Listener 4379 The One Left Over By Kruger

[Ruthrobin]

What a nicely clued and thematically amusing start to the year. We laughed at the phrase. Many thanks to Kruger. A Happy New Year to all our fellow AB threaders.

[starwalker]

A nice gentle start to the New Year, I suspect chosen by the editors to get the Radix jug contenders off to a flying start. Some lovely clues and a smile as well as the penny dropped, albeit rather early. Many thanks Kruger.

[kayakamina]

I agree - well done Kruger.

Some clever clues and a PDM which came rather late than it should
have.
After some disappointment recently with the quality of the setting for
the advanced cryptics I was reassured.

[Zabadak]

With no less than 7 crosswords today on the Club today, it's just as well that this one came in the gentler category. The phrase was a great help in accelerating through the bottom half. Many thanks to Kruger, and of course a happy new year to all. Who knows, maybe I'll start doing these regularly again!

[starwalker]

Zabadak - you are more than welcome.

[Pasquin]

It took me far longer than it should to notice the phrase, not helped by having to solve the clues from the bottom line up, but after that it all fell into place. Thanks, Kruger.

[AHearer]

Yes, that was fun. I had to stare quite hard at a couple of the downs before I was sure of the extra letters. Thanks, Kruger, for a nice start to the year -- and I wish all you solvers a happy New Year.

[Vagans]

Yes, a very pleasant opener to the year, and not too taxing for a Bank Holiday afternoon. Many thanks to the Listenership for good company and encouragement through 2015 and every blessing for the year to come.

[IainGrace]

Indeed a gentle start to the year. Essentially cracked it, with just a few clues to solve, and should join the Friday Night Club (for the first time) if competing New Year's Day drinks, ceilidhs etc permit. A contrast to last week's puzzle - we have never yet worked out how to crack a Playfair, even when directed to online tools. Happy New Year to all.

[Ruthrobin]

Great to have you back, Zabadak. I think the highlight of this thread has been your occasional awarding of that Z cup!

[jim360]

I was worried this was going to be a pain when I'd got to the end of a fairly quick fill and had a handful of letters left to match to clues, but the parsing was manageable in the end. A nice gentle introduction to 2016, thanks Kruger.

[s_pugh]

A very easy one to start the year, and having got the phrase after solving barely half a dozen across clues it really just came down to elimination. Thanks Kruger, at least I can return to the flood defences somewhat earlier than expected.

[upsetter]

Agree with others, but feel that it ended more with a whimper than a bang.

[upsetter]

On reading the Glamorous Granny in LWO, we are reminded of the OWCHES debate from 3 weeks ago.
Surely, the fault is in the BRB, given that only the second meaning of OUCH is a noun.
http://tinyurl.com/z5q33rj does not even acknowledge OWCHE as OUCH the interjection, whilst giving impressive references to the meaning that ECK intended.

[Ruthrobin]

Ed has promised us a blog which should appear shortly, in which he explains that question.

[aldanna]

After falling at the last hurdle last week (I said we had "only" the unclued entries to complete, which we failed to do, despite Himself having a wonderful, if completely erroneous pdm at 4 am) this was a pleasant change. Not difficult, but nicely clued and I always like those where you remove all of a particular letter.

[Cruncher]

A gentle start to 2016. Best wishes to all fellow loonies

[Scorpius]

Re the OWCHES issue, the Listener website explains why the current Chambers definition is wrong; what it doesn't explain is why the preamble did not include an alert that the definition of 1dn can only be found in earlier editions. Had it done so it might have prevented some head-scratching.

[icynorth]

Nothing to add, really. Pleasant puzzle - moderately challenging. Thanks, Kruger!

[S_Alan]

Hi, I haven't started on this one yet but I note that it is number 4379 and that my previous puzzle is 4377. I was wondering what happened to 4378 when I realised that I didn't go out to get the newspaper on Boxing Day!
I should be grateful if someone could e-mail 4378 to alan dot livesey at btinternet dot com.
Thanks

[icynorth]

I've sent that to you, Alan.