EV 898 Prime Suspect

[DocHH]

Hello EV N&C Wine Clubbers,
Took a little longer on this one this week, had never heard of the innovator, for a start, then some words not in my vocabulary and some juggling to comply with the thematic entry added to the completion time! Got there in the end, just wondering if my Bakers counting went blank on occasion!
Time to break open the Tempranillo to accompany a sunday evening toasted sandwich.

[copelander]

Cheers DocHH, yes a new innovation for me too, and still not sure of the wordplay in 25a, though I have ended up with a Shropshire town. Good fun in the end!

[turnerjmw]

Well done, DocHH. Despite a lamentable ignorance of the person in question I've finished the clues, found the highlight and filled the perimeter, but I'm completely at a loss with what to do with the empty spaces. Is it thematic to leave them blank (like my knowledge), or should they be filled somehow? Any suggestions welcome!

[turnerjmw]

Hi Copelander, I too puzzled over 25ac, but eventually decided that a four letter word for clique dropped the final B(ritish) and added the N(ationalist)

[ringer]

Hi All
Haven't started this week's, but am definitely opening a bottle tonight to celebrate my first ev win - am eagerly anticipating the arrival of the esteemed pen!

[copelander]

Thanks, TurnerJMW for the explanation. I have opted to leave the cells blank in keeping with the innovator's ailment.

[copelander]

Well done Ringer!! The bottle will be better than the eagerly awaited pen.....the glory is all!

[novalis]

Many congratualtions Ringer!! Keep up the good work.

I'm working on the assumption that the blank cells are filled by a relevant symbol rather than be left empty. There a similarly themed EV some eight years ago when that was the case.

Last week I asked if any EVer could help me complete a quiz which a friend of mine does every year and where I pick up the remnants. The only one left is

Optimistic duo. ( 5, 6 )

The answer contains ( probably ) or is ( possibly ) the name of a town or city somewhere outside the British Isles. If anybody has any ideas I would welcome, in true EV fashion, a ( very ) hint or pointer.

[novalis]

Hi Copelander!

I'm not convinced that the cells are left blank as the rubric states "The remainder of the grid must be filled thematically". The innovator's ailment is acknowledged by the absence of a certain clue number in the grid.

[copelander]

Mmmm, back to the drawing board for me then, Novalis.

[DocHH]

Hello everyone,
I'd go for blanks, and ensuring entered lights were read correctly either across or down with their spaces ignored! So no more than 1 blank in each intersecting column and row.
Sorry to be a bit late contributing, but have been a bit preoccupied with Charity Work this week. I'd also be thinking that the column starting 8d, and the row that included the second part of the subject's earlier works at their intersection was not a blank! Even though all the others check each other!
Copelander, that Shropshire Town has to work to complete the second part of the earlier works!
Where are DevaDolly, Dr B, Jogler and MatyDalover et al this week?

[Jogler]

We are here.... struggled a lot with this one and didn't want to look at the comments until we were on top of it! Would absolutely agree with what you said Doc HH - and we haven't come up with anything that would fill the spaces in a meaningful way. That said, we are sleeping on it! Still on the wagon but at least it is possible to walk around without taking a skate - not looking forward to the temps going down again so hoping that the Met Office are up to their usual standard.

[dr b]

Hey everybody. I was a little late getting to the puzzle as well - Saturday night (early Sunday to you) I was working in the kitchen for a dinner for my daughter's school choir, Sunday I was setting up our new computer (Windows 7! Woohoo!) & watching football playoffs.

I agree with Novalis that it seems like something should go in the empty spaces (they form a pattern which seems like it should suggest something - any musicians in the group?) But I don't know enough about the theme to imagine what that might be.

My oldest seems to be settling into London town pretty well. (We probably talk via Skype more frequently than when she's in the US). Her flat (as it must be called) is in Kensington about a block from Hyde Park. I am told this is a rather posh area. Good to see my hard earned tuition dollars are being well used. On the plus side, she has already been to many of the museums in the area and needs to go back to the Victoria and Albert Museum because it's just so big. And apparently there is some shopping to be done. Her classes started today so hopefully she will be to busy to spend money.

[novalis]

Hi everybody!

The reason I suspect that the blanks have to be filled is the rubric unless I'm misinterpretating "The remainder of the grid must be filled thematically". However, the only suggestion I can venture for filling the blanks is a depiction of a musical note ( and that device has been used before ).

[Jogler]

This is an interesting discussion. We rather think that the spaces do fill the inner grid thematically in that they come at very specific points. In order to be even closer to the theme there would have to be more of the spaces and I can't see that using our protaganist's profession would produce anything meaningful. Our problem is more that we don't understand what the title has to do with the theme!

[dr b]

The missing clue number is of a type suggested by the puzzle's title - I don''t know if it is more than that.

[Jogler]

Yes, ty dr B, had that link - it just seemed a little thin. Like the empty squares we are left looking for more.

[novalis]

The more I look at it the more puzzling it becomes. Rightly or wrongly, I've posted it with the cells left blank despite my misgivings.

[Christiana]

Just a quick hello, everyone. Can't contribute to the intriguing 'blank cell' discussion, as I haven't even read the preamble yet, never mind looked at the clues. We have visitors and so I am out and about, cooking, or falling asleep after all the unaccustomed exercise and very late nights. I may get to it at the end of the week, or have to give this one a miss.

[copelander]

i, too, am still bemused, or should that be confused? I'm not unhappy with the title....a suspicion of a prime number. Because of the innovator's aversion I was content to leave the squares blank until Novalis raised the wording of the rubric which does seem to suggest a completion of some sort. However the positioning of the blanks suggests to me that the innovator wouldn't have wanted to pu anything in them. I'm probably managing to confuse anyone reading this!!

[Jogler]

I think, Copelander, that that was exactly our view! (Not the confusing everyone else bit for your paragraph but the bit before that!!)