Listener 4130 Rattle by Augeus

[Ruthrobin]

I see that trux and Starwalker have posted already, elsewhere. As I did, they quickly found the quotation and are now working hard.

[Zabadak]

Hi Contendo - they are all there, though in the early stages, I had 4 possibles for 31ac. Wikipaedia

[Zabadak]

...was both helpful and daunting - loads of possibles, not all in Chambers.

[contendo]

Thanks Dr B, I had interpreted the final bit of the quotation as having a rather more restricted application to the theme, but I see now that the possibilities are pretty forbidding. Bradford's "Crossword Solver's Lists" (not "Bradford's Dictionary") is obviously a useful source for those who have it.

[Jogler]

Quite enjoyed this as I feel a certain sympathy with the subjects - especially on a Friday afternoon. Our extensive ODQ library does not include the right quotation so it is lucky that it is so well reported; however it is always something of a niggle when compilers use a quote that appears in selected volumes only.

[contendo]

Got to the end having covered several sheets of scrap paper. I thought the cluing was good but the "final ambiguity" was definitely unsatisfactory. Filling empty cells in alphabetical order is not on.

[Philoctetes]

I found the Chambers Crossword Dictionary (received a couple of weeks back, courtesy of the LC) had all I needed. The quote was not in my ODQ (3rd ed). And the ambiguity resolution should not have been allowed.

[tilbee]

Yes cluing generally straightforward, and at first thought I was going to finish this in record time. However final couple of clues held me up a little (33ac, 25d) due to number of unconfirmed cross-checking cells.

Thanks to Wikipedia end game took less time than I feared, though felt a little like a chore to wade through all the possibilities. To confirm solution, I guess I should check that the ones I selected are in Chambers - though this does not seem a prerequisite of the preamble ?

[teuchter2]

I think I am finished, although it was a bit of a challenge getting the initial letters to fit in. I was fortunate in having a thesaurus containing a list with all the necessary layers, but didn't have the ODQ as I was only allowed to get the new one if I got rid of the old! It was easy enough to find with a bit of googling though.

[AHearer]

Are they all in the big red book? I was happy with Wikipaedia's offering for 34a, but as far as I can see it isn't in Chambers (though a close relative is).

[perseverer]

Bradford's Crossword Dictionary contains all 12 under one heading

[perseverer]

AHearer - 34ac is certainly in Chambers 2003 though not as a headword, but in a obvious location.

[Rogue-Elfe]

Teuchter2 - I love the way you wrote your entry; nice wordplay.

If it is indeed true that all the unclued (original) entries must be in BRB, then I need to alter the unch in 7d. This has two possibilities according to Wikipedia, but one is in Chambers, the other is not. Thanks, Contendo, for otherwise I would have submitted an L in this position, which may well turn out to be wrong!

I agree with people in general - this is an oversight. Either they should have said that all unclued entries are in Chambers or made sure there was only one solution in the first place.

Out of interest, I had the same dilemma in a local competition once. The idea was to create an animals name using initials of other animals names. The answer they wanted was Leopard, but Polecat was a possibility too. I got a special prize for entering BOTH answers in the same envelope. Think this would work here?

[Zabadak]

"Chamber Dictionary is the primary reference", so presumably something which is in a secondary reference only would not count.

[AHearer]

Oh yes, perseverer, so it is. I should have seen it even where it is.

[bellabee]

Tilbee., 33 is where i have ground to a halt. I can't make any sense of this clue and, given the randomness of this endgame, i cannot progress. Any help would be very much appreciated

[Clamzy]

I think it not giving much away (though hesitant in view of speravi's hammering recently) to state that Edmund refers to Spenser and his peculiar spellings in the BRB. This is an example.

[bellabee]

Clamzy, could you please stick your chin out a little further?

[Clamzy]

OK - First two words definition as described above. Take out extra word, and then there's a rather vulgar word for the next bit which should send you on your way.

[bellabee]

Clamzy, many thanks - please redirect any blows to me