Listener 3976

[cruciverbali]

This week's puzzle is Hard Rectangle by Harpy

[midazolam]

thanks for the link cruciverbalist - but will have have to enjoy this after the weekend

[cluelessJoe]

many thanks C ... seems to be available extra early this week. Hope the prompt start gets me there a bit faster than usual

[Rapparee]

Thank you, Cruciverbalist, for posting the link. This has been keeping me busy this evening with much still to do.

[cruciverbali]

You are all three most welcome - have a great weekend !

[cluelessJoe]

Enjoyed that one, very cleverly designed!

[cruciverbali]

I agree Joe, and with no EV to tackle today, a chance to get out in the garden to enjoy the sunshine and snow !

[Scorpius]

Cleverly, and interestingly, designed indeed, but there's a lot of relevant material to study before I can be sure that there isn't a better phrase than the one I have.

[targo]

I found it easy to enter the answers and find the instruction.......I'm a 5 Listeners a year solver..........and I finished it on Friday night!

But for the last couple of days I've been staring at a map of a European city, can see the poet's name but have no idea what 3 words are to be entered above the grid.

Maybe some more Googling may help....

[Scorpius]

targo, if you're an infrequent solver, you might not know what the cognoscenti know - in the absence of any other reference in the preamble, thematic quotations are often (possibly usually) to be found in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

[gribble]

targo, if you use the 'city' as the 'key word' and look it up in ODQ you will find the three words easily

[gribble]

sorry Scorpius your post wasn't there when I started typing (I am very slow ) then had to leave computer

[midazolam]

after a busy weekend i managed to relax with Harpy's artistic conception

At first i thought of another quotation also the same letters and was trying to find a nice pair of lips!

lucky there was no ev as well this week otherwise a lot of catching up to do

[targo]

Just found it I think! (if one of the 3 words contains a 'z', but pretty sure that's the one!)

Thanks Scorpius & gribble for the pointers!

[cruciverbali]

Yes, you have it targo - just think of the relevant national football team's sobriquet.

[targo]

;-)

[andrewvc12]

Solved it (well almost) and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, just like last week, I'm left with a clue I don't understand. 38d; I'm sure the unchecked letter is I but can't find the definition. Any pointers, please?
Thanks, Andrew

[Rapparee]

Andrewvc12

You're right about the unchecked letter. The definition is an anagram of poetical minus the letter i. This anagram and the grid entry are synonyms in Shakespearean terms. You'll have to look them up separately to confirm.
The rest you know, I suppose. If not, I can come back and explain.

[andrewvc12]

I am probably being very stupid here but all I could find was "polecat" which I couldn't make sense of; so still need more help. Thanks, Andrew.

[Rapparee]

Look up polecat. Find the Shakespearean meaning.
Do the same with the grid entry and compare the two meanings.

[andrewvc12]

Thanks. I'm getting old. I had only seen the meaning of the second entry of 38d in Chambers. Got it now.
Andrew