EV 971 Track by Loda

[dr b]

Can this be the first post on this puzzle? I thought it was very well done; the theme dawned on me very late in the game - I suspect those who caught it early on had an easier time of finding the clashes than I did. Once you have the creator and the creation it all comes together pretty quickly.

Am I wrong or did this theme appear in an EV within recent memory?

[BigDave44]

EV is short for Enigmatic Variations, a barred puzzle in the Sunday Telegraph, and dr b and friends regularly take part in a weekly discussion on this puzzle.

He is not appealing to the "wider community" for help!

[maryf]

Yes, Dr b, I too remember another EV with this theme.

[dr b]

Thank you, Dave, for that stirring defense of my virtue.

Where is everyone? Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?

[devadolly]

Hello drb. Have only just thought to see if there "was anyone there" good to see you back. Have only just started 971 and am making slow headway tho' the preamble is not leaping out from the bushes and declaring itself as yet - will keep hoping.
Thanks for the defence Big Dave although you forgot to add "and other things" to the weekly discussion bit!

[Jogler]

Still out here, just, dr b. No chance to look at this week's yet but we are looking forward to it. Last week we walked Hadrian's Wall which was fantastic; now back on babysitting duty!

[turast]

I'm making this nod towards the "information about the theme's creator" entirely by accident, having just completed "Track". I agree with Dr. B that once the theme is grasped, the final grid fill falls into place with a satisfying clunk, although I'm surprised that he didn't imitate a namesake, tear up the grid and throw it in the bin! Jogler did you "depict the south" last week? I bet you got wet! Hardly a break from the rain recently in this area looking out over the imaginary thematic location.

[AndrewG-S]

Away for the weekend so a very late start, but finished off on the train this morning. An entertainging puzzle. drb I am sure you are right that this theme has been used recently in EV, but was well hidden this time

[bobbycollins]

........and the "wider community" would be unlikely to be of any help - if it were either needed or asked for.

[Christiana]

Hello all, started late and resisted the temptation to peek though I struggled with one or two of the clues. Now all done and dusted BUT cannot fully appreciate the cryptic elements of 29d and 44d

I, too, pretty convinced this theme was used not that long ago in EV

[Jogler]

Turast - we marched the boundary and sent them all into Northumberland - and had a total of ten minutes rain! It was pouring down at home and we could see rain all around us but we seemed to be charmed. Not so our street barbecue on Sunday - the field now resembles the Somme...

[dr b]

Christiana, I had a little trouble with those two as well; I think for 29d, the wordplay is to reverse and truncate a word meaning "shed" in the sense of "get rid of". I wouldn't ordinarily think of "shed" and the altered word as synonymous but the dictionary did confirm it.

For 44d, I felt the word "back" was misplaced for the clue to work correctly. Think of "secondly" in the sense of listing a group of items; what single letter might stand in here? Then "cut back supply" , reverse and truncate a word meaning "supply". (In fact if the word is "X", one definition of it is "to supply with X."). Except, the single letter goes on the end of this truncated word to make the abbreviation. Like I said I could not really get this one to scan properly, which might well mean I didn't understand it.

[AndrewG-S]

drb to answer your initial question it was 905 in March 2010 - Management by Samuel. Not so long ago - odd to get a repeat so quickly

[Christiana]

Thanks for the explanation, Dr. B, which I've worked through. Somewhat clumsy, I thought, but makes some sort of sense.