I have always thought that we could do more with our interstitial levels — anagrams, Ninas, patterns — and this month Shark has filled them — with words.
He has also taken us deep into the realm of highly successful popular culture — as, I suspect, has Frank Paul, of whom more later — where your reviewer is not at his most comfortable!
Nevertheless, I did succeed in identifying the theme, all but two of the thematic four- and five-letter characters, and carrying out the really excellent post-solve task.
Now, let’s get the tough stuff out of the way first: there is, for the first time I can remember, a mistake in the instructions. By now solvers will have been made aware that the direction for Day 11 DECANT should be 35up-2,28aw, not ba as stated in the printed calendar. Of course I must apologise and hope that no-one has lost out on a possible World Champion’s crown as a result of writing in all good faith DEVAER and wondering about the empty cells. I can only say that, knowing a bit about checking and refining these grids as I do now, I am amazed that it doesn’t happen more often. However, I have faith in our solvers and imagine that many will have found and corrected the error without help.
I found my way into the puzzle via APPOSED (a nice anagram, always helpful), WAIKIKI, TARCEL and PEKOE. The neat CHESS followed quickly after (changeless minus the angel), and when I had realised that the three on each side of the hairdressers must be in for a BAR-HOP, things began to become clear. From my O-Level Geography I knew that part of the crust was the SIMA layer, and I seemed to be presented on the grid with SIMBA. The mysterious but believable CHI(M)P followed, and I knew that there was a duck called DEWEY to go with the book taxonomist, the philosopher and the presidential candidate — I naively wondered if they might all be related — and suddenly we were in the world of cartoon creations. When DUMBO, BELLE, ARIEL and LA(L)DY followed, it was clear that we were in Walt Disney country. Now that is not my home territory (though I will shed tears at the conversion scene in Mary Poppins along with the next man) and I did need to look a few people up — along with PAD THAI, SHASTRA and this sense of the word ICTUS.
I imagine that BASHFUL was a great help to many, though I only saw it when clearing up at the end. My favourite clue was the one for FLYMO, which is a superb misdirection, as is PANAMA HAT. I remember reading in one of the comment sites something to the effect that outdated words like tile for ‘hat’ should be phased out. I’m afraid my reaction will probably be to apply the word even to my green gardening bobble-hat and the fascinators I learnt about so gratefully last year. What a beautifully sustained misdirection: tile — roofs; slate — still roofs; hard — suitable for roofs; dull coating — perfectly believable for roofs. Great stuff.
But what is Frank Paul’s cartoon telling us? P + YOUNG WOMAN + BACKGAMMON + AT was as far as I got with that. Are we to believe that the woman depicted was an amah? Surely that would require too brilliant a piece of guesswork. No, I was forced to the conclusion that she was just another of those very famous people that I have never heard of, and called ANA, which probably makes her Romanian, and that MAH is another word for Backgammon, perhaps Chinese: if Mah Jong is the game of sparrows, could Mah be just ‘game’? [Good theory but no. See actual answer on our website. - Ed]
Thus what passes for thinking in the mind of your reviewer. But back to Shark, whose ideas are far more interesting. All the time I was solving I had been assuming that in the end we would have to cut out parts of the grid and stick them over the black rectangles. When ROTATE emerged, I assumed that we were to rotate the small secondary grid. But then I wondered about the centenary. I found out that Disney had signed his first contract in October 1923 — cue Graham Fox’s fireworks*, or is there something more subtle going on there? — there usually is — (*my first idea had been that we were to celebrate the founding of the modern Turkish state!) — but that he only achieved real success once that famous Mouse had come along. I knew that the relevant vehicle had been Steamboat Willie, and therefore began to look online for posters or stills from the film. Eureka! The resemblance is much greater and well-proportioned than one could ever expect from a few squares of various colours. And the fifteen extra letters (even if I was still short of a T and an I) made the anagram.
Another splendid puzzle from Shark, who always provides a fascinating and rewarding task.
Qualification: you must have successfully solved 12 puzzles during 2023. When you submit your monthly puzzle entry, your acknowledgement email contains your progress status. There is also a “check your progress” link on our Puzzles Page. Solving the November Extra will give you an extra boost towards getting the required 12.
Your tasks will be:
to solve the November Extra crossword puzzle
to create a 3D grid suitable for inclusion in our 2025 calendar
to write clues for two words or phrases which will be revealed in the next newsletter.
RPM Grid Design Trophy
This competition is open to anyone and everyone. The task will be to design a grid suitable for inclusion in our 2025 calendar.
Supplementary Newsletter
A supplementary newsletter to be published in the next couple of weeks will include the November Extra puzzle, which has been designed and clued by Komorník. It will also include detailed guidance and instructions with links to a full variety of grids suitable for downloading.
2024 3D Crossword Calendar on sale now
The latest collection of stunning three-dimensional cryptic crosswords is ready to puzzle and delight. The 2024 Calendar is available to buy now in both print and virtual formats.
Need more Christmas present ideas? For the perfect companion to the 3D Crossword Calendar, look no further than the latest offering by the Calendar's very own visual clue artist, Frank Paul, which is now also available in paperback.
"As a child, I was obsessed with Home Alone. I would set traps for my mum, weaving webs of string and Sellotape that criss-crossed the stairs and the sitting room, and perching heavy objects on half-open doors. To my relief I never injured her, but the relentless traps exasperated her so much that she forbade me from setting them, except on one night of the year: Christmas Eve.
"The Twelve Quizzes of Christmas continues my festive fiendishness. It comprises surreal, twisted versions of familiar yuletide tales, enveloping multilayered quizzes and word puzzles. Each of the twelve quizzes has its own atmosphere, from a tribute to The Snowman told as a miniature graphic novel to a parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! narrated entirely in rhyme. There are increasingly bizarre Christmas cracker jokes to complete, a quest to find someone who won’t give their lover’s heart away the very next day, a pantomime to reenact in quiz form, a terrorist attack on an office Christmas party to thwart, and much more..."
Frank's book is available from Amazon in kindle, hardback and paperback formats.
Upcoming deadlines
Entries for the November puzzle by Soup are due by November 30.
