Listener 4042: How to Put On a Little Weight by Charybdis

[midazolam]

A while since Charybdis' last Listener (The difficult "Wot no Lines?" in 2007)

The grid fill here is much easier, and the quotation was got only after 12 entries. We are left with an ambiguity that raises the question: how many happier discoveries are we meant to highlight? The last cell of the first discovery (5 letters) has 2 intersecting happier discoveries.
Also, the second happier discovery I would say is not strictly a happier discovery.

I was hoping that something was going to be done with the "large" central cell, sadly no.

[Sarrie]

Couldn't agree with you more emcee.
Surely it is stretching it to call these four items 'happier
discoveries' ; two might qualify the other two definitely not.

[rabet]

I thought the clueing was entertaining and the way the quotation fitted into the 'extra' words was brilliant. But the highlighting was a definite disappointment; I don't see how any of these words can sensibly be described as 'happier discoveries'. Possibly I am missing something!

[robinruth]

I think we are all being a little bit picky! In the context of the quotation, these (all the ones we have suggested as possibly highlighted) provide a little more pleasure than the first five-letter one. I don't think Charybdis ever intended us to evaluate in realistic terms the relative value of the discoveries.

[rabet]

Yes, robinruth, after further pondering I think that the 'discovery' here is the solver's own discovery of the words in question, since the actual entities can hardly be described as having been discovered, more as having 'evolved'.

[cruciverbali]

A masterly puzzle by Charybdis - I particularly liked the design of the grid, in the shape of the eponymous cake. For those who hanker for more from the master, I can thoroughly recommend Playtime, another multi-layered puzzle, rich with thematic material. Please e-mail me if you would like a copy ([email protected])

[Philoctetes]

Just to show my breadth of culture, when I saw the shape of the grid, I thought the puzzle was going to be based on The Simpsons. Close, but no donut. D'oh!

[cluelessJoe]

.., but would't that one have been set by Homer?

[Mysterons]

From pigeon to dove - see 42 across in Columba's Unsafe

[cruciverbali]

.......... so we can have our coke and drink it ?

[segue]

many thanks, belatedly, for all the personalised advice - i have discarded my cherries and hit the bottle - a much better ingredient in my book. totally agree emcee, this is ideal for (absolute or relative) beginners or those who fear the Listener name. first one i've done before the next comes out!

end of term tomorrow - happy holidays all and may the cricket last long enough to delay the ironing, even if the crosswords don't...

[segue]

or Qu�ils mangent de la brioche? - which they could with zero addition to the top right of the grid

[darrensma]

Unlike all you guys and gals, I have rarely completed the Listener. This time I find myself needing one letter. So can someone please tell me what the answer to 50a is and put me out of my misery.

[Clamzy]

If you take a small word meaning ocean and transfer the first letter to the end, you have channels.

[tbayliss]

Didn't have time last weekend but have had an enjoyable weekend solving this.
I, like a few others, struggled with the highlighting but having got there I would disagree about it being ambiguous, just the biggest challenge of the puzzle. Once you get it, there are only four words that fit - and they fit both the quotation and the title very neatly.

[darrensma]

Thank you Clamzy. Us novices need all the help we can get.I thought that I had checked all the e-s words but there you go. And it was an easy one! I had a mixture of university degrees visiting over the week-end (including two PhDs) and even they couldn't help. Now I can look at last Saturday's Listener and see how I go.