Listener 4228 : Detective Work By Ilver

[jockie]

Well, that was fun! Surely I'm not the first in the teatime club?

[Postigod]

All done apart from 36D, for which I have three of the four letters, but can't make any word in Chambers. Fairly happy that the entries for the three checking clues are correct, and can even come up with a credible wordplay that fits the existing letters in the gird, but I'm obviously missing something.

Also although I am 99% sure of the theme, I haven't quite found the unassailable logic that proves it. I have a "representation" (trying to be deliberately vague) that yields the 7, and possibly the last two letters of the 6, but not the complete theme.

[perseverer]

Postigod - are you using the BRB itself or the CD ROM - that could be your problem? The word is a common enough one, in crossword terms anyway.

As to the theme, the clues are all there.

[crosswhit99]

If you have the correct 13 letters to be '1 acrossed', this solver will give you the theme Postigod:

http://anagram-solver.net/

[s_pugh]

Eureka! Like Postigod I couldn't justify the theme. I wouldn't mind but I sped through the grid fill, picked up on the various 'messages' and then .... nothing. Sat for 2 days staring at it and was on the verge of chucking it in the bin. Congratulations Ilver, you had me fooled there for a long time!

[Ruthrobin]

I believe we are in for a numerical this week (penultimate weekend of February). I know that thrills some and really upsets others (like me!)

[JackDeCrow]

After all that unseemly haste last week I went back and looked at this yesterday and finally appreciated its subtlety! Almost a shame that the "obvious" answer was in fact correct - though in this instance I'm not complaining! Thanks Ilver.

[olichant]

A numerical - oh no. And me being all-correct so far this year (I think).

Is there anywhere I can find a few "easy" numericals to try to get in shape? In no way do I have a phobia of numbers (A level further maths 1997, has to count for something!) but I was just completely out of my depth on the last one...

[Ruthrobin]

The current numerical in the Magpie (by Oyler) is relatively straight-forward and they have rated it at B (which is easier than the 'average' Listener - if such a think exists). Magpie numericals are usually fairly difficult though. Anyway, there's my Magpie plug for this week.

[olichant]

Ruthrobin, many thanks. I'll give it a stab.

[tilbee]

Yes as someone who tended to avoid numericals in the past, I have found the Magpie an excellent organ in which to hone some skills. Not sure if I can say I am looking forwards to next week, but at least does not hold the fears it once did.

[Staurologist]

For me, the perfect Listener puzzle. Like a good detective story, the clues gradually came together, leading to the denouement and a twist in the tail. I particularly admired the way in which the three self-referential clues could be read both as ordinary cryptic clues and as information and instructions to be followed. The absence of a preamble was delightful (although slightly spoiled by the editors' insistence on mentioning the BRB, which could have been referred to instead among the material beside the grid). The final pleasure came from pulling down the original source from the shelf and re-reading it; and, amusingly, it irrelevantly involved that darned Russian alphabet again, a device that the author used more than once.

By the way, Japp [good name that :>)], there was a puzzle on this theme, featuring the quotation you are thinking of, in the Crossword Club magazine a couple of years ago.

[The “Submit” button on my computer’s version of AB is not currently showing, and I have had to send this from my wife’s computer. Any suggestions?]

[crosswhit99]

Try re-logging on Staurologist

[Scree]

Much like s_pugh, I had everything done bar the theme and then got stuck for a while. Was encouraged by posts here to step back and look again, saw an obvious answer from the unclued entry, but still wasted a lot of time trying to deduce it from the instructions given.

One of these seemed to suggest that there were two types of 45 50, and I wondered about 'directly shown' v 'indirectly suggested', but this still gave more than 13 letters and a couple of 'which category does this fit?' There was also the chance of a different approach located within that one clue, and most of the letters were there, but it didn't quite hang together.

When I finally spotted what was required, I was slightly annoyed. It only makes sense if you read the instructions out of order! Still, a minor quibble given the elegance of the whole thing. Quite an easy puzzle, but some real detective work needed to unravel some of the wordplay, leading to discovery of some words I'd never heard of. I have to say, though, that I'm not a great fan of clues which break down into a string of one- or two-letter abbreviations!