Sunday Telegraph Enigmatic Variations 985 Sunday September 18th 2011

[AndrewG-S]

No one posted yet or have I missed it? Found this to be an enjoyable solve. Seems like an anniversary but 1 year out?

[dr b]

Pretty straightforward puzzle; not sure what the extra letters add to the mix as I had the unclued answers long before I had all the extra letters.

It doesn't seem to be an anniversary of the speaker's birth, death, or when he said the quote.

[kayakamina]

As it is the start of the conference season it's possible the setter had that in mind when compiling the puzzle.

[slaney]

I agree about the extra letters - I was still working on them after the grid had been finished.
I make it an anniversary year albeit a few weeks early.

[kayakamina]

Hi slaney

Great result yesterday - hence your new avatar?

[DocHH]

Hello AndrewG-S,
I thought I'd give somebody else the chance to be the OP! I don't think it's an anniversary thing. I do however think that the speaker would be turning in his grave if he knew about the shenanigans that the people he may have been addressing have taken over the past years!

[slaney]

Hi K - yes a great match from the Irish point of view!
I really envy my brother who is in NZ at the moment. He said it was the noisiest match he had ever attended.

[AndrewG-S]

Thanks DocHH, good to take it in turns, you do say 20 and I'll do 1!

[devadolly]

Good Evening everyone, thought there was no-one about as didn't think to enter Sunday Tel just EV. Can we come to a conclusion about how we enter the title then it is easy to find? Please?
Like all the posts can't really see all the connections but the speaker did rattle his cage quite early on making it fall into place. Do have one query I can't seem to fit in with the letter I want....42d, 3rd letter - is it E,I or A?

[haggis58]

Slaney - Cant wait until Scotland v England!

[DocHH]

Hello Devadolly, in my humble opinion it has to be E, the clue states 2 nurses!

[dr b]

Agree with thee on the E, hee hee.

I would vote for posting these threads as "EV xxx" followed by puzzle title (so EV 985 Choice by Raich) but how can this be enforced? I usually find the thread by searching on puzzle number only (985 in this case) so however anything else is entered doesn't matter.

[AndrewG-S]

Sorry my fault will do the EV format in the future. It came out like this is you follow the option to enter the newspaper etc and then build the title

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, I have just found the thread AndrewG-S having solved most of the puzzle and guessed the quotation without resources (on a plane). However, I am now attempting to work out the extra letters and seem to have something like Yoghourt as my penultimate word! Clearly it is purely academic. Fine puzzle though it worked back to front since the hints are the last thing to be resolved.

[devadolly]

Hello All, I'm for the entry EV *** + Compiler & Title if you want (least typing possible I say!) Well that's it for the week, an unexpected happening here recently. Can one still get the Speccy on a Thursday from a download? If so, next ? is how?

[dr b]

dd, someone usually posts a link to the Speccie here on Thursday mornings, see here for last week's, for example:

http://www.theanswerb.../Question1057368.html

[devadolly]

Many thanks drb, will try to remember on Thurs.

[novalis]

Have been playing catch-up with this, the last two Speccies and EV 984. Am now up to date with the first three but still cannot see the eleven squares which need to be highlighted in the latter despite the excellent hints in the thread regarding considering 9a as one word and focusing on the second and fourth words of the song title. Dr. B. a belated "Thank you" for your help with 984. Various commitments have kept me away from the AnswerBank and crosswords in general since last week.

[kayakamina]

Hi novalis

As the closing date for EV 984 has passed I can expand on my previous post
regarding the 11 letters to be highlighted.
The second and fourth words in the song are FALL & LOVE and you should find DROP (fall) IN CHARITY (love) in the 8th row.

[novalis]

Many thanks for that Kayakamina. It was a case of not seeing the wood for the trees.

[devadolly]

Hi Novalis, where have you been? You were such a regular in the days I first joined the 'Happy Band', also a stalwart 'helpful guy' when it came to we dunces. Whatever, good to have you back!