Listener No 4449: Whoppers By Nutmeg

[AHearer]

Having discarded my pun-rich first draft of my posting, which would have broken our self-imposed rules, I'll confine myself to thanking Nutmeg for an entertaining puzzle. Nice accessible clues, but quite well concealed extra letters.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, such cleverly concealed letters. We have more grid filling to do but smiled when the penny dropped. No puns from me either!

[Contrarian]

Actually, I thought the extra letters were rather obvious (barring a few exceptions). Of course, it's extremely difficult for a setter to avoid this, because in most clues there are only two or three words from which a letter could conceivably be removed.

[starwalker]

Took me a while to get into this, but all proceeded smoothly once I had a bridgehead in the SW corner. Many thanks Nutmeg.

[Scorpius]

I made a very, very slow start. Fortunately I guessed the additions from a couple of normal clues, which sped things up, but still at walking pace, not even a trot. I thought the clues were first-class. We've been getting some real gems recently. I'm a bit unsure of my answer to 6. I think it's right but the clue doesn't seem precisely right.

[Hagen]

A slow start for me too (last night's beer didn't help) but gathered momentum after a lucky early guess as to the nature of the theme. I too thought the extra letters were smoothly incorporated into the clues, though inevitably they weren't too hard to find after tracking down the verse. Very enjoyable and glad to have a "normal" puzzle after last week's brain-basher.

Does anyone know if this is the same Nutmeg who sets for the Guardian? If so I can't find any reference to Listener puzzles in the online info about her, or indeed the recent interview she gave.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, it is the same Nutmeg who sets for the Guardian and has been setting for a long time in the Listener series. Her first was in 2008. She has set some real gems. She sets lovely ones in the Magpie, too. (My favourite was one where 'The more Pooh looked, the more Piglet wasn't there')and she sets in the Inquisitor and Enigmatic Variations series.

[Hagen]

Thanks RR. I thought that was the case but it's nice to have it confirmed.

[olichant]

Lovely puzzle. Thanks, Nutmeg.

[Philoctetes]

Once the penny dropped, the gridfill became a lot easier. But I do think a significant number of the clues are a tad off.

[icynorth]

Thanks Nutmeg!

I agree with Scorpius about the recent standard of clues - this was a superb example of tough-but-fair. I was, however, left somewhat expecting something to find or highlight at the end. Maybe 15 threw me.

[borealis]

A relief, after last weeks complexity, but fun. Yes, tthe temptation to pun, allude, whatever, in this post is almost irresistable. I know how you felt, Scorpius, but 6 turned out to be my favourite clue! Most enjoyable, Nutmeg.