Shajarur Kanta, and the mystery of the PORCUPINE anagram

Crossword sightings in Indian films are rare. And so I watched with great interest as Byomkesh Bakshi in Shajarur Kanta (2015) lingered on the puzzles section of the newspaper while holding forth on the art of murder.

A close-up shot of the crossword on the page revealed this:

What do we see? A blocked grid crossword, partly solved. A few cells are filled in here and there. Strangely, many of the filled cells are unchecked and the words they belong to are unsolved. How exactly is Byomkesh solving this crossword? Has he cracked the Nina before the individual clues? Is he filling in letters at random? Has he confused the crossword with the Sudoku?

We don’t learn the answers to these questions. But we do move on to bigger oddities in the adjacent Jumble section.

The PORCUPINE strikes

Check out the last jumbled word of the set: UCRONIPREP.

While our detective is talking about the efficacy of porcupine quills as lethal weapons, the Jumble has served him a Baader-Meinhonf moment: an anagram of PORCUPINE.

Except that UCRONIPREP is not an anagram of PORCUPINE.

Take a closer look at the image, and you see the font of UCRONIPREP does not match the other jumbled words, the empty squares run into the explanatory text. Makes one smell a porcupine rat: this word was not part of the original puzzle - the film makers have been up to mischief and tacked it on later.

Someone from the film team must have noticed the gaffe too. By the time the puzzle shows up on screen next, the superfluous R has miraculously vanished.

Byomkesh struggles with cracking that last anagram even after the correction.

He then sets the newspaper aside to meet a distraught client. While talking to this client, he has a PDM, exclaims "PORCUPINE!" and grabs the paper to fill in the pending word.

That's Byomkesh triumphantly writing in PORCUPINE:

Here comes another twist.

Between the two scenes above, the illustrated puzzle that accompanies the jumbled words has been brutally scratched out with a black pen by hands unknown.

What was the motive of this seemingly purposeless act of violence?

I set out to do some detective work of my own.

The Final Piece

That crossed-out image, as Jumble solvers would know, is the final piece of the puzzle: the circled letters from the four words are anagrammed once again to answer the clue in the image.

The clue in the image (as you can see in the "Before" screenshots) is:
When it came to protecting their castle they were "????-??????"

Its solution expects 4+6 = 10 letters. The quote marks around the blanks suggest a pun.

The contributing letters from the first three words in the puzzle:
AM from ALBUM
DT from DIGIT
OTA from BOTANY

AM+DT+OTA totals 7 letters, which means 3 more letters are to be had from the fourth word to make ????-??????, *not* 4 as the encircled letters in PORCUPINE suggest.

Rearranging the contributing letters AMDTOTA??? to correspond to ????-?????? in the image clue gives us a fair idea of what the overall answer could be.

That answer would fall into place only if the circled letters in the last word were IVE. PRPE of PORCUPINE does not fit the bill.

Detective work conclusion: The film makers couldn't make the fake PORCUPINE fit the final puzzle - so they crossed out the final puzzle to bury the evidence!

Endgame

What WAS the real word hiding behind the fake PORCUPINE? I invite you to find the answer.

Related Posts:

• Hot Fuzz: Crossword Conversation
• A Puzzling Difference Between Crossword Solvers and Non-Solvers
• Cryptic Crosswords a Threat to Criminal Justice?
• Unlikely Movie Characters as Potential Crossword Setters

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Hot Fuzz: Crossword Conversation

A reader shared this video clip with me from the movie Hot Fuzz. I recalled its (quite scathing) mention in the Guardian Crossword blog's entertaining series on crosswords in fiction, and watched it with great curiosity.

This makes for an interesting spot-the-errors exercise, apart from the peculiar grid.

Joyce Cooper gives out the clue number for FASCIST as 7 Across but runs her pen over a Down clue while reading it out. FASCIST does fit into the grid slot for 7 Across, but the corresponding clue on screen is too short to match "System of government categorized by extreme dictatorship".

There is another Down clue slot with a leading F already filled in the grid and the checkers A and I in place – it would seem that that's where this answer should go in.

It gets weirder when Sergeant Angel retorts with "Evil old woman, considered frightful or ugly. It's 12 Down." Because, if the grid shown in the movie followed normal crossword numbering, it wouldn't have a 12 Down at all.

What other bloopers do you see?

