Oh boy did I make a bosh of last week's on many levels. One thing that I completely spaced on was the second ring from the middle having a letter in common on all three answers, so I shouldn't have been surprised that there were more overlapping letters than I though. OK, enough about that, on to Half a Ton by Llig.
This is the first Llig puzzle I've attempted, and looking at the archive it appears Llig favors music and Germans. It's a relief to see a normal looking grid after last week, we have symmetry, and something running around the outside, and a number of clues are connected to the perimeter.
It appears normal clue entry, making this a regular cryptic until I get to the outside. The clues were fun, I did notice in solving a lot of compound anagrams, maybe more in down clues, but I didn't count them.
Curious about what goes around the perimeter, I worked on the down clues first so I could have some of the top line...
1down - NAUSEA compound anagram of AS JENUFA with F and J
2 - WAS,PS
3 - ENCODE (odd clue, not sure I really understand the wordplay, is it E,D,E around COD?
4 - NAIRA - compound anagram of OCARINA with O,C
6 - CROSS,TOWN
7 - E-P,ROM
8 - DIDO (hidden)
-NWEN--C-ED-- entered into word wizards gave me ON WENLOCK EDGE and the theme was taken care of straight away - I read up on Ralph Vaughan Williams and his "cut out" approach to music, which was interesting (though I'm still not a fan), and see that the rest of the perimeter gave SERENADE TO MUSIC RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS.
Got the whole thing done in two fairly short sittings, but I think it helped a lot that I got the theme in quickly, was anticipating music or Germany and knew a little bit about old Rafe. Compound anagrams are one of my favorite type of clue, so I was a happy camper working them out.
And after last week, I'm back on track - victory to George! Current tally: George 19, Listener 15. Current streak, George 1.
Here is a "recording" of a part of "On Wenlock Edge" by the Perverts' Chorus
2 comments:
This was a delightful tribute to one of my favourite composers. Much on the tv about his 50th anniversary to enjoy too.
I think this was the easiest Listener of the year so far, and a delight to do. Also gave me some extra time to finish last weeks!
Many thanks to the setter for this one.
I didn't catch the anniversary connection, and it appears the real link was in words of the clues that were some of his pieces. I guess this becomes my easiest after the stupid mistakes I made in Tour De France.
Post a Comment