Tempted to keep it at Tod Dylan...

This is a little later than usual because I'm recovering from a rather impressive Thanksgiving feast. Americans know how to do gluttony and I'm more than willing to do my part. And here we go with Songspiel by Dysart, and remember what happened last week with seeing the theme almost straight away and then finding I couldn't finish the puzzle even with the thematic elements in place... well it may have happened again. Quick start, long struggle to a finish.

This appears to be my first puzzle by Dysart - I see in the Listener archives a 2006 puzzle I don't recall attempting. Edit: I had overlooked "Mercury's Whereabouts" earlier this year in which I got absolutely nowhere.

Down clues, misprints in letters in the definition, alternating sequence spelling out a musical piece (nice twist). Answers to be modified... well I guess it's time to work on that musical piece then.

Promising start - look for odd words... 1 down looks like SMOOCHING should be SMOOTHING - can't see the answer yet.
2 down, the wordplay looks like OIMLA or OIDIA, it turns out OIDIA is the plural of a disease of GRAPES
3 down, misprint looks pretty obvious - LESS relaxed, so TEN(=NET<=),SER Already, my set of misprints/original letters would be THE or CEA... so I know the pattern. I put little circles next to the down clues so I know where I'm looking for a letter to change 4 down - TAME looks like its ripe for the altering, not sure what the answer is 5 down - has to be SITTING SAT, making it TES,TEE 7 down - can't see it, but MIME looks awkward 8 down - the misprint looks like it should be "unstimulating to EAT", an anagram search turns up INSULSE And already we have THE TIME... which makes me think it's THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN' - it has the right number of letters, and the song addresses writers, critics, senators, congressmen, fathers and mothers - six groups! So I write the alternating misprints/in my circles. We've already had "lost time" this year so it seems reasonable that we should have some changed time - either the letter T or words meaning time.

So I charged through the down clues and then back to the acrosses and found I was on the right track - an easy place to see was 37 d (WAN,T - LACK) crossing with 37 across (TEENY). Changing the T to the clashing letter made both entries real words. I still had a real struggle to fill in the grid, I wasn't familiar with a lot of these words so it was multiple hunt and peck sessions through Chambers and Bradfords. I made a lot of this hard on mysef, without thinking I wrote in URINARY for 27, thinking that RARY would be a showy plant, where of course it was the much more straightforward ROSE making URINOSE.

The T's on the top row can resolve themselves into BOB DYLAN, and that left a grid with all real words and no Ts.

The last part... hmmm... that guy who needed the spellchecker SPENSERis in 26 across, so there's the writers taken care of. 39 down GOV is our senators and congressmen gone. ONASSIS is there at 14, I assume that's the mother. 19 or 18 could be our fathers, so I hope I'm right in saying there's no critic represented in the grid - my missing group.

I'm not 100% on that final step, so I might have to correct the tally in the comments, but for now I'm calling this a win for George - current tally George 22, Listener 21, current streak George 1.

I'll admit, I'm not much of a Bob Dylan fan... I can't find an online clip of Eric Bogle singing this song, but this guy with a guitar does a pretty decent job (needs help with his microphone levels).

Am I really this dense?

Phi has always stumped me, actually I think this is about the furthest I've gotten on a Phi puzzle, but I read the preamble, looked at the title and the date, and I thought this was going to be an absolute cakewalk.

Halloween is the main reason for anyone to live in the US, and I was hoping for a Halloween themed crossword either October 25 or November 1. And this looked like it - interruptions to the programme, the timing, this has got to be Orson Welles radio verson of H.G. Wells' "The War of The Worlds", and the modification is probably adding an E or subtracting an E. And there's the right number of characters in 11, 17, and 29 for "The War Of The Worlds" (maybe broken up or jumbled, since it says "broadcast" in the preamble). And a clue even jumped out at me - 38 is DOSE, and leave the E off and it will cross with 24 down, ASSO(R)TS, 33 down VET,O and that D is in the title of "The War of the Worlds".

So what went wrong...

