Listener Crossword 4104: Merchandise by Adam

[Zabadak]

I have a nice full grid, but not a clue what's going on. I don't want to know what the solution is, just that someone out there has seen a regular pattern (or whatever) that makes sense of the thing. Apologies if this thread has already started somewhere, but neither searching the site nor searching with google give any hits.

[pushmi-pullyu]

You'd think that in a grid of 143 letters an 11-word phrase would leap out at you. Perhaps it's in Latin.

[Jogler]

I have just come on to bookmark the thread and am now laughing my socks off..... we are at a very boozy family style group weekend and have had but a smidgeon of a look at the puzzle. Most of the grid seems to have slotted in and we were feeling terribly clever - I am guessing this is all going to change come the morning! Right now, though, it is striking me as excessively funny - will keep you posted....

[daagg]

Jogler, does "family-style group-weekend" have any hyphens in it?

[bobbycollins]

Despite my self-imposed rules, I couldn't stop myself having another look at the grid - in vain (obviously). May as well go to William Hill and have a fiver on Blackpool beating Chelski 3-0 tomorrow.

[Jogler]

It depends on how my spelling is going .... atm hyphens are not helping visually.

[Zabadak]

So I guess there are two possibilities:
1) none of us regulars has cracked this yet, after a day and a half of trying, so whatever "embedded in a regular way" means it doesn't mean any of the conventional ways of hiding a phrase.
2) *Some* regulars and/or occasional visitors have cracked it and are keeping quiet about it while smirking in a really annoying way. Just let us know it can be done, guys!

[thebuzz999]

OK, I'll speak up; it can be done.

[contendo]

Clearly the oracle at No. 63 is on holiday and doesn't want to be disturbed by too much mail.

[Zabadak]

Cheers, thebuzz!

[serpentinew]

I'm not sure if this is some peculiar form of mass hysteria, but the quotation is not hidden unconventionally - but exactly as Adam states in the preamble. The only quibble I might have is that I would n't hyphenate the merchandise

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, thank you, Serpentinew. I think we are all used to looking for something more difficult. Indeed, I am now rather puzzled about which of the things is the raw material!

[Ruthrobin]

Aha - of course, the Internet yields the merchandise but it isn't hyphenated in the original and similar items are not hyphenated in Chambers.

[starwalker]

Some of us "hares", "snails", "rabbits" or others in the menagerie have only just got home and not had a chance to look at it yet. Following this thread, it seems to offer an interesting challenge.

[kwyjibo]

Good puzzle. I don't much like jumbled entries but that made it more difficult. Some tough clues, I had to google Palamedes.
Serpentinew - It is hyphenated in ODQ5.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, it's hyphenated in the ODQ7 published 2009, as well.

[midazolam]

this was a frustrating affair, took longer to get the quotation than it did to fill the grid. annoyingly it was the first meaning of "regular" that i thought of. i then went on to rule out many possibilities except for the right one, so leading me on a wild goose chase around the grid. the hyphenated word is also in wikipedia in case ODQ is not at hand.

[IntoTheBlue]

Phew glad that's over! Like midazolam I'd hit upon the correct meaning of 'regular' early on only to discount it for more weird and wonderful derivations.Spookily I'd been on the correct page of the ODQ yesterday looking up another quotation...

IntoTheBlue

[dr b]

I threw in the towel on this one and asked for help, so score one for the setter. Once you see it, it's of course right there, but truth in advertising might lead the preamble to read "in a regular but otherwise arbitrary way."

Fully accepting that this may just be a case of sour grapes, I didn't much like the way the two parts of the puzzle were (or were not) connected. As noted earlier I enjoyed the jumbles, but what about that process led logically to the finding of the quote? There was just no thematic connection between the two steps. It's like being served a perfectly good meat dish with a perfectly good side dish, but the lack of connection between the two ruins the meal. Oh well. On to the EV!

[bobbycollins]

I too asked for help, which was gratefully received. Thank you.

[cluelessJoe]

Hope you got good odds bobbycollins, but I doubt you will need to go back and collect any winnings!
I see there was a question about you on Friday's Mastermind - they wanted to know the name of the Italian who broke your leg. Damned if I could remember, despite still having the original press cutting!
As for this mish-mash, I had to call in the cavalry too.