Listener 4178 Confused by Tea Leaves

[Ruthrobin]

Where is everybody? Posting somewhere else? What an intricate construction. I have been delighted by the subtlety of this and now have a full and functioning grid but I am wondering how it fulfilled all the stages expressed in the preamble. Tea Leaves has done it again - thank you!

[AHearer]

A little gem. As the pertinent region of the grid was the last area I filled in I had all sorts of wild ideas about how to obey the instructions before it finally fell into place. Thank you, Tea Leaves.

[dylan123]

have now found a sensible way to enter answers, but they all fit perfectly- no clashes! The fit is too good to be true, so I'm now puzzled again

[perseverer]

Can I make a plea before anyone does it this week - please don't try to be clever with posts!

[Mesnilpat]

Am I all alone in the slow lane? I'm still plodding through the clues and as yet have no idea how to fill the grid. No flash of inspiration for me yet, I'm afraid.

[Tarraco2]

No Mesnilpat, you are not alone. We spent a large part of Friday evening and yesterday evening plodding along. We have cold-solved about 3/4 of the clues but so far haven't got the violence message and have no idea how to fill the grid.

[Mesnilpat]

I feel better now - 'bon courage' to any fellow slow-laners

[vetuste_ennemi]

And I'm in even worse straits, Tarraco. I think I've got the message and the word to be interpreted cryptically, but it's not helping at all. I'm also obsessing over the third across clue. Congratulations to the early finishers. I think I'll try this week's EV.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Ah, something may have twigged (using usual references). I'll persevere.
And bon courage to you, Mensilpat.

[emcee]

All done apart from the optional final bit which I'm still working on. I enjoyed the challenge, and the final penny drop/overall theme a delight.

[emcee]

... still trying to fathom out the optional bit; forgot to say above how good the preamble is and that understanding the clashes isn't absolutely necessary to solve the puzzle (although it's well worth while)

Right, back to the final headscratch.

Thanks Tea Leaves for such an enjoyable puzzle.

[magichour]

Only four clues remaining to solve and the endgame to do. It hasn't been quite as horrendous as it first appeared, but the clues have been tough - though mostly fair. I have a fair idea, based on the instruction and a completed part of the grid, what this is all about, but need to work out those tricky last few clues...

[aldanna]

After several weeks of success (some easy ones? never!) back to normality. Last week Himself did the numbers but we stalled on the end of the endgame. This week I have attempted lots of cold-solving, and am nowhere. There is quite a bit of normal life this week too, so I think I am admitting defeat.

[vetuste_ennemi]

I raise the white flag. Like another "solver" I've got a complete grid, but remaining clueless about the clashes. TL 1 VE 0.

[Ruthrobin]

May I repeat perseverer's request. Please don't spoil this by giving explicit prompts here on this thread where we do try to avoid doing that. Several of us are willing to give a prompt off-line to newcomers but asking over-detailed questions or giving direct responses are not fair to the setter. At [email protected] I will willingly give a guiding hand.

[Alan7777]

I have all the across clues, all the extra words, nearly all the down clues, and a complete grid but I haven't any clashes (which I assume is because of the unsolved down clues) and I don't know how I will resolve the clashes if I ever find them! So I might be close but then again ...............

[teuchter2]

I am in just about the same position as the previous contributor. I had nearly given up before I started, but after solving two clues I realised the connection and then got most of the rest quite easily. However, my consistent way of entering them has not led to any clashes as yet. Have I missed a stage? I don't really understand the preamble, I must admit, but with the entries I have (am missing about three), I have a full grid. Is that likely to be it?

[magichour]

Also in the same position. If it is possible to say so without giving anything away, is the cryptic interpretation completely unambiguous once found? I have an idea as to what it could be, but it seems somewhat arbitrary.

[Cruncher]

A beautiful little puzzle. Thank you Tea Leaves

[Charpy]

First ever post on here. Like many, I suspect, I agonised over the message for ages. There's no subtle hint I can give which wouldn't give the game away totally. Just persevere. The PDMs are worth it. As with all good crooswords, once the penny drops, you'll be sure you've got it right.

[abns]

I've got a solution that squarely fits all of the preamble and which i would fairly comfortably submit. However, while I'm happy with the last bit, I'm still slightly underwhelmed by the 'cryptic interpretation'. Maybe I'm just not fully there yet? Like others there are a lot of down clues I haven't solved yet...