LISTENER CROSSWORD 4022 At arms length by Hotspur

[Clamzy]

Maybe all our prominent members are resting after last week's exertions, so I'll kick off this week's thread. Haven't had more than a glance at it yet and am not too familiar with this setter.

[AHearer]

Yes, Walterloo, I followed a similar line, but then found more than one rendezvous point, so I think I'm missing a trick somewhere.

[AHearer]

Oh, I see, they really DO rendezvous.

[robinruth]

Waterloo - one Chambers definition of the adjusted word in 18a gave a meaning that is shared with the answer (in Bradford, at least).
I think we understand how they rendezvous! But we are still struggling with wordplay in that clue that is adjusted with an h!

[Speravi]

If the light at 3D is only one word, then the misprint is in the wordplay, not the definition...

[Walterloo]

Thanks, robinruth.
And yes, Ahearer, my thoughts on the two rendezvous points were that one was more appropriately placed than the other.

[Scorpius]

Good point, Speravi (and whoever made the earlier obseravation about 3dn). I missed that.

There are several thematic rendezvous, depending on how you interpret the theme and the setter's intentions. There's probably only one that unites all aspects of the puzzle. One member of the first set is pretty obscure unless you're steeped in literature.

[naomirod]

robinruth,you struggle with the h because its an American gangsta rap word.Dont ask!

[midazolam]

robinruth: hint of chevron + raised bands = tomes

having picked this up again today I have now spotted 4 members of the first group, with their counterparts and the rendezvous. Just 2 eluding me now, perhaps i should steepen my knowledge of literature, Scorpius.

[cruciverbali]

For the record, Hotspur is R.A. Percy, whose previous 4 Listener crosswords appeared between 1980 and 1986 (see http://www.listenercrossword.com/Setters/Sette rH.html for further details)

[starwalker]

Not one of my favourite puzzles, but I do admire the way that it all fits together in the end. I too have just broadened my knowledge of literature.
Not familiar with Hotspur, but I see from the Listener site that this is his first offering for over 20 years !!

[Deviant]

I'm having a bad run of Listeners - there's two types of Listener I hate: the ones that you can't enter answers to start with (and we've had two of those recently) and there's the ones that you finish the grid & then stare blankly at the grid trying to see the cruciverbal equivalent of those annoying magic eye puzzles. This is one of those.

I can see lots of candidates for the first six but can see no connection between them other than the obvious loose one and I have no idea about the second group whatsoever.

[midazolam]

that is interesting cruciverbalist - i looked up hotspur on dave hennings' site but he only goes back to 1991

deviant - examine walterloo's thread more closely

are any of the second group used more than once - or are there any that have the same name but different members?

[starwalker]

midazolam - the second group are all different (at least I think that they are)

[AHearer]

midazolam and starwalker, I agree that each of the second group is used only once.

[AHearer]

Yes, cruciverbalist, and nice to see one J.E. Green of St Albans amongst the prizewinners for Hotspur's first offering!

[midazolam]

thanks both, down to the last one. strikes me that we are getting to the stage where i have never heard of these latter members such that it is taking a lot of googling / wikipedia searching

[cruciverbali]

Now that is quite interesting, AH ! It was around that time that I first became aware of the existence of The Listener magazine, though it wasn't until that publication folded and the eponymous crossword transferred to The Times in 1991 that I started tackling the puzzle myself.

[robinruth]

Thanks naomirod.
And thanks midazolam (as usual) but it was the smell we were struggling with!

[Lewap]

Not a question relating to this particular Listener...
I was just wondering what D. J. Dare-Plumpton of Boston, Lincs does with all the Chambers Crossword Dictionaries, bottles of champagne / extra virgin olive oil and expensive biros he has won over the years. Congratulations on winning Sabre's Au Contraire, D.J.! It comes to something when the solvers become more famous than the setters!
Lewap

[midazolam]

passage - lecturer = where smell could be detected in Westminster

okay one final Q before i think i will collapse in a heap - is the creator one of the second group?