Listener 4072: The Isolated Word by Ten-Four

[midazolam]

I am glad there was no dilemmas here (which was the case for me in "A New Year Message" 2008). As with all of the year's listeners so far, the grid was fairly easy easy to fill, but the construction again is very impressive, with no ambiguity (in fact it confirms a couple of answers). 30 down, the last to solve, I liked. Plenty of early anagrams to get newbies interested. Thanks Ten-Four

[AHearer]

Agreed: quite a straightforward fill, and a pretty construction. The long top and bottom entries gave quite an easy way in.

[Zabadak]

Formidable exercise in construction, relatively straightforward clues - I more or less did top left to bottom right. Did anyone else struggle over 23, which for me confused the whole resolution while I toyed with what turned out to be wrong answers? I also discovered I need to learn how to count!

[cluelessJoe]

Yes, fairly straightforward fill apart from a couple, and as Midazolam notes, the admirable construction ends up helping to confirm/resolve a couple of answers. It helped me out with 23 Zabadak by highlighting what it could not be.

[s436]

I have a dilemma, however! I've a full grid apart from that one square, and no idea where to go. My eight letters don't anagram to anything useful. Can anyone nudge me in the right direction?

[perseverer]

s436 Suggest you look at your 8 answers again. Because I didn't get a couple of the wordplays, I didn't quite have the right 8 letters to start with. When you get them they do give a very useful anagram.

[tristram37]

I have the same problem as s436 - grid completed except for the unchecked letter in 29 ac, for which there are 5 possibilities. I've checked and rechecked the 8 answers and the extra letters give only one anagram which seems totally unhelpful and gives no hint as to how to guess the missing 11-letter word or complete 29 ac. The word I have is a plural specific article of clothing. Am I up a gum tree?
Tristram 37

[dr b]

the 8 letters should anagram to two words, according to Chambers Word Wizard, only one of which makes sense in this context and is not related to clothing. From which clues are you obtaining your 8 letters?

[s436]

Oh...two words? That could certainly change things a bit. Yet the preamble does state that the letters rearrange "to form a word". Bit confused now.

[dr b]

sorry, the 8 letters can be used to make 2 different 8 letter words, only one of which is the key.

[easylistener]

Well, I got off to a flying start this week but now I am stuckonly 6 remaining clues. So far only have 3 definite letters for the anangram. Can anyone help with 18d,29d,17a,33a,39a or 40a without giving it away for others?

[midazolam]

If I would you easylistener I would plod on for a little longer as some of those are very accessible (one is an anagram), you are also missing some of the letters if you only have 3, so perhaps you should go back over your clues. I am sure you will get some of those without hints

Once the anagram is got the Chambers definition is very precise as to what you need to do next.

[x_word_fan]

As someone said "straightforward" except "for me" 33a ( 2 spellings) - the unchecked letter only confirmed by the "end game". Still can't see the word play.

[silversolver]

x_word_fan: the second half of the clue is a type of birch tree minus the first two letters which are an abbreviation for this year (in Latin)

[easylistener]

Thanks for the encouragement midazolam. I went back to the drawing board and finished the grid! Just have to work out the 8 letters etc now. Ha Ha. Could take me a while!

[tristram37]

Dr b - I hope I'm not giving too much away here, but the relevant clues are 1,12,16,17,19 ac and 1,14,18 down. I've checked, double-checked and treble-checked these and can find no error in what I've done, yet I only get a hyphenated plural word relating to what one wears in a specific context. This one word is confirmed by Chambers Word Wizard.

[dr b]

T37: might want to rethink 17a.

[tristram37]

Thank you, dr b. My fourth check showed where I'd gone wrong. All is now safely gathered in. As Zabadak said, a tour de force of construction

[silversolver]

I have a completed grid and the 8-letter word but cannot yet see the isolated word or how the grid is constructed - will have another look in the morning!

[cluelessJoe]

Sorry, this URL is probably longer than it needs to be, but this link may be of use to anyone with maybe 7 of the 8 anagram letters (which is the stage at which I used it in this particular puzzle). I use it quite a lot for jumbles where not all the letters are known.

http://www.quinapalus...t=0&outp=0&ent=Search

[silversolver]

Aha! I have it. Amazing how you can stare at a puzzle for an hour not making any sense of it and then look at it again after a good night's sleep and see it straight away! I agree about the very clever construction of this puzzle.