Listener 4200, The Missing Vowels Round by Shackleton

[upsetter]

well, that's the PDM and the Antihesis out of the way, now for the clues...

[fyellin]

So far everything but the last step. I know both sets of words, and why they are an "ordered set". I know what goes into the grid. I just don't know where.

I wonder if this Yank needs to learn more about the first set.

[Coalminers]

What a mess! I've got my missing vowels in a muddle and any attempt at a correction looks a disaster. I think I'll have to source another newspaper.

Back to U/C Jim, why, rather than choosing the 4 who get the most right, don't they choose the set of 4 who, between them, have got the most right?

[tnap]

I've just come back to it again this morning having left in some uncertainty yesterday.
I'm pretty sure I understand the instructions, the connection and its relationship to the grid. But there still seems to me to be a couple of different ways to show the missing vowels. I suppose they all amount to pretty much the same thing, so I'm hoping my attempt, which is a bit 'blocky', will be accepted.
By the way, those who don't get the meaning of Set 2 clearly haven't done the sort of travelling I have! I mentioned Set 2 to my wife (who was not involved in the solving) and she immediately said the 3rd member of Set 1, which I guess is renowned for such things.

[jim360]

I couldn't answer that question, coal infers, since I wasn't the one choosing the team. But at least it worked as far as getting us onto the televised stages which is an achievement in itself, what with over one hundred teams applying to take part. And we were up against some strong opposition, too.

Anyway... I think in some ways I preferred this one to last week's. Possibly for the final bit and because I actually had all or most of the PDM's needed to reach the solution. Last week I found the correct grid before I knew what was actually going on!

[jim360]

Coal infers?! Stupid predictive text...

[trux]

As it seems to be the theme of the week, should we do quick straw poll to find out how many ABers are also ex-U/C-ers (if you see what I mean). Count me in the "Yes, I too appeared on the show" list. I think for the sake of discretion, best not to ask triad of bonus questions of : a) Bamber or Paxman? b) which year precisely? and c) how many rounds did one survive? ..... I suspect there may be quite a few of us.... PS: I am willing to confess that I was a) Bamber b) 1981 c) one....

[IainGrace]

Well on the way with this (and no UC confessional from this household). Have posted on 4199 where we are stuck on the end game and have invited some cryptic assistance, as it were.

[Alekhine]

No Z-Cup contenders this week? Oh well ... let me give it a go.

I felt a bit disappointed with this one. Fairly routine clues for the most part ... and it became a bit of a slog at times.

And is anyone else a little uncomfortable with 53a or is it just me?

[Cruncher]

I thought 53ac was ok. Have yet to figure how the second bunch of words are an ordered set. Do they exist as a set beyond this puzzle?

[starwalker]

Finally got there. 53a gave me a little trouble, though it does work if you have an older Chambers. Hats off to Shackleton for this puzzle.

I cannot help but wonder that after Bandmaster, Kea and now Shackleton, has someone been upsetting the editors ?

[vetuste_ennemi]

I think 53Ac is a double definition.
The facetious set is in the same order as its antithesis, Cruncher. I'm unaware of it as a set in its won right.

[Alekhine]

I think it was the 'singular versus plural' consideration that concerned me with 53a. But, hey ho.

Also, no UC experience on my part, but I can claim (many years ago) Krypton Factor, Fifteen-to-One and (more recently) Countdown. I'm currently on the short-list for The Chase, but (like jim360, I suspect) Only Connect remains a bit of a holy grail for me.

Maybe we should team up, jim360?

[AndrewG-S]

Enjoyable and well put together. But not one of shakletons best in my opinion. Coalminers if you need a PDF to print then drop me a mail at [email protected]. I was not in U/C, but am an avid supporter, does that count? I do the odd pub and school quizzes too.

[jim360]

Not sure I have the depth of knowledge required to make any impression at Only Connect - but I have scored (at home) a five-pointer or two! Still, it's worth entertaining the possibility next time there are auditions...

53a was a bit risqué, I guess. Also, does Shackleton always have golf on the brain?

[tenflags]

I went to the University of Life and clearly not as smart as most on here although later on I did do an MBA (Master of Bugger All - as we liked to call it).

Surprise myself with occasionally getting the odd toughie on Only Connect. Shortly off to the Pub for the monthly Quiz .. much fun but no where near as high brow as you guys are used to.

Anyways I thought the puzzle was fun and 7a was my favourite clue.

[AHearer]

Second best, I know, but I was in the short-lived Sixth Form Challenge. My appearance was far from distinguished, as in the broadcast programme I failed to answer a single question. To this day "luck of the draw" and "it's not the winning, it's the taking part" feature strongly in my repertoire of cliches. The memory of that humiliation has faded somewhat, though, to the extent that these days I enjoy watching the programme.

[teuchter2]

I think I have this all sorted apart from one clue, the answer to which is eluding me so far, but as I have 3 of the 4 letters, I should be able to find it, although it doesn't seem to be in my Chambers, which isn't the latest as I am hoping to win one!

[Texasetes]

Another entertaining and satisfying solve, whose facetiousness PDM made me laugh out loud.

The lower centre of my grid remained empty overnight but, as often happens, a few hours of not thinking about it worked wonders and all was resolved soon after the restart.

49D held me up for some time but is quite clever, 53A could have been written by Cyclops, 29A seems weak and I'm not convinced by the definition in 39D. And, although I'm happy with the cell contents, 'leaving them legible' may be a challenge.

[Staurologist]

What an unexpected treatment of a wholly anticipated theme, and congratulations to Shackleton for thinking of it.

As for "prothesis", Greek had such a word, but it was first introduced into English in the 16th century, via post-classical Latin, in a grammatical usage, meaning the addition of a letter or syllable, usually at the beginning of a word. In the 19th century it came to mean an antecedent entity or purpose, in a religious or spiritual sense. For more, see the OED, and particularly the 1831-2 quote from Coleridge.

According to Hegelian dialectic one has, not a prothesis, but a thesis and an antithesis, the contradiction between which is resolved by synthesis. That then becomes the new thesis, and the contradiction between it and its antithesis is resolved by a new synthesis. The process is then repeated until Olympian perfection ensues.

So, strictly speaking, what Shackleton has called the antithesis is actually the thesis, to which Set 2 (his own invention) is the antithesis, the final grid being the synthesis. Not far off perfection.

Incidentally, this is also something of an anniversary, since the missing vowels were first designed in this form in 1912.

[logophile]

... and my Gran would have been 100 on the day of the Closing Ceremony - many a happy time was spent helping her finish the Daily Mail Crossword, God Bless Her !