Listener 4086: Back Gate by Tiburon

[midazolam]

My first listener from one of the Magpie team (talk about coincidences from last weeks magpie pitch).

Obvious misprints made this fairly straightforward to start but tricky to finish. The theme however was right up my street so the PDM finally dawned and then I very much enjoyed piecing it together.

A diagonal red herring having completed the top right hand corner first led me to think of the wrong 4!

Many thanks Tiburon

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[BlackHugh]

Well I enjoyed that one and have completed it and posted it off. I only knew the more famous two of the four names and I still have no good explanation of 19d - is the mis-print in fact in the word play rather than the definition?

[dr b]

Hugh; without a misprint 19d would be a double def. clue, so I guess you can take your pick as to which is wordplay and which is definition. Other "pool buddies" would include Piglet and Eeyore.

[BlackHugh]

Doh! Of Course - Thanks dr b

[Zabadak]

Ruthrobin: your comment on 22d made me revisit the clue, realising I had worked on definition only. Truly an astonishing piece of cluing: haven't seen that form of wordplay before. Perfectly fair, of course!

[Zabadak]

Archie 1962. Count me in, and with the wrong one first. Curiously, the original word in Chambers has a second meaning which, with a little bit of stretch, would also do.

[AndrewG-S]

I also had the wrong one, but all sorted now

[Lewap]

Please could someone confirm whether the answer for 19dn is in Chambers - I have letters 1,2 and 5, and cannot find a possible word to fit...
Thanks!

[BlackHugh]

Lewap - It is in Chambers - have you seen dr b's help above

[midazolam]

Lewap if you have 1/2/5 then there are 8 possible answers in Chambers that could fit with those letters. I think you must have something wrong

[serpentinew]

Any advice on making sense of the misprints/ corrections - is there a pattern to make sense of here or is it just a random ordering that will eventually yield some sense? At present I have a number as a possible thematic word - am I miles off?

[dr b]

There are no numbers as thematic words. The '4 thematic words' are each comprised of consecutive "correction" letters in clue order; the theme, comprised out of the misprints, is broken up by these 4 words.

[serpentinew]

Thanks dr b - I think I'd better be checking my changes as I can't see anything at present other than some very short words which don't seem to connect

[serpentinew]

Penny has now dropped - could n't see the wood for the trees as it were

[7lattens]

Finished this last night all except 22d - had for ages been trying to treat li(mite)d by extracting the nit but hey the PDM arrived this morning and yest it did make me smile - so simple but so clever.

[Philoctetes]

Completed grid, but still unsure about several wordplays. I liked the word "mutual" - it links in to the representation of the theme, and actually resolves (for me) a potential ambiguity in one of the names. I think, though, the title is a tenuous link.

[Deviant]

Finished this on the train this morning by spotting the names in the grid.

I thought this crossword was really neat, particularly the way that the misprints and correct letters are used to provide the theme & thematic words. I only registered what was happening & why when I'd got all but about 6 of the answers and only because I'd written out all of the misprints & correct letters underneath each other.

No idea about the wordplay for 20D or 22D, but I'm pretty sure I've got the right answers.

[Mysterons]

'Extremely' indicates first and last letters, 'term' = last letter. For 22, check letter positions in second word.

[Deviant]

Thanks M.

Doh, doh & triple doh! I filled in my entry last night while watching TV, but left the lines undrawn as I didn't think they'd be very clear with the same colour pen. I then forgot & only realised as I'd let go of the envelope in the post box :( Of all the stupid ways to get a crossword wrong... (but at least I wasn't all-correct.)

[teuchter2]

First time I've looked at this week's thread. Still no avatar! I finished this one by Sunday morning and was fairly quick to get the theme etc. I enjoyed this one as it was challenging but not too difficult.

[Deviant]

teuchter2, in order to get the avatar, you need to go to your profile page and tick the box and save.