Listener No 4214 A Noted Performance by Nutmeg

[Ruthrobin]

This must be our fastest solve ever but what a pleasure to have a straight-forward crossword by an accomplished setter (who is the B crossword in this month's Magpie too - Magpie plug). The theme is so beautifully related to the method of entry and, for once, we won't be biting our nails on Sunday. Thank you for a delightful compilation Nutmeg.

[contendo]

Tramart - Not if you allow for an apostrophe.

[tilbee]

Am I missing out on another source of thematic puzzles - I see references to Sine Non Qua ? I don't really need another subscription but having my submission for this month's Magpie ready to go, may have some spare solving time this month.

[Texasetes]

No, tilbee, you're not missing anything. As sunny-dave mentioned, Sine Qua Non was Listener 4079, from March 27, 2010. So unless you were taking a break from Listeners (which I doubt) you've probably done it already.

I've just started looking at it for the first time, and as yet I don't have the foggiest what's going on.

[tilbee]

Thanks Texasetes, should have read the full thread properly. In a way I am rather relieved !

Dr B,

.....Jamaica ?
No she went of her own accord. (Courtesy the Colditz Story 1955)

[Philoctetes]

Caracas?
She must have been to go there.

[Philoctetes]

...and that is the perfect argument why Listeners should be more taxing. Left to our own devices we start exchanging bad jokes from our childhood

[jim360]

And Sherlock Holmes was sitting on the fireplace. What a grate detective!

[the_heisman]

Just arrived home from abroad and found a letter from KevGar, composer of 4210 "Links". I had a made a marginal comment in my submission about the purpose of the highlighting of the thematic Christian name and the letter thanked me for my comments. As it was addressed to "Dear Solver" I suspect I wasn't the only one but still a nice surprise.

[Voulez-vous]

Newbie question.

Should I highlight the name that appears?

This is only the third Listener I have ever completed (I'm chuffed about that!) and am still a little unsure of what is expected.

[jim360]

Voulez-vous - general rule is never do anything more or less than what the preamble says. I think highlighting extra things probably oughtn't harm you, but even so I'd leave the name unhighlighted in this case.

heisman - What'd he say about the first name then? I'm sure lots of us would like to know why it appeared in that form.

[Voulez-vous]

Thanks for that jim360. I'll leave it be.

[easterfool]

Wasn't this fun! Easy yes - did it in the bath (or is that a piece of information too far) - and no I haven't been there since Friday night. Great for me as I live less than 10 miles from where the person concerned lived at one time and was supposed to have built a folly in the grounds using the additional participants to consolidate the ground in the noted way - but I wasn't there to see so I can't guarantee that! Look for ward to catching up with other things for a few days. Greetings to all.

[timdownie]

I do wish folk would stop going on about how easy it is! Some of us are new to Listener crosswords. ;-). Generally I find them as clear as mud and don't even attempt them but as this one looked easier, my wife and I gave it a go.

Making *reasonable* progress and pretty sure we've identified the tune/theme but darned if we can work out how it applies in any sort of consistent fashion to the down clues. Some up, some down and some anagrams but working out which ones go which way and why is eluding us.

Anyone care to give us a little nudge in the right direction?

[Anapice]

Post your email address and you will be snowed under with offers of help:-)

[u10]

If anyone's short of puzzles to solve there's a book of old Listeners for sale on ebay.

[moffat]

For some weird reason I have been stuck for a week on just one clue - 22 down.
Maddening. I have all the checked letters but Dammit the word eludes me. I need a nudge.

[BlackHugh]

moffat -I won't post a nudge here but my e-mail is [email protected]

[Rhone]

I have been largely out of Listenerland since my wife and I had our first baby. Usually takes me a few hours and with fatherly duties not so easy to find the time now. Fortunately here the theme is popular with our daughter, making it easy to spot, so I thought I could sneak a solve on this one. Yes quite easy, but a lovely piece of work. My only query is on 30dn - wordplay doesn't seem at all obvious to me (assuming I've got the answer right); should it?

[Texasetes]

Rhone - the wordplay of that clue's not obvious; it uses an uncommon abbreviation.

[Rhone]

Thanks Texasetes, got it. On reflection I vaguely remember seeing a similar abbreviation in a Listener before.