Clues by Soup and Grid by Komorník
Enter the prize draw by 30 September.
The background for this puzzle is a Dennis Sylvester Hurd photo of a monkey eating an ice cream in a cornet wafer.
This puzzle by Soup uses an innovative conical grid by Komorník consisting of seven progressively smaller dials, the last of which consists of a single cell. The puzzle marks and depicts the demise of a short-lived national institution. Clue directions are given as though the grid were still standing upright. Jumbling the solutions of Days 1 and 23, then adding the word from cell 1 downwards, gives the name of that institution (7,5,7) which solvers must include with their entries. The institution referred to those 42C (12) often placed on the 28up,1d (4,8) or even on the 17AC (12) and offered direct access to the 36AC 31AC (4,8). These four unclued entries must also be included with entries. Clues are numbered in alphabetical order of their solutions.
The single cell containing the number 1 should be thought of as the top, so that up entries go from left to right and down entries go from right to left. Up and down entries travel either through the central core or along the outside.
In a number of cases small clock faces are used to resolve ambiguities in the direction of entries down from 1 or of diametric entries. In these cases 12 o’clock is Up (to the right). The unclued entry 28up,1d (4,8) has a clock showing 10 o’clock, so the entry should continue from 1 down the outside via the North-East cells in the outer rings, thus passing through the cells marked 6 and 19 and finishing at the cell marked 36. Day 21 44up,1d has a clock showing 7 o’clock so the entry should continue from 1 down the outside via the West cells in the outer rings, thus passing through cells marked 2, 10, 16 and 24 and ending at 31. Day 36 13AC,11di also has a clock showing 7 o’clock so the entry should continue diametrically out from cell 11 to cell 10.
The most confusing part of the grid concerns Days 17–20 all of which go diametrically out from the central cell 30. Day 17 shows 3 o’clock so leads South to cell 28. Day 18 shows 10 o’clock so leads North-East. Day 19 shows 5 o’clock so leads South-West. Day 20 shows 8 o’clock so leads North.
The 12-letter unclued entry at 42C is a simply derived cognate of a word found in Chambers. The word in Chambers is a 10-letter transitive verb, which should be converted to an agent noun by adding an “r” and then pluralised by adding an “s”. The word in Chambers has two alternative spellings, with either a “z” or an “s” in the 9th place. Both corresponding spellings of the 12-letter word are accepted by the entry form.
Soup’s witty clues and Komorník’s highly appropriate grid make a splendid tribute to this not inconsiderably memorable institution. We trust that maintenance has been completed so that all lanes are running freely allowing you to reach your destination without unnecessary delays.
Day 1
Modify a Ford Focus estate car’s trim on the nose (6)
“On the nose” suggests at the front, so take the single or first letter of the six words previous to give a synonym of modify. [GS]
Day 3
Unlimited tax on toll affected Mexican national (7)
When you see unlimited you know you should remove outside letters of what follows. You then need to affect (change) toll to give you a Mexican national (with critically endangered conservation status). [JP]
Day 8
In a manner, learned to drive, really proud — but it’s uneven and jumpy (9)
The definition consists of the first four words, but you need to interpret learned as an adjective. For the wordplay take the next four words. Uneven means you should delete every second letter. That should leave you with 9 letters and jumpy indicates that you need an anagram of these. [NI]
Day 15
Senseless to join with new carriageway that’s empty when the 28up 1d might be used (2,2,9)
Think of a word for senseless and follow it with what you do when you join a carriageway that isn’t empty. Then add an abbreviation for new and the letters left when you empty ‘carriageway’ to give you an explanation of when the unclued 28up 1d might be used. [JP]
Day 23
Mark dissolved outlandish crimson dyes from lichens (6)
“Outlandish” implies an anagram but the following word has seven letters, but if Mark is dissolved you have the necessary six to find a dye from lichens (in the plural). [GS]
Day 25
Again don’t allow access to park — Leo’s furious (7)
Furious suggests an anagram, but before that you need a short word for a park. The whole thing means “again don’t allow access to”. [NI]
Day 26
Following the middle of free-way, told to check one’s load again (7)
Following the middle of free (2 letters natch) a homophone for way (indicator way, told). PS natch: useful for an earlier clue. [GS]
Day 31
Skidmarks in half-melted snows, pushing forward in second (7)
Look for a word for half-melted snows and then push forward the second letter to the next in the alphabet to get a word meaning skidmarks. [NI]
Day 36
It might be hard to stop Brown and Starmer, I conceded (6)
A nice surface apparently concerning two Labour prime ministers, but you should interpret the first as a colour and then take the first name of the second, but concede I to give 3 letters. The result is proverbially difficult to stop (or turn). [NI]
Day 38
Console when drug’s withheld for initial sign of onset of colic (8)
Not giving sympathy for a sufferer, but looking for a sort of console in the IT sense. Then a type of drug should be taken away (withheld) and replaced with the initial sign of onset (as opposed to initial sign of onset of colic). This leaves you with a word meaning ‘of colic’. [JP]
Cell 1 downwards
No clue given (7)
There is no trickery in this introduction. The final word found is what it is (7 letters) and is the last word in the solution (7,5,7). The anagram of 12 letters (7,5) applies to Days 1 and 23 only. [GS]
I am grateful to the other members of the Hints & Tips team: Garry Stripling (Gin) and Jim Pennington (Philostrate).
Happy solving!
Nick Inglis (etc)