Listener 4231 - Vera By Elfman

[starwalker]

After last week's toughie, I was hoping for an easy ride this week - especially as we are off on holiday very soon. So, my heart sank when I saw this mixture of truths, half truths and lies. Probably more by luck than skill, I now have the proverb and one of the three grids. Still plenty to do, but thanks for the fun Elfman. I wish that your timing had been better.

[Ruthrobin]

Just completed it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. DrB, I think you should forget your comment. We know how carefully the editors check every comma etc. My top tip is always the same. Read the preamble!

[TheBear69]

Ruthrobin and the editors are all 100% correct.

[kayakamina]

Why was dr b's answer removed?

[dr b]

"never mind"

[TheBear69]

Presumably Dr B's answer was removed by DrB.

I think this week's is particularly liable to seemingly innocent comments unintentionally giving away too much...

[trux]

In London, and out last night, so only had chance to look at this properly early this morning. Really good fun, and all falls into place much more quickly once proverb penny drops....Many, many thanks to Elfman for impressive and (more importantly) highly entertaining puzzle.

[perseverer]

Found this tricky initially, but once I got a few entries in, the checking letters seemed really helpful in finding other answers.

[woofgang]

DrB can't remove his answer unless he's a mod or the ed.

[dr b]

An answer can be reported (with a request to remove it) because "The User has committed an act of Consistent, Grand or Pure Stupidity," and I did all three. Enough said, already.

Found the grid fill to be fairly straightforward but I have many questions about wordplay and where the "lie" lies, which I will go back and figure out someday.

[olichant]

A fast solve for me, but only because I made a Very Lucky Guess early on. I thought it was an enjoyable puzzle.

[upsetter]

We're still saying that there are too many 6 letter clues and that one clue shouldn't be two words. Ready to retract!

[tilbee]

Upsetter I fear you may be repeating the calumny (I did not see Dr B's comment but can guess). Think about the preamble and then get ready to retract.

[AndrewG-S]

All done but certainly found this tricky. Also did in strange order with the alternates falling into place first, then the lies and then the truths. Some tricky clues and I never really got me head around the lies but solved most by working backwards. Many thanks elfman.

[contendo]

Having failed on last week's I nearly gave up again in the early stages of this one until I managed to fill the "true" grid and after that everything gradually fell into place. I thought this was an excellent puzzle which developed nicely as it went on. There are still one or two lies that I haven't quite figured out but fortunately it doesn't seem to matter.

[emcee]

Can't seem to get much enthusiasm up for this one. Only half the clues done, nothing in the grids, it's going to be a long slog.

[fallster]

After a hard start, it gets easier quickly. I have a full grid but am worried that I'm missing something important.

[aldanna]

Very much a joint effort here; I did lots of cold solving, Himself applied logic to construct part of the grid, we filled in the rest together. A very pleasing crossword, hard enough for me, with a couple of sneaky touches.

[trux]

@emcee: think about the proverb - from part of one word I'd fitted into part of one grid, and sensible guesswork, google got me home (and then Elfman's fun began)

[midazolam]

emcee, it is not a cold solving marathon that it might seem at the beginning. Take the 4 letter answers. Because the clues are in standard order of all three grids together, the 4 letter answers early on can be slotted in knowing that the 1st and 4th occurrence are in the same grid (2nd and 5th/3rd and 6th). The 7 letter entries need a little more thought as some are unclued. With half the clues solved you should be be able to enter them not by trial and error but by clue order logic.