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• Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

A Puzzling Difference Between Crossword Solvers and Non-Solvers

Why don't we do a crossword puzzle. It'll only take us five minutes. Or, in your case, six.

– says Joan Clarke to Alan Turing in the 2014 film The Imitation Game.

Something about the dialogue between these wonderful solvers seemed off to me.

People who solve crosswords call it 'crossword' or 'puzzle' in conversation.
People who call it 'crossword puzzle' are usually those who don't solve crosswords.

Is this an Indian thing? Would seasoned solvers elsewhere, when they get together, talk of 'crossword puzzles' instead of 'crosswords'?

Or has the lingo changed with time, just as 'crossword' gets shortened to 'crossie' among the younger Indian solvers nowadays?

An online search shows interesting evidence.

On Alan Connor's Guardian Crossword blog, the term 'crossword puzzle' appears either when emphasizing a difference from other types of puzzles, or when quoting from non-crossword sources: e.g. an announcement on The Imitation Game publicity puzzle, an excerpt from the script of The American President, a crossword story in Orlando Sentinel. Elsewhere it is 'crossword' or 'puzzle', sometimes 'cryptics' in the plural.

In this Will Shortz interview on Bitter Lawyer (a non-crossword legal humour site), the interviewer uses the term 'crossword puzzle' in a question, but Will Shortz responds with 'crossword' or 'puzzle'. In another interview with him, this one on Wordplay (NYT crossword blog), neither interviewer nor interviewee says 'crossword puzzle' except when referring to ACPT.

In a crossword-focused Q&A with David Kwong (crossword consultant for The Imitation Game), the only time he uses the expression 'crossword puzzle' is when he quotes from the film's script - “[Alan,] you just defeated Nazism with a crossword puzzle".

So, do you do 'crosswords' or 'crossword puzzles'? How do you refer to them when you talk to other crossword people?

Related Posts:

• Cryptic Crosswords a Threat to Criminal Justice?
• Unlikely Movie Characters as Potential Crossword Setters
• Wordplay or Subsidiary Indication?

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Unlikely Movie Characters as Potential Crossword Setters

There are times when, while watching a movie, we find a character say something that prompts us to think – here's someone with the makings of a cryptic crossword setter. This character need not be in the mould of a glib-tongued Bond; s/he may be a person ordinary within the film's framework who lets out an unexpected flash of lexical wizardry.

Some such characters from movies I've seen.

1. Lata Srivastav, Chupke Chupke (1975) 

Why her?
Lata asks Vasudha why the man has given her a ring with the letter 'S' on it, when her initial is 'V'. The exchange between them:

Vasudha: Wo mera naam hai na Vasudha, V-A-S-..., wo S hai.
Lata: Wo S nahin, tu ass hai.

Rough translation:

Vasudha: That's from my name Vasudha, V-A-S-..., that's the S (pronounced 'ass').
Lata: That's not the S, you are the ass.

Wordplay type demonstrated: Homophone

2. Gru, Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Why him?
Gru resists being arm-twisted into an undercover job for the Anti-Villain League (AVL), and takes his leave from the head of the league with these words:

Gru: Good day, Mr. Sheepsbutt.
Silas Ramsbottom (AVL head): Ramsbottom.
Gru: Oh, yeah, like that's any better.

Wordplay type demonstrated: Charade

3. Inspector YP Singh, Raja Natwarlal (2014)

Why him?
This policeman's mission in life is seemingly not just to nab Raja, but to craft all possible cryptic clues around the word CON. Not a chance for crossword-style wordplay slips by when he's around.

Example 1:

Heroine (answering her phone): Hello? Kaun?
Policeman: Con! Con hi to karne gaye ho wahan tum log.

Rough translation:

Heroine: Hello? Kaun (Who's that)?
Policeman: Yes, you've gone there for a con.

Wordplay type demonstrated: Bilingual homophone

Example 2:

Heroine: Wo ek chhota-mota contractor hai.
Policeman: Contractor! CONTRACTOR mein se TRACTOR uda de. Kya bacha? Con!

Rough translation:

Heroine: He is a small-time contractor.
Policeman: Contractor! Strike out from CONTRACTOR the word TRACTOR and see what you get. Con!

