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!

[contendo]

Trawling through 1480 pages of Brewer looking for references to 1956 could take some time... Should I start at the front or the back?

[Mesnilpat]

Contendo, I can't answer your question directly, as my Brewer is in a box somewhere. I found that by looking at the grid - a connection suddenly became very clear, wiki then confirmed my hunch and clarified the rest.

[IainGrace]

Fallster, Brewer does help although the five letter head word there isn't what is required to complete the title.

[ziller]

I've not yet completed the grid so don't know what to search for in Brewers, but was wondering whether this site was any use? http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/

[Jogler]

Enjoyed the puzzle; agree with Tenflags on a possible typo in 39d. After finishing, spent a long time trying to satisfy curiosity and find the reference in Brewer's. Have to agree with Tenflags again over the preamble; I had fully understood it but failed to follow through properly. I can't find it in the link you put up Ziller.

[emcee]

Without giving anything away regarding the five letter word to be deduced, can I say ownership of Brewers is no way necessary. Once you have latched on to the correct word (from the internet, for example) you know that word couldn't have been anything else. So, if you have a number of possibilities for this word, you're probably on the wrong track!

By the way, 49ac was my least favourite clue as I thought the main part of the answer was quite poorly defined.

[perseverer]

ziller/jogler - the link takes you to the 1894 edition of Brewer's

[olichant]

Great fun - thanks to Colleague. Took me ages to complete the title and am now fully kicking myself.

[jumperjudy]

Well, after a slight muddle (If you are using wiki instead of Brewers I advise you to work from the tables not the text), I'm just about there. Thanks IainGrace for explaining some of the wordplay. However, I can currently think of at least three five letter words for the title, so clearly I have one last pdm to come.

[tenflags]

Jogler - having parsed the clue correctly there is no typo in the 39d clue.

[Lathamjeld]

Great puzzle (many thanks, Colleague) and a great pdm with 38d which I think is my favourite clue of the lot. Some nice easy ones and some much trickier word plays to decipher, but all fair and some more enjoyable pdms once the grid-fill was complete. 100% success rate so far for 2013 (I hope). Surely there's a tougher one next week...

[AHearer]

That was fun. I did like 39D. Until the theme leapt out at me when I looked properly at the full grid, I had fun on the web looking at possible rearrangements in 1956 that might have been relevant. As a result I look forward to future puzzles featuring West Galway Postal Services and the Reorganisation Commission for Pigs and Bacon.

[Scorpius]

This was pretty easy apart from a handful of clues. Like some others I don't understand the definition in 39 down nor some of the wordplay in 49. Being fussy, I thought the clue to 29 was cryptically inaccurate, but the clues to 35 across and 38 were terrific.
It wasn't hard to spot some features of the theme but couldn't find it in Brewers'. It's far easier to use the internet. The setter managed to pack a lot of thematic material into the grid. Enjoyable puzzle. I hardly gave any thought to the five-letter word; hope my choice is right - I can't see what else it could be.

[Philoctetes]

I am a fairly intelligent old cove. I have a full grid, and understand the theme. I have (eventually) found the relevant entry in my lovely new Brewers....and I can think of at least six possible five-letter words. Now, unless I am missing something in the rubric, which is always possible, my choice will depend on which way the wind is blowing on the day I send it in. Is this fair?

[olichant]

Philoctetes - I think the answer is unambiguous. For what it is worth, I originally had a number of possible options, but I was barking up the wrong tree (trees, even). I did kick myself when I saw the correct approach.

[Cloverjo]

Still struggling with the grid. Can anyone tell me if I have the correct letters for one of the across clues. I won't say which one to avoid giving too much away. Hopefully, you'll know what I mean.
D---eia-
Thank you.

[TheBear69]

I would say that one answer is clearly best; however I think it's somewhat unfair that others which are also thematic (in a different way) should be considered 'wrong'. I am willing to bet that when the stats for 2013 emerge 15 months for now, a lot of entries on this 'gentle' puzzle are going to be marked wrong because the 'wrong' 5-letter word was submitted.

[Anapice]

Yes clover-jo those letters are ok - think religion.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks, Anapice. Still can't get it though. Is it in BRB?

[jim360]

For consistency between the grid and the title it's surely unambiguous which of the five-letter words that are possible has to be the correct one. Others would be correct on their own but not in the context of the replacements implied by the grid.