Listener 4102 Something's Brewing by Poat

[dr b]

Do I get to call firsties this week? I thought this was a nice puzzle. It was a lot easier to get the keyword than I thought it might be, and once you have that everything falls into place pretty quickly. I felt that a bit more could have been said about the removed letters in the down clues.

[Philoctetes]

Neat and pleasantly taxing. But neither my mouse or keyboard bears the relevant code. Should I complain to Dell and Microsoft? And I find the wordplay for 5a impossible, but, as there is only one word that fits, I am content to live with it.

[Deviant]

An enjoyable puzzle - the cluing seemed to play to my strengths (whatever those are). Managed to get it finished pretty quickly as I only started it last night.

I'm still a bit puzzled about the keyword as the only one I can think of that fits in and is relevant has a repeated letter. Maybe posting this will trigger the PDM?

[Deviant]

Funny how often that happens - got it now :)

[perseverer]

Philoctetes - Are you outwith Europe?

[serpentinew]

Philocetes - Think of head councillors and subtract a three letter word for blossom

[Ruthrobin]

Ah, thanks Serpentinew - I hadn't understood that either - and, of course, Bradford comes to the rescue for the blossom. (Of course, the resulting word was, as Philoctetes said, the only possible word - but it is easy enough to fall into a trap that way, isn't it?)

[Philoctetes]

Now I understand - and, to my great relief, I have found the relevant letters, in letters 1mm high on my keyboard, and embossed (and not on a sticker with all the other guff) on the mouse. I can now go and play in teh bath with impunity :)

[cookie]

Vis a vis the interesting results from a google search of the keyword, it gets worse if, as in my case, the first guess for the first letter, from those available, is 'D'. Thankfully the 'story' resolved things.

[Ruthrobin]

An intriguing follow up - a friend has just pointed out to me what is 'scrambled' on the bottom line of the solution - and the rest of 'it' on the top line - undoubtedly deliberate, I should think. Aren't these setters subtle fiends!

[Cruncher]

Thanks to all for advice on European Safety Standards. What a very convoluted way to clue a very simple word!

[teuchter2]

I found this one really difficult, but finished it by Monday morning. My internet has been on the blink so I wasn't able to check my hunch at the keyword till son came in and took out a plug and put it in again today! Well I had shoogled it. Anyway I am now able to confirm that my guess was correct and finally contribute to the thread. I thought 22a was particularly sneaky and it took ages for the penny to drop even when there was only one possible answer.

[dr b]

Well, well, well.... with the new and improved AB I now have the power to click "Mark as Best Answer" next to one of these replies. This will require some thought. Does the best answer get any sort of cash prize? If so, please describe how you would split it with me.

[AndrewG-S]

dr b, 14u24me?

[dr b]

I was thinking more along the lines of the Beatles' taxman.

[BlackHugh]

Finished this lunchtime - best one for a long time!
Was also stuck for some time with 35a (an excellent clue) - what also held me up was the last letter of 26d - not given in the BRB I think. My obvious incorrect entry caused subsequent problems with 38a.
I was also generally familar with the theme but it is always interesting to re-read these matters

[cluelessJoe]

dr b, that was under a slightly left-of-centre Harold Wilson Government - income tax at a mere 98% - can't believe that the Beatles and many others really opted to stay in this country under such circumstances! I think that 'Taxman' may have understated matters in that the lyrics suggest a rate of only 95%.

[Mysterons]

jamesah - think u-turns for 39 across

midazolam - I'm struggling to find 'a few' &lits - 20d is a semi &lit but did you spot others ?