I just have to get better at Phi/Sabre/Dipper/Mr Lemon wordplay... I can't wrap my head around a certain style of clue and this appears to be it. I can't for the life of me solve any of the "snippets" even once I've gotten a few checking letters (it just occurred to me that maybe the snippets are jumbles and meant to be entered so?).

Even with the few I've put in the grid here I'm not overly happy with AFFLICTS or FOLIO.

So Fie on you Phi! I'm hoping that I'm barking up completely the wrong tree, but I just have this sinking feeling I've worked out the theme and the clues have just left me in the dust. Victory to the Listener Crossword and the battle is tied!

Current tally: Listener 21, George 21. Current streak, Listener 2

Since I understand Phi is in New Zealand, let's see if we can spot him in a video clip from New Zealand's greatest band ever, Split Enz.

Duck duck goose, mine is cooked!

Warning: this is not correct - it's my grid before the "flight path" changing, which I couldn't work out.



My copy of Bradford's arrived last year in the same week that the solution was published to Tea Leaves' last Listener (Band on the Run), so it was one of the first puzzles that I started to get closer to a full grid on. I was looking forward to this, and although I'm really flummoxed by what had to happen at the end, I spent a lot of time having fun here.

OK - double clues, one goes in the grid in pencil (I'm not much of a pencil fan, i was going to do it in pen and then start a fresh one for the second part - though I think it probably means things are going to be erased and the final grid has some blank spaces). There's 38 whopping clues to be solved cold with the answers falling into five groups.

My approach was to solve as many as I could and see if I could get the first grid before moving on to these sets and a hidden message. I'm at my best with normal clues, normal entry (who isn't), so it only took me two sessions to come up with the grid before you. Once I started the grid - with the rather helpful starting point being 5 across (CEDAR, hidden and SET,UP) crossing 7 down (HAG,LET - and a bird fitting with the title, PLAN,E-T) giving only one option, I looked through the clues for the half that fit in the grid.

So, complete grid, and I think I know the five categories - I had found five games (four of which are card games- is CHESS a card game too?), five birds, seven containers, five colors (NANKEEN refers both to the cloth and a color), and four trees/plants.

The title seems to hint that the birds are going to be the group of ten (and two of the clues that I have left to solve have types of birds in them, probably the definitions). So if I eliminate CRANE from the first five extra answers, it looks like I can make NEW by taking the first letter of NANKEEN, then second letter of CEDAR, third letter of PAWPAW... and that's it.

Stuck!

Even knowing that I'm looking for birds, games, colors or trees, there's 12 I can't figure out...

Across
13: Plane might be indicating a tree... C-----
15: The second half of this clue is making my head hurt - I was thinking a game with a girl's name
27: Second half of clue again. Do I just have mental blanks on 10-letter words?
29: SOT/SOP in IOU makes nothing
30: Six letter French girl? Maybe the name of a game
33: There's a bird called a RURU that might fit here
34: I thought this was CRATE originally, but I already have seven containers
35: ----ISA = hollow?

my unknowns come in bunches, which is killing me on trying to find that message

Down
2: I can't wait to find out the answer, because that is an awesome surface... "smack heroin in poison"
6: Is this WHITE?
19: Kite is usually ELANET, it probably is here too but I can't see why
23: If this involved the name of a rugby plater I'm done for, the only two I know are Mel Meninga and Wally Lewis
25: completely stuck, can't even find a likely definition.

Tea Leaves, you have foiled me again! Victory Listener crossword and the race is ever so tight with just a few puzzles to go. Listener 21, George 20. Current streak, Listener 1.

I still think that this has something to do with erasing or moving the names of the birds (though I can't find CRANE in the grid), which made me think of the Peter Gabriel/Laurie Anderson collaboration "Excellent Birds/This is the Picture".



now to go find out what I did wrong...

George AND Signal Boxes AND solved NOT easily AND with a lot of fun along the way = 1

This is the third Ploy puzzle I've tried - I got about a half-filled grid on "Travelling Light" and absolutely nowhere on "Pater and Son" (from a time where I'd print out the puzzle and be too bogged down in preambles to get started anywhere). Five elements have associated points, each has to be set appropriately, four thematic words (are they also the elements?), two names, two topics.

