Listener No 2012 Links by KevGar

[Ruthrobin]

This must be our quickest solve ever! What a delightful little compilation by KevGar. We tumbled to the theme with the first solution and have enjoyed it thoroughtly so far. Gentle, indeed after some recent ones - but why not. Thanks, KevGar. (Yes, we do still have a few cells to fill!)

[emcee]

I didn't think the solve was too bad. The theme was unusual yet interesting as I'd never appreciated such before.

The weakest point in the solve was the endgame: I cannot see the relevance of a minimum sum of vector lengths to the theme.

[jim360]

Poor Kevgar - an otherwise excellent construction, and some admittedly obscure way of highlighting the first name is what everybody picks up on! There must be some subtlety we're all missing. Unless of course it really would have been better to do without the highlighting entirely.

I don't think we need to over-complicate the last instruction though. Just make sure the letters are as close together as possible...

[IainGrace]

Glad to have an easier test this week, having failed to complete the endgame in 4207 (kicking ourselves when we see the solution) and still to complete the endgame in 4208, although we know what we are trying to do. Enjoyable theme and liked the double meaning in the title, albeit more knowledgeable about his brother.

[Philoctetes]

A minor quibble that is just bugging me. The preface suggests there are 10 unchecked letters, when there are only seven. I know what is meant, but that IMHO sloppiness contrasts with the pernickety accuracy of the endgame

[Whenland]

All done here. We also guessed the treatment after solving only two clues. Took a guess at X after solving about half the clues and then it all fell into place. The title seemed obscure - but now understood (the relevant subject to explain the title was my worst subject at O-Level, nearly 50 years ago.) Thanks to KevGar for a fun puzzle.

[lyrabelacqua]

Philoctetes, I fear the sloppiness is on your side. There are 10 unchecked letters in the unclued entries...

[AHearer]

I agree, Philoctetes, that the wording could have been better. I don't see how "Their" in the second sentence of the preamble can grammatically refer to anything other than the four, whereas what follows is a property of the five.

[Philoctetes]

Thanks, AHearer. Surprisingly, I had not even seen that the sentence could possibly refer to all five entries - perhaps my 1950s education is too far removed from modern writing. I also have no idea what the title means, and think the shading less than adequate.

[tilbee]

Philocetes, having had my main education some 20 years later than you, we still had the choice of the classical subject related to your moniker, or (in my eyes) a more useful modern alternative. Given that I chose the latter, the title was one of the highlights of the puzzle for me.

[trux]

I agree with J360 that one shouldn't focus too too much on the endgame - it does "link" the letters after all. Could it have been better devised? Perhaps, but the constraint was quite taxing, I imagine. I enjoyed it, gentle though it may have been, and I learned about someone pretty amazing. Thanks, KevGar.

[TheBear69]

The title is quite sinister, actually.

[tenflags]

Captain Late here; looking in as I don't like the shading part either, I'm afraid.

I can see one option that fits with the comments about "in and around tools of the trade" which is where my eyes were first drawn to but can also see another 2 possibilities that "seem" to better meet the calcs in thebears posting. Maybe I need to re-look at it but I'm sorry in any event I don't like this ending to an otherwise nicely themed puzzle.

[IainGrace]

Assume one measures distances between adjoining pairs of letters, totals them and then divides by number of letters? The smallest answer wins. All a bit daft and unnecessary unless there is a point to it - which seems to have eluded people so far. (Not that it matters, but reference to endgame in earlier post should have been to 4209.) Further evidence of AB language skills to follow, no doubt.

[perseverer]

tenflags - I considered three sets of letters for the highlighting - all of them are 'in and around the tools of the trade'. If they had wanted to check if we knew X's first name we could just have been asked to write it below the grid.

[JackDeCrow]

Like everyone else, it seems, really hoping there is going to be some significance to this "minimum average distance" requirement. But also feeling that if no-one here can see it, I may be hoping in vain! Otherwise, a nice puzzle and educational, so thanks KevGar.

[Staurologist]

What a neat little puzzle, although I'm sure that, like The Bear69, we all found the links just a bit sinister (or do I mean unheimlich?). For those who are interested in this theme, Radio 3 featured it last Wednesday in a fascinating item, and it is still available as a podcast. There is also a comprehensive book on the subject by Theodore Edel, with a lot of information about X and similar others.

[teuchter2]

Friday club less one clue, but haven't got round to posting till now. I found this grid fill pretty easy, but maybe don't understand the full significance of the theme. I haven't done the highlighting as yet, but think I've worked it out. Maybe I should re-read something about X.

[IainGrace]

Teuchter2, is your one clue 1 Across, which we are scratching our heads about? Not posted yet because too distracted by your team's meteoric rise up the table?

[Lathamjeld]

First post here...only just started to attempt the Listener properly over the past 4/5 weeks. Having completed 4208 and almost completed 4209 (still trying hard!), this was very enjoyable from KevGar. The grid fill kept us occupied and entertained especially 19d. Great theme (the pc by 5.5 down in particular is wonderful). It might be because we are new to the Listener (hard-core afficionados must be used to end games which take days to decipher) but we couldn't get too worked up about the shading. There are only two real possibilities and one looks and 'feels' better than the other (is that too simplistic?!). We, too, noticed that the tool of X's trade appears next to both possibilities for the shading...looking forward to next week already...

[jumperjudy]

As usual, most of the grid fill is fine, but I am stumped for understanding wordplay in a couple, and the solution for one still eludes me. I've left it for a couple of days but as yet no answers have popped in to my mind:( A lovely theme though, and as always, very educational, so thanks KevGar.