Listener Crossword 4014: Without Bars by Elgin

[midazolam]

Hope everyone had a nice Xmas. Here is the link for Elgin's Listener Crossword. Last of a very enjoyable cruciverbal year from the Listener team

[Clamzy]

Hi cluelessjoe
It sounds like you're nearly there. I think the 4 gaps you have must be in the 'special' entries at 5, 14, 31 and 38. When completed these are no longer jumbled but spell out a verse which gives you a clue to the blank column.
Let me know if you need more and Happy new year.

[Mysterons]

Another very clever puzzle from Elgin, but does anyone else recall the use of the JAYNR device in a previous seasonal cryptic, maybe a year or two ago ?

[cluelessJoe]

Hello Clamzy - many thanks for your help - I've been kind of looking for a tie in to a famous Christmas book but it's still not exactly falling into place. Bah Humbug! ... and then Mysterons turns up with a weird acronym which I've never seen before - what on earth is JAYNR?

[Clamzy]

I'm afraid I don't recall the JAYNR device although I have been doing the Listener for some 15 years.
It's not a Christmas theme cluelessjoe although it is religious (a hymn). The empty column is filled upwards.
Hope this helps.

[MartianAlien]

Yes, Clamzy, but how or what are the instructions that cause this final column fill? Does it involve clue 7? My grid is full (except final column, and I have guessed what it should contain) but cannot see any instructions.

[perseverer]

MartianAlien, again true to my name it has taken me to today to figure this all out, with help from some of the posts on here. From your answers to the special clues, track down the hymn and see what comes next.

[Clamzy]

No, MartianAlien there are no specific instructions about filling the empty column. The 4 special clues give you part of a verse, which leads you to the required answer. Clue 7 plays no part. You will have some letters in the column if you extend clues 10,13,15,22 etc., with the only possible letters which make a proper word.
Good luck

[cluelessJoe]

Hi Clamzy - just a word of thanks .. I tripped up on just a couple of Listeners this year, and this one threw me too, so thanks for letting me know where I fell short.
On the mention of chains, I got totally hooked up on Marley's ghost which is where I completely missed the other link ... thanks for steering me in the right direction.
Can't say I'm totally enamoured with the puzzle as a whole, but maybe I'm just a bit miffed that that final step eluded me!
Thanks again for your encouragement, and a happy New Year to you and all regular contributors.
Cheers, cJ

[MartianAlien]

Well thanks folks.
It seems I completed the puzzle some days ago, but I still do not understand the preamble about first and second subsequent actions, etc.
However, I did like the hint to the 7 unclued entries!

[cruciverbali]

Mysterons is quite correct - the JAYNR device was used by Columba in last Christmas's Spectator Special to celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of CW (18.12.07). The puzzle included the relevant lines from the hymn, along with 9 suitably orientated locations, none of which appear in Elgin's puzzle.

Celebration by Columba

[Sarrie]

Please will someone state what a Jaynr device is.

[perseverer]

Another very slow penny drop for me. JAYNR are the first letters of the words of the phrase that let us figure out the unclued entries.

[Mysterons]

Many thanks C, I knew I'd seen this Christmas theme recently, so I should have guessed it was 12 months ago ! Perhaps it's a shame that the interval between the 2 puzzles wasn't greater, though I can see that Elgin has been careful to avoid duplicating any of the places.

[lordbadger]

Sarrie .. join the triumph of the skies ..

[Sarrie]

Joyfully it came to me that same night although I question whether it is a device as such. Thanks anyway.
4014 finished but not fully understood .