Azed 1778

[pldcav]

29a Resistance modifier activated echoer once beginning (8)
- H E - C O R D, so presumably RHEOCORD, but how does the wordplay work? I can see an anagram of (e)choer, but apart from that ...

[Jay_Jay]

May be wrong here, but 'Rheocord' may have been the tradename for an old analogue echo effects machine in the recording industry, or another older name for a slide potentiometer ( a variable resistor ) or rheostat. That may help (?)

Where the "once beginning" part of the clue comes in, I don't know!

[Quizmonster]

I managed to take it only one step further, Pld, by assuming that 'once beginning' meant to take the 'o' from 'once'...ie as the opening (beginning) letter thereof. Thus we have an anagram of ECHOERO, giving 'RHEOCO'. Where the unused 'e' goes and where the absent 'rd' comes from, I've no idea! Rheocord is, of course, the 'answer', but I've noticed this sort of 'slackness creeping into the Azed in recent months. I shall, naturally, retract that on this occasion, if someone comes up with an explanation of the seemingly missing/superfluous letters.

[Aquariel]

Could it possibly be an anagram of CHORDER + O ?

A chorder is a music effects software plug-in that may be used as an 'echoer' ? It's stretching the definition a bit it's just a thought!

[pldcav]

Thanks chaps. I'd also thought of "once beginning" being the way to get the missing O, but I've just found that ORD is an obsolete word for beginning, so now we only have a superfluous E to explain away.

[crofter]

pldcav - Just a line to tell you that i was well impressed with your reasoning behind 2228! I was sucked in one night trying three times to get through. Never again!