Wordplay type demonstrated: Deletion

4. Meeta Sen, Anubhav (1971)

Why her?
In the song Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho Meri Jaan, Meeta Sen asks her husband not to call her jaan (beloved), with this rationale:

Jaan na kaho anjaan mujhe, jaan kahan rahti hai sadaa
Anjaane, kya jaanein, jaan ke jaaye kaun bhala

Rough translation:

Don't call me jaan (beloved), anjaan (ignorant one) - jaan (life) does not last forever
Anjaane (naive people) kya jaanein (do not know any better), nobody departs jaan ke (on purpose)

In true cryptic crossword tradition, when the word jaan appears multiple times in the opening line, the hearer does not know that the one of the jaans refers literally to life. The cryptic reading is revealed only a little later. The meaning of jaan keeps switching fluidly from 'life' to 'beloved' to 'know' and the hearer has to keep up with the shifts to make sense of the song.

Wordplay type demonstrated: Multiple Definitions 

5. Danish, Shamitabh (2015)

Why him?
Aspiring actor Danish is speech-impaired, but with the help of "voice transfer" technology, he manages to speak in the voice of another man (Amitabh Sinha) and lands a big role in a Hindi film. He is then asked to choose a screen name. Danish picks the name "Shamitabh", and explains his choice in a way that would do a pro setter proud.

(i) Shamitabh is hidden within 'DaniSH + AMITABH Sinha'
(ii) Shamitabh is a charade of SH (silent) + Amitabh, which implies that behind the mute front stands the voice-lender

Wordplay type(s) demonstrated: Hidden Word, Charade with Cryptic Abbreviation

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Over to you. Can you add to the list?

PS: In case you missed the memo - an Open Magazine feature about cryptic crossword solvers in India: The High of Hidden Words.

Related Posts:

• Attention film-makers: Crossworders are not oddballs
• Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker
• Who says documentaries are boring? Watch Wordplay

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Life in Black and White: The Atlantic Documentary on Crosswords

What is common to a piano restorer, a marine biologist working with penguins, and a crossword setter?
All of them work in black and white.

On that premise, The Atlantic has published a series of documentaries featuring people whose work revolves around two-shade monochrome. The documentaries are beautifully filmed in black and white (what else), with interviews intercut with close-up montage shots.

Andrea Carla Michaels, a crossword setter for New York Times, is featured in the 2:35min film on creating crosswords. I love the crossword setter's response to the question: "How long does it take to make a puzzle?". I also love the cushion cover on her chair.

View the video:

[RSS readers: please visit the blog to view Life in Black and White]

Coming up next week: An interview with a famous crossword personality. Stay tuned. Sign-up to receive articles from Crossword Unclued via RSS or directly in your inbox.

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• Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker
• Who says documentaries are boring? Watch "Wordplay"
• Attention film-makers: Crossworders are not oddballs

Who says documentaries are boring? Watch Wordplay

"Well, it's not like insulin. I mean, I can live without it for a day." says Jon Stewart, American standup comedian and crossword fan, when asked if he can do without the daily crossword puzzle. [Wordplay, 2006]

Whoever can identify with that sentiment – and I bet that's most of you reading the blog – is going to love this smart film on the world of crosswords. Wordplay is full of nuggets about grid-smitten folk – one champion solver cannot understand why people spend hours on a puzzle that takes her ten minutes ["I guess I've just accumulated a lot of useless knowledge that often is in the puzzles", she adds bemusedly], another when passing by a place with the word "Intercoastal" in it, remarks that the word is an anagram of ALTERCATIONS.

The pivotal figure in Wordplay is Will Shortz, New York Times (NYT) crossword editor, possibly the most powerful figure in the American puzzle world. He talks of the changes he has brought about in the NYT crossword since he took on the role of editor in 1993, and good-humouredly reads out some sharp letters written to him. "Dear Sir or Madam…you have taken all the fun out of crosswords." complains one writer. "You are sick, sick, sick." declares another. It comes with the territory, doesn't it, puzzle makers?

The film also visits celebrity solvers like Bill Clinton and Bob Dole who share their reactions to the diabolical New York Times Election Day Puzzle of 1996. The puzzle is displayed ingeniously in the film with the lights fading in and out of the grid cells and the clues inset.

