Hi Carrots!

I was so glad to read your comment yesterday and know that it was only [!] transport problems [I was worried!] that kept you from us on Saturday – you were sorely missed!

Your second paragraph makes me very envious of what I missed during my day out – arranged before I realised the significance of the date [should have known better - but then look at last Saturday!]

And Sil, I’m glad we broadly agree: as I said, Collins [hush, say it softly, my personal favourite ] gives ‘arrange’.

And now, seriously, as Pepys said, …

The problem I had with Brendan`s spiffing puzzle today was to attempt it whilst glued to Tsonga trouncing Federer. This caused something of a cognitive overload and I woke up with strawberries and clotted cream smeared all over my shirt already soaked with Pierre Jouet. Maybe I was unduly distracted, but on more than one occasion (O.K.,…seven of them) I found myself guessing the answer and working backwards to parse the clue.

But, having cracked most of Brendan`s masterpiece (BRAHMS and BERG were my downfalls) I thought the least I could do was toast Murray on his way to the semi-finals…..

…and, you guessed it: GAME THEORY won and I`ve just woken up (again!)

Re 25ac: you have added to my chagrin over my failure on this one, which I know I would have got on another day! [But it's not so bad if it stumped you and your P-in-C, too' ] Scored’ can mean ‘composed the music for’, i.e. Elgar scored ‘Enigma Variations’ or [Collins] ‘arranged’ [music] which is, for me, a perfectly acceptable anagram indicator for IN GAME.

I can’t tell you how frustrated I am at not getting this, especially since I had met this anagram before, in a similar clue, and then not being able to find it. Usually, it’s a not too difficult task to look back through the site archive. In this instance, it throws up every single ‘Enigmatist’ puzzle plus all the ‘Enigmatic Variations’!! I haven’t had time today to trawl through anything else, so I must let it lie, I think. Grrrh!

“The AD for Dvorak was a bit sneaky, we thought, but it’s all right.”

Far better than ‘all right’, I think: I thought it was excellent – when I got there!

Last ones to go in the 4 short ones.
What a well worked out idea, GO[U]LD/BERG-BACH.
2d’s B stumped us (we liked ‘together with’ for ‘and’ – sometimes we like simple things).
I have hundreds of classical cd’s and a subscription to two classical music magazines, but I have never come across the 3B’s. But, Eileen, you must be right.

The AD for Dvorak was a bit sneaky, we thought, but it’s all right.
Re 5d and also 23ac, it is perhaps worth knowing that both Dvorak and Brahms made famous variations too. Dvorak wrote “Symphonic Variations”, while Brahms enriched the world with his “Variations on a theme of Haydn”.

We understood the ‘one finishing below’ bit of 3d, explained by Andrew, but were defeated by the ‘in game’ anagram in 25ac.
Of course, a very nice combination: ‘…. scored in game ….’.
Nobody seems to care about the anagram indicator here. It isn’t ‘for example?’, is it? Or am I missing something?

Clever puzzle.
We first thought that it would be a walkover (after starting with the two hiddens), but it was not. A four-setter that we won without understanding how we scored the final two points ….

Thanks Brendan!

Re ‘nerve’ v. tr. I have a feeling that I have heard the expression ‘nerve oneself for the struggle/task ahead’ (rather than the idea of nerving someone else. There is of course the more common opposite ‘unnerve’.

Arachne and MattD re science.

As a non-scientist in a majority scientific community, I agree very much that the 2 cultures problem is generally one of ignorance on the part of ‘arts/humanities’ people than on that of scientists (though there are of course some philistines about). This is not altogether surprising when ‘science’ is so technical and, often, mathematically based and scientists themselves live in society and culture.

At the same time to set a crossword on linguistics, or anthropology, or French medieval literature or post-structuralist philosophy does not seem a very good idea either compared with one on music or English literature where a wide range of people with different backgrounds can hope to participate.

More positively, I suppose a ‘scientific’ topic that is broad enough and topical enough to be more feasible might be ‘evolution’ but I have a feeling that may have been tried (I don’t have an archive to check).