

I was able to cold-solve many of the easy clues, which helped with the grid entries. The title should have guided me to the key words for the group, but I Googled 'September' as soon as I saw it in the diagonal and got the group that way. I do remember the group's name (though not the members) but I don't think I ever listened to their music. An enjoyable puzzle with an accessible theme.

I think I looked from elementary to Group to Band in the intro and preamble and leapt to Earth Wind and Fire. But that is as far of my knowledge of the group went so still spent a while on that there wikipedia and yon youtube reading and listening (often simultaneously, though that does make also drinking a cup of hot cocoa trickier). Not completely convinced my cup of tea, music-wise, but the crossword was good. Thanks.

Very well put together, with much to keep track of during solving. With grid almost complete, SEPTEMBER looked promising and handy pub googlers confirmed the group and names. Why are so many pop themes based on modern rubbish instead of the proper artists and songs of the 50s/mid-60s? Many setters are old enough to remember them, and the youngsters could easily find them on the net.

I think this represents the real gain the internet has given us. What might have been a relatively obscure niche, dividing solvers into those of the precise age and everybody else, has become perfectly fair and researchable general knowledge.

Nice variation in answer treatments added to the entertainment. Particularly liked 32 across. Spent a while looking for the third member before deciding White was doing double duty - sneaky! (Or I’ve missed something.)

Interesting variety of turning answers into lights, which needed a careful bit of 'book-keeping'. SEPTEMBER was easily found and the rest followed quickly from the internet. Having finished the puzzle, I thought I better listen to September to hear the masterpiece that had attracted Eclogue's attention. That was a big mistake!

Well worked, and a nice reminder of some classics (it set me off on a greatest hits trail via Apple Music).

It isn't often that I get the theme of a puzzle before solving any clues, but it happened on this occasion. Considering the various threads that needed keeping track of, I was actually quite grateful to know what was going on so early on. A terrific tribute to a great band, and it was particularly good to see just so much thematic material included. Many thanks, Eclogue.

Gosh, Earth, Wind & Fire have had so many members, chances are a Magpie subscriber has probably been in the band at one point or another. Not me though... far too young. In fact, they were on the curriculum when I did GCSE music as a textbook example of disco. Fun puzzle, thanks for getting September stuck in my head for a day or two.

Nice puzzle, plenty of thematic matter, not too tricky. Thanks to Eclogue

Crossword about a band, and Wonderland is the first clue solved. Nothing to see here. Eventually the penny dropped: brought a smile to our 50 something faces. Sometimes I think we should set a timer for 5 minutes to discuss the title only before thinking about any clue - we'd have got Earth Wind & Fire after about three minutes if we'd thought about it.

Great title for a fun tribute puzzle! Unfortunately I only know the tune to like two bars of the chorus of "September," so I spent 75% of the puzzle singing something like "all we are, rhythm is a dancer; all we are, we are, we are" over and over in my head. I'm fairly certain that none of those words is correct. I didn't realize until a while after I'd finished the puzzle that I was solving it IN September. Looking up the other two hit singles helped me finish the puzzle, as I was having a difficult time with the grid-fill. So thank you for that: the "confirmation" was more like a strong hint to me! I like that each element corresponds to a different way of entering entries into the grid, including WATER entered normally!. To me wind, rather than earth, seems more like an "anagram" element; it's a shame there are no anagrams of WIND. If only they'd named the band Earth, Air, and Fire, we could have had RIA, FIR, and HEARTH or something. The entry gimmicks made filling the puzzle a lot harder than it would be otherwise, but I thought the added challenge was fun.

Very nice - liked the four different elements of the clues and there was some fiddly bits with the additions so hope I got it all right.

I enjoyed this: so much thematic detail crammed into the grid. My only slight criticism would be that the preamble and title gave a little too much away (even though it's not a band I know much about) ... so there wasn't really a hugely epiphanous PDM. But the four entry modes were inspired, and the finish was quite tricky (still not 100% sure I have all the added letters right). Kudos.

Look It This Way

Preamble 

All answers are six letters in length.  Some clues have a misprint in their definition, the correct letters for which, in clue order, indicate the new position for a specific entry.  An instruction in the completed grid leads to a further indication how this should be achieved.  The final positions of all other entries must follow the same method.  Three otherwise extraneous words confirm the direction of travel.  If we LOOK AT IT THIS WAY, all entries should be capable of conventional reading after compliance with all instructions.  Solvers are advised to use a pencil.  

Initial Grid

Final Grid

Corrections to misprints in odd clues spell “ONE ACROSS IS NINE DOWN”.  The completed grid provides the instruction “READ LAST LETTER OF EACH EVEN CLUE” which then gives “TURN THROUGH RIGHT ANGLE”.  Extraneous words are DEXTRORSE, LAEVOROTATORY and WITHERSHINS indicating the ANTICLOCKWISE rotation required, so that the grid should be turned such that NINE DOWN fills the ONE ACROSS slot.  The grid should therefore be re-written having been turned through 90 degrees and be able to be read from the right hand edge (else some entries will only be readable in reverse).

