Ev Sunday Telegraph Enigmatic Variations 1089 -Choreography By Kea

[jim360]

Kea is one of my favourite setters and this one is a delight. Took me a while to see what was going on, but once it all clicked it was well worth the wait. Thanks Kea!!

[Twit-Who]

I'm afraid I'm still at "the much staring at the grid" stage. I keep seeing a glimmer of what to do and then it slips infuriatingly away. I think I'll come back to it later as that often helps. I'm sure it will be good when the penny drops.

[glasman]

Were they U.S. soldiers or mercenaries from Blackwater ( or whatever it is called today)?

[glasman]

Oops. Wrong place.

[Twit-Who]

Ah, just figured out one answer over lunch and so just have to do the others now I know what to do.

[dr b]

For a while things were making as much sense, as, oh, glasman's first comment up there, but all is clear now. very clever construction.

[jockie]

Got the grid-fill and worked out the - very clever - choreography. But (as usual) stuck on the "symmetrically placed given name and its partner". Does each of them lie in a straight line, I wonder, or is some snaking about involved?

[vetuste_ennemi]

You're thinking straight, Jockie.

[jockie]

Very Delphic, v_e. Am I thinking straight in trying to find a straight line, or am I thinking straight in supposing it might snake about?

[DocHH]

Hello everyone,
I spent ages trying to resolve 19d. It does not appear in my antiquated BRB, 2003 version. However the elevated pitiful does appear in Bradfords! As for 17d, the answer was definitely not a word I had heard of, but given in the BRB! All in all there were at least 12 words that were new to me, thank goodness for cryptic indications. Relaxing with a glass of Merlot.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Sorry, Jockie, was I being oblique? They are straight lines.

[devadolly]

I'm staring, I'm staring! Nothing is making much sense at the moment, clues keep getting solved but I'm definately not main-stream at the moment (where is the lady from the train I ask?).
On a different note, many thanks to who-ever contacted Vickie at the FG, she is very grateful and we have great hopes for a more brain stretching coffee break between the slurry carting or the mowing etc.

[Ruthrobin]

Devadolly, please email [email protected]

[TheBear69]

I see a dancer on the far right but the choreography is different - seems like a deliberate red herring - none of his partners are in the symmetric position