listener 4145

[bobbycollins]

I posted a perfectly polite notice on the Times website creating a discussion about this week's puzzle - along the lines of:

"I am getting a bit fed up with the preponderance of cartes blanches, this one doesn't even have clue lengths. At least last week's was relatively straightforward"

Philoctetes posted in agreement. To my amazement both posts have been deleted. It's not like I tapped their phone or anything!! I feel like I am in a Police State.

[dr b]

So: no bars, no clue lengths, random misprints, empty spaces in the grid, and clues presented in random order? - am I wrong in thinking all the clues need to be cold solved before you can start on the grid fill? I think my reaction is "see you all next week."

bobbyc, studies have shown that criticizing puzzles is a gateway to phone tapping.

[GillyGee]

Seems the Times has the same scant regard to its readers as the NOTW.....

[ichkeria]

No discussions on the Times website about current Listener puzzles. What did you expect for heaven's sake.
Discuss all we like here, but not there.
They shouldn't provide the facility in the first place but i guess the software isn't clever enough to discriminate ...

[Philoctetes]

I thought we were both quite gentlemanly! And, if there is no discussion allowed (which, unless it is of the "wow, what a terrific puzzle" variety, will contain some criticism) what is the point of that facility?
That said, I shall settle down and blunder my way through and probably enjoy it. I just hope I am not now on a blacklist somewhere!

[starwalker]

Strangely, I posted a reply earlier to this thread which seems to have vanished.
So, I will repeat roughly. In ten years of Listener solving, I have never seen so many carte blanche puzzles in so short a time. One assumes that the editors have a reason, but it's a mystery to me at the moment - as is this puzzle.

[Coalminers]

Goodness, this is hard. A very long way to go. I see the timing is very significant again.

[Zabadak]

Can't see a way into this one, unless I can stumble across the theme somehow - I have some tentative letters particularly towards the end.
Are the clues really in random order? Is there some significance in the rather odd phrase "to make clear the divisions between individual clues"? Is it possible to cold solve (with any confidence) clues with random definition misprints and no indication of length?
No doubt it's all terribly clever, but it's desperately hard to get any kind of foothold. Too many variables and unknowns for my liking: the only clear thing we have is a 15x15 (!) grid. Or is that one 5x15 grid and one 10x15 grid?
Thanks for kicking things off, BC.

[cluelessJoe]

starwalker, I guess in these hard times, it's cheaper for them to print the grid without those numbers and extra thick splodgy bars. I took one look and decided it could wait for a while - it's not just here bc .. I spent a while earlier trying to crack (yet) another carte blanche in Magpie and just could not stomach another one today.

[midazolam]

With only 10 clues left to cold solve, I still cannot insert an answer into the grid. Getting the thematic creator does not aid in the process at this point. Perhaps the morning may improve the situation.

cJ, the carte blanche in The Magpie is easier than this one and that is a D grade

[tenflags]

Well good job I started this one early for me... even though I have the creator and some.. it is clearly going to be a long slog .. busy weekend not going to help. Time for a cuppa and watch some golf methinks.

[TheBear69]

Phew! Definitely among the hardest Listeners in my memory, but I managed to finish. I don't have access to ODE, so I cannot confirm 32. I think a couple of other clues really pushed the bounds of fairness, but I think I understand them.

Two cartes blanches in a row is a bit much...

[midazolam]

Phew indeed Thebear69. This was a feat of cold solving as the pattern of the grid is obscure. That's 2 tough carte blanche puzzles from Phi this year, both with obscure patterns. I preferred your first, but a good challenge nevertheless.

[midazolam]

...if fact the one before these 2 was the 50-50 carte blanche, also tough and unusual. Are you becoming the carte blanche king with a twist?

[tristram37]

I looked at the grid and preamble and my heart sank. Not another carte blanche? That's poor editing, in my view, to have two in succession. And would it really have hurt to say at least how many clues have misprints, rather than the vague "some"? It seems to me that that was done purely to make it more difficult and methinks it's difficult enough already. Dimitry once produced a puzzle with no grid at all, but this one looks likely to be almost as obscure.

[Ruthrobin]

Actually I am beginning to quite enjoy the challenge of the carte-blanches! Let's have nothing else for the rest of the year. Well, I thought someone had to lighten the tone :) Got the theme fairly quickly with only a handful of solutions last night, and I am now chipping away at the final clues with some idea of a grid fill but a fair way to go.

[Deviant]

I've posted before about my dislike of carte blanches. The current run is stretching my patience to snapping point.

Having done the Listener for 10 years or so, you notice styles taking over for a while before dying back again - e.g. the extra letter or the extra word. It seems to me that compilers seem to have run out of ideas for ways of showing themes except for carte blanches & that's why wee are getting so many.

If I finish this week's - I haven't looked at it yet - I shall put a strongly worded note in with the entry.

[pushmi-pullyu]

The only thing I dread more than cartes blanches is Playfair encoding. At least we've been spared those for a while. Got a handful of answers and absolutely no idea where I'm headed. Actually headed doesn't describe what I am at all.

[Ruthrobin]

Please believe me, once you suss out the theme and start filling a grid, this is a wonderfully satisfying crossword. The end is magic.

[starwalker]

Ruthrobin- did you once sell me a car ?

[poorsolver]

It's down to setters submitting. A few years back there was a preponderance of Playfair puzzles all at the same time, misprints seem to be making a bit of a comeback at the moment with "selective clues" containing them rather than all the answers as was the norm.

Presumably it's down to the volume of puzzles that are in hand awaiting being used.