Listener Crossword 4153: Rhythm for a Dance by Brimstone

[Zabadak]

I think I have it, though one element, the two letter replacement, and one additional word entry are as yet unconfirmed. I'm still trying to justify everything, which looks like being a bit of a slog, but it all looks as if it fits. I have the characters and the title, and I'm half inclined to say "enough is enough" just now, and look on it all with fresh eyes tomorrow.
At the moment, it all feels a bit messy, but thanks to Brimstone for a considerable workout.

[midazolam]

Clever stuff getting all those thematic elements packed into one grid, which is probably why the grid had to be asymmetric. Changing the 2 letters was the last part I got and took me over an hour staring at the full grid. Thanks Brimstone

[Zabadak]

That's pretty much what I was afraid of: another evening spent in Much Staring at the Grid. There are very few places ("untouched by the theme") where those two letters can be. I have an unsatisfying solution, and that may be where it stays for now.

[dr b]

Filled the grid fairly quickly, mostly by bunging in the 15 altered answers based on the defs provided by the 17 extra words. So, once done, I had to go back and start solving the 15 clues to get a sense of how the grid entries were "thematically altered". Probably not the most efficient way to proceed but the penny dropped fairly quickly after that. Nice puzzle.

[Ruthrobin]

Oh what hard labour. I have a full grid but hours of work to do working out how it all fits together. This must be the most information and device-packed Listener puzzle I have encountered. Not for the faint hearted!

[AHearer]

Much Staring at the Grid -- isn't that just over the hill from Long Riffling in the Chambers? This was great fun. I had the entries with circles and most of the bottom half filled before I started to think hard about the changes and got the theme. The rest of the grid fill went a bit faster, though I didn't find knowing the theme much help except for confirmation. Thanks to Brimstone for a lot of entertainment.

[Coalminers]

15+5+17+14 = 51. There are 54 clues. Altering the 2 letters thematically seems to account for another 2 (17-15). THat leaves one (normal) clue. Does anyone else find that or am I missing something?

[dr b]

There are 54 clues, and (15+5+17+14) = 51 mentioned in the preamble, leaving 3 other normal clues prior to the final 2-letter alteration. I think that's all you can conclude based on the instructions.

[aldanna]

Ruthrobin, I have a nasty feeling I am among the fainthearted you refer to. I have more than half the grid filled, and a glimmering of where the p just might d, but I am finding this quite hard.

[starwalker]

Certainly packed with thematic material and highly enjoyable. Surprisingly, I found the two letter alteration extremely quickly. All in all a pleasant few hours.

[IainGrace]

Working away at this. Looks a bit of a challenge. Circled letters identified so far are relatively uncommon so hoping that will help as a step for a hint. Retribution for those of us who thought last week's puzzle was a walk in the park?

[tilbee]

Also struggling through. 2/3 of grid filled using the Dr B method, but no idea of the theme as yet and unable to determine this to date from the modified answers that I have.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Grid about half filled and the p has d'd, but I can see it's going to take a while to polish off. This is where doughnuts can be helpful.

[Coalminers]

Thanks Dr b. I wondered why my sums didn't work, and it's clear now. All that remains now is the 5th modified clue. I know exactly which clue it must be, but just can't find an appropriate modification. I'll persevere.

[tilbee]

Penny took much longer to drop than it should have. A thorough and enjoyable mental workout this afternooon.

[emcee]

The penny is only rising at the moment. I've filled about half of the grid and not much further forward. Brain is firmly in neutral.

[Coalminers]

Aha! I have persevered and eventually got it. Having spent hours looking at lists of thematic material, I finally asked my son "What do .... make?" and it took him less than 1 second. Is that cheating?

[cluelessJoe]

Well, I'm in the dr b camp on this one, filling the grid then working back to confirm everything. Guess it's not over until all is confirmed, but I could certainly have done with some typical bc discipline on this, with a multicolour clue/extra word highlighting scheme, instead of just blundering through and hoping the numbers worked of their own accord. Yes, shame about the lack of symmetry and dubious unching, but probably forgivable given the large amount of thematic material incorporated. A nice testing workout, thank you Brimstone.

[jim360]

Hello again - jim360 here, in only the second time I've ever attempted a word listener puzzle. Signs are promising because I might actually have solved a few clues on my own! Though there's a lot going on so it's definitely a much harder puzzle than last weeks.

I'm still learning these so hopefully I could still trouble people for hints - contact details as before?

[silversolver]

Phew, got there in the end. Took me a lot longer than it should have done to deduce the theme and I also adopted Dr B's method of filling the grid before working out what it all meant. I think I got stuck on the same clue as you, Coalminers. Excellent puzzle and a real challenge - so much for thinking that things were nice and easy after last week!

[emcee]

Inspiration came to me last night, the 2 letters to find and I'm done. An entertaining puzzle - thanks Brimstone.
Although I have a nagging feeling it may have been done in the early days of The Independent Magazine puzzles I don't think we've met this theme before which is surprising.