Listener 4193 British Summer Time by Artix

Artix: there’s a murmur of pleasure as who will ever forget some of his masterpieces, especially his very first solo Listener crossword ‘One Shot at a Time’ when we constructed a golf course

– and remembered the attempted assassination of Roosevelt, or his imaginative crosswords as part of Rasputin and Botox – all memorable compilations with his cluing, which a fellow solver has just said to me is “Weird and Wonderful”. However, there’s a touch of anxiety too, as Artix doesn’t believe in using the first Chambers definition and his clues can be a real test of a solver’s skill. Take ‘At Perth, bouncer from fast bowler Brett – Australia right to follow on (5)’ We need to know that the all-time fast bowler was Australian Brett Lee, then unravel the ambiguity of which Perth (the Scottish one of course), to give us a ‘bouncer’ which is the fifth Chambers definition of a liar – LEEAR in Scots! Well that’s Artix isn’t it?

His clues range far and wide from the PIGALLE area of Paris, ‘The Parisian supports busy local girl in area of Moulin Rouge (7)’ to his local Geneva where we are given a generous clue to one of its rivers, the ARVE, ‘With source in Alps, river very close to Rhône (4)’

We have certainly never met those words of the preamble before: ‘Clue answers must be split into two parts of one to six letters each, with the first part entered somewhere in the numbered entry and the second in another entry’. We were also told that we were going to identify a singer and one of her songs (in the circled cells) and that the lyrics would describe the entry method.

It must have taken Artix weeks to make sure that every partial solution in his grid and every single scrap of a word and left-over letter was accounted for. I wore out a highlighter simply checking! DAME (Vera Lynn) for example, used the final D of RAMROD and the AME of ENTAME. We needed GERONIMO and PIGALLE to give us GEROPIGA and so on. (And the words! GEROPIGA, AMELCORN, SHAMALO, GIEREAGLES, LOWN. You won’t hear those at the dinner table and who wouldever think GEROPIGA could be a real word? (And indeed I should read the rubric more carefully – ‘a jumble of another answer’ [ARVE] not a jumble of another entry! Phew, that’s VERA tidied that up).

We will raise a glass though at the table. Artix, of course, retains his seat in the Oenophile Listener elite company with ‘Cycle by disused part of bar (5)’ Typical Artix: Chambers tells us it’s ‘An obsolete note equal to two (in ‘perfect’time three) breves (also longa; music)’.

The circled cells were invaluable as they broke the song’s title into three jumbles: MEET, AGAIN and WE’LL and, of course, tonight (or at two o’clock tomorrow) the clocks change to Summer Time, so we have a beautifully timed crossword and SUMMER was doing double duty too, as each entry was the SUM of its parts! (and, naturally, an Artix red herring – was I the only one to expect fish to be jumping?)

A friend who carefully recorded all the parts of clues that were meeting again has very kindly allowed me to use his clue list.

When: SOME SUNNY DAY

Singer: DAME VERA (Lynn)

Song: WE’LL MEET AGAIN

CAR/LITO -> CARking, soLITO

MAS/KING -> MAS, carKING

SO/SO -> torSO, SOlito

EARP/LUG -> EARP, LUGgage

RO/TAL -> ramROd, TALweg

D/AME -> ramroD, entAME

LEE/AR -> LEE, geARs

EN/AMEL -> ENtame, AMELcorn

SHA/MAN -> SHAmalo, MANgier

MALO/NEY -> shaMALO, NEY

PRE-EN/GAGE -> PREEN, lugGAGE

VAL/KYRIE -> VAL, KYRIElle

PA/LI -> PAanga, LImed

RAP/TOR -> RAP, TORso

WE/AN -> talWEg, paANga

G/ARDEN -> talweG, ARDEN

ROOTLE/T -> ROOTLE, enTame

OVER/SPREAD -> OVER, SPREADeagles

DEE/MED -> DEEre, liMED

RE/COUP -> deeRE. COUPlets

NEW/T -> NEWsier, ikaT

PERSON/ALIST -> statesPERSON, ALIST

SO/RN -> SOlon, amelcoRN

LON/GA -> soLON, paanGA

CRIS/PIN -> CRIStae, PIN

TAE/L -> crisTAE, rotL

RO/SIER -> ROtl, newSIER

T/IKA -> roTl, IKAt

GERO/NIMO -> GEROpiga, NIM Oil

PIGA/LLE -> geroPIGA, kyrieLLE

CO/AXIAL -> amelCOrn, AXIAL

GIER/EAGLES -> manGIER, spreadEAGLES

VA/LETS -> VArve, coupLETS

GE/STATES -> GEars, STATESperson

S/ETTLE -> gearS, nETTLE

A/RVE -> Alow, vaRVE

LOW/N -> aLOW, Nettle

WA/IL -> WAdi, nim oIL

DI/RAM -> waDI, RAMrod

What a fabulous construction. Thank you, Artix.