Wordplay is about a non-cryptic crossword yet the film is no less interesting for solvers of cryptics. In a broad sense there is a lot in common between the two styles of puzzles: the same consideration for difficulty and symmetry, the approach to adding words to the grid – crossword setter Merl Reagle takes us through the process starting with the long entries, paying attention to crossing words till he reaches a stage where he needs to check the dictionary for a grid fill. As a musician in the film puts it, comparing crossword construction to writing a song - "all those things you play with - obscurity, clarity, generalization, specificity". You could say the same for cryptic crosswords.

Both styles of puzzles inspire a common drive in their fans to find answers, and a lot of Wordplay is about such devoted solvers. The film is built around the 2005 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament where crossword titans battle it out for the top spot. The film is visually excellent: it lets us watch the clues – and play along at places - as the competitors fill the grid on huge whiteboards. The final has all the thrill and suspense of a high-energy sport. A race against time by the three finalists, a heartbreaking faux pas, a close fight to the finish and ultimately the winner's classic victory statement: "Words are failing me. I am just glad they waited until now to do so."

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PS: I think America is such a great place for encouraging enterprise. Through Indiana University's Individualized Major Program, Will Shortz studied Enigmatology in college, a course he designed himself – apparently Indiana University has an Individualized Major Program that lets you create your own personalized course of study. Will Shortz is the only person known to hold a college degree in the subject. Can we imagine doing something like that in India? For that matter, can we imagine a special grid of The Hindu Crossword being a topic of TV news, being commented on by the PM and leader of Opposition? OK, it might happen if The Hindu Crossword publishes a grid as sensational as the NYT Election Day Puzzle, but I doubt it :)

PPS: Straight crossword clues with difficult vocabulary are harder than cryptics for sure. I wouldn't get 1 Across of the championship final - "Stark and richly detailed, as writing (9)" without subsidiary indication. Can you? Hint: The answer has a Z and a Q in it.

Related Posts:

• NYT Election Day Crossword
• Cryptic Crossword Quickstart Guide
• Silicon Valley Puzzle Day 2009

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Attention film-makers: Crossworders are not oddballs!

Have you seen the film No Reservations (2007)? A by-the-book rom com, except for a significant fact.

The leading lady is a crossword solver.

Each day she sits with her colleagues at the lunch table, armed with a pen and crossword grid. While the others laugh and chat, she is immersed in the crossword with a glum expression. She is also unkempt, unfriendly, has no "life" and no boyfriend. She is in therapy.

Along comes the hero. As it happens in such films, they spar then become friends. The lady grows cheerful and beautiful. After predictable twists, the movie moves towards the inevitable happy end.

Once Love enters the lady's life, she is never again to be seen solving the crossword.

In All About Steve (2009), the heroine is a crossword compiler for the (fictional) paper Sacramento Herald. She is also socially inept, clingy and spouts random facts to anyone within hearing range.

She gets so besotted with a man Steve (whom she has barely met) that she writes her next crossword themed entirely on him, titled "All About Steve". The crossword when printed frustrates the readers. (The paper obviously follows The Hindu's model of allowing anything by the setter to get published without checks.) She is fired from her job for this crossword.

Now unemployed, the lady stalks the man all across the country and gives him the creeps.

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Any cruciverbalists up for a dharna against such unflattering stereotyping?

Related Posts:

• Killer Clue: A suicide-inducing cryptic clue in a Jeffrey Archer short story
• New York Times Election Day Crossword: A crossword that dared to predict the 1996 US election result
• Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker: A parody about the most underappreciated member of the crossword design team
• Cryptic Crosswords A Threat To Criminal Justice?: "Research" that shows the dangerous impact of cryptic crosswords on face recognition

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Garson Hampfield, Crossword Inker

Question: Who is the most underappreciated member of the crossword design team?
Answer: The crossword inker.

If you haven't heard about crossword inking before, then you must watch this brilliant video in which Garson Hampfield, crossword inker, expounds on the intricacies of this esoteric art. (Run time: 6.45mins)  

Update: In case you’re wondering, this is meant to be a parody, with a lot of fake details. Please view it in that spirit!

Ashok, a big thank you for pointing this video out to me. I've seen it thrice and found new gems each time.

Crossword setters – what do you say? ;)

Interviews with Michael A. Charles, the creator of this video – here and here.

Update 2: Tony, crossword constructor who prefers making grids on the computer to employing a human "Box Team", points out that Chad Bumfry's framed masterpiece doesn't have its checking right! See the grid for yourself:

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