Listener Crossword 4476: Solution Notes
His by Nebuchadnezzar
Puzzle explanation
The instructions from letters surrounding the extra words in clues were “Replace with dots; connect with four straight lines without lifting pen”. Thus the clashes and the solitary K in the grid were changed to produce the classic “nine dots” puzzle, attributed to Henry Ernest Dudeney. The puzzle was included in Sam Loyd’s Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks and Conundrums with Answers published by Samuel Loyd Jr in 1914, under the title “Christopher Columbus’s egg puzzle”, alluding to the apocryphal story of Columbus making an egg stand upright by first crushing one end to flatten it slightly. The puzzle solution in the grid starts from the clash cell 16 and traces the phrase “thinking outside the box” (from clashing letters, the K and the two cells outside the box where the path changes direction). The letters omitted from clues’ wordplay spelt “egg of Columbus” clockwise in a “box” containing the nine dots; that phrase is used to refer to a clever discovery that seems simple after the fact, of which the Nine Dots solution is an example. The title “His” in Morse code would be ···· ·· ···, consisting of nine dots.
Loyd’s description of the nine dots puzzle was as follows:
“The funny old King is now trying to work out a second puzzle, which is to draw a continuous line through the center of all of the eggs so as to mark them off in the fewest number of strokes. King Puzzlepate performs the feat in six strokes, but from Tommy’s expression we take it to be a very stupid answer, so we expect our clever puzzlists to do better; it is a very ingenious trick, fully as good if not better than that of making an egg stand up on end, for the perpetration of which with an over ripe egg the great navigator was loaded with chains.”
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| No | Extra word | Answer (omitted letters) | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Across | |||
| 1 | merchant | DOSSALS | LASSO < in D(amascu)S |
| 6 | astern | ABSEIL | AB + homophone of SAIL |
| 10 | dancer | UNTENABLENESS | (ANNE’S + N + BLUE SET) * |
| 12 | DE(E) | DE(o) | |
| 15 | (O)OM | OM | |
| 16 | cut | TERIYAKI | (R + YAK in II) after TE(a) |
| 17 | NI(S)I | TOO with letters shifted six places back alphabetically | |
| 18 | polemical | REDATE | MANDATE with RE for MAN |
| 19 | (F)AR | (M)AR(y) | |
| 20 | a | EMBLIC | (CLIMBED − D) * |
| 22 | supermodel | UNHAIRS | H in (UN + AIRS) |
| 25 | magazine | ENDERON | (’EN + ’ERON) around (nu)D(es) |
| 28 | at | ALLEGRI | ILLEGAL * with R for L |
| 30 | PSO(C)ID | DIPSO * | |
| 31 | LI(B) | L + I | |
| 32 | hits | GALOOT | (TOOL + AG) < |
| 35 | ends | REND | (B)REND(a) |
| 36 | saw | VIDEOTEX | (VOTE DI) * + EX |
| 39 | YA(M) | AY < | |
| 40 | (O)UR | URBAN − BAN | |
| 41 | most | DISINTEGRABLE | DINGIEST * + RA(b)BLE |
| 42 | wear | FLETCH | F + LETCH |
| 43 | eventually | HAYSEED | SEED after HAY |
| Down | |||
| 1 | DUDENEY | DUDE + (YE + (mathematicia)N) < | |
| 2 | club | ONE-TIME | (M in TIE) after ONE |
| 3 | ST(E)D | (fine)ST D(ust) | |
| 4 | AN(G)ERING | (A + E) around N + RIG around N | |
| 5 | blonde | LAER | LA(y)ER, LA(g)ER or LA(t)ER |
| 6 | from | ALIYA | ((aw)AY ILA(n)) < |
| 7 | BE(G)AT | BEAT | |
| 8 | deconstructed | SNAKE | KANS < + (tailor-mad)E |
| 9 | attends | ISOBAR | RI < around (SO + BA) |
| 11 | amidst | SMIR | SMIR(k) |
| 13 | enticing | CHILDE | (gir)L in CHIDE |
| 14 | filmed | INDUBIOUS | (BIO in INDUS) around U |
| 19 | (F)IS(C) | (l)I(p)S | |
| 21 | B(U)L(B) | B + L | |
| 23 | HOSTE(L)RY | HO + ER in STY | |
| 24 | coins | AGOROT | AG + OR + (b)OT(h) |
| 26 | claims | PINNULE | PINNACLE with U for (A + C) |
| 27 | weapons | UDDERED | DUD * + DERE < |
| 29 | career | LIMAIL | LIMA + I + (carte)L |
| 31 | LOYD | ENCYCLOPEDIA * − (PIECE + C + A + N) * | |
| 32 | pilot | G-SUIT | G + ’S + TIU < |
| 33 | AD(U)NC | A(nd) D(oing) N(arcotic) + C | |
| 34 | mayor’s | LEITH | LITHE with E moved toward the start |
| 37 | foils | TOGA | TONGA − N |
| 38 | J(O)BE | B in J(an)E | |