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!

[magichour]

The speed with which you and others solve never fails to impress me! I've had an early PDM after solving around a dozen clues, have worked out most of the suggestion of violence, but can't quite yet enter any answers or work out how the suggestion applies. Intriguing so far.

[midazolam]

Another excellent puzzle from Tea Leaves. It is interesting that I can remember where I was when I tackled the last two Listeners from this setter, partly because they were also very difficult. Well worth the wait since 2008

[TheBear69]

What a nice puzzle! Congrats to Tea Leaves!

The penny just dropped regarding the one word that needs to be interpretted cryptically...brilliant indeed!

[TheBear69]

...not sure I get the point of the optional step though...

[Tarraco2]

I agree with you magichour - they are amazingly quick! We are slowly working our way through the clues - I think this is one where we'll have to solve most of the clues before we can see how to get them into the grid but so far it is being fun.

[contendo]

Good grief! Is this one really solvable with no word-lengths specified and no initial correlation between acrosses and downs? I presume the only way through it is to cold-solve all the across clues (I've got 3 so far) to reach the message from the redundant words. I think it's going to be a long haul.

[jim360]

Oh my. Not sure I am going to be able to complete this one. Cold-solving not my thing. Still, 4 clues done so far - I think!

[starwalker]

Late starting on this, but it looks to be an interesting take on carte blanche. No grid entries yet, but a "message" beginning to appear. Optional part at the end sounds intriguing.

[trux]

After largely alcohol-free month of February, friend turned up expectedly yesterday afternoon and things went downhill from there. Crawled home in wee hours so only starting to tackle this today - looks daunting (especially with fuzzy head) but making quite quick progress so far.

[Whenland]

Been attempting the Listener for a few months now and new to the Answerbank. Have cold solved just 3 of this week's clues so far. Seems much more difficult than the last couple of weeks.

[tenflags]

definitely a step up in toughness I reckon..
half clues cold solved, msg pretty much there, can see good idea about way to resolve etc.. but still some way to go.. and it's six nations rugby with all the other w/end commitments. Still might be best to pick up and put down between gaps anyway.

[dead-eye]

Enjoyed this a lot.Did not realise what it was about until final few answers. This was because I presumed that there was a thematic connection to one of the across answers.

[Mesnilpat]

I've only just ot the paper and it all looks pretty daunting, that said I've managed to cold-solve a few clues already. I am hoping the 'violence' etc will become clearer as I progress. A big thank you to whoever recommended www.quinapalus.com/matcher in the posts for 4176 - what a great site.

[tilbee]

Think this is the challenge many of us have been waiting for. Just started this afternoon, and to date have around 15 answers but cannot yet see how these fit together. Have deciphered almost all of the message, but have been sidetracked by how to cryptically treat one of the words.

[tilbee]

Just after posting a significant PDM - hope it is all downhill from here !

[trux]

Despite rather fuzzy start. today turns out to be a bit of a purler of a day : not just the most enjoyable solve here for which many thanks must go to Tea Leaves, but also very impressive double for my trainer Tom George at Kempton Park. Top drawer in both cases.

[x_word_fan]

It seems churlish to say when so much work must be involved for the setter but I am not impressed with so much cold solving - I found it (even with a nudge) to be a long hard slog. I also have a full grid with12 clues unsolved!

[tilbee]

Not as fearsome as first appeared. Grid fell into place nicely, and for once end game did not hold me up unduly.

An excellent construction, and for me immensely enjoyable. Thanks Tea Leaves.

[Walterloo]

Nearly done with just a few cells to fill in the final grid. Certainly one of the best Listeners I've attempted. I saw what was happening and what needed to be done early on. Getting the PDM halfway through has certainly helped! Yes, a lot of cold solving but this is balanced by a wonderful construction and endgame.

[dylan123]

I've done about 20 clues ( and am pretty sure of the message), but have no idea how to enter them. There seems to be no guidancce on this?