Am I the only one stuck on this one? Despite having the line of verse, the author, description and cold-solving about half the clues, I still don't 'get' the thematic nature of the deletions.
Anyone else in the same boat?
Hi Planks. The title gives a big clue. Look at the periodic table and match the symbols against what letters you have (or don't have) in the grid. You'll see a pattern.
The first 2 lines are in the 1943 edition. But if you have only some of the words you'll probably find it online. It's a poem from a famous group of poems. The group being the 4,6 of the 4,6,4 referred to in the preamble.
Thanks. I have the 1941 first ed. and the 1953 second. Is your "1943" a misprint for 1941 or 1953, or is there a 1943 I don't have? Mystery piled upon mystery. I have the final word, which sent me to Mr Lehrer, but he has a letter too many. Ah well.
Oh, and Cockie, don't worry too much about all that business in the preamble about pairing clues and so on. I didn't. The preamble was unnecessarily long and probably deterring quite a few potential solvers. All you have to do is to delete certain letters, whether the definition refers to the before or after will be clear anyway...
Mine is the 3rd impression (1943) of the 1941 edition. I suppose the quote might not be obvious. The part given by the deleted letters is 1,2,1,6,5,4,9,2,8
I understand the theme etc, but still finding a few clues intransigent.
I hope it is not spoiling over 24 hrs after publication if I say I have 5 busking and 8 nonsense but have no idea of the word play for 5 or much idea about 8 at all.