Listener No 4224 How To ----- By Colleague

[Ruthrobin]

Another gentle grid fill to start off the year. We have just had the pdm and are happily checking the endgame in Brewer. Thank you, Colleague!

[sunny-dave]

Nice 'n' easy does it ... gentle, I agree, but very pleasant and a nice series of pdms - right up to the correct word for the title.

Thanks Colleague

[Anapice]

Cloverjo - Yes in BRB. As you have the first letter and three consecutive vowels a quick scan through should find it:-)

[Cloverjo]

Yes, got it, thanks Anapice.

[JackDeCrow]

Lot's of fun this one, with many clues that made for a chuckle, several of which have already been mentioned. Some of the short ones - 15, 38, 39d - among my favourites. I was a bit surprised that 29d didn't say "reduced resistance" rather than "no resistance", though. And, according to Wikipedia at least, there seems to be a bit of an American flavour to the original group - nothing wrong with that, I suppose, just found it a slightly surprising choice. Thanks Colleague - great fun.

[Staurologist]

Bravo, Colleague! Not by any means a new theme (there is, for example, an Echo in a 1999 Listener puzzle), but handled here in a novel and entertaining way. Interesting that the theme words that weren't hidden at all, or hardly, were more difficult to spot than those that were. Reminded me of Poe's short story "The Purloined Letter", in which the letter was hidden in the letter rack.

What with a recent Spectator and now this, it is clearly time to buy the latest (19th) edition of Brewer's, of which I have not been an assiduous collector. I have an undated copy of the 1894 edition, the 8th (revised) edition of 1963, the 2nd (revised) edition of the Centenary edition (1981), the 15th (1995), and the Millennium edition (the 16th, 1999). The answer has been there since at least the 15th edition, listed under a headword that the preamble hints at; however, I found the information more easily in the comprehensive Wiki entry.

[Whenland]

Took embarrassingly long to get the theme and final PDM here - I am very familiar with them both as I have to teach it for one of my hobbies. Doh!

[Cruncher]

Took me a while to figure out the theme and now know much more than I did a week ago about the reorganisation of Indian state boundaries. Have posted entry but can find no convincing wordplay for 15ac, 26ac and 49ac although grid entries seem pretty unambiguous. If any kind soul would like to email explanations I'd be grateful - [email protected]

[Cruncher]

Ok - thought to look up 49ac in the BRB so that falls into place now but the other two are still fixing me

[Cruncher]

= foxing

[em_and_em]

Well, I have a complete grid and what seems to be the 'obvious' 5-letter word, but nothing to confirm it is the correct 5-letter word; which leaves me worried...

[Cruncher]

Thanks for the explanations of 15ac. Had same idea on wordplay but thought it rather unconvincing.Oh well. Glad that there are some other solvers puzzling over 26ac

[Texasetes]

Cruncher - one word in the clue for 26 is particularly misleading.

[magichour]

Back on here after a break towards the end of 2012. Enjoyed this romp - the five letter word to complete the title was, for me, totally unambiguous in the context of the theme. Some tricky clues in the bottom centre section, but otherwise enough accessible ones to get going. Took me a while to get the theme but then plain sailing.

[crosswhit99]

Brewers really will confirm your title em_and_em, and don't forget it's available online now at Credo reference. Just add the appropriate boy's name to the URL:

http://www.credoreference.com/entry/brewerphrase/