Listen With Others

Another classy puzzle from Eclogue – and (famous last words) not too difficult a one, giving some welcome relief from some stinkets, not least in the Magpie.

The gimmicking was straightforward with just an extra letter from the wordplay spelling out a message. And the initial gridfill was equally straightforward, with ART filling the central square and making EARTH as the “longer word”.

The message tumbled out as REPLACE ALL PLANETS WITH THE NAME OF ONE OF THEIR SATELLITES, and Wikipedia to the rescue, I was able to find OBERON, HIMALIA, LARISSA and TETHYS. Actually I was glad to go back and notice the requirement for single letters only except in the centre otherwise my initial MIRANDA at 1a would have snookered me. (And I hadn’t known that Uranus’ planets were so Shakespearean: there’s a theme in there somewhere.)

That just left the penny to drop – just in time – that EARTH is of course a planet as well, and MOON replaces it nicely (and yes SNOD is in Chambers…). The meaning of the title still eludes me though, so my gloating may end in gloom. Gloom too that BOGLES became BOGIES when I inked in my grid. Ah well. It’s the intention that counts, even if JEG has to take a different line.

Congratulations to Eclogue (Eclipse and Logogriph) on another good one.