Across	LAST LETTER OF CLUES	MISPRINT CORRECTIONS		Down	LAST LETTER OF CLUES	MISPRINT CORRECTIONS
1 condos		O		1 Conrad		I
6 tsuris	T			2 oneyre	R
11 sheepo		N		3 Naples		S
12 nephew	U			4 O'Neill	I
13 etalon		E		5 saw set		N
14 stogie	R			6 tsetse	G
15 areole		A		7 shtoom		I
16 soever	N			8 relive	H
17 desalt		C		9 sonars		N
18 emeers	T			10 throat	T
20 captan	H			19 eerily		E
24 Shebat	R			20 collar	A
29 onside		R		21 pseudo		D
30 Caruso	O			22 adieus	N
31 aerial		O		23 nearly		O
32 louder	U			24 sclaff	G
33 all but		S		25 halloa		W
34 aidful	G			26 bumble	L
35 rootsy		S		27 asquat		N
36 facete	H			28 toetoe	E

The Australasian One (Fall Out)

Origially entitiled 'FALL OUT' this was renamed The Australasian One to conform to a theme in the Enigmatic Variations series relating to the continents.

Steve Bartlett writes:-

As you may be aware, John Henderson (editor of the Inquisitor series) is intending to run an all-female-setting July and I've been persuaded to do the same at the EV. However, I've asked the intended setters to follow an international theme, as a nod to the 'proposed' Tokyo Olympics (23 July - 8 August). There are ony four slots in July and only four female setters, but my idea requires six puzzles (based on continents), so I am two short. Your puzzle Fall-Out would be an ideal fit for one of these slots, which are as follows: 

July 4 — The Asian One by Chalicea

July 11 — The European One by Vismut

July 18 — The African One by Skylark

July 25 — The South/North American One by Sae-kale

Aug 1 — The Australasian one by Eclogue

Aug 8 — The South/North American One by proXimal (me)

 

The Preamble

A letter must FALL OUT wherever it occurs from a thematic solution in each column, dropping into the bottom row to provide a setting.  Chambers is recommended, but does not contain two thematic answers, two proper nouns or the bottom row.  Enumerations refer to grid entries.

Fall Out

This puzzle commemorates the ‘FALL-OUT’ of the British nuclear tests conducted at MARALINGA, Australia, a lesser known chapter in the war with GERMANY.  Operation BUFFALO in 1956 comprised four tests: ONE TREE, MARCOO, KITE and BREAKAWAY, while Operation ANTLER ran a year later.  VIXEN was an associated minor safety test programme.

Ransomware

 When read in clue order, the last letters of extraneous words in every clue provide a partial definition and visual context of a three word phrase indicating the change required to a number of clue answers before entry in the grid.  Solvers must complete and highlight the cryptic representation of that phrase in the completed grid (two words).  All final entries are real words, phrases or proper nouns.

The last letters of each extra word in clue order, provide “TO ALTER THE RULES OF THE GAME AFTER IT HAS BEGUN” and “RUGBY”.  This defines in part “MOVE THE GOALPOSTS” which in a rugby context are H-shaped.  Nine solutions had their H’s moved to provide alternative words.  The two word anagram of THE GOALPOSTS, HOSTAGE PLOTS was to be completed and highlighted.

Half and Half

 The CrOZworld magazine has a regular slot for what it calls half and half puzzles.  That is, puzzles where half of the clues are cryptic and half are plain or non-cryptic and these puzzles are generally on the easy side.  Taking note of feedback on some of our previous puzzles it became apparent that some CrOZworld solvers perceived Eclogue as a setter of difficult puzzles.  In order to rectify this, we decided to compose a half and half crossword and hope we could temper our "difficult" reputation.

Half and Half

The perimeter reads clockwise PLAIN, CRYPTIC, PLAIN, CRYPTIC

CrOZworld editor's report and solvers' comments

Entries: 100

Correct: 54

 

Slot 1: It would be a rare Eclogue puzzle that comes without one clue that bites, and this was no exception. 15 across is a tricky clue and COPS just about writes itself in as the solution. But the answer is PODS, being PLODS minus L. We had 37 COPS – enough for a small police force! The rainbows sought were I(RISE)S, rather than PRISMS. There was also a neat “plain / cryptic” Nina on the border of the grid, which must have gone unnoticed by those who joined the police.

 

June 1: Eclogue (Keith Williams & Eddie Looby)

• I loved the clever NINA. Brian Tickle
• As I was submitting my puzzle I noticed that the perimeter top and bottom had PLAIN reversed and the sides had CRYPTIC reversed. That would have made the puzzle so much harder to compile. David Procter
• Clever double Nina. Plain Cryptic x 2 Julie Leigh
• 15A; 2D Look easy or tricky ??? Gary Lemon
• I couldn’t work out the wordplay in PODS and HEIDI David Bennett
• Not quite PLAIN but still CRYPTIC enough. Good one. Andrew Patterson
• Nice Slot 1 start; liked TASMANIA. Joan Smith
• I laughed when I discovered the handy guide to which clues are plain and which cryptic. Circumscription? Kath Harper
• Thanks Eclogue for a double plain/cryptic start to the month. Ulla Axelsen
• Plain Cryptic x 2 indeed! Pat Garner
• Took me a while to figure out that 15 across was not COPS and still uncertain about HEIDI. ["heid" is a Scottish variant of "head" + Independence - Adj] I liked the clue for ALEC. Lynn Jarman
• Thanks Eclogue! Your clever Nina saved me from a few errors right at the last minute. I liked the clue for CLUE. Kathy Horadam
• A Nina in slot 1! Quite properly it’s both PLAIN and CRYPTIC (by two). Richard Skinner
• 27 Across: Hi! Is I (or am I) correct? Max Roddick
• A Nina “plain cryptic” forwards and backwards Marian Procter
• Not till just now have I discovered the perimeter CRYPTIC/PLAIN and vice versa. Very clever Doreen Jones

A good slot one; thanks. Barbara Ibbot