Listen With Others

I was away (again) for most of the week when I’d normally be solving Red Applause, but I took it with me and made good inroads despite finding it to be pretty tough. The endgame nearly defeated me though – I needed my other half to identify the exact game, which he did – phew! As soon as I read about this famous game I understood the clever title. I then had a quandary – how do I depict white pieces on a white background? I coloured the corners of the squares not taken up by the circles, left the circles white, explained to JEG what I’d done, and crossed my fingers …

I have one question though. 6ac reads “Mob [Lob] runs after terrier fae Linicro” giving SKYER. Runs = R, terrier from Linicro = SKYE, and SKYER = LOB, so no problem. But in my book, or rather in Ben Aaronovitch’s excellent “Rivers of London” series, a fae is a fairy-like creature, and the BRB has frae as from. Am I missing something?

Red Applause is a cleverly-depicted puzzle, and a fine debut from what appears to be a new setter – well done Crash, wherever you are!