Listener 4106 A Change of Clothing by Elgin

[Ruthrobin]

A step up in difficulty here. We've floundered our way to a complete grid with crime fighters, an item of clothing and a set of villains, though I am not sure which one is the appropriate one to highlight. This one has been the most difficult for us for some time.

[Clamzy]

Deviant - see dr b just above. There is no problem with 32ac if you have rumbled the theme.

[Deviant]

Bit slow there. *Now* I realise what's going on,despite my lack of sleep. Good job I know the subject matter so well.

[Eril]

Ruthrobin - Now it is all done, a question about Listener 4102 Something's Brewing by Poat. I found Queen Mary in the bottom line, but nothing in the top line - 'stagyorchards'. What did your friend find there?

[silversolver]

Thanks reg orr and dr b - I was indeed a bit premature in thinking I had finished and have now seen the light.

[JackDeCrow]

Something I forgot to ask earlier - never really understood the wordplay to 16a. Can anyone enlighten me?

[perseverer]

Eril - (if I may answer on behalf of RuthRobin) the letters of SCOTS are jumbled among the top line.

Can I recommend having a look at
<a href="http.listenwithothers.com> Listen With Others</a>


That's Listenwithothers.com if my attempt to post a link fails!

[Clamzy]

Eril - perseverer has beaten me to it but RR is away all week and out of touch computer-wise.
Jack - I think 16ac (speaking from memory) is a very clever &Lit clue. Area = A; SA=IT=i' and I = IVR for India. Hope this helps.

[tweaker]

Members of Times Listener club. Could someone please send me a backdated puzzle 'brick wall' by quinapalus No 3417 - Publish date July 5 1997. Should be in there database. Looks interesting I really want to have a blast at it.

email: [email protected]

Thanks, if anyone could do that.

[BlackHugh]

tweaker - I can only find them on the Times Crossword Club site going back to 3627 (publ. July 21 2001) - although there is another quinapalus puzzle no 3660 titled "Mistake"

[tweaker]

Hi black Hugh.
Thanks for that info. I'm not too fussed about that one (unless it's-see below).

The one I mentioned is in the Listener book 2. I don't have it at hand, and if I remember it covers 3 pages! so, a bit of a pain to solve/do.
How about 'disorders' by PHI (4032). And another with an unconventional grid, not the usual square ones we get. The quinapalus 'brick wall' is 'well out there'! So anything that looks different from the norm will be fine, no radials please, something with a 'wow' factor, 'I've never seen that layout before'! If that's not to much to ask?

Thanks.

[BlackHugh]

tweaker - I've sent 4032

[Jogler]

What fun! Thank you Elgin. Plenty of content which we dipped into whilst doing some serious diy... I wish I was a plasterer! Whilst talking about the theme and red herrings our daughter came back from a hard day at the teaching coal face and provided the pdm - so a real family effort.

[BlackHugh]

Yes - this was the first time the boys were of assistance in solving a Listener :-)

[Cruncher]

Fine puzzle - though if there had been some way to encapsulate the villain in a bottle I'd have been even happier.

En passant I wonder if anyone noticed an uncanny resemblance between a crimefighter who turns out to be a red herring this week and the alternative name for last week's theme personage. In researching the latter on Wikipedia last week there was an interesting Victorian picture that had started me thinking about this week's villains before the crossword appeared. Could that be an intentional ploy from HQ?

[tweaker]

Black Hugh, and others.

Thank-you for helping me out on my puzzle search. You are very good people.
Excellent stuff!

(I just hope that what I've asked for isn't going to drive me insane)!

[Eril]

Thanks for the explanation - promise this is the last off topic - but I thought maybe that the bottom line letters were to be queen bess + mary (only poat could't quite do it, a la last week's 'pole star')
This week's was a real challenge!

[contendo]

Just back from Italy where I managed to answer 16 clues (including 9d) without the BRB or Bradford. Now for the hard work.

[JackDeCrow]

Of course - thanks Clamzy. I really should know that usage of "it" by now. And I even looked through the entry for SA in Chambers without twigging! Doh.

[jamesah]

Well I've got as far as Ruthrobin in the opening comment but am now stuck with 32ac obviously wrong. I know virtually nothing about the two crimefighters so I don't understand the significance of the article of clothing which gave their names nor the four omitted words. I would be most grateful for any assistance sent to [email protected].

[JackDeCrow]

jamesah - have you tried googling the generic term for the unused words combined with the article of clothing? It may spark some new ideas!