After my last few failures, a big sigh of relief that clues are normal! Not only that, but my "please make the first across clue an starter clue so I can get into it" plea has been heard, so we have a straightforward alphabetisation in 1A - So That Electric Points Use Power.

I enjoued the clueuing - Ploy seems to have gone for long surfaces here, which I think is my style of clue (apologies to Pieman, and also to Charybdis from last week). Theres some juicy substitution clues - DELAWARE becoming DE LA MARE at 13 is very nice.

First hint of something up comes with 2D and 17AC. 17 has to be VIOL, and 2 has to be TABOO. Combine that with a memory from earlier this year that a SIRI is a betel and we have clashing Is and Os... which would go with the theme - it's ON(1) or OFF(0) if I'm not mistaken.

I was giving a friend a ride home and talking about my exploits with the crossword when it clicked... I told him about the 1/0 thing and said "I bet those two right next to each other have a B and an LE in them to make BOOLE". After dropping him off, I couldn't wait, I grabbed the crossword and saw it... TABOO|LEAFFALL and there's my fellow George! And looky - two columns along has PUTLOG|I|C and there's Boole's logic. I have an almost full grid, but working from the other end, there's CERCI|R|CUITTLE (I learned along the way from Chambers that those crazy Italians decided NOON should be at 3pm). So there's CIRCUIT, and two more columns in there's PASHA|N|NONIRON (thanks for throwing a chemist a bone by putting LIGNIN at 34). A bit of googling tells me there is such a thing as a SHANNON CIRCUIT. Thematic words done.

But there's still some clashes, and they're in the middle... hmmm....

It took me another two days to see what was going on... the clashes were every second column, and what twigged it for me was seeing NAND in the middle of SYNANDRIUM. And things fell into place... OR, NOT, AND, NAND and NOR are in between the clashing Os and Is. The whole thing is a logic puzzle! Here's how it works...

the 0 from BOOLE is operated on by OR to give 0, making the PUTLOG/SIRI clash 0.

That 0 and the 1 underneath (from CIAO) are operated on by NOT to give 1, setting the PEREIA/OATY (great clue there by the way)

Had to look forward here... there's an AND and a NAND coming up to give me the O in SHANNON. The only way to get 0 in NAND is to give it 1 and 1, so my AND has to be 1 and 1, setting the CIAO/ILIA clash as I, also setting the CAPITOL/INNERS and BLINI/OCREA clash as I.

The NOR has to give the 1 in CIRCUIT making the RORTY/NON-IRON clash 0.

Brings back memories of Mathematics I from University, and a great "ending" to the puzzle... I still had two to fill after all of this, I couldn't quite verify 45, my guess was from the wordplay and it was being used as a screen name so I guess it's right. I'm still calling this one a very fun victory. Good stuff, Ploy - this was well put-together and a lot of fun at the end.

Current tally: George 22, Listener 20 (still tight), Current streak: George 1.

Nothing to do with circuits, but I'm quite excited that Danielson are doing another show in Asheville. They're either the most Christian rock band ever or they're making fun of it all, but no matter what, their shows are hysterically good fun. If you want to know more, check out this clip, and yes, all those people are in the band and they do use acoustic instruments.

Empty, by George

No bars, strange numbers, clues in usual order, some misprints in definitions.

Why can I get absolutely nowhere on this crossword? I've stared at it for hours, I've looked up every single word in every single clue in Chambers and Bradfords. I've invented all sorts of misprints and looked them up. I've done everything but cheat...

I can't even get started on this one.

Let's possibly redeem something... we have to guess the name of the setter, so I'm going to presume it's a regular setter. You rarely see someone with more than one puzzle in a year, so let's eliminate all setters going back to October 2007. Probably someone who set last year...

