Shipshape by Methuselah – Fifteensquared (original) (raw)

This puzzle is Methuselah’s first appearance in the Inquisitor series, but I have blogged a few puzzles by this setter in the daily Independent series.

The puzzle in entitled Shipshape and the preamble told us that: "In each of twenty clues, definitions contain a misprint. Corrected letters spell a phrase associated with 16 which explains how solutions which seem not to fit may be uniformly entered successfully. Solvers should appropriately colour something in the final grid. A proper name may be verified online".

The preamble was fairly clear, but obviously something unusual was going on in the grid as many of the clues had answers that were too long for the available cells. I highlighted all the cells for all these clues in a blank grid and saw that they all avoided the corners of the grid, but there was nothing to hint clearly at what was needed to fill the grid properly.

I tried to start off solving clues whose answers were the same length as the available space so that I could get some letters correctly placed. Solving went reasonably well and I also solved a few of the clues that needed some kind of treatment before entry.

The penny drop moment came at the intersection of 37 across, PERIODIC and each of 37 down, PEDAL at 38 down RIFLE when it became clear that some cells would contain two letters. The PE of PE RIODIC shared a cell with the PE of PE TAL and the RI of PERIODIC shared a cell with the RI of RIFLE. That discovery helped with some of the other answers where I was worried that there would be some ambiguity in filling cells.

A little bit later I also realised that it was rectangle of cells that were being filled with double letters. Finally, I saw what the entry for the thematic 16 across would be, DOCTOR WHO and also deduced how it would intersect with ADD ONS and RICTUS.

The phrase built up from the missing letters became clear halfway through as IT’S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE. This together with DOCTOR WHO likely at 16 across confirmed that we were focusing on the Tardis as indeed it is BIGGER ON THE INSIDE

The resulting shape depicts the Tardis, the space ship used by the Doctor and his / her companions. I have highlighted the cells that are doubled up in the second grid below. I know the blue is the wrong shade for the Tardis, but Tardis blue is very dark and would make the letters below unreadable.

A study of the letters show that they spell out a number of the Doctor’s companions over the 60 years of the life of the series. BBC Television is showing a set of anniversary specials at the moment.

There are two companions in each row, but there are two letters, RA, that I can’t relate to a companion, in the second row from the bottom of the Tardis. The two companions in the third row from the bottom seem to be cuddling each other where the row shows A (CLARA) MY

I have tried looking at the apparently rogue RA in a vertical and diagonal direction but I can’t link it to any companion. Some of these companions also appeared in special one-off episodes. There was a BARBARA, a SARAH and possibly a SARA, but none of them fit.

The clues were very good and parsed without too much difficulty

The grid before highlighting the shape is shown immediately below followed by the highlighting of the Tardis.

The detailed table shows the original and the amended clues where a misprint has occurred. I have also indicated how the treated entries are entered.

The title Shipshape is self-explanatory with the Tardis being a spaceship.

Thanks to Methuselah for the puzzle. Hopefully someone will explain the spare RA and why AMY is hugging CLARA.

Note: kenmac was on holiday when this puzzle was published which is why I have written the blog.