Enigma Variations No. 745

[crofter]

This is the crossword that came out ten days ago!

I'm nearly there, but could do with help with the following
clue:

25D Knock Scottish Labour Party about growth overseas (in Japan, for example) (7)

Should be of the form ?A ALPA with a letter T stuck in somewhere!

[shaneystar2]

Oooh Crofter ....are you still tearing your hair out !!
I have given up ....my BP won't stand the stress !
I have come out on enigmatic strike .

[kayakamina]

Catalpa.....A Japanese tree

[crofter]

I have accepted the challenge to crack this before Saturday - and I'll do it! 25D is a bit of a headache o/w I'm doing OK thanks s*2

[crofter]

Thanks K - That just may be the last piece needed to complete the jigsaw! (... erm crossword!)

[shaneystar2]

I have every confidence in you ..I am still staring despondently at this weeks ....I have solved one clue so far !
Anyone who solves this crossword deserves a medal .

[kayakamina]

I can help with the quotation if you want Shaney.

[shaneystar2]

K ....thank you .....this could be the breakthrough that I need !!

[kayakamina]

Hi again shaney...

From the top right hand corner reading Anti clockwise

' The Art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook'

Hopefully this will help as it will give you the starting and finishing letters of a lot .of clues

I'm a bit unsure about my 1d ' in pup' but i'm thinking about it.

Good luck and kind regards. K

[ulysses100]

Sometimes five days is not enough time to solve this crossword ! A few months ago they gave you a couple of weeks within which to send it in, but, for some reason the ST curtailed the number of days.-- plus it seemed easier to complete before !
However novalis has given a lot of help on this one this week.
In a similar vein, but one that I manage to finish most weeks, try the Inquisitor in the Saturday Independent magazine -- it had an apt theme this week !

[ulysses100]

.........k ... it's "in pig"

[kayakamina]

Of course ! Thanks Ulysses and apologies to crofter if he is getting a lot of emails!

Cheers K

[Quizmonkey]

Again, I'm on the verge of abandoning the EV: grid is filled, perimetric quote fine - but the second quote is remaining elusively nonsensical. Is it by the same speaker? Is the first word as obvious as it looks?

The Inquisitor was superb - but again I'm stuck on the final 'overcooking' stage. I'm guessing that the letters 'inside' the utensil have to be replaced - to make all new entries. But what does 'overcooking' mean?

[shaneystar2]

Thanks ...this has given me great help ... I have made notes ...and will be back..... next year ...probably !
K and Ulysses .....many thanks ..perhaps I will crack it one of these days !

[crofter]

Don't worry about me - I enjoy the EV-speak.

The one that I am about to finish off is my first contact with EV and it certainly puts Crossword Solving on a diferent plane! However, even I would have wished for more time!

[ulysses100]

Sorry to hijack your thread crofter.....

QM ...... what does one do to a pancake ? ...and still keep real words in the grid.

[Quizmonkey]

Aha...okay. I shall revisit it tonight: hopefully with your hint I'll be able to toss it off in a matter of minutes...

[kettledrum]

Thank you, Kayakamina for providing us all with a flying start. I've had a lovely time doing EV 746 and compared to EV 745 it' s a doddle!

[Quizmonkey]

Ulysses - finished the Inquisitor last night with your hint: what a superb ending to an excellent puzzle! Flipping marvellous construction! (Though I still don't like the title)

[novalis]

There's reference in the various replies below to EV746 as well as 745.

I hope the second quote is "Verbum sapienti sat est"
( = A word to the wise is enough ) as spelt out by the extra letters.

Totally agree about them getting more challenging, especially since the start of this year. Either that or my grey cells are on the wane. ( Probably the latter!! )

Novalis.

[Quizmonkey]

What I'm finding more and more (well, since Christmas really) with the EV (and occasionally Inquisitor) is that they're not especially difficult, as such, but they require an unfair 'leap' at the end to perform the final requirement.

Just pleased that this doesn't seem to be the case (yet!) with this year's Listeners.