Listener 3981

[cruciverbali]

If you'd rather not pay for Lip Service by Sabre, here it is.

[cluelessJoe]

Philoctetes .. only thoughts on lip service have been per growf's post, or alternatively service=army, so maybe some link there to General .. wherefrom next leap is to the 'Dada' code possibility & some kind of link to General Idi Amin Dada - maybe some link to all of his self-bestowed titles?but that's where I ran aground, don't think it's going places..

[growf]

A quick search through Little Dorrit (courtesy of The Gutenberg Project) reveals no words matching -T-T.

[midazolam]

i see many others are stumped by this code as well. It would seem that given the repetition of the letters, this would be quick to solve! anan

[rabet]

I have been doing the Listener crossword (on and off) for over thirty years. It seems to me that recently there has been an increase in the number of puzzles that require some form of manipulation or 'non-cruciverbal' tinkering to complete, even though all the clues have been successfully solved.

Does anyone else find this annoying? In the crossword under discussion here the problem does appear to admit of a solution involving verbal/character treatment; those I dislike are the ones that involve a sort of 'spatial' awareness, where you are expected to notice that certain letters in the diagram approximate to the shape of a constellation or a mulberry leaf or whatever.

I sometimes think that these are intended to display the setters' satisfaction at their own ingenuity, rather than to add to the interest of the puzzle or to the enjoyment of the solver.

In the present case, surely the title must be a clue to the theme?

[midazolam]

the title might simply be coded as well - i thought of "not verbose" as the deciphered title which gave "unevenly" but sadly "uvuv" is not a word. there must be more to it, there are many different cipher texts in wikipedia.

In relation to your point I can't comment that far back in time but in general the theme is worked out (however abstract) if there is some nudge in the right direction (extra clue letters). Here there is no such aid.

I am still surprised there is no smart alec out there bragging that they have cracked the enigma!

[Rapparee]

Congratulations to Growf for a thoroughly brilliant piece of spotting.

LITTLE DORRITT is indeed the translation of the diagonal. But there is a nasty twist. Whereas everyone thought that the diagonal was encoded it is in fact in 'plain' and it is the letters of LITTLE DORRITT that are encoded. Armed with this knowledge it does not take very long to resolve the other encoding required. ODQ confirms.

[midazolam]

and congratulations to you rapparee for your perseverance!

[Rapparee]

I apologise for my two misspellings of Dorrit.

Thanks again to Growf without whose contribution I would still be totally nonplussed.

[eddery]

away from code issues, I 'solved' all the clues but my 4 down answer is the only thing I can find to fit rather than a solution .. can anyone enlighten me as to how the wordplay works on that one?

[midazolam]

Eddery - Its elementary!

[eddery]

thanks midazolam - my brain went awol for a while ... was distracted by charlotte i guess. cheers

[growf]

Actually, it was Mysterons who posted the LITTLE DORRIT note first. I haven't done the rest of the decrypting yet - but it's good to know that I'll be able to complete it now.

[growf]

Many thanks, Rapparee. Sabre yet again requires a group effort...

[Cruncher]

Grateful for the hints on this one. That was a nasty trick with the codes. Still struggling to make sense of the wordplay on 26 down. ?

[growf]

Cruncher: "terms" may be considered to be synonymous with "terminals".

[Mysterons]

Please publish profuse personal praise pro present puzzle's prodigious perpetrator.

Rnteaildt

[Cruncher]

Thank you growf

[bobbycollins]

Wow

This had to be a joint effort with my friend. We had Little Dorrit but were bemused by the next step - until Mysterons' alliterative posting, for which thanks. All that remains unresolved is "Charlotte". I thought maybe a character from Animal Farm or some such? Any hints going?

I agree with the earlier posting about some of the post grid filling requirements - many do seem to be designed to showcase the cleverness of the setter. I am often in grudging awe of some puzzles which I have been unable to complete.

[spiderFreak]

I assume it's the place across the Pond

[etoucan]

Has anyone looked at the definition of 'prunes and prisms' in Chambers?