I’m delighted to write the blog for Light Entertainment, whose theme alone propels it into
the Gelasticity Club*
It’s a brave act, taking on a show as fondly remembered as the Two
Ronnies, but G &T have more than done it justice with this thematically rich and
challenging puzzle.
A first pass through the clues gave me a mere handful of answers: OOLOGY (2 dn; Ugg
cried out to become egg), ORCHAT (19 ac; trees from frees jumped out at me), ALGA
26ac; a gift of a read-across) and EAU DE TOILETTE (39ac; thank goodness for
anagrams). I was hoping that none of these would be part of the “set of answers that must
be altered”. IGBO (43ac) and CHERRY BOUNCES (45ac) followed but at this point I had
solved neither 1ac nor 41ac; I guessed HUNKS for the latter, and the former – with letters
supplied by OOLOGY and the rest – was looking suspiciously like a couple of well-known
comedians. Meanwhile the across-corrections message was emerging: READ CENTRES
OF FORTY CLUES.
Really? Oh well, if needs must … IT’S GOODNIGHT FROM ME quickly emerged and the
theme was confirmed. Resisting the temptation to watch every available YouTube clip,
purely for the purposes of research of course, I turned my attention back to the down
clues, and simultaneously discovered an anagrammed BEESWAX and SPERM with an
instruction to MELT A TETRAD OF LUMINARIES: what else but the famous Four
Candles!
Mercifully, the options for the 7×4 block were limited, and since COMICS had leapt out at
me from COMBINATORICS, giving one of the horizontal bars, I deduced that the show’s
iconic bi-spectacular logo was required.
Tidying up I idly decided to count the clashes from CAPTAIN COOKER and THE TWO
RONNIES. Only 8!!! Check the vacated letters from the 7×4 grid: no, they give a full set of
letters for CORBETT BARKER and THE TWO RONNIES, so no clues there. Should I
force 38dn to be SERMP? But that would leave SERMS in the final grid – ugh! After a
couple of hours head-scratching I was put out of my misery when a fellow solver wrote to
say that the 9 clashes were a misprint, and there were only 8. Phew!
I’m not sure at what point the misprint occurred. Even if it originated with the setter(s), I
don’t believe it should reduce their chances of this excellent puzzle making the POTY
shortlist. If it occurred during editing, I believe Light Entertainment should be automatically
included, as quasi-compensation.
G &T have burst onto the stage with a humdinger; I hope the creation of the aptly-named
Light Entertainment didn’t entail burning the candle(s) at both ends.
I trust we will see them again before too long. Meanwhile, it’s goodnight from me …
Best wishes,
Gill
*reserved for puzzles that make me laugh, or at least smile. Solving Listeners should be
fun!