Listener 4037

[jabone]

As I've been told yet again by the Answerbank that I have not been on line recently (wrong) I will start this thread! This week's offering is S by Hedge-sparrow.

[bobbycollins]

Thanks midazolam and IntoTheBlue - the finish certainly did raise a smile.

[teuchter2]

I've now got the two across clues, but only 7 clashes so I guess I've got something wrong. I'm watching cricket now so will come back to it later. I agree with some of the comments about the clues in this one, but on the whole have enjoyed it, so will persevere!

[7lattens]

Have placed all the clashed correctly and highlighted the 6x3 letter sequence but boy oh boy the first letter of 7 down eludes me alongwith the last letter which is hidden - bitterness indeed

[turnerjmw]

7lattens, I have the third letter of the offending word hidden, as well as the fourth, so you would only have the second to help. But it should be enough if you have Bradford or a decent online list of synonyms.

[teuchter2]

7D finally came to me this morning, and I was able to find my missing clashes when I realised that I hadn't actually solved 16D. My offering is now in the post and I can concentrate on the cricket!

[7lattens]

Silly Moi - had the 3rd letter of 14A as a clash due to alternative spelling - 'all now very clear and completed

[Speravi]

I find 35a problematic. It's partly due to the "A", and partly to the "measure". I have an answer that incorporates the name of the symbol for a ratio, but although I concede a ratio measures, I'm not convinced that it can properly be described as a measure. Since the rest of the cluing seems to me to be perfectly fair and accurate, this niggle makes me wonder whether I'm on the wrong track altogether.

I hope this post is neither too elliptical to be incomprehensible, nor too circular to give the game away if my answer is correct.

[jabone]

Speravi the whole thing is a measure, second letter, which you've presumably got, is an abbreviation (not a common crossword use for this particular letter).

[Speravi]

Thanks, Jabone. I had the right answer (I think) for the wrong reason - not for the first time.

[Speravi]

A minute after clicking on "Submit", I see that I didn't have it at all - nothing to do with angular momentum.

[segue]

Thanks all for your posts; I'm having almost as much fun decrypting them as solving S, and as so often they are providing the extra clueing I need to get the job done. Just a few holes left, glad I'm not the only one struggling on 7D, 14A and a couple of others...

[Cruncher]

I enjoyed this one and the final denouement made me smile because I hadn't seen it coming. I wondered about the entry for the asterisked clues. I can't quite put my finger on it but just noticed that if you read the asterisked entries as two continuous vertical columns then, leaving aside the highlighted letters, the remaining letters read from top to bottom in reverse alphabetical order. Perhaps some kind of ascent/descent implied by that?

[golgonooza]

I know this is fairly late to ask with the deadline very near, but I have almost entirely done this puzzle, including all the final steps, but am stuck on I think three clashes - 43a and 16d. I don't have the full word for 43a and can't think what it could be, and I'm pretty sure there's a clash in 16d, but again the clue baffles me! Could anyone point me in the right direction?

[Mysterons]

Force = definition

leader of Tories = T

pamphlet = sheet

Row = oar

Kirkpatrick = K

vessel = definition

[golgonooza]

Thank you Mysterons, I had one final assault on those two clues last night and finally deciphered them, but thank you anyway. I enjoyed this Listener.