EV 911 GLOW-WORM...... MMO

[tweaker]

Murder most fowl....

This looks rather interesting and fun. Maybe a murder mystery puzzle.....

[novalis]

Hi DocHH!

More than recouped my losses with various - mainly European - football bets over the weekend.

Dr B - Things are still looking gloomy on the air travel front but some airlines think the authorities are over-reacting.

As far as EV is concerned surely the clue for 40a should read "Encroach upon a 36" ( i.e. not 37 ) and 17 down helps by putting 3 rather than 4 in brackets.

[DocHH]

Hello Novalis,
Pleased to hear you recouped your losses, and I agree with you about 40a, but hadn't spotted the error in 17d's grid entry length indicator in brackets.

Strangely enough, despite all the stories about the ash cloud, down here on the South Coast, we have enjoyed several days of bright sunshine and clear blue skies. So I was somewhat surprised to see a thin layer of grey dust on my car on saturday.

[Christiana]

Good morning - faint but pursuing. Got most of it done but still have a chunk top left to deal with and puzzled by the reference to Diana in 9d, as pretty sure I have the answer.
Regarding misnumbered clues, there is also 45 across, which is 4 not 6.
I am happily spending time with good friends here on the Algarve - friends who should no longer be here but .... Currently there are five separate parties who either should have gone or should BE going within the next couple of days. The holiday apartment owned by two of my sons is being made much use of by displaced friends and I am getting lots of dinner invitations. Excellent - but neither good for the waistline or for the completion of the EV.

[MLN:RUGBY]

Christiana:
Re: 9 down - from the preamble "DNA" (in some form) needs extracting from EACH suspect's clue

[AndrewG-S]

I got stuck coming back from skiing but thankfully managed to track down an EV, which allowed me to kill a few hours on the train on the way back. An entertaining but not too challenging puzzle!

[Christiana]

Of course! Thanks MLN, had got so bogged down with solving the clues that I'd stopped considering the preamble (got 46, 47 across and 10d very early on and promptly forgot all about them and the rest of the preamble). In light of that I will look more closely at the top left of the puzzle, where all my blanks are.

[Christiana]

Now finished but going out soon, so will look for means and motive later.

[DocHH]

Hello Christiana,
Hopefully you have already had sufficient inspiration to have completed that North West corner, but if you haven't hopefully these hopefully obscure hints will help. 2d, the same could be said of all the across clues. 4d, excluding wine and the obvious mixer, what is Devadolly's alcoholic part of her tipple? 11a, the definition is not a nautical reference, more something done at a festive time of year!

Hope you are suitably esconched in your UK home now, surrounded by all the books needed to complete EV. If you are I'm afraid the House Warming Party Invitation got lost in the post!

[Christiana]

Thanks Doc HH but had already done NW corner. I've just come in and am about to look for the final piece of the puzzle - the means. I have the motive.

No invitation as I am not yet esconched in the U.K home - I only made a brief visit there to suss out what I needed to bring. My removal date is June 16th, but that's only when the furniture and effects go. I should arrive at some point in the following fortnight, all being well. Invitations may then follow!

[Christiana]

Oh dear, am heading for the DC. Have finished the puzzle and jumped through most of the hoops, but can't find Means (though I have motive) Does it start from the last letter of the murderer, the one directly below it, or the one to either side of it? Any clues, hints please. I can't believe I can't see it.

[dr b]

C: The last letter of the killer = the first letter of the means. Remember that the means and motive can go off in any direction as long as it's a diagonal move. There - I've given you a pointer, of sorts.

[novalis]

Hi Christiana!

Just to add to Dr. B's very helpful pointer -- You could try working backwads from the motive. Assuming you have the murderer think what is often said to be a woman's choice of murder "weapon".

[DocHH]

Christiana, apart from admiring your new avatar, will sort mine out tomorrow, until I clicked on the "compatability button" the "activate avatar" tick box was completely hidden. Got it now!

Novalis gave a hint that the grid length indicator at the end of the clue for 17d was 3 rather than the actual grid length. So that should give you a guidace on which direction to avert your attention! Also have a look at the wordplay for 34a!

We're off to Belek on 18th June, so by the time we get back you should be in the middle of unpacking all the removal crates, rearranging furniture for the third or fourth time and trying to get settled after all the upheaval. Hope you find sufficient glasses for all your EV friends! Fingers crossed that the neighbours are friendly!

[Christiana]

Light has dawned - thanks everyone for your help. Belek should be interesting, DocHH. Glasses are on my shopping list. Perhaps a crate of glasses as well as a crate of what goes in them would be a good idea to accommodate all my EV friends.

[ringer]

Hi All
It's apologies again from me for the lack of N&C although I have tried to read through the posts - usually well after EV's posting date! Most impressed with all your avatars, and have tried to put one of my own on - no guesses what it is - originality isn't one of my fortes! Many thanks for the hints about the means for the murderer - I had been looking at the completed grid for ages. Hope all of you are well.

[devadolly]

Hello everyone - if it is not too late to be checking the site.
Only opened the EV last night and woith the peace & quiet of Himself out carolling, Ginger Mog and I managed to complete the grid in record time apart from 40a, as you can imagine, it is only the first letter missing...............................but! As to the preamble, I have all the names, places and Plod but I'll be blowed if I can track down MMO or murderer, despite all clonking great hints.

PS what are all the little pictures? What is an avatar?????????????????

[AndrewG-S]

An avatar is your computer persona (at least for these purposes), if you go into "My Profile" and tick the box then with a bit of fiddling around you can add a picture.

On the MMO which is more interesting, look at the name you have at the bottom of the grid, one letter of this should be one of the unclued extra letters which gives you the end point for the motive. If you have a guess at the most obvious motive and track back you should get it (a 7 letter word). Once you have that I think the hints above should give you the means (which is slightly more tricky).

Hope this helps!!

[DocHH]

Hello Devadolly,
The first letter of 40a is unclued, and you probably realise that 37d also has an unclued letter. I found the easies way to find MM is to first highlight the squares with the unclued letters and find a pathe through them.

As for the avatars, have a look at

http://www.theanswerb...g/Question886145.html

If you cannot find the box to tick next to the sentance "your avatar is inactive", which I couldn't at first try clicking the compatibility button between the address bar and the refresh button at the top of IE, assuming you're using IE.

[devadolly]

Thank you DocHH & Andrew G-S, will have a look later, my fuse is very short at the moment and I am fast losing the will to live as have spent all day trying to convince certain idiot Govt and Council agencies that we should not have a movement order put on us because we have not complied with TB testing of our milk herd..........................we haven't had a milking herd for almost 18 months and all parties were advised at the time, not only by us, but by our vets too. I have informed them all that if they would like to come down and discover this herd for us, we would be delighted, we could just sell them all over again!

As to the avatar, thank you again for the info, did all the clicking etc but when it comes to downloading non-essential things from the internet....just don't do it, get enough junk as it is. When I am able to insert a pic of the Ginger Mog maybe I will.