Poat? Maybe... seems to like odd grids. Only set two puzzles in the last three years, so maybe not familiar enough to solvers to use as an identifiable setter.
Arachne? Also not that many crosswords.
Charybdis? Likely contender... set quite a few in the last year but none since "Wot No Lines" (which I couldn't finish, but liked).
Bandmaster? Maybe, but the Bandmaster puzzles I've done have had a lot of clues, and this has very few.
Kea? I hope not, because I really loved "Safe Cracking" and the one with the crazy slanty lines.

So I'm putting my money behind Charybdis, let's see if I can get anything about it.

I am so stuck...

Across...

1. Looks like it might be a misprint definition for "encouraging six", because otherwise wordplay would be hinting at VI,EN, (on?). VIENNESE wouldn't fit a misprint of "encouraging". So maybe EN------. Enticing? Could ON give me TICING?
7. Cut Flower... oh, maybe it's a Dipper puzzle? No idea.
8. Maybe a misprint giving "homelessness"? But can't think of a 4-letter word. American boast cut short for wordplay?
9. If "egg" is "ego" misspelled then I could have N-MO- and something like NO MORE as the miprints. The only word I can think for "operation for birth" is CAESARIAN which isn't 8 letters.
10. FINALLY! ARENA - N gives AREA and a misprinted R.
13. IN out of ORDINARY gives ORDARY which doesn't make any anagrams I can think of.
14. Wordplay looks like NINTH as a hidden word. Nothing that means NINTH seems to fit the definition or a misprint in the definition.
18. Could be long ball? S--- SAIR? SALP?
19. ST-----R? WAYFARER?
21. Anagram of WEST? STEW? WETS?
22. Misprint maybe for "they're trapped"? ORAL in SPAN?

Down
1. EDGAR!! Got one!
2. One of the five-letter muses? Maybe starting with N, that doesn't help
3. I--ICAL? Living woman?
4. A rugby term for error? Don't know any rugby. Wordplay not giving me anything.
5. No idea...
6. EME,US, and we have a misprint of U -bush birds. The grid shape seems to be suggesting this crosses with 1 across, which would mean enticing isn't right. It could go next to EDGAR, I guess.
11. LOSSIER (RISSOLE)*.
12. Making furniture in six letters? CHAIRY?
14. Could be misprint of shunted? -M---?
15. That's an odd surface, I'm sort of running low on inspiration now
16. C(H)ARDS, misprint of R for T in tummy
17. SOMA? That's a wild guess since it's appeared in a Times and a Jumbo lately.

So great... I'm only sure of 5 clues, and I can't really place any of them, but I think 1ac starts EN so I put in EDGAR. Might as well be an empty grid.

Off to check where I failed on this one, but we can stamp it FAIL

Victory Listener crossword and possibly Charybdis. The lead is almost eroded! Current tally Listener 20, George 21. Current streak, Listener 3!

All the Henrys I know except Clay, Matisse and Thoreau

First thing that struck me after printing off Listener 4002: A Process of Induction by Emkay was the grid. That's a very nice-looking grid, blank perimeter, criss-crossing of three long answers, the word in the middle meaning that it's pretty neatly blocked off into four quarters. I didn't weigh in on the discussion in the Crossword Club, but I have an aesthetic fondness for symmetric grids.

According to the Listener site, Emkay's last puzzle was in 2005, when I wasn't regularly attempting the Listener, and I don't recall that last puzzle, so here's a new setter for me.

The preamble suggests a plan of attack - the long answers are to be entered normally, as are any words that don't touch the perimeter. So let's start with those...

I "cheated" almost straight away... the definition for 15ac sounded like it should be ------SPHERIC... tropospheric isn't the right number of letters, nor is ionospheric or mesospheric. THERMOSPHERIC is, and I coudn't make it match the wordplay, but a search on ------SPHERIC on word wizards turned up CHROMOSPHERIC, which would fit the wordplay as R in C,Ho,Mo,S,P,H,Er,I,C (a degree in Inorganic Chemistry occasionally comes in handy). 35ac is an anagram - CAUTION,THREAT turning into AUTHENTICATOR, and 3D is HORSE,CHESTNUT. Thanks for the three starter clues, Emkay, we're off!

