Listen With Others

I copied out and posted Quads IV just as I was boarding my flight to Bogota, and was pleased to have completed a tricky Shark puzzle in the nick of time. However, looking back, I’m fairly sure I only drew half the goblet, and I definitely omitted the pentangle in the circle so I suspect it will have been in vain. It did say “four illustrations, each consisting of one or two lines tracing a thematic word and an item associated with it” – not sure how that translates into a pentangle, but never mind. Mystical tarot symbols are not my strong point!

I do remember being impressed by the construction and complexity of Quads IV. On my working copy I see I drew a smiley face against 6ac MINER (becoming MINOR) – Church ostracises saint (one whom Barbara patronised). Several weeks later, I recall that Barbara is the patron saints of miners but can’t for the life of me remember where the church comes into it!

21ac ENCASH – Realise seat without sides needs wood at the back – also appealed; what a great way of clueing “ENC”. 3dn ONE’S BAG – Recalling mouth without ordinary person’s taste – needed more time than I had available to figure out the wordplay. Indeed, I’d have liked to have longer to do Quads IV justice – you can’t hurry a good Shark puzzle.