Enigmatic Variations 840: Late by MynoT

I don’t know whether I feel relieved that the first two puzzles I’ve blogged have been so easy, or cheated out of a few hours entertainment. I know that the EV is generally easier than the Listener and Inquiisitor, but even so! And, it has to be said, MynoT puzzles have been quite tricky in the past. His last EV (number 823, Alchemy) was pretty tough, as was a recent Listener (number 3995, Past Times) with the French Revolutionary Calendar as its theme, a truly beautiful puzzle.

The clues were pretty straightforward, and most would have been at home in a 15-squared daily. Perhaps the editor is trying to be kind to novices with some easier puzzles.

A minimal preamble, requiring solvers to highlight eight examples of a LATE something by the LATE somebody, didn’t sound too difficult. I’m not normally one who goes through all the clues in order for a first pass, but for some reason that’s what I did this week. It took about 20 minutes and I solved about half the clues. At that point, HAY?? at 5A and S?MPH??? at 16D led to JOSEPH HAYDN across the top and eight of his symphonies to be identified in the grid. This was made even more easy, since the preamble stated that only one was unclued. I identified the clued ones very quickly due to my excellent knowledge of Haydn’s works and nimble fingers on the Google keyboard! The unclued one took a bit longer and was to be found in one of the NW-SE diagonals. What a SURPRISE. They appear to be the last eight named symphonies that Haydn composed, between 1785 and 1795, although he composed many other works before his death in 1809.

Solving time: just over an hour on the clues, and another 15 minutes looking through the entry for his symphonies on Wikipedia (a little easier on the eye than Groves online).

Legend:
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
blue for Haydn and his Symphonies