EV 914 Opus by Hypnos

[tweaker]

Hello everyone, I hope you've all been to Church, good day to you all.

Never done a 'barred' Hypnos puzzle before. Only grid ones in the Independent.

This should be fun, at least I now have ODQ5 !

Happy solving and the best of luck gang.

[Christiana]

Hello all. Bringing up the rear even more than usual. Having very little time this week as I have the decorators in coping with all the damage from the torrential rains we suffered, plus vaguely trying to start packing for the move. My house mate, who is supposed to be helping, is trapped at Bristol until Saturday at the least, and I've been trying to reschedule her flights (three times so far). She is halfway on her journey (!) having set off from the Isle of Man on Sunday.
So far I've done much of the top half of EV but really too distracted to concentrate.

Congratulations Ringer. DD how is it going? Is DC reorganised yet - I may need to come and rest my aching head, for more reasons than one

[devadolly]

Hello Christina, don't envy you packing to move countries, towns is bad enough! DC is fully functional and is occupied by Me, am not getting on at all well this week with only about a quarter of the clues finished, so not a chance of getting anything to try out the new site so kindly provided by Turnerjmw. Busy week with two deadlines a day apart and not feeling at all creative! Some company would be welcomed!!

[Physicsgirl]

I have only completed the bottom left corner! So, what shall we have in DC this week in terms of nibbles and drinkies?! Halfway through pregnancy this week, scan on Friday .... want to get it over with so I can relax more! Mini PG 2 is kicking away so hopefully all is well. Good luck with packing/damage repair, Christiana

[DocHH]

Hello Everyone,
Back from the sortie to London and Brum, which was a combination of business and pleasure. On second thoughts, it was all pleasurable, but some of it was work!
Congratulations Ringer on yet another win, is it really possible to opt for a bus rather than a pen, if so I'll start sending in again! The purchase of bulk cartridges can be false economy, my Solicitor and Financial Adviser aren't too impressed with other than black or dark blue ink!
Dr b, pleased to hear Iceland isn't hindering your daughter's travel too much. Look on the bright side, although she may only be home for 2 days, while she has been this side of the pond, you haven't been displaying the sign "TAXI" in your car!
Christiana, lots on your plate, so understandable that you were late startng EV, and as Deveadolly said, just moving from town to town is challenging enough, but from another country, phew.
Anyway, all I can say to all of you who are queueing to check into the DC, and then wanting to use the Loyalty Card to claim extra points after weeks in the COMPLTERS CORNER, is that I think you are making a meal of it, or in Latin an "arduus opus".
Busy again tomorrow, and on thursday opening the studio for the Blind Centre Open Day. How did I find time to work full time?

[ringer]

Good to hear from all of you out there. Perhaps there is an ICT whizz who can answer this for me. A few days ago I changed my avatar. When I view this thread on my iphone I see the new avatar (a mathematical one), but when I view on my PC (which is quite new) there is my old avatar (a bell). I might be on a roll with regard to solving EVs, but this has got me completely flummoxed. Any ideas?

[DocHH]

Ringer,
This is not definitife, but from what I have seen on other threads it is related to the frequency at which sites re-cache, I assume that means up-date, so at some stage in the future you may well catch up with yourself. I now want to know why you are still writing in black typeface, rather than the colours you have in your multi-colour purchase?

[ringer]

DocHH - You don't realise quite how close you've come to finding my weakness. My daughter has to steer me past coloured gel pens every time we shop. I love them and would dearly love to brighten up this page with colour. Mmm, let me see. Perhaps this week should be pea green.

[DocHH]

Hello Ringer,
While I thought your initial Avatar germane, I appreciated the relevance of the latter ones to your subject! The get real for "i" really amused me.

[devadolly]

Sorry, don't ask me ringer, am fine with the infernal machines as long as they behave, but the minute anything is remotely different I have a panic attack.
It was Clever Clogsis Corner for a couple of weeks DocHH because that is what all you lot wot get it in the post by 9am on Sunday are................Clever Clogsis!
Don't know Physics girl, what do you fancy this week? Stillo have some James Grieve apple juice in the freezer and have just made a rhubarb crumble.................

[AndrewG-S]

Strangely all the avatars seem to be regressing. Ringer I did see your new one but you have now reverted and DDs cat seems to be back in the tree. I hope we don't all become wooden tops again if the trend continues. Doc HH, pleased to see you are back on form with the puns, I felt you must have had something cooking

[DocHH]

Been absent for a while AndrewG-S, but cooking with gas now, and was concerned that some were in a stew, rather than looking at the sunday menu!

[Christiana]

Help - is anyone is still up for some EV assistance? I am lurking in DD, having completed the decorating and got the happy home vaguely back to normal, as far as is possible with packing crates lurking around.
I have, between times 'finished' the EV but have no certainty about it. I have the quote and author, plus two 'examples' (I think), which i take to be non-word anagrams. I have, by dint of using the 'web kills me' phrase, what I think are the other four words, but the connection with the opus or its alter ego, or indeed with each other, escapes me. Is it my head, unduly affected by the smell of paint, or am I just being thick? I also have answers for 12a and 5d but can't connect them to the cryptic parts of their clues.
In short I'm really in the soup. Which no doubt would please Hypnos, not to mention the author, greatly.

[DocHH]

Christiana, all the unclued lights are words. If you have the quote, look at the last four words, ie the second sentence, then think of what OPUS is in respect of the last one! If you have correctly placed the letters of WEB KILLS ME, then you are not in the proverbial.

[Christiana]

Hello DocHH. Yes, I was doing just that, hence various insubtle hints in my last post. I've looked again and revised things somewhat. It seems what I was attempting for 1d and 32d as examples was what I had to do with the other 4. So far so good. They're now all fine. But still not sure of 1d and 32d which I thought were non-word anagrams. For 32d I have a proper noun for the answer - is that right? If so I take it that is an example of the last word in the quote. I am still searching for 1d. I have the connection with the opus but can't arrive at a word in the dictionary. Is this also a proper noun of the same ilk as 32d? And is its third letter 'N'? (still not sure of my answer to 12a)

[DocHH]

Christiana, the grid entry for 32d is a First World War Battle, and French river, after treatment resulting in a Japanese version of the theme, the grid entry for 1d is not a word I'd use, but after treatmant is a popular Italian version of the theme. It is one of the things Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren sang about, that PS didn't want, he wanted BANGERS and MASH!

[Christiana]

Hi Doc HH, just got in. Yes, I thought it must be the first world war battle. I will now reconsider 1d, for which I had the word you indicate. It was the treatment of it that seems to be escaping me, but will try again.

[AndrewG-S]

For 1d try chambers word wizard, I think there was only one solution which fitted and contained the right letters

[Christiana]

Thank you Andrew S. It threw up the one word I had previously found on one-look dictionary search but which isn't in my Chambers 10th Edition. Perhaps I'm just being too picky but I can only see one 'example' i.e.32d and had assumed 1d must also be an 'example'. Perhaps I'm completely off course. Which clues are other people identifying a 'examples' rather than 'illustrations' and what's the difference? I had assumed that 32d's final answer was a word which could be associated with the last word of the quote, but perhaps not.

[devadolly]

Christina - you are a genius, I am totally lost and am quite happy languishing in DC care of No 1 niece and No 1 nephew in law plying me with Fizz!! Do have a glass!

[Christiana]

Hi DD. Definitely in need of that glass. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I have now staggered to a conclusion, but more by luck than judgment. Still don't know which of the 6 unclued entries are examples and which illustrations, but have lost the capacity to care.