Listener 4105: Out to Work by Charybdis

[midazolam]

Wow...this was great. OK not the most difficult of clues, but what a bundle of fun! Lots of thematic material, the real words making this an extremely clever construction (despite the lack of real down words). Subtlety and lateral thinking required, all making sense to a very pleasing finish.

A couple of years ago I finished King's Rebel before I owned a copy of Chambers (therefore I presume fairly easy cluing) and it won the best puzzle of the year - this was probably due to its construction. Accordingly, this week's puzzle has to be up there in the best of the year so far. Thanks Charybdis you've made a tiring day so much better.

[Ruthrobin]

I have to agree with you. This has been sheer delight (with a few vexing intermissions) right up to the real words at the finish. It reminds me of Kea's wonderful 'Admission' where we had a similar final grid. It is certainly up among the best of the year (up with dit dit dit dah).

[Zabadak]

Not bad at all, with an impressive number of reveals in the confines of the grid. I still have a couple of clues where, so far, I'm there on definition only - maybe light will dawn eventually!
Just a teeny disappointment (much mollified by the revealed words) in that I envisaged a different action based on what I would expect the symmetrical figure to do, though how I would have coped with the resulting displacements I have no idea. It might have put this one right up there with the (in)famous cherry tree!
But a tour de force for which I echo thanks to Charybdis.

[twoshortplan]

I'm off to Saudi Arabia tomorrow so I look forward to doing this one out there as there's not much else to do. In case I finish it too quickly can anyone please recommend a Sunday paper with similar puzzles. I see other posts referring to EV - what is this?
Thanks in advance.

[contendo]

Twoshortplan - EV is Enigmatic Variations in the Sunday Telegraph magazine section.
Almost finished this one bar the highlighting at the end. I especially enjoyed the definition at 44ac. Hope the final pennies will drop soon. Then it's off to Puglia for a week.

[poorsolver]

When I entered Listener 4105 in search, this didn't come up.

Twoshortplan - if you want some puzzles to take with you, drop me a mail and I'll send you a few. [email protected]

[Zabadak]

Poorsolver (as if!). I have the same problem: AB's index doesn't seem to be working very well. If, on the other hand, you google it, this thread comes up straight away, and it's also in the list under "crosswords" - but then I guess you know that already, being here 8-)

[contendo]

Not much of a response this week. Is everybody asleep or is there another thread somewhere?
Finally got the 6-6 epithet and four related words, but one of them isn't "new" in the sense of appearing after the instruction has been followed. Anyone else have the same problem?

[Zabadak]

I see what you mean: ignore that one. There are four new ones that more or less chime with the down clue extras.

[dr b]

I have a full grid save for one square, and only 7, possibly 8 clashes that I'm confident in. I think there's one key across answer that I don't understand that may unlock the mystery. There are 4 or 5 answers where I don't get the wordplay, which might be messing me up as well. This is taking on the air of one of my home improvement projects - the first 90% of the work takes the first 90% of the time, and the last 10% of the work takes the other 90% of the time. Unfortunately (or not), not much time to devote to the rest of it today.

[Ruthrobin]

No, Contendo, mine are all new in that none of them were the original word that was between the original bars. The preamble does say 'sometimes when taken in pairs' and obviously a shortened word would count as a new one.
I don't think I'll be in trouble for stating the obvious and repeating the preamble (will I?)

[Zabadak]

...and I suspect the slow response is down to the search function being up the spout again today as much as anything.

[contendo]

A sudden burst of activity on this thread! I have it now - all 4 new words. One of the ones I had was a potential trap.
Nice to be finished early after last week's marathon.

[Zabadak]

Dr b - I had to get help from reverse engineering in the bottom half of the grid to crack some of the clues. Try the "and their reflections" bit of the preamble, if you haven't already.

[x_word_fan]

Most enjoyable and very clever though not too difficult - even so I still can't find the penultimate extra letter in the across clues. Slightly disagee with Contendo who thought nice to finish early - it means I have 6 days to wait for the next one!

[midazolam]

x_word_fan: there is always today's IQ in the independent and tomorrow's EV in the telegraph (as mentioned by contendo earlier), both thematic crosswords. Alternatively, "The Magpie" has a varied offering this month. So there are plenty of similar crosswords by familiar setters if you are at a cruciverbal loose end (that applies to twoshortplan as well)

[x_word_fan]

Thank you Midazolam - I do sometimes get the EV forwarded to me by Andrew G-S but I am worried (or my wife is) that a weekend pleasure becomes a weektime obsession!

[Ruthrobin]

Nobody has mentioned tomorrow's AZED (of course, it is a more straightforward cryptic, without the themes of all the others that have been named) Tomorrow's AZED is sure to be something special and worth doing as it is no. 2000 and one of his competition puzzles. They are usually on the first Sunday of the month in the Observer - obtainable on the Guardian Crossword site, and there is a clue to write when you have completed the puzzle. As it is no. 2000, this one is exceptionally on the last Sunday of the month.

[teuchter2]

I'm not reading thread yet as I've only done about half grid so far, but am wasting time trying to enter my avatar which has finally made it onto the laptop. What do I need to do after activating avatar as I don't seem able to drag it in?

[tweaker]

teuchter2. Access avatar this link: http://en.gravatar.com/site/signup/ link your email to the picture. You then need to pick what rating it is i.e U, PG, 18 etc... pick U or suitable so it's not offensive wait a few minutes, come back to AB site edit your profile and make sure it's ticked (ON) or active, and it should work.

[daagg]

I think I had the same expectation as Zabadak regarding the final activity, but I think the actual one is more correct. The post-fill business produced a quick succession of surprises, and was great fun. Definitely one of the best this year.

I need to start reading the preambles more carefully, because I didn't appreciate the usefulness of "and their reflections" until I was virtually finished. Too keen to start I think.