Listen With Others

Although this was Craft’s first Listener, there was a Magpie last Autumn. Here, across clue misprints would give us a reminder. I sometimes wonder whether I should give more thought to what the preamble might be telling me, especially if there’s a potentially topical theme in the air. Mind you, that probably wouldn’t have helped this week since I didn’t solve this one until the Monday after publication, by which time I no longer needed reminding.

Unlike some, I do enjoy misprints and here we had them only in the definitions of across clues. I was lucky to get off to a good start with 1ac, having solved a clue the day before that used GABON and that helped me get One residing in country, making wire basket (6) for GABION which needed a quick thumb through Chambers as I don’t think I’d come across it before. Bypassing 5ac (the relatively simple G + LAZING), I was helped at 11ac In wonderment, call after a Teletubby (6) by knowing (don’t ask me how) that one of those little creatures was called Po, and PORING went in the grid after confirming that ponderment was actually a word.

And so the grid gradually filled, with a mixture of straightforward and slightly tricky clues. Two favourites were 12ac Oz’s shooter for such wild cats (6) for OUNCES (misprint being shooter for shorter) and 8dn Aside from the bottom, wearing loose kimono for Craft’s part (8, three words), where I liked the use of from the bottom to give IN MY BOOK [BY< in KIMONO*].

After one pass through the clues, I had enough misprints identified to see that we were dealing with the clocks springing forward in March and falling back in October. Exact dates and times apply in other parts of the world, if indeed at all. It didn’t take long to fill in the four empty squares in 5dn to give GREENWICH MEAN, and then promptly erase it all to give BRITISH SUMMER. That was the springing forward bit, and highlighting LLAF in row 10 gave the falling back.

Finally, we had to complete the 6-letter unclued entries in the first and last columns. (Sorry that I forgot to include that aspect in the animation.) It turns out that a scientist named GEORGE HUDSON, born in Britain but moved to New Zealand in his teens, came up with the idea of moving time forward and back to help him with his etymological studies in the summer evenings after work. He was also awarded the HECTOR and the HUTTON medals, two New Zealand science awards.

I’m glad that Craft didn’t reference Daylight Savings Time which I always have a problem rationalising, although it is supposed to relate to more time for work and play in the evenings. I think Evening Lighter Time and Evening Darker Time would be far better!

Thanks for an enjoyable and informative puzzle, Craft.