Listen With Others

Lionheart seems to be a new Listener setter. We read his preamble without too much anxiety, noting that there were 42 clues and half of them would have one word changed according to a six-letter adjective ‘which also describes the thematic material’. The other half would contain an extra letter. Those, once removed, would describe four pairs of names.

Of course I read through the clues to establish Lionheart’s eligibility for the Listener Setters’ Oenophile Elite and he quickly earned his place. ‘Bier included in funeral expenses (3)’ We live on the Swiss border where Bier is provided at most events, so, without a second thought, I entered ALE and then the penny dropped with a clang, as two clues lower down, we saw ‘See livers retain bubbly (6)’. This bubbly was an anagram indicator for NERITA and, of course, in English, they live in the sea. Nothing to do with livers storing alcohol but with the beer and bubbly, Cheers, Lionheart!

This crossword was particularly suited to us. Covid has prevented us from visiting our German grandchildren but I compensated by revising some languages and German was the first – and here was a fine test. Half of the clues had a German word in them:

FAST = ALMOST, GRAB = GRAVE, BACH = STREAM, TAG = DAY, DICK = FAT, KIND = CHILD, MAN = ONE, HERD = STOVE (Yes I had to get the dictionary out to find where we were cooking our HOTPOT) BOOT = BOAT, NUN = NOW, MUTTER = MOTHER, BIER = BEER, SEE = SEA, DIE = THE, ROT = RED (yes, confirmation of Lionheart’s LSOE entry ticket) BRAND = FIRE, ALT = OLD, ELF = ELEVEN, GIFT = POISON, GUT = GOOD, and ER = HE. How well these words were disguised in the clues.

The other 21 clues spelled out for us THREE CROSS, ONE PARALLEL and we soon found ORESTES crossing PYLADES but we needed Chambers to tell us that GERMAN means ‘having the same parents or kin’ to make sense of the others that appeared after an Internet hunt. We remember how JANE EYRE avoided marriage and life as a missionary with her RIVERS relative but we hadn’t a clue about TOM CRUISE’s MAPOTHER origins or that there was an actor RIP TORN SPACEK. I’ve said it before, we usually learn something from a Listener crossword. Thank you, Lionheart.