Listener 4206 - A1 by Ifor

[Cruncher]

Prize for the most abstruse preamble this year?

[jim360]

@olichant The highlighting is annoyingly cryptic, and I also can't fully understand the shape of the 14-character highlighting myself, so it's hard to spot. Hard to offer anything else other than keep looking and hope you find it!

@coalminers I don't really feel aggrieved of course, it's just the luck of the draw and I have won one so it's not really a tragedy. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing I finished it myself for a special first Friday club.

Had a very late night last night - no prizes for guessing why, eh?

[olichant]

jim360 - there must be some unwritten rule that, if you can't spot a thing, simply post an "answer" on this site, and the penny will immediately drop. And it makes sense (in all respects). Thank you for the support!

[Philoctetes]

I am afraid I spotted the theme as soon as I read the title and preamble - then dismissed it as unlikely. Jim - I suspect the graphic representation of the connection is a graphic representation of the connection. I cannot see any connection between the items behaviour yet.

[Alan7777]

It has taken a while but I'm now happy I have the start, finish, connection, the items behaving thematically, the four wordplay answers and the number to write under the grid. I thought some of the clues were very easy but others far less so and I had an idea of the theme from fairly early which helped. Identifying some of the letters to remove was a challenge even with a full grid.

Wouldn't it have been spooky if Djokovic was Hungarian? Ref 40a.

Overall a good challenge (for me at least). Thanks Ifor.

[IainGrace]

Philoctetes, the "behaving thematically" is bit a little loose. Consider the first word of the connection and its first meaning as a transitive verb in the BRB.

[Coalminers]

Let me guess why you were up so late Jim. You were continually playing back the end of UC to see if they finished saying "Portugal" before the final bell?

[jim360]

Haha I did like 40a and thought it was a tennis reference at the time of solving. Never occurred to me in the heat of the moment. Amusing coincidence.

Not quite, coalminers - though it was one of the closest games I've seen! Shame my team has been knocked of the top spot of high-scoring losers but still in a good position so maybe we'll make it into the top four of the losers after all. Fingers crossed!

[sunny-dave]

Virtually finished 4206 in a late night session whilst watching the Murray tennis (who says men can't multi-task ...) and then tidied up the odds&socks this afternoon.

A nice work-out, but I'm always left a bit 'unconsummated' if there is thematic material which you don't have to solve to finish the puzzle.

I will probably work through the relevant clues to satisfy my inner nerd - but it irks me a bit that I don't actually need to ...

[Coalminers]

Haha Jim. Very ironic!

[borealis]

That’s what I like about the Listener - when you get to the end,you look back and the thought often comes,”Ah yes, the preamble does make sense!” And did anyone notice how, er, suitable one of the definitionless entries was? Thanks, Ifor.

[Ruthrobin]

I thought the preamble was a Listener lovely - one of those that makes sense when you look back. Lots of clues led us to the very obvious theme and I though the highlighting was most appropriate - all just a little bit easier than we are used to in Ifor's challenging creations - but stop moaning and look again you EV moaners. Many thanks Ifor. Yes we were there in the Friday club but I am miles beyond Internet access - pencil and paper solving on the Isle of Barra (and glad this wasn't another numerical with misprints!) I appreciated the anxious emails I have just downloaded - worried about our absence from the usual AB thread. What a supportive community we are.

[midazolam]

Yes straightforward fill compared to some of Ifor's puzzles, lots of clues scattered around to get to the endgame, so it wasn't difficult to spot what needed to be highlighted. No ambiguity either, thanks Ifor

[Postigod]

Have everything apart from the 14 letter connection (apart from not understanding 2D or 3D) and the "behaving thematically" reference in the preamble but have been reduced to Much Staring at the Grid. Frustrating as was a nice steady solve to this point!

[Postigod]

Sorry, also don't yet understand the "drawer" bit of the preamble, although have the 4 clue numbers I think.

[Postigod]

And just like olichant, I post on here and then spot the connection within 5 minutes!

[JackDeCrow]

Must agree with RR - I thought that was a bit of a classic, or at least the kind of thing that got me into the Listener in the first place. Chuckled particularly at the "drawer". Thanks Ifor.

[factor-fiction]

I'm probably not cut out for this crossword: I had to look up the word 'abstruse' to make sure I understood Cruncher's question

[teuchter2]

I, too, have been away, so late in getting to grips with this one. I now have a completed grid, so thought I would post here in the hope of a PDM, which so far has eluded me.

[AndrewG-S]

teuchter2, worth reading the clues with no definition again and then letting the mind wander a little

[magichour]

Filled most of the grid at the weekend, got held up a little on the right hand side, then had to leave it for a while. Have just sat with it this evening and had a delightful series of PDMs after being temporarily misled by what (I feel) were intentional red herrings scattered in some parts of the grid.

I thought the 'items behaving thematically' were highly entertaining and were the main pointer for me to discovering the correct theme. Really clever - enjoyed this more than most of the last few weeks.