Listener 4027: Command Performance by Centigram

[midazolam]

Centrigram gives us this weeks listener with a very nice denouement (better than squaring the circle last year)

Although the across anagrams makes it tougher than the clues actually are, there is a pleasing finish.

I know many do not like Listener's with anagrams, but sometimes they are necessary to make a more pleasing denouement, and I think this is a justifiable example.

[Patch49]

Do I need the 2008 Chambers for 1d?

[Clamzy]

No, it's in the previous edition.

[Philoctetes]

Got all the answers (though some wordplay is beyond me 10d 28d). But I am a tad worried by "so that all down entries are words..." Surely this is usually the case? Am I missing something?

[perseverer]

If you have the correct outcome at 25, then you will find all the down entries are still actual words

[perseverer]

10d Look up last three letters in Chambers
28d Words 4 to 7 ........!

[Philoctetes]

golly gee whiz - I had missed the final step. But when I got there, once more I laughed out loud. I LOVE these crosswords

[mad max]

I really enjoyed this one, probably because I have only completed 3 or 4 this year.

[Walterloo]

Moving slightly off on a tangent, if anyone is stuck puzzle-wise what to do between Listeners try this book: Double-Doku by Patrick Blindauer.
I like the odd Sudoku but I felt unchallenged by them of late until I got this. They're acrostics mixed with sudoku, with letters instead of numbers. You get clues without initial letters. Find the initials first to spell out an extra clue. Solve the clues. Transfer some letters into the grid to give you your starting grid. Solve the grid sudoku style and the answer to the extra clue is then to be found inside it.

I got mine from Play.com for a fiver. And I'm not looking at it right now when I should be working.

[Cruncher]

If anyone is still struggling to disentangle 5dn, the last word is an abbreviation indication. The rest should be clear. I've filled my grid but am stuck on the wordplay for 31dn. First three letters are obvious but can't see how to arrive at the last three. Help!

[robinruth]

Cruncher, just look up your last three letters in Chambers - it's a Scots legal term that exactly fits the definition.

[cluelessJoe]

I started this one less than enthusiastically and a couple of days late mainly because of the mention of jumbles in the preamble. On balance it was a nice puzzle with fair and sometimes generous clues and a pleasing finish ... but those jumbles are so unrewarding. I suspect that they sometimes become necessary in allowing a complex transformation in a grid to happen without the limitations of just the available words in our glorious language.
Sorry, but I am beginning to see puzzles with jumbles as just a cop-out - an easy way of making a clever idea happen without too much effort. We had a plethora of such last year - hope this is one of the few examples this year.
Yes, it was a very nice puzzle - but wouldn't it have been so much nicer filled with real words both down and across?

[MartianAlien]

cluelessJoe I think you are being a little unkind to Centigram.

I appreciate your preference for real words for both down and across answers, and shared your misgivings about jumbles in the preamble.

But the final denouement was delightful and the multiple unchecked letters in 1, 13, 40 and 45 across were cleverly unambiguous.

Some setters have provided a very high standard which we unfairly expect from them all.

[IntoTheBlue]

Many thanks robinruth & turnerjmw I 've just seen your replies concerning my wordplay queries. (I'm totally happy now... AUS course it was staring us in the face !!!)

IntoTheBlue

[ziller]

I'm with mad max on this one, for it's enjoyment. I normally only complete about 5 a year, but this is the 5th so far this year I've (almost) completed. This was about my level of difficulty and really enjoyed doing battle with it! But...

...the 2 isolated cells! I can see that the re-entered 25ac has a letter short (the bottom isolated cell, maybe?), and am I right in thinking the top isolated cell is an abbreviation of the title of the first five down answers' extra letters?

Ta!

[Mysterons]

Yes to the lower cell, no to the upper, which is his niece's initial.

[ziller]

Aah, thanks Mysterons - didn't spot that. It's the second letter of her name; very neat.

[JackDeCrow]

Must say I quite liked this one. Wasn't sure that the upper unchecked cell justified its lonely status in quite the same way as the lower one, but otherwise all quite satisying.
Midazolam - couldn't help noticing the time of your original entry. Have you rediscovered a way of accessing the listener on a Friday night?

[ziller]

JackDeCrow, The Listener is available from 1600hrs on Friday to subscribers to the Times crossword club.

The upper isolated cell is the second letter of the performer's name.

[JackDeCrow]

Thanks Ziller - didn't know that. Will join immediately!

[midazolam]

Yes JackDeCrow - as soon as the backdoor was shut I prescribed for friday night access. Actually, as I no longer by the paper on a Saturday I have saved money - The Times loses out not me (well apart from now buying the Independent for the Inquisitor now and again when I get time - for which I won a nice bottle of Champagne the other week with my first ever submission!)