Listener Crossword No. 4898: Contrasting Directions by Demoniacal

Demoniacal is back. We were last required to eat “nothing but peas” in 4756 on the play Woyzeck. What fate lies in store for us this time?

The wordplay of 27 clues omits a letter of the answer. These letters are to be marked in the grid with a diagonal line whose orientation depends on whether the first letter of the clue is a vowel or a consonant. The first letters of the remaining clues spell out the source of the theme, which is revealed in the grid by thematically moving 8 letters.

Some welcome originality there, and at first glance the source message MOKSHAPATAM looked original as well; but a bit of help from Wiki showed that to the precursor to SNAKES AND LADDERS – accidentally not quite as original as it might have been for those who solved 4895. Every setter has been bitten by the thematic coincidence snake, and the general wisdom is – “not a problem”, so with a smile we crack on with the puzzle.

Obviously to find the message we were well into the clueing, which was well done and fair if occasionally novel and a tad demoniacal – and why shouldn’t it be. Wisdom again is that “something old, something new” (but not the rest of the rhyme) is a Good Thing. A few of the clues that required a bit more head-scratching than usual were:

33a: “Hibernian descendant of one’s fruit tree (5) for OLIVE, where the first four words clue O’ and “one’s” is I’VE (L was extra). Neat but tricky.

2d: “Northern European language, for Ed helpful about American parts (6)” which looked like it had to be DANISH which didn’t fit the word-play, until our eye slipped in Chambers to spot that DANISK was Spenser’s name for the language …

6d: “Short of take time; director turned in the morning miniature scene (78)” for DIORAMA depended on remembering that RECT. as well as R. can be an abbreviation for “director”

11d: “Vessel’s contents: without tea, served with cream purely (11)” turned out to be (v)ESSE(l) + CHANTI[A]LLY – CHA

Demoniacal wisely offered “alternatives following wine re-endorsements” (10a) at this boozy time of the year, but by the same token retains memembership of the Listener Oenophile Club, which offset the thoughts of an uncle eating gutted marmots (13a) or a bread supper in Boston (19a).

With all solved and all lines drawn it was clear that we had ladders made of parallel lines going SW to NE and snakes made of single lines, some changing direction. The letter just beyond the foot of a ladder displaced that just beyond the top, and vice versa for a snake – and the thematic title appeared. We just remembered to highlight before sealing the envelope….

Many thanks to Demoniacal for a very good second puzzle, and perhaps less than a gap 142 before the next one, though the Listener queue is now said to be over two years. We may have said it before but we’re not sure that is good for anyone, so will resurrect the idea of another book of Listener puzzles but this time of ones in the queue. You’d all buy it wouldn’t you?