Listen With Others

A gentle well-constructed puzzle – thanks Aedites.

There was some tough vocab, of course, but with Chambers by my side that was fine.  I fell for the RHINE/RHEIN trap at 14ac initially, even with the big ‘hint of Cologne’.  And I had a less savoury alternative at 5d which I thankfully quickly discounted.

The added letter per clue meant that the Title of THE WATER BABIES – A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND BABY appeared fairly quickly.  The K of KINGSLEY on the leading diagonal helped me confirm DAK as Indian mail, which was new to me, as part of the wordplay for 10d’s KNEAD.

And if I had a pound for every time I forget and re-discover ENS as meaning existence (33a) … I’d have about seven pounds 🙂

Cheers,

Tim / Encota