Setting the scene – Up and Under by Nudd
A horse-themed puzzle inspired by The Wizard of Oz? Well, let’s just say that this one evolved …
Not being a Judy Garland fan, I can’t imagine why I should have been thinking about Dorothy Gale and Toto in the first place, but the initial idea was to clue a set of famous dogs via their owners. Worth a try I thought, so I started to compile a list – John Noakes and Shep, George and Timmy, David Corbett and Pickles (oh come on, be fair!) etc. – but it proved to be a struggle, and my shortlist was indeed short and did not have quite enough variety for my liking.
A few days later, frustrated, I had switched animals and started a new list. This time, the possibilities grew and grew, and finally resulted in a decent grid fill, symmetrical and with what seemed to be a reasonable number of equine thematics.
Perhaps ultimately over-graded, the puzzle in its original version might have just about merited a ‘D’. Its original working title was “Ross here” (about which more later) and all of the horses’ connections were clued solely in wordplay without any definition, and without the unched letter help.
Moreover, instead of the 29 easier to spot extra words, I had started out with 13 misprints spelling EQUO NE CREDITE … Virgil’s, ‘do not trust the horse’. This was intended to signal the fact that I had swapped all horses and riders – each rider paired with the horse symmetrically opposite in the grid. I did that chiefly because I had originally clued Odin as ‘no noise’ which I thought was a dead giveaway – so I feared that if people saw Sleipnir early then they would be immediately up and running.
Unfortunately, the editors thought that the wide range of mounts, plus the swapping made things too tricky. Also, they reckoned that ‘do not trust the horse’ did not signal clearly enough that the horses had been swapped. Shane made the perfectly logical observation that my diametrically opposite swaps were not necessarily what would have happened anyway. Why? – because my ‘Ross here’ title was cryptically ‘changing HORSES in mid stREam’. His view was that in midstream, riders would most likely have swapped with the mount nearest to them.
I therefore softened everything up .. added the loose definitions, included the unch sentence, realigned all riders with original mounts (and was consequently forced to find a different quotation). I thought that 29 brand new misprints would end up wrecking some decently worked clues, so reluctantly I opted for extra words – but the new quote did strike me as an appropriate choice.
My final change was to the Anmer clue. I had originally clued the more obvious George V as the person associated with the horse, but I was now obliged to change the title. My preferred alternative title was ‘Up and Under’ – but of course the King was an owner, not a rider, so on that one I had to switch to clueing the more obscure jockey instead.
I appreciate that the diverse sourcing of equines probably forced most solvers into at least little research, and maybe the obscurity of some is what generated the ‘D’. For the variety, and the fact that the answers were not all on-tap in a Brewers or Wiki list, I make absolutely no excuses – I deliberately cast the net as wide as possible – hoping to frustrate, but at the same time jog a few memories and add some enjoyable research. To those who have never delved too deeply into Lord of the Rings, or to whom ‘your lupins or your life’ meant nothing, I apologise … but just maybe a little worthwhile enlightenment has resulted.
My thanks to all who commented (mostly favourably) – the one critical thread seems to have been that this was probably a C, not a D grade, hopefully now addressed above.
…and a salute to the two champion solvers who tested this for me in its original version.
Meanwhile, all the very best to everyone for the festive season and may you all have a successful and enjoyable 2011.