Spectator N0 2657 - Out The Back By...
Crosswords2 mins ago
Listener 4042: How to Put On a Little Weight by Charybdis
55 Answers
A while since Charybdis' last Listener (The difficult "Wot no Lines?" in 2007)
The grid fill here is much easier, and the quotation was got only after 12 entries. We are left with an ambiguity that raises the question: how many happier discoveries are we meant to highlight? The last cell of the first discovery (5 letters) has 2 intersecting happier discoveries.
Also, the second happier discovery I would say is not strictly a happier discovery.
I was hoping that something was going to be done with the "large" central cell, sadly no.
The grid fill here is much easier, and the quotation was got only after 12 entries. We are left with an ambiguity that raises the question: how many happier discoveries are we meant to highlight? The last cell of the first discovery (5 letters) has 2 intersecting happier discoveries.
Also, the second happier discovery I would say is not strictly a happier discovery.
I was hoping that something was going to be done with the "large" central cell, sadly no.
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I thought this was quite a sweet little puzzle, but like midazolam I found the highlighting a little unsatisfactory. As midazolam points out, there is an ambiguity of number (which I decided on the basis of consistency), and I agree that it would have been nicer if all the happier discoveries had been of the sort alluded to by the quotation. Mine were four in number, but directed differently from fancydan's.
Contradicting all my comments about you speedy solvers (the 'crossword bingers' Philoctetes - some of us live overseas and don't have almost two weeks before the final mailing date!), I completed this one last night and thought it very encouraging for us newer solvers.
However, I was similarly puzzled about the things to highlight - dismissed the extra intersecting happier discovery (that already appeared in a solution) but for a different reason - felt it did not strictly adhere to the 'definition' of the quotation - leaving four, two and two to contain them.
Failed again - aren't you glad the 'Old hacks' are willing to spare a few minutes to help us? If you are one of them yourself, why do you come? And if they annoy you, you can always stay away.
However, I was similarly puzzled about the things to highlight - dismissed the extra intersecting happier discovery (that already appeared in a solution) but for a different reason - felt it did not strictly adhere to the 'definition' of the quotation - leaving four, two and two to contain them.
Failed again - aren't you glad the 'Old hacks' are willing to spare a few minutes to help us? If you are one of them yourself, why do you come? And if they annoy you, you can always stay away.
Without wishing to seem like a binger...(and it wasn't so much the speed of solution, Robinruth, it was the asking for hints so early).
Here i am, first weekend without commitments for ages, so I sit down, as usual, and start by pencilling in the bits that come to mind. And a couple of hours later all done, with only a couple of dips into Chambers. I shall have no option but to clip the hedge...unless I practice my piano again.
Here i am, first weekend without commitments for ages, so I sit down, as usual, and start by pencilling in the bits that come to mind. And a couple of hours later all done, with only a couple of dips into Chambers. I shall have no option but to clip the hedge...unless I practice my piano again.
Well, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Not being in the top drawer of solvers any ambguity must have gone over the top of my head! I just assumed that the happier discoveries were all strictly thematic, albeit in two different ways. Sounds garbled but I can't be more precise without giving too much away.
Best wishes to all
bc
Not being in the top drawer of solvers any ambguity must have gone over the top of my head! I just assumed that the happier discoveries were all strictly thematic, albeit in two different ways. Sounds garbled but I can't be more precise without giving too much away.
Best wishes to all
bc
I don't believe there is ambiguity as only one of the two possible discoveries follows the same pattern as the others (i.e. the same alteration of which the addition of 'a little weight' is an example).
also, given the constraints therefore involved, I think it's a great effort to have delivered four items at all so I don't feel let down by the denoument. When you consider the very few choices available, I think it's pretty stunning.
also, given the constraints therefore involved, I think it's a great effort to have delivered four items at all so I don't feel let down by the denoument. When you consider the very few choices available, I think it's pretty stunning.
A puzzle firmly rooted in the 'nice' category. Gentle and fair clues, something to encourage the less experienced solver, enough to amuse the old-stagers - but maybe not for long enough? Okay, so the quotation was easily and quickly found, and it's maybe a shame that this immediately filled another couple of entries with the associated name. But let's face it, there was some elegant work going on here, not least the very clever interplay between the two key words (before and after adding weight) within the context of the quotation itself. Well spotted, and well done, Charybdis ... and you even found favour with the ironing fraternity!
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