Listener Crossword 4068: Solution Notes
364 263 by Xanthippe
Puzzle explanation
When using PREDICTIVE TEXT on a MOBILE PHONE, 2 is A, B or C, 3 is D, E or F, and so on. The decoded instruction in the preamble thus read: Join centres of consecutively numbered cells with curves and complete the shape using two straight lines. A three word slang phrase must be written under the grid. The decoded title gave “Dog and” which, with the drawn shape of a bone, should lead solvers to the rhyming slang for “phone”. Surprisingly, this phrase — currently used in a TV advert — is not in The Chambers Dictionary, but it is in The Oxford Dictionary of English.
Clue explanations
Conventions: * = anagram, < = reversal
| Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Across | |
| SADIST | SA’ + DIT about S |
| SEPTA | SETA about P |
| TIER | TIGER – G |
| APROPOS | OS after (A + PROP (Rugby)) |
| ERASE | ERAS’ + E(ditor) |
| REAM | RAM about E |
| COERCED | COED about (E + RC) |
| ENQUIRIES | E + (IN RISQUÉ) * |
| ERADICATE | (fin)E + C in RADIATE |
| COUPLET | L in COUPÉ + T (Model T car) |
| IDÉE | (DEEM – M) after I |
| RERAN | Hidden reversed |
| ALLAYED | A + LED about (LA + Y) |
| VARE | VAR(y) + (lac)E; see vara |
| TEXT | T + NEXT – N |
| ADONISE | (ASIDE + ON) * |
| Down | |
| STEREO | STEER, E to end + O’ |
| BAIRN | AIR in BN |
| IDEAL | I DEAL, as could be said by croupier |
| ESPECIALLY | PIECES * + ALLY |
| SHORE | S(upporting) + H OR E [H(id)E] |
| TOMCAT | TOM + CAT |
| EASTER | EATER about S’ |
| PREORDERED | “PRE” ORDERED = rep; see list of pre words in The Chambers Dictionary |
| SLUR | LUR after ’S |
| NOODLE | Two definitions and DOLE ON * |
| EINE | (Gr)EENI(sh) * |
| ÉCLAT | (ELATED – ED) about C |
| ERNES | ’RE < + NES(t) |
| PLEAT | P + LEAST – S |
| GROAN | GRAN with O (hole) in middle (heart) |
| SARIN | SPAR – P + IN |