Ev - Sunday Telegraph Enigmatic Variations 1085 -Unreliable By Kcit

[Twit-Who]

Good afternoon EVers,

Well I have the completed grid along with altered 25a but I have not understood how the four clues work - I could have completed this with no clues to them, in fact I have done just that. Very unsatisfactory for me as I know it's not necessary to know but I hate loose ends. I'll think some more.

[novalis]

Hi Twit-Who,

Basically the four clues are in the wrong places and with word play only.

[Twit-Who]

So it is. What a shame that I could complete the puzzle without realising it - otherwise very enjoyable.

Thanks, Novalis.

[jim360]

Thanks go to Twit-Who for a very slight nudge in the right direction. Thank goodness you are more reliable than the 25s were!

[DocHH]

Hello Everyone,
Another gentle EV again this week, but enjoyable just the same. Like you Twit-Who, I populated the grid without reference to the 4 clues lacking the definition at 25. The penultimate sentence of the rubric lead me to look more carefully at the clues for the 4 undefined entries, and thus found why they were "unreliable"!

[kayakamina]

I agree with other EVers that this was a reasonably straightforward
puzzle & it didn't take too long to discern the common definition of the
4 clues.
It is probably an understatement though to identify them only as being
'unreliable'.

[dr b]

Just got back from San Antonio where I was able to complete most of this on the plane back. Had a few words to check in the BRB, and then confirm the WP-only clues. Nice puzzle, although I agree with k - I have had old cars that were unreliable, so the title is understated to say the least.

[Ruthrobin]

Hello to all the EV solving friends. You had probably all stopped reading when I joined the thread a week ago, but I did want to thank you for your very generous reception of my error with the artist's name last week. DrB and Jim360 spoke for me and pointed out that the ODQ was named as the work of reference (there is obviously a veto on setters joining in too early for fear of spoilers). There will be an apology with the solution and I'd like to repeat that this was not the fault of the new editor. This crossword (and my next few) were submitted before the previous editor sadly left us. Happy solving!

[devadolly]

Hello All. Have managed most of the grid (whilst waiting for customers to a yard sale, not bad at all, a reasonable donation to our local Hospice & RLNI) & have (I think) found the 4 but am now totally confused as to where to go now....................need sleep!

[Christiana]

Hello everyone - somewhat tardy doing this one due to beans of all sorts, plus the first apples arriving not to mention the wasps. (Most of which also applies to Devadolly, I suspect) I have several ground nesting wasp colonies in my borders and they are proving amazingly resilient to my efforts to remove them. I can't get near the plum trees for them.
Back to the EV - as others have said overall pretty straightforward. For my own satisfaction I sorted out which unreliable clues went with which answers, but, yes, grid completion didn't require it. I've got one clue remaining - 18d - but haven't really given it any time, as yet.

[novalis]

Hi Christiana, 18 down is a double meaning.

[Christiana]

Thanks Novalis - I now have an answer but not entirely happy with it. Would be happier if it said 'snipe' rather than 'sniper' but perhaps I'm on the wrong track

[novalis]

Apologies Christiana, I was looking at the wrong grid. Sniper is the definition and Chambers confirms the answer. The word play indicates the movement of a letter in a four letter synonym for army.

[Christiana]

Thanks again Novalis - immediately 'saw' it and went back to a word I'd considered and rejected earlier, as hadn't seen the 'army' connotation. Had looked in Chambers but they refer to a 'marksman' rather than a 'sniper', which put further doubt in my mind. All clear now.