Listener Crossword 4771: Solution Notes
In Vino Veritas by Raven
Puzzle explanation
The corrections to misprints in clues spelt Rubáiyát, a collection of Persian four-line verse stanzas written by Omar Khayyám. In the 1859 translation by Edward Fitzgerald, quatrain number 49 is:
’Tis all a chequer-board of nights and days, Where Destiny with Men for pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one back in the closet lays.
The central 8×8 area of the grid, where answers were jumbled, represented the chequerboard with its four corners containing FATE and cells alternately shaded for the nights and unshaded for the days (entries with the northeast and southwest corner cells unshaded were also accepted). The diagonal lines of shaded cells consisted of words that can follow “night” (APE, PIECE, LETTERS, CLOTHES, TAPER, MAN), while the unshaded diagonals were associated with “day” (SUN, BREAK, SPRINGS, WEARIED, THURS, MON). Letters in the circled cells (off the board, ie “back in the closet”) were the abbreviations for chess pieces, P, R, N, B and K; to complete the set Q was circled in the first column. The puzzle’s title alluded to the many mentions of drinking wine in the Rubáiyát, perhaps the best-known being “A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou” (from a later translation of Fitzgerald’s).
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| No | Misprint | Answer (jumble) | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Across | |||
| 10 | cha(R)ge | CARE | C + ARE |
| 11 | g(U)shed | PRATTLED | (DE(a)LT + TARP) < |
| 12 | WREST PLANK (TLNPKASERW) | WASTREL * around (N + PK) | |
| 13 | UNCE (ENCU) | (Cull)EN CU(vée) | |
| 14 | PAID (PDIA) | (AID + P) < | |
| 15 | QUEENLETS (QUSLETNEE) | QU + LET in SNEE(r) | |
| 16 | DIOPTRICS (ROITICSPD) | (IP around TICS) in ROD | |
| 19 | BARTERERS (ESBARTRER) | WINES − WIN + BARER around TR | |
| 25 | UNHAPPIER (PPAHURNEI) | APP < + (R + N) in HUE + I(ndigo) | |
| 26 | SWAB (BWSA) | B + W + S + A | |
| 28 | MOST (OSMT) | SO < + M(erlo)T | |
| 29 | MAN OF STRAW (OAAWNTRMSF) | (AWN + TR + MS) in OAF | |
| 30 | Ara(B) | ARABISES | ARABIS + (l)ES(s) |
| 31 | bo(A)t | SKEG | K in SEG |
| Down | |||
| 2 | F(I)zz | MAGNUMS | GAM < + NUM + S(trike) |
| 3 | TRACTS (ARTCST) | ART + CST | |
| 4 | KEEP ON (KPNEEO) | (KNEE + OP) with P moved up | |
| 5 | HARP (HRPA) | HR + PA | |
| 6 | KATRINA (AAKINTR) | AKIN in (A + TR) | |
| 7 | GAIETY (YTAGEI) | TAG in ((w)I(n)E(r)Y) < | |
| 8 | SEALED (ALEDES) | ALE + DESI − I | |
| 9 | pla(Y) | MERIL | MILER * |
| 17 | ATHEIST (ITAETSH) | IT + TEA < + S(cotc)H | |
| 18 | Le(A)ding | PREMIER | ((lib)R(ary) + EM) in PIER |
| 20 | AMBANS (BMSAAN) | BAN around MSA | |
| 21 | PINGER (RPENIG) | PEN in RIG | |
| 22 | MEUSED (EUEMSD) | EMS in (EU + D(irective)) | |
| 23 | KENAFS (ENSFKA) | ENS + F(iery) + KA | |
| 24 | Gran(T) | AWARD | (DRAW + A(lton)) < |
| 27 | TEHR (HRET) | H(imalayan) R(uminant) E(ven) T(oed) | |