Listen With Others

Whodunnit? offered a sushi train of delights. In the vanguard were the clues, ranging from the smoothly digestible (those for AIDE and DAYCARERS) to the distinctly crunchy (SITE, TEWHIT and OTTOS). I liked the way Mother Superior yielded THERMOS, and the well-hidden vowel change that led to SITE. And I’m relieved to see that AMARETTO is correct because I can’t parse it for the life of me. I’m sure someone can enlighten me.

Next appeared a lip-smacking jigsaw; luckily, the 9-long entries defined the structure, so construction was good fun and reasonably straightforward. This was followed by a sweet derivation of the message (which, having spotted 2 of the detectives, I’d guessed) and identification of the 4 detectives. Here I almost faltered; I was struggling to find the answer to “Piece removed from silk with special oils” (OTTOS) so almost stabbed at O’HARA for “About to eat the best part of tough roach”, before realising the entry had to begin with C. Now I have FROST, BACCHUS and TAGGART, so where is the 4th sleuth? WYCLIFFE of course! One of my first solutions, but not as I thought a Bible, but one of my favourite detectives!

I was delighted to see that replacing tecs with the corresponding actors’ names also resulted in real words; what a satisfying and enjoyable repast! Thank you Kruger, and please return sooner next time.