Enigmatic Variations

[Aquagility]

CONGRATULATIONS to CROFTER. on his win in this prestigidious puzzle.
Best wishes for continued success ean enjoyment in 2010. Aq.

[novalis]

Agree about the pens DocHH.

I've three nice ones left, the rest have been given away. The plastic ones are nowhere near as good.

[Christiana]

Yes, I agree. I only have two, one of the 'old' sort and the other inferior in both quality and packaging. Have completed this week's offering but still puzzling over 29a, have the crowds and the birds, but can't see the crushed leg.

[DocHH]

Christiana,
According to my Chambers, ON is a cricketing term for leg, MAG is an abbreviation for magpie, pluralise, deduct the extra letter, surrround/crush the cricketing term and voila or is it voici (Novalis will confirm which of them is correct) 29ac! I hope!
Hope the relocation is still on target! If the snowy and frosty weather persists too much longer here on the South Coast, apart from doing a good representation of Nanouk of the North I'll be looking to move a long way further South!

[Christiana]

Thanks Doc H H. I had MOA for the bird leaving me with NG. No wonder I couldn't work out the cryptic elements.

Hopefully the relocation is proceeding - Christmas and New year have struck, so nothing is happening in the world of lawyers and conveyancers. We are waiting for some very basic information before proceeding to exchange contracts. Fortunately there is no urgency. The weather here, whilst not of the snow and ice variety, is appalling, constant deluging rain, storms, brown water coming from the taps, and a veritable river rushing down what is supposed to be our road. Did I say, two of my sons jointly own an apartment here, so I will still be able to retreat when the weather becomes too unbearable, though at the moment neither the Algarve or Lincolnshire are holding much weather appeal.

[novalis]

Hi DocHH!

Given the context voila ( there you are, there you have it ) is more applicable than voici ( here you are, here you have it ).,

[devadolly]

No wonder I couldn't find it!! Scanned back to Sun looking for EV 896 + or - the title and nothing came up when I put in the title........................
Many congrats to Crofter, what are the pens like now? I won my first somewhere in the 200's and the other about 6 months later, they wre lovely pens then, very writey as No 1 niece used to say when very young.
Still haven't done more than read the preamble (and just what does that lengthy and rather tedious piece of verse have to do with either the current season or the EV?) + look at most of the across clues.
Which site are we going to play on?? Might I suggest that we decide on a set format for the title of the N & C EV thread so idiots like me don't wander off piste?

[Christiana]

Hello Devadolly. I fear there will always be a danger, especially with such an idiosyncratic group of people, that someone will wander off (it wasn't you who went off piste - I'm glad to say). I don't think this was really meant to be 'our' thread, we just hi-jacked it along with all the congratulations. Hopefully next week we will revert to 'normal' whatever that is, which usually seems to work well enough, though agreeing on a set title might certainly help.

As for the poem, I found the first across clues fairly obliging and the quote then became easy to spot. The further down the puzzle you get the more difficult it becomes to decide on spacing - but then, hopefully, a sort of pattern will emerge. The unclued seasonal greetings are predictable enough

[Jogler]

I'm with Devadolly on the Naming of the Thread (sounds like a suitably Spenserian ideal!). The hunter gatherer demands that I find the current ev for him and I (the poor benighted IT consultant) scurry to do his bidding. It took me a couple of days this week, and like Dd I normally put in all the combinations of ev/number/name and give up when they don't show the one I am looking for. One of the problems seems to be that the search engine on Answerbank seems to be particularly pedantic and/or tempermental (I know, bad workman/tools etc). Should we ever start a thread I am going to go with EV nnn as the title and use the phrase n&c in the first line. I think it is worth using the number in as that is how we found you in the first place :)!

[devadolly]

Hello Christina & Jogler, well at the risk of sounding too organised, how about we go with EV *** plus title each week and then (perhaps, maybe, possibly??????) the AB search engine will tell us if someone has got there before us if we are late! One can but hope.
As to No 896, still haven't managed to read all the clues, but the initial acrosses are making me think of a certain JO and angry young men rather than lengthy Victoriana. Back to the grindstone.................

[novalis]

Hi Devadolly!

