Listen With Others

Llig has clocked up an impressive 21 Listeners before this one since a debut in 1983, though it’s nearly 5 years since the last one appeared. Welcome back!

I was a bit thick on spotting the theme this time. Something musical seemed to be indicated by the title (and lots of references in the clues) and “mute” brought “swan” to mind – but at the back of my mind, so I didn’t make the quick jump to Schubert’s Swan Songs, which would have saved a lot of time!

Not that this was a difficult puzzle though. No walkover, but fair clues, quite a lot of anagrams in generating the extra letters, and a susupiciously familiar name emerging quite quickly from the downs. Once I was sure of that, it was simple to look up the song cycle, identify the Heine songs, and pencil them into the grid, and then to complete the allocation of the “perpetrators”’s names to the remaining clues.

We’re in relaxation mode after returning from our holidays so thankyou to Llig for a happy solve. Favourite clue? As a medievalist I had to smile at 18d “Ditch ruler of Florida (4)”. I dare say Offa would have liked to include Florida in his burgeoning kingdom but alas the ditch only got as far as Wales.

P.S. My name came out of the hat! And the Big Red Book has just been reprinted so I’ll be able to update the old(er) one on my shelf. If anyone passing my way wants to pick up a 12th edition they’d be very welcome.