I'd like to stay I stuck with the game plan of filling in the normal entry clues, but since I got the first three I looked at, I decided to barge in and solve as many as I could, and when there were jumbles, write the letters on the side of the grid and eliminate checking letters. The clues were a mix of very tricky and pretty easy - here's my favorites...

6A - DR(ONG)OS(s) - cute little bird, and Australian term of insult
18A - ELD,EST
20A - CLEANER (anagram of LAWRENCE-W)
5D - ORRA - hidden reversed in wheelbARROw
23D - EELS - every fourth letter is a new one for me
31D (deva)STATE - the sort of clue I used to miss a lot, taking a small word away from a long word

After two sessions of solving, I had a pretty decent-looking grid, but still a lot of blanks across that centre, it looked like -O---H-E-R-. Putting that into Word Wizards (I relied a lot on Word Wizards for this one), suggested HOORAH HENRY, and this dropping was too big for a penny - the brick dropped. Are the perimeters Henrys? Look a the first one... FOR,D. We're on to something... if they're Henry's, that (9,two words) would be THE EIGHTH... E in HE in TIGHT,H (nice wordplay, Emkay). Further confirmation, anagram of virgin gives me IRVING.

I wrote down all the Henrys I knew... Clay, Matisse, Thoreau, Purcell, Mancini and tried to retrofit them into the perimeter clues. There's MANCI,NI, and PUR(e)CELL (and places to put them). A wikipedia and google search of Henrys gave me TH(I)E,R,RY as a soccer-playing Henry. That left me with two 4-letter Henry's to find. I thought the mild cheese one was C(LA)Y, but a google search of Cyprus cheese turned up HALLOUMI, and that Henry Hall was a 17th century poet. Finally putting in HENRY -O-D suggested Henry Wood (concert leader), so I presume the bird is a woodchuck without the chuck or something like that.

This was a lot of fun to solve! The Henrys were fun, and trickily clued, and I enjoyed doing the research to finish this off. There was a real sense of playfulness that resonated with me here. And I managed to get the theme and the answer pretty readily after some slogging.

Victory to George! Current tally - George 22, Listener 18. Current streak, George 2.

Finding Henry Theirry reminded me of an hysterical track by Cassetteboy on their most recent CD, "Carry On Breathing". Warning - while this is technically safe for work, you may not want to play it with sensitive ears present.



Until next week - comments welcome!

Amo = something you fire from a gun, Amat = something you sit on, Amamus = a pregnant rodent

"Normal" blog resumes, with 4000 stashed away for a snowy week. We have a crossword with an interesting shaped grid by Alban, a kind of a tribute crossword. It appears Alban's last puzzle was in 2002, and was all German words. the one before that was all French, before that more German.

So armed with that little bit of foreknowledge about Alban and the title, I think we're up against some Latin. The first across I could see the wordplay to (12ac - LUC(k),RUM) confirms this - Latin roots that appear with the words in Chambers.

My Latin is pretty terrible, so I turned to a friend who is a Classics professor for some assistance. She liked this crossword a lot (her mother does the Times).

The phrase QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM came to mind almost instantly when looking at 4,4,14.

Something bugged me a little here, after the first sitting I had the theme, the hidden phrase, and probably half of the grid filled in. It didn't seem all that important to fill in the rest of the grid, which meant poring through Latin dictionaries and emailing my Classics friend. There's probably some mistakes in the left-hand side of the grid.

Looking through Alban's previous puzzles, some of them sound truly inspired (a tribute to Douglas Adams!, and a cubic puzzle), hopefully a few will be in the new Listener book that may find its way to the US (or I'll cave and order it from the UK, might have to make it and Chambers a Christmas present to myself).

George 21, Listener 18. Streak: George 1.

I can't vote, but I'm caught up in the US election anyway. I live in one of these "swing states" that is being heavily canvassed, and on Sunday, James Taylor is coming to my little town to do a concert to support Barack Obama. I've got a ticket, James Talyor is a kind of a guilty pleasure, but whenever I think of him, I think of this



Vincent Price looks so happy in this clip.