You are a little wide of the mark with JO and angry men. The author's initials are the last two extraneously clued letters. To give you a clue to his name let's just say I'm not an expert gardener but I'v(e)anhoe.

[ringer]

Hello all
Sorry to arrive so late this week. Have been enjoying an extended holiday - after one day back at the chalk face we've had two snow days (the first I can remember in 20 years) and so I've been report writing. Now settling to EV but only a few answers pencilled in, although I have got the quote, thanks to google.
Belated congrats to Crofter for EV win and to dd for 2nd place in the quiz.
I'm happy with EV xxx (any more and the search engine seems to throw a wobbler)

[devadolly]

Novalis, I have the author as I know the work and have got the last two letters, it was the beginning bit that sent me musing about AYM and haven't summoned up enough energy to start ploughing thro' the said poem by the perp of the Russian gardener. It really is hard work!

[MatydaLover]

Enigmatic Variations has been my favourite puzzle ever since EV 1. I've tried many others
but none hold the same attraction for me. Finding like-minded solvers on Answerbank a
couple of years back was a delight. Take a little help, give a little advice, it all works
very well.

However I have little knowledge of wine, I am not a teacher, nor an examination marker and
I don't farm. I have no idea what N&C means. And I most certainly do not want to get
embroiled in a willy-measuring contest on who has the longest line of pens.

I guess that anyone seeking to share the pleasures of solving EV will use the most obvious
format EV nnn (in Google as well as in Answerbank). May I request that you do NOT use EV
nnn as the format for your group as that might lead many people to think they had found a Q
and A thread for EV when instead they find themselves trespassing in a particular clique.

[Jogler]

My apologies, MatydaLover, if I have rubbed you up the wrong way - albeit unwittingly. Like you, we (Jogler) are none of the things that you mentioned - however we are extremely enthusiastic about the puzzle and were very grateful to discover a group of people who were prepared to discuss the clues and give cryptic help without giving the game away. If the conversation strays into other areas - well that's life and rather fun, we thought. We look for the EV thread every week as a matter of interest to see what clues people are finding easy or hard and put in a qustion if really stuck against the wall. Last week several of us spent some time hunting for this particular thread (our faults entirely!) and as the slightly busier partner of Jogler I was very irritated with myself - hence the idea of a more established heading. Anyone new to EV who wants some help with a puzzle will find the thread when googling the most obvious combination and will, no doubt, receive the same help that we did. If, of course, I have misunderstood the dynamics and barged into the TaLCfdWWPaooEV (Teachers and Landowners Club for discussing Wine, Weather, Pens and only occasionally EV) I apologise for intruding. I, however, will continue to search under EV*** and post questions under that banner and will be delighted to hear how the weather is in your part of the country.

[ladyalex]

Well done , crofter.
I cannot even begin EV so am hugely impressed.

[devadolly]

Dear Matydalover, sorry to have offended we are exactly what you say, a diverse group of people who all love (or at times hate ) the EV. As you have noticed we come from many professions and have many interests. Some have been EVing since NO 1 (all about Composers if I remember correctly) but like a snowball it has collected fans en route. N & C is 'nattering and chattering' and, like Topsy, it 'just growed' as we all seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps if we N & C'ers use the thread title of EV*** and those who do not wish to N & C as well as solve could use the thread title of Enigmatic Variations and we can all pay our money and take our choice - so to speak.

Regards

[dr b]

Found it! Finally. This weeks EV thread - where Devadolly was off-piste, and Matydalover was piste-off!! BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitress...

[devadolly]

drb - welcome back, what are you taking???

[dr b]

dd: Well, I just got done shoveling 5" of snow off my & my neighbor's driveways (something St Louis and much of England now have in common, I hear - tho you all may have a bit more than 5"). So I am loopy with exertion.

[ringer]

HI all
Matydalover , I'm sorry that you do not appreciate the chatting that goes on. I "joined" this group a few months ago - I found it very refreshing to see a diverse group of people with a common interest in EV. Not only do I feel encouraged to plod on when the going gets tough, but also I am reassured that no one will intentionally give out the answers, but instead give hints; witty, subtle, etc - but still hints, often disguised within the "chat".
Whatever we use as the heading for a thread, long may it continue.