The Stickler Weekly 112 Solution

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned theme crosswords that were about to appear in the Australian Financial Review. The first one included an Australian “Christmas carol”, How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly, and included the artist, song and ingredients of a basic gravy mentioned in the song. Related clues were openly linked, and so no special instructions were necessary. The gimmick for the second one, a New Year special, came about by chance. I was doing general searches for things related to 2016, and the International Year of Pulses popped up. Initially I planned to include the entire term, and types of pulses, but I hit two snags: the term is bigger than the crossword, and I didn’t want to split it across multiple answers, and secondly, while there are lots of pulses, many of them end in pea and bean, meaning a large amount of repetition would be required. I hit on the idea of running a related phrase around the outside, and worked on making a suitable length (must be even to match a symmetrical grid). I ended up with THIS IS THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF PULSES, which I was initially happy with, but the “THIS” bothered me, as I hadn’t said what THIS was and solvers would first see the puzzle on December 29. As I struggled with THIS, I tried to work out what I was really trying to say. THIS then became 2016, and the idea of using words turned into numbers to make the phrase work was born. Finding words to put into the grid wasn’t too hard, and I built and completed the crossword over a number of days.
Then came the part that caused trouble: what word format (the number designator in brackets at the end of each clue) should I use that gives the solver the best/most information? Two choices: let the word format reflect the reality even if it was contrary to the definition and wordplay (that is, TWO/2-MAN TENT would become 1-3,4) ; or let the word format reflect the definition and wordplay, even if the grid seems to contradict the length specified. Either way requires some kind of explanation, but the latter is what most solvers are used to, and only after solving would there appear to be a problem with the grid which the instructions would take care of. I also added a special entry to the Clue Hints section of my website that specifically stated what needed to happen when these clues were entered into the grid. A great plan, and I believe the right choice, but it all came to nothing as the instructions weren’t included with the crossword. It happened that the group I was holidaying with when the New Year puzzle was published still like reading printed newspapers, so the AFR turned up on the lounge room table. I quickly realised I was in trouble when I saw that the instructions were missing, and sure enough, emails and blog posts started rolling in and didn’t stop for days, as the AFR bumper editions over Christmas stay available longer than usual. Unfortunately the phrase I’d threaded around the perimeter of the puzzle went largely unnoticed as the instructions also highlighted this aspect of the crossword.
Crosswords with instructions always have the potential to go wrong. Missing instructions, misunderstood instructions, ambiguous instructions, instructions that some people can’t work out, and even unseen instructions can mean extra effort from the setter may be completely wasted. Back in The Stickler days, I used to add messages (NINAs) on special occasions in the hope someone would spot them and get an extra buzz out of the crossword. A rigid production process and lack of space meant it wasn’t possible to add instructions so solvers had to work it out for themselves with not even a hint that something was going on. I suspect, again, that my efforts were largely wasted which is why I ceased with the messages after a few years of receiving no feedback.