Listener 4185 : Ballad by Elgin

[trux]

(sorry started on wrong site, apparently) - so repeat here :
Well, we had all been moaning that the Big L was getting to be the Big EZ ... not this week, mefears but after a mammoth struggle, have now finished gridfill. OMG. Wow ! Thanks (methinks) to Elgin.... (see previous msg for longer version, too tired to type more....)

[s_pugh]

Days of head scratching until a sudden PDM (thanks to Google as I wasn't well acquainted with the work in question). Some of you may hate the 'easier' Listeners but I for one would gladly see one this Saturday! Well done to Elgin for a real workout.

[mullingar]

I have completed the grid and identified the source for the missing entries but am still perplexed about the unclued row and where that fits in to the overall scheme of things. There also seems to be a number of extraneous letters in two rows. Am I missing something?

[tramart]

mullingar - Assuming you have found the appropriate text, the fourth line should explain the unclued entries.

[mullingar]

Of course. And quite literally so. I guess the rest is unchecked letters. Quite a haul but got there in the end! Thanks for getting me to look again. 11 down took ages to parse. That was a sati8sfying moment!

[borealis]

Whew. Eight days, but no complaints. Great to find one that you can keep going at, rather than hitting a brick wall. And well done to those of you who finished this last weekend. Lovely, Elgin!

[IainGrace]

Finished. Very elegantly constructed challenge. Not sure that it was fair to give no hint in the rubric as to the method of entry of some of the acrosses.

[Mysterons]

In reply to qwerty99, there is no fixed side for the missing column as it separates the two down entries referred to in the second line of the poem.

Waterloo - the Leon of 8d features in 'No More Heroes'; in 16d think Stingray/Marineville;19d is an abbreviated 12-letter word.

As for 11d, think of a possible two letter abbreviation representing a pound's tithe !

[WessexGirl]

Well, that was by far the most difficult one since I started the online versions about 5 weeks ago. Printed on the Saturday while in France, so no solving aids, although it helped that younger daughter (who inherited the crossword gene) was around for 2 days. I do think we 'lone solvers' are at a bit of a disadvantage in that respect. Since then it has been on another trip with me and I eventually finished it this morning (shows it must be about at the limit of my ability I suppose). Theoretically should be in time to submit, but hold out little hope of Royal Mail delivering to St Albans from deepest Dorset by tomorrow, so will save the price of a first class stamp.
Many thanks to Elgin for a most enjoyable and extremely clever puzzle.

[cruciverbali]

You've had a baptism of fire with that one, so well done on completing. It's always worth alerting JEG if you know you will be abroad around the time of a particular puzzle - if you submit for the stats rather than a prize he will accept any entries that are in the post before the solution is published, as long as he has prior notification - particularly useful for entries posted from abroad. Good luck !