Listener 3991

[cruciverbali]

Today's oasis in the rain is Flower Arranging by Dipper

[cluelessJoe]

Many thanks as usual C ... have a good weekend!

[mad max]

many thanks for link

[Rapparee]

Good evening, Cruciverbalist. Thank you once again for providing the Listener link.

Rapparee
18th Pluvi�se 2008

[Philoctetes]

Finished in a gentle canter. Though I do have a tad of a mental block when approaching puzzles with clues and solutions of the types we find here (not wishing to give too much away). Like when there are letter clashes, you do not get the support building up as you near the end.

[Cruncher]

A gentle enough walk in the park - or garden centre as we say in the metropolis. Admit to being slightly narked by crosswords where the wordplay leaves half the answer undefined. So have a completed grid but am one rose short of a bouquet for 11ac and 21ac and, beyond inspired guesswork, have no way of finishing them off. Anyone want to do some swaps?

[bobbycollins]

Not such a stroll for me. I found this hard going and felt that (combined with the method of entering the down solutions) the across clues didn't allow the dog to see enough of the rabbit.

Cruncher, I hadn't heard of the "cut" flower at 11, but found the answer via TEA. As for 21, I had a perfectly acceptable solution to the definition and wordplay, but the "cut" element didn't fit the theme. Afraid I had to go to TEA for that one as well. Doh, I could have submitted a correct entry without knowing 21!!!!

Having said all that, i rather enjoyed it.

[Cruncher]

Thanks Bobby Collins. As I have a non-PC Mac I can't get TEA, but Chambers Word Wizard, which is free, came up with both answers in a jiffy

[Deviant]

I found this straightforward enough, but I'm stumped on 25A, not helped by the fact you only have 1 letter for certain and 2 possibilities for another. This sort of "unching" is hopelessly inadequate.

[Cruncher]

25a - the wordplay for the grid entry is precisely defined by the clue. Should be easy enough from there to figure out the uncut version. If you have one letter for certain (presumably the third letter) then that might give you a hint to the wordplay

[copelander]

Thank you Cruncher for the Chambers Word Wizard hint. I'd never heard of it before but it certainly helped with the only one I was stuck on 22a - a term I'd never heard of before.

[Rapparee]

Indeed the Chambers Word Wizard is very good and I use it a lot. But for an even more powerful word cruncher take a look at this:

Things Cruciverbal

It even has a Playfair code breaker!

[Cruncher]

Gosh, Rapparee - awesome!

[Cruncher]

And anybody still looking for inspiration for last week's puzzle will find a helpful hint in this weekend's Books section of the Times - a few pages back from the Listener. Extraordinary coincidence or what

[cluelessJoe]

Yes, I noticed that too Cruncher - big coincidence .. I'm sure it must be, as that copy must be prepared well in advance of publication date.

I didn't like this week's puzzle too much. Half the fun evaporates when the theme is immediately guessable from the preamble and is confirmed after just one clue. I also generally dislike puzzles with a mass of jumbles which rendered the whole thing quite a thankless slog.

Rapparee - excellent link, thank you - I'm sure it's going to prove more than helpful one (or more) of these days - which have suddenly become less pluvious (.. just as well given my impending re-roof).

[midazolam]

Well because of moving house my internet is still down. So I have not been around for awhile.

Enjoyable with a lot of cold solving, and the theme was explained in the preamble before starting.

All answers and flowers are in Chambers except 28 across which I had to confirm my wordplay with google. both 11 and 21 across are in chambers, however the latter should not say 2 words!!!

Rapparee - I have been using things crucivebal for over a year now. Together with Chambers they are the only 2 resources I use. (Apart from the internet that is)

Lets see when I can get online for good......

[u10]

I've finished this crossword without too much trouble and found it OK but nothing spectacular. However, can anyone give me a clue to the definition (8 letters) for "frightened" in 35 across. I have entered the "Welshman" which is the wordplay but I cannot confirm this entry as I can't get this (non entry) definition.

[Rapparee]

U10

It is an old-fashioned word for frightened. In the present tense it has 6 letters. The modern equivalent uses only 5 of these letters.

[cruciverbali]

Yes, the 'obsolete' letter features in your name, and is presumably the reason for the eroteme.

To add another, dare we hope for a non-precipitative end to the week ?

C

[u10]

Thanks a lot for the help - I've got the word now and I am happy that all of my across entries have been confirmed. Still feel that the puzzle was a bit of a slog, but at least I didn't get led up the garden path with this one!!

[cruciverbali]

Postscript

In Dipper's defence, 21 Across can also be written as two separate words.