Listener 4170: Aristocat by Mango

[midazolam]

Last puzzle of the year and it is Mango. 2008 was the last time we saw them with the excellent City Tour. This was not as good, but an enjoyable challenge. Shame the whole theme was got very early from a good stab at 24A. The cluing was tricky and the gimmick was cleverly concealed in places. I do think 42A should be two words. Happy New Year to you all.

[dr b]

Agree with all of the above; 24a is a bit too easy to get although I'm not sure how it could have been made harder. Also, the highlighting seemed unnecessary.

Happy New Year, too!

[midazolam]

dr b, it has just dawned on me why we need to highlight the seven words. Look at the words as a whole and in particular the letters more closely. Nice touch, Mango!

[Ruthrobin]

Not finished yet, but thoroughly enjoying this with the theme identified and one of the quotations complete. I agree that it seems that 42 should be two words - but that won't affect anyone's enjoyment. A lovely finish to the year.

[Ruthrobin]

Sorry about my new avatar image. I haven't the slightest idea where that came from - never seen it before and certainly didn't create it. Happy new year to all our AB mates anyway.

[TheBear69]

I think I'm done but I have some nagging issues:

I do not see the third leftward movement; i.e. between my 2nd and 3rd rightward movement, all of the key letters just drop.

Since I do not grasp the second half of the wordplay to 20d, I have two choices for the unchecked letter.

Aside from the missing word count in 42a, shouldn't the instructions say there's a word missing from the quote or that it's an amended quote?

[Ruthrobin]

Bear 69, I don't think so - with regard to your last comment. I think, in the context, that it is all there.

[Zabadak]

Glad to say I appear to be emerging from a period of not being able to crack anything, though I see from comments that the last two weeks have been a bit tricky. I thought I was in for another blank this week for a while, but breaking for a while and (virtually) restarting got there in the end. Like others already, I admit to an almost entirely backwards solve, and I don't think I would have got many of the letter movements without knowing what the letters were. Some of them appear to be rather marginal.
I was about to complain that Dr B had (again?) given us a conundrum that only he could see with respect to the highlighting, but the penny dropped. Cheers DrB - I wouldn't have worried otherwise, and greater appreciation to Mango. Happy New Year to all

[Ruthrobin]

All done - what fun! I think the concealing of the gimmick was brilliant. Sorry about my earlier comments on the avatar. A most odd dog appeared - a bit like that one that has had 8 million hits (the dog tease with the maple bacon on You Tube). It seems to have rectified itself. See you in 2012.

[AndrewG-S]

As I was really enjoying the gimmick in the wordplays, I pressed on without looking up the quotes even though 24a was apparent even after relatively few entries. This did make the puzzle take quite a bit of time. As a bizarre coincidence happened to be in the middle of 42a when the penny dropped on the second quotation. Great fun and many thanks Mango. I guess that is a year of Listeners completed - I know I blew my all correct ages ago, but at least managed to submit every week. Anyone out there think they are still in with a chance?

[silversolver]

This was another toughie to finish off the year. Like others, the theme emerged fairly early on but some of the clueing was so tortuous that it took a long time to confirm that a lot of my answers were indeed right. I am also at least a couple short of "all correct" for 2011, sadly. However, I am sure 2012 will bring many more hours of happy solving. Happy New Year to all.

[aldanna]

Not everyone is getting the theme too easily! I have the grid about a third full but am battling on, somewhat sporadically.
Still, Happy New Year to all.

[trux]

For first (and therefore last) time this year, I did not print this off last night as I was pouring stuff down my throat after very boozy fondue lunch, drinks in office, party with neighbours, bar crawl ... Not the ideal preparation for attacking it this morning, I have to admit so I have gently sauntered through it all. PDMs quite early on but dazzled by some wondrous clueing (loved 15a, 37a, def in 2d, 6d, etc etc) which was the principal joy of this very fine end to the year. Many thanks to the Mango crew and a Happy & Healthy & Prosperous New Year to one and all.

[dead-eye]

Struggled through, but wish that I had reached for the ODQ earlier. Think I may be closer to an all incorrect year. Will try harder next year. Happy New Year everyone.

[tilbee]

Like TB69 do not see the third leftward movement, but otherwise all resolved.

Happy new year to all.

[contendo]

Interesting, Trux, those are the main ones I haven't cracked yet. I'm obviously going to have to move up a gear. Got 24 and the first quotation. I think I know how to manipulate the non-fitting answers but haven't yet sussed the relevance to the theme. At least I have hopes of finishing this one which is more than I can say for last week's.

[contendo]

What's happened to Clamzy?

[AHearer]

I enjoyed this. It was one of those puzzles where I made a very slow start: in fact, I put it aside last night with only half a dozen clues solved, only to pick it up and steam through it quite rapidly this morning. Thanks, Mango.

[TheBear69]

Regarding the missing 'leftward' movement, I suppose you can barely shift the extraneous character oh-so-slightly to the left to change a preposition to a verb, but it hardly seems necessary to do so. The preposition works fine for me. No other shift seems remotely correct.

The penny finally dropped on the wordplay to 20d...LOL!

[dr b]

My point about the highlighting is just that highlighting is normally for hidden words that span different grid entries. Here, there's no mystery as to what to highlight, so you can do it without any understanding of what makes the highlighted words special. Therefore, why bother? That's all.

Now, suppose the preamble had instructed you to highlight the seven words in the appropriate color............ (or is that colour)?

[Walterloo]

Started this today. Like last week's I'm battling through it bit by bit. The clues are certainly tricky to unravel. Well done to those who have cracked it already. Happy year of newness to all.