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Listener Crossword No 4246 Construction By Shackleton
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As one would expect, this turned out to be a real star turn. Amazing grid construction which all works out oh so beautifully. Not as fearsome as one might think at the outset, but still most awe-inspiring. Many, many thanks for the joy of the ride, dear Mr Shackleton.
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Yes, this was an absolute delight. I really enjoy this type of puzzle. My one query is about the first letter to be entered of the overlong answer. Should it be the first letter of the answer, or the third. I think the latter is more satisfying, but have a niggling doubt that it should be the former.
I am really sick of these carte blanches. This may be a fantastic crossword for the cognoscenti, but having solved 18 clues I have no idea of where to start filling the grid. Am I the only person who prefers to have puzzles where solving one clue helps towards solving another? I expect I shall abandon this as I have most of the previous non-stop succession of carte blanches.
Outstanding clues, a very finely constructed grid and an endgame that was, thankfully, not too hard to work out. I have a feeling that it's the first, or maybe the second Shackleton that I've managed to complