The I No477

[davey b]

Sequence of numbers S?N?/C?C?E

Terribly startled to receive a compliment of sorts T?A?E/?A?T

[cupid04]

trade last

[bibblebub]

song cycle

[mike11111]

Last one is Trade-last.

First may be sine curve, but I don't know.

[mike11111]

Oh my God, I even got that yesterday! Mr A is slowly creeping in !

[HowardKennitby]

trade-last = anag of 'startled + a'

[factor-fiction]

I don't understand SONG CYCLE (or Sine Curve).
Can anyone confirm the letters?

[bibblebub]

yes

[mike11111]

All very well, but is there any crossword solver who did not have to look up the meaning of the term; "trade-last", as I have never come across it in all my 63 years.

[HowardKennitby]

Mike

Me neither, which is why I took so long to post.

[mike11111]

Song cycle, sequence (cycle) song (number). Ignore my drivel about sine curve.

[davey b]

Thanks folks. Much appreciated

[mike11111]

Like the famed Provost of Eton, in the days when I could afford to buy the Times, I would complete the crossword while my breakfast egg was boiling (and I like them runny). Since becoming an impoverished pensioner I am reduced to the "i".

Fortunately today, I didn't have an egg for breakfast, else it would have been hard-boiled.

Some of the clues were very intricate, but I feel that the compilers make too much use of proper names, both in clue form and in solution. At my age I cannot be expected to know the names of pop groups such as Oasis, and it is only by divination and then working retrospectively that I have been able to justify my answers.

[bibblebub]

Yes, having to know that Scratchy from Itchy And Scratchy in The Simpsons is a cat is stretching things a bit too far perhaps.