EV 1012 Drab Cops by Nudd

[dr b]

Hello N&Cers, took a long time for the PDM on this one, but well worth the wait, I thought. A very nice twist to the 12 clues. Thanks for the workout, Nudd.

[slaney]

Hi dr b and all, a very enjoyable solve indeed.
Even though a few familiar words leapt out at me, enabling me to get the entry method early, there was plenty of new material to keep up the interest throughout. In fact I'm still working out the reasoning behind the twelfth answer.

[novalis]

Hi everybody.

Agree with the cooments so far. Could find neither rhyme nor reason to begin with so found this a good mental workout.

[devadolly]

Hello everyone. Am a late starter again this week, haqving the bathroom decorated tomorrow and it is unbelievable just how much junk one can accumulate in such a small room!
Am enjoying the EV this week, like Novalis I have taken a long time to get started but finding it interesting and have hopes.

[DocHH]

Hello everyone,
My PDM also took a lot longer than it should have done, especially as a key word in the quotation was not exactly hidden! Apologies for absence for next week, going away for Easter.

[qwerty99]

My, what an improvement on last week! I found this much harder than yesterday's Listener. I had well over half the grid filled before I twigged what was going on. Thought the clues were excellent. But the editing is still so sloppy (lower-case g in German in 5 down, but they managed to get it right in 17 across). In this case not something to hold one up, but in a difficult crossword, when every little nuance of spelling or punctuation could make a difference, it's surely not good enough.

[AndrewG-S]

Yes an excellent and tricky puzzle. Chasing down the 12 thematic entries took a while even after working out the methodology. And spotting the four word quote took me longer than it should have done as well. Thanks Nudd

[dr b]

Tracking down my last of the 12 took a long time because, as I eventually discovered, it couldn't be found using Google! It never occurred to me that there could be a fact that Google couldn't find. Finally I took the preamble's hint and looked in ODQ, and, duh, it was right there.

[haggis58]

Whilst I have a completed grid and have the theme highlighted could someone shed some light on why I have only identified 11 out of the 12 'madmen'? The only clue that I can't justify the answer is 2d but cannot identify the 'madman'. Also why is the title drab cops?

[dr b]

haggis, I think your post gives away far too much information. Wouldn't "thematic entry" have worked as well as "madmen"?

You and I seem to be referring to the same clue with our latest posts. Try ODQ.

Try applying the "entry method" to the title.

[contendo]

My goodness, it's quite a struggle to identify the 12. I'm well on the way but still have 3 to go. A neat idea for the theme & construction.

[kayakamina]

What a great puzzle and my favourite for the year to date!

I loved the clueing as bells started to ring for long forgotten bits of verse.

I hope we see Nudd again soon.

[haggis58]

dr b - this is not the first time we have clashed in our interpretation of why the answerbank exists!

[dr b]

haggis, I don't see how using the word "madmen" added anything to the two questions that you posed, both of which, you will note, I answered.

[DocHH]

Haggis58, I'm with dr b, there are some threads that give full answers, I prefer that the EV thread is just hints! In all honesty hinting is more difficult than giving the answer, and actually more fun!

[kayakamina]

Hi haggis58

I have also been taken to task for giving answers which, in some people's view, gave out too much information.
As you say this site is Answerbank and it's sole purpose is giving answers to members' questions. I've never been really sure which crosswords fall into the 'hints' only category, or who decides this. It does seem to apply to EV , Inquisitor & The Listener but not Azed, Genius & Mephisto!

[contendo]

I'm with drb on this one. Some of these more advanced thematic crosswords take months for the setters to devise and it's insulting to them and pointless for the solver if you can just turn to the Answerbank for the answers. A tradition has developed of using the Answerbank for these more advanced crosswords to share thoughts about them without giving too much away, and the kind of subtle dialogue that can develop is often quite entertaining.

It's a different matter with the simpler crosswords where the answer is often given in the next day's paper anyway. Can I suggest that it's mainly puzzles with bars rather than blocks which should be treated with more caution, though there's no hard and fast rule: the Listener, EV, Spectator and other higher-level crosswords sometimes use blocked grids as well.

As for Drab Cops, I've got 11 of the 12 and I'm damned if I can find the last one. All the other clues have a definition and wordplay which fit the grid entry. Also I can't do anything with the title. Fortunately that doesn't seem to be a requirement.

[devadolly]

Another vote for the 'hints' camp, it's almost as much fun to see the devious way we think up these hints both to request help and give it. I'm the one always asking for help but I would hate it if the answers just arrived without my having to strain the brain to get there, like googling everything, no satisfaction when you do finally click.
Talking of which, some heavy hints for the dozen....................or, have I justseen some daylight?

[FiestyJack]

Sorry Guys, The clue is in the name of the site 'ANSWERBANK' if you don't want the answeres don't visit the page!'...go and have your chats in another room if you wish to inform everyone about your sunday lunches, or what plants you potted yesterday. Get a LIFE! Rant over...

[Mampara]

Would you prefer this sort of posting from another 'crossword help' site?

Doughnut
(1) 'poets'is one of the four words you want - the quotation is from Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. Enough to drive one bonkers?
(2) The twelve clues which have no definitions and only subsidiary indications lead you to solutions which are also anagrams of the surnames of poets; the apparently superfluous words in each of these clues is a quotation from the relevant poet's verse. The anagrams are real words and it is these, not the poets' names, that you enter in the grid. So (purely e.g., not from the puzzle)) 'Work at English linen, for Macavity's not there (5)' should give 'toile'as the entry, and 'Eliot' as the poet. Phew

[devadolly]

On the other hand, if like FiestyJack you don't want to 'natter, chat and socialise' perhaps you could use the other site (as posted by Mampara) or begin another thread with a slightly diferent title so we would all be happy and not have to denegrate each other's way of completing crosswords and having polite interaction.