Listener 4486: In Self-Defence

[IainGrace]

An entertaining puzzle, using a mix of familiar cryptic techniques. We were perhaps fortunate in identifying the run of correct letters after solving about a dozen or so clues.

[Hagen]

Thanks for your input, Olichant. I think you've nailed it when you say that the original idea was that the "real" clues should make sense after correction, just as correcting accidental misprints in a piece of text should to something coherent. Therefore I'd say that if the surface of either version of the clue can take a hit, it's the misprinted version, though the less sense the clue makes the easier it is to spot the misprint and solve it.

I've found that the biggest problem occurs when the only possible options for placing the misprints alter the part of speech of a word. Noun/adjective changes are the worst!

The Listener notes state that removing extra letters from clues needn't leave something that makes sense, and from what I recall this applies to extra words and extra letters generated by wordplay too. That makes misprints the hardest way for the setter to generate a message. I'm aware that some solvers are tired of misprints and don't want to see them too often - I'm more than happy to oblige!

[olichant]

There are many much cleverer people that I here who might be able to give you a view. I guess that solvers (well, I can certainly speak for myself anyway) much prefer well-disguised misprints because they make clue-solving tougher and more enjoyable. If the misprint is obvious then it's clunky and less fun to solve. If you can get meaningful surfaces in the clue pre- and post-misprint, you'll be very popular!

As you say, also - there are other ways of hiding text in puzzles.

[Hagen]

Agreed, clunky surfaces do rather give the game away. I've had to allow myself a wee bit of leeway in that respect in the puzzle I'm writing, because it's not aimed at Listener-level solvers and I haven't the freedom to use everything in Chambers. Still, I'm nearly there and I think both versions of the clues make some sort of sense (in a Dan Brownish sort of way perhaps). I can't help feeling t's a bit of cop-out to ignore surface sense in the corrected clues even if this means better disguising of the misprints, but it that's good enough for Lavatch and Azed, it should be good enough for me!