Listener no 4157 Easy Win by Ilver

[Ruthrobin]

Thought I'd begin the Friday club. What joy to see another new Listener name and what succinct cluing! A speedy fill then a delightful pdm for me with the theme cleverly holding it all together and what head-scratching before the final touch fell into place. Magic, thank you Ilver!

[trux]

In London and no online access so started this over breakfast this morning ... initial grid fill pretty fast. Had to wait to get home (Geneva) to confirm my suspicions on the perimeter. And now just the letter change to do ... (this seems to be the hardest bit, reading earlier comments). Good, succinct clueing ; anagram device neat if straightforward to spot and solve. Fun stuff - many thanks, Ilver.

[trux]

Am now over line - had not helped myself by writing in one rather critical letter this morning (pure "typo" by me) and not spotting it until just now .... happened, of course, to form start of the word to be highlighted ! Lucky I went to a decent school, methinks. All-round, very approachable with neat flourishes.

[cluelessJoe]

Not as good as yours the other week dead-eye!
Cheers

[bobbycollins]

I've had loads of mails from the AB people advising me of replies to my posting - except that I hadn't!!

Oh, and I'm at the same place as trux - in the grid not Geneva.

[roslyn251254]

Having read this thread ( I usually read it most weeks and decide it's too hard for me!) I thought I'd "have a go". It filled my sat morn quite nicely and with a little help I have managed to finish it. It is nice to find the occasional Listener that's not beyond me or similar solvers. Azed, Mephisto & Speccie are my most taxing! I'll keep reading your thread & hopefully have another go soon. Many thanks all.

[Walterloo]

Well yet again I've spent 5 minutes filling the grid and then 5 hours this morning staring at it. Nothing yet. It's not helped by the fact that the word that changes and the six letter word to highlight, I'm thinking, have two possibilities each - they're either the same as the 'thematic' word clued by 'wordplay only' or another one like those in the perimeter. Then again I've just been hiking the countryside for hours and I'm barely alive so the morning may provide illumination.

[IainGrace]

Quick grid fill and spied the six letter word but took a bit of scratching, as it were, to understand the letter substitution. The theme phrase was new to us. As for speedy solving, if the chaps at CERN get their neutrinos sorted, maybe we can solve the puzzle before it's published.

[tenflags]

Nice neat puzzle. Precise cluing etc. and fun.

If I had picked the puzzle up yesterday I would have joined the Friday evening club. Not an ambition of mine and whilst maybe I am getting better I'm not that good. Grid was filled just a tad too quick I feel. Having said that I struggle with the brutes and I am hopeless at trying to set clues and appreciate just how difficult it is so well done Ilver on your debut. It was enjoyable.

[jim360]

Left half of the grid done, but assuming I've got all the answers right I am seriously flummoxed by that perimeter - apart from one of the four perimeter entries none of the others seems to fit to any work I have heard of. And yet, I can't see how I can have got the clued entries wrong, they all fit. I'm not going mad, am I?

[jim360]

Having said that in one of the eight I recorded the wrong extra letter - corrected it now, maybe that should help.

[contendo]

Jim360 - Maybe the key to your difficulty is failure to note the phrase "may be arranged" in the preamble.
Meanwhile, as usual I am stuck at the final hurdle. Is either of the final two words in Bradford under the expected heading? If so I have failed to see it.

[Rogue-Elfe]

Hi all.
Like several others, I am on the post-grid fill, post-PDM, 'what now' stage of this grid. I'll never be in the Friday club, though, since I pick up the paper on Saturday morning. There seems to be only one option for one of the perimeter answers, and that word doesn't fit the theme in any way I can conceive. Also, what's with the title? It must be more than a comment on the puzzle's difficulty, surely? I shall now talk to the Greatest Oracle On God's Little Earth (just thought of that whilst typing!) and see what aforementioned GOOGLE has to say about it. Ta-ra for now.

[jim360]

I've seen the phrase contendo - the eight letters I have make a word if they are read in clue order (a word that might actually be the one I am looking for if it comes to that) so that's throwing me off and I've not yet found another sensible way to arrange them. Still, am working through the rest of the grid without too much trouble - though 12d nearly stopped me in my tracks when the wordplay led me to an answer that didn't seem to be a word even in BRB.

[tilbee]

Back from holidays so been off line for a couple of weeks. Out in London yesterday (Faust - which brought back memories of fairly recent Walpurgis Night theme), but just needed to confirm few of thematic entries and couple of answers with BRB this morning for completed grid. Now to start the stare for the final step.

Rogue-Elfe, I very much enjoyed the title. Just use a 'principle' well known to this thread and treat answer as a thematic solution.

[contendo]

They're not in clue order Jim360. There are various anagram finder on line and in print which should help you. I had the same problem with 12D - see the advice I got from AHearer.

[tilbee]

OK not such a long stare - easiest to work backwards from anticipated final 6 letter thematic word.

[jim360]

And now a completed grid, less the perimeter and the letter change. Will work on that problem later this morning.

Even so, some fun clues in that lot but also a couple of rather awkward constructions too. 20a springs to mind - not often you have to call on your knowledge of other words for "lady of the night" in general life!

[jim360]

Oh wow. That was fast. Just realised what the hint was in a PDM! phew.

[Walterloo]

May I go a step further than Contendo's small plea for help and ask if the final 6 letter word is in the BRB or does one end up with another 'thematic entry' like those in the perimeter?

[emcee]

Walterloo, I don't think it's giving too much away in saying that the word to be highlighted is in the BRB but not under a heading of its own.