RIVA Crossword Puzzle Solves Mystery of Riva del Garda

An Old RIVA for crossword puzzles

Enigmatics and word games

Enzo Bassetti is the author of the game RIVA. The issue of Settimana Enigmistica, number 3570 dated August 26, 2000, features a word game without a crossword grid on page 21 that only residents of Riva, or those living in the Busa, are able to solve using the horizontal clues.

For everyone else, reaching the solution—that is, discovering that this week’s trip is to Riva del Garda—will be a challenging task. Credit, at least in part, goes to «E. Bassetti» who signed the puzzle.

This is the former mayor, now president of the Unione. «It seems quite strange that this puzzle surfaced just today,» said Enzo Bassetti. «I don’t pay particular attention to enigmatics; I don’t think I can be regarded as a connoisseur of the genre. A few years ago, I lent a hand in compiling a crossword puzzle themed around Riva. I hadn’t thought about it for a long time.»

Aging photographs and clues

It’s clear that a lot of water has flowed under the bridges since then; this is evidenced by the photographs from which the clues are derived, some of which are decidedly old. The 19 horizontal, with 15 letters, features a PALAZZOPRETORIO from the 1970s, when in the square everyone could arrive by car and park in front of the porticoes, of the municipality and the Pace hotel.

The 5 horizontal, with 13 letters, is a TORREAPPONALE that still displays its magnificent quadrant with Roman and Arabic numerals, and the rays that only gusts of time occasionally moved from the correct hour.

Also, the 44 horizontal, with 13 letters, PORTASANMARCO, shows its age: not only is the restoration of the ancient passage in the walls overdue, but on the right, the windows of what used to be the hotel Alla Rosa are still visible.

Additional images and clues

The collection of images to be translated into letters is completed by a PANORAMA, a CHIESA DELL’ INVIOLATA (without an apostrophe, as it should be) and a portal of the parochial church of the Assunta: these could also be mistaken for fresh photos.

In any case, even though the horizontal clues are well beyond the reach of most weekly readers, they assist with the verticals: the Irene of Zorba the Greek is Papas; the rubber for rain shoes is a para; cosmic chaos creates disorder. Workers’ wages are called salaries, and naïvely, the left column is blocked by an ALT—not a traffic light—or by the simple excess of vehicles within a street that more than others cannot properly clear.