Quadrivium by Dimitry, Viking, Arcturus & Trev

Vikram Seth raises a toast to the 4000th Listener crossword

Click on the title link above for the grid.

Waterstone's are helping us celebrate this milestone and the first four correct entries drawn will each receive a 4000 pence voucher. Write your name and contact details in the space provided and send to: Listener Crossword No 4000, 63 Green Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 6HE, to arrive by October 8.

The grid format was devised by Viking and filled by Dimitry. The setters are indebted to Kea for checking this puzzle and for his helpful comments and suggestions.

Chambers Dictionary (2003) is the primary reference.

Belligerent by Dimitry
In Plain Hunting, the simplest form of change ringing, each bell in the peal follows a regular zigzag path from beginning to end of the striking sequence. This can best be visualised as the successive swapping of pairs of bells. The first change swaps pairs in 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, etc, positions while the next change swaps bells in 2nd and 3rd, 4th and 5th, etc, positions. For instance, on four and on five bells:

The letters of each answer are to be treated as bells (eg, MAIDEN might appear as AMDINE, ADMNIE, DANMEI, etc). For an answer of N letters there are thus 2N possible permutations for entry; solvers must determine from cross-checking entries which of the changes is to be entered. A quotation can be read by taking, in clue order, the letter immediately following the first occurrence in each clue of the leading letter of its answer's entered form. The quotation gives a hint as to the unclued entries (4, 9, 27, 28, 29 (two words), 38, 53, 62 (two words)), which are of a kind.

TOP HALF (ACROSS)
15 Expire at the western end of great endless desert (4)
17 Water warming device in Baden-Baden always is turned on (9)
18 Thawing snow is so nearly all over island (5)
19 I'm avoiding animals when feeding - there's a large number on plain (5)
21 Holey material girl used to hide lower leg (7)
22 Camp with difficulty amid meadow-grass genus with cinquefoil (10)
23 Company provide for Scots item for their dining table (5)
26 I answer after having knocked back full-bodied spirit (5)
30 Ancient private land continually covered in Shorea robusta (7)
32 Bits off a reef cape river's swept over near the mouth (9, two words)
33 With a thin appearance cut of beef's not fine (4)
35 Start of academic row as new element initially links phosphorus and yttrium (6)
36 A pair of people live around the French town (7)
40 I and others kept in by teacher for being a bit slow up north (5)
41 Half lined up with the axis deer's hiding place (4)
43 Soda and lime might be poured into these good girls (7)
46 Constant and extreme dislike of upper-class French noble's house (7)
47 Bid to seize cocaine hauled on board (6)
48 Trap caught chum turning tail with a number having to be thrown back (7)
52 What was previously mentioned advisedly shows it (3)
59 Fixed a structure that's a bit hairy (4)
60 Device to stabilise plasma temperature has wooden surrounding distorted in the past (7)
64 At first like oribis, pukus employ a springing run (4)
66 Rye fungus, perhaps Ustilago, most severely reduced on further attempt (5)
67 Thus organisation of spies enrols left-wingers (10)
68 Girl's locked in during holidays for spiritual purity (8)
69 Branched structure went to ground correctly, it's reported (8)

Masterworks by Viking
Eight clues with no definition part lead to thematic answers, which are doubly adapted before entry. Each such answer is first replaced by an associated word, which is then encrypted by replacing A, B, ..., Z by the corresponding letters of a 26-letter thematic phrase, in which some letters occur more than once. Each non-thematic clue contains a misprint in its definition part; the correct letters, in clue order, spell out a similar thematic association.

BOTTOM HALF (ACROSS)
70 Look to plunder art (8, two words)
73 Like a buck, perhaps, or stag - lure for slaughter (8)
75 One crashing old car into matted reeds (10)
76 Group centred on Lenin's Third International follow German Engels, possibly (5)
77 German river firth (4)
78 Low luminance in the evening (9)
80 We like to make sure girl's present in school tests (7)
82 Defending king in quite the wrong way (4)
85 Members of team add ale naughtily (9)
86 Way to get money for a dower (3)
88 Power conductor making clatter (7)
89 Laud excellent working in Oxford's principal Institute (6)
91 People baptise with special rites observed at Wells (7)
94 Cash for towing motorists agreed outside (7)
97 Jade, could be right when set in ring (4)
98 Bringing back a lot of hemp, I'm skint, repeatedly (5)
99 Upright pole's about average length (7, two words)
101 I can produce tasty dosh; Irish look in envy, perhaps (7)
103 Skill not at first as fast (6, two words)
105 Will you need nothing for starters? Ask and it could be put together (4)
106 Irish lender - is every one following proper procedure? (9)
108 Defines distance - unit's around league (7)
110 Archaic dance brought back in Maine (11, two words)
112 Institute's stopping return of traditional type of crops? (6)
113 Hare around this island getting lost (6)
117 Repot root in earth base (5)
118 Surveying map, so ramblers can discover more spots (5)
119 Wife's into cooking pies with shape as cubes (10)
120 Used coop or pound to keep martens out of my area with poles (7)
121 Shift's facing target set by partners (5)
122 Strangeness detected after headless ghost glides (5)
123 Tent critically needing nice pitching in touring sites (9)
124 Democrat dropping out of race could be basis for coup (4)
125 Main line on the way back is blocked by a trunk (9)
126 Informal address on letter linked to house (7)

Submerse by Arcturus
Eight clue answers offer a clue to the grid entry.

LEFT HALF (DOWN)
1 West Africans having racket in fruit (9)
2 Funny emoticon introducing news of sexless procreation (11)
3 Summers, perhaps in Channel Islands, with an outer garment on (5)
4 Decline to consider appearing in Scottish list (9, three words)
5 Bargain without middle section is void (6)
16 Drunk baronets run and tango away in these jollifications (6)
17 Build dome and end unseemly wavering (12)
20 Pass around cold emergency room organs (7)
24 Slick ground outside yard entrance (12)
25 Each lieutenant following king - that is sincerity to John (7)
31 Scouts cast around for a keeper (6)
37 Useful word for The Globe's bouncers (to defend the theatre floor endlessly)? (7)
40 Castle's ghost is a duke in pale Scottish clothing (9, two words)
41 Disturbed slumber involving a cry of pain and meaningless words (9)
42 Other men tame larks as an alternative to a canary (12)
50 Turkish police force connection with Home Secretary (8)
51 I observe pride (10)
54 After time this artist reveals collection kept in bottom drawer (8)
61 Mexican dish and trifle eaten by dog (7)
65 Monks start to cheer youth (9)
71 Slices are suitable for children in French station (6)
72 Hole got bats over year's study of animal behaviour (8)
73 Penguins are not swimming in these creeks (4)
79 TV can and might broadcast a fight (11, two words)
84 Pub scuttles are found in more than one ingle (9)
95 One flies for a very long time (3)
100 Nightclub was called to notice (7, two words)
104 Drive around it without us - at a reasonable speed (6)
105 I had parting request for broad (6)
109 Handle tiles awkwardly (5)
112 Mind the sticky mass! (4)
114 Did exploit feature in omnibus edition? (4)
115 A thousand and one grams go north of the border (4)
116 Arrogance can be shown should these social gatherings involve bridge (4)
119 Man loses head in accident (3)

Get Ready! by Trev
The wordplay in each clue indicates the answer with an extra letter that is not entered in the grid. The extra letters, in clue order, provide part of a quotation together with its author and the work from which it comes. Eight clues lead to answers which must be modified accordingly for entry.

RIGHT HALF (DOWN)
6 Little girl represented Isles (4)
7 Throw out appeal by record company (4)
8 Manipulate harmonising with one missing (4)
9 Period when group's on top (5)
10 Bright girl born with spleen inverted (6)
11 Quietly, soldier takes tea round political organisation (7)
12 Mute orderly not in good health (6)
13 Approve a sign (4)
14 Fired officer abandoned by men (3)
18 It's colourful playing grunge with ease (9)
33 Bird losing weight in equal quantities (3)
34 Speaks about once getting finally wrecked - in this boat? (8)
39 Reed organ superior at first (5)
44 Eggs placed round about birds (6)
45 Big fish entering one by one (one lost) in resentful fashion (10)
49 Aquatic mammal, hiding in plant, gives birth (7)
55 Beamish promotion - I'd got round during noisy frolic (7)
56 Fairly young body will beat his (8)
57 Cut despicable person's head off (4)
58 Dry in garden? Line that will help (8, two words)
63 Wild 'orses gobbling up dishes? I'll handle them (9)
67 Support temperature control, perhaps, in plant's generator (8)
74 Incorporates further aggregate services (7)
81 The same one on the skin (4)
83 Has time to follow a young lady within (6)
86 Most truly so called sweets have green outside (7)
87 Sea-monster devouring capital character (7)
90 "A" grade to be amended or abolished (9)
92 Shape one depicts otherwise (7)
93 Connection in opening heart treatment (9)
96 Dispute unites companies (7)
102 In bed and in France, politician, one hard to remove (6)
106 This male's confused without a system of belief (6)
107 Not once having a pipe, but came close (6)
111 Actors go to bed without sign of hesitation (5)

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