EV 908 Tightens by Warbler

[kayakamina]

I thought this was one of the easier puzzles, and, as no
one has started a thread I wanted to offer my congratulations
to MLN;Rugby for his success with EV 905.

He is a stalwart of this site and thoroughly deserves it.

[dr b]

toalisi, as there are 23 misprints, that would be a lot of pointing! The misprints give an additional "work" to be added to the ones highlighted in the grid.

[toalisi]

Thank you.

I should have noted them as I was going along.For some reason I thought there were 8 ! Back to the drawing board.

[DocHH]

Dr b, I quite agree that is more than enough said! There are numerous other hints in the thread! Have been following your daughters blog, she seems to be really enjoying herself, good for her!

[AndrewG-S]

Thanks you are right on 28d.

toalisi, it is not really critical to get the missing letters to solve the puzzle - in fact I finished many of these off last. I would spend a little bit of time thinking about the title and looking in fairly standard places in the grid for names

[toalisi]

Thanks for that AndrewG-s

I should have thought about 'Tightens'!
I'll look at grid for names, as you did.

I appreciate your help as I am sensing that specific questions were not welcome on an EV thread.

[Jogler]

Hi Toalisi, many of the ev crowd (natterers and chatterers!) pop on to the thread to say hello - sometimes before they have started the crossword - and it is difficult not to let your eye stray if a specific question has been answered. We (and I say 'we' rather tentatively being a relative newcomer) tend to try and give hints in a convoluted manner so as not to give the game away, whilst also giving a bit of a hand when people are truly stuck. As the week goes on the clues become slightly less twisted! I am always a little disappointed if I haven't achieved the pdm mostly from my own brain power (but disappointment and me have a very good working relationship).

Good day everyone. We are in the great Metropolis this week and haven't had more than a passing look at the puzzle so far. Looking forward to getting down to it later.

[Jogler]

Oh, and before you all upbraid me on my grammar - I am trying to even out the number of times I is used wrongly instead of me.... it is extremely aggravating to disappointment and I...

[novalis]

Hi Jogler!

Hope you are enjoying your stay in the Big Wen.

Toalisi, one general hint which applies not always but on a regular basis - if something needs highlighting look diagonally for either part ( as in this case ) or all of it.

[DocHH]

Nicely put Jogler, the more obscure the better! Enjoy the Metropolis, even though I don't! Far too hectic!
Toalisi, Novalis has given good general advice, I'll add a little too. The Setters frequently use symmetry for unclued lights and also for lights that need to be highlighted. Sometimes this helps with solving awkward clues. Also, contiguous can mean diagonally touching, and not just laterally! Welcome to the world of Barred Crosswords!
Now that Jogler has called into question grammar, should that be highlit, hi-lit(in the modern idiom). Whatever, (definitely modern idiom)!
It is also de rigeur to indulge in a little friendly N&C! An indication of your tipple at the time is appreciated, along with holiday and/or travel arrangements, Restaurant recommendations etc!
The Founder/Initiator of the "EV N&C Wine Club" has been absent for a couple of weeks, I supect we all await DD's return with her news of the recent celebratory meal in the Metropolis!

[ringer]

Hi All, congrats to our winners and welcome to our newcomers. Apologies for not chatting recently - have been very busy (even more so than usual)! I've still managed to have a stab at EV thanks to the Chambers ap for my iphone - I would recommend this for anyone with an iphone, as it seems to be the complete BRB plus a search facility for solving crossword clues , eg ?ni?m??i? I enjoyed this week's - though it took me a while for light to dawn.

[devadolly]

Hello everyone and welcome to new members. Sorry to have been so inactive in the N & C'ing dept recently. Coping with the horror of realising one is old enough to be married for 30 years ...................... a darkened room was wished for, but instead decided to have a party! Only small as we were restricted to 30 (how appropriate) but a great time was had by all, especially as we opened our last bottle of Dow's 1970 to have with the cake - very tasty.
Managed to do EV 907 but still haven't the faintest idea of what the preamble meant and although have also got a letter in every square of 908 + the name of the blue-eyed boy, his counterpart of the misprints and one 3 worded work am now stumped.
Had an excellent time 'down yon' the Van Gogh exhibition was superb and I definately think he should have kept to pen and left the brush alone. Armed Man equally superb, well worth seeing especially with a choir of 300 and 6 percussionists!
Managed to miss the stabbing at Victoria although we heard all the sirens and wondered what was up, rather a wasted day Thursday as Himself woke up with an eye full of blood so a trip to Moorfields seemed to be the thing. Happily, it is nothing more than a burst small blood vessel which will clear up on its own but i think he should now wear a bag over his head so as not to frighten small children! Regards to all

[novalis]

Hi Devadolly!

Glad you and your husband had a great time celebrating your 30th anniversary.
As far as this week's offering is concerned, as you have the three word work you'll realise that one of the others is one word ( this loses its definite article ) and the others are two words each ( in both cases a preposition goes missing ). If you Google the blue-eyed boy you'll soon find what you need.

[copelander]

Congratulations DD on the 30th. I'm afraid, even more advanced than that, we were celebrating our daughter's 30th birthday the previous weekend. Oh dear, time just flies by!. Was your eventual choice of restaurant a good one? I do hope it was worthy of the fine port (which is always far too morish).

[devadolly]

Thank you copelander and novalis. Party here at home c, were going to The Forge for dinner but got invited to dine in the House by a friend which was very good (they always have the most deicious smoked salmon!) After the theatre we just popped into a Strada en route to the bus, excellent olivesand pizza. More Italian on Weds when we met friends and after a couple of bottles of some veryt pleasent Pinot Grigio blush fizz we just tottered off and chose a small place just off S/hampton Row, most enjoyable.
Have found all the appropriate grid entries thank you, some were completely new to me.
Off to sort out the freezers now for the return of the latest beef Basadaze X Friesian this time.

[copelander]

DevaD, when you say the House, do you mean the Palace of Westminster? If so, wow, how wonderful. Apart from smoked salmon what other delicious offerings did you have? Pinot Grigio blush fizz is never to be sneezed at....one I'm quite partial to !! Jogler, "Is" and "mes" are fairly easy to sort out if you take the 3rd person out of the sentence....eg Mary invited ( John and ) ? to the party.... Mary would invite me, not I to the party. Also, as the subject of the sentence (John and) ? invited Mary to the party. I would invite, not me.. Oh dear, I'm sure there are some much more qualified than I, reading this, who could explain it more clearly.Teachers, maybe.

[devadolly]

Got it in one copelander, they do a nice line in fodder and are very careful to source as much British as possible - yes I do ask!
As to the me/I difficulties I think that (generally) if one thinks I = we, and me = us. That is......... We went to - becomes 'Fred & I went to..........'. It was left up to us - becomes 'it was left up to Fred & me..............' Hope that helps.
By the way belated many congrats to MLN for his win, lovely to hear of N & C'ers getting picked.

[Jogler]

Thank you for the grammar expositions which were elegantly phrased and worth cutting out to keep:). Dd, I wish you could post it on the House of Commons / BBC website - the h-g becomes apoplectic when an MP is spouting away and ends his sentence with Gordon and I when he means Gordon and me. It has come to the stage whereby I am totally confused - but using the excuse that I am attempting to redress the balance! Glad your excursions were succesful, Dd. All sounds good fun. We are in the metrolopse atm, but my trips down here usually involve cleaning and vacuuming - where did I go wrong?

[AndrewG-S]

DD many congratulations on the Wedding anniversary. I hope you have left London by now as it is pouring with rain - just in time for Easter. Anyway me am off to the IOW now so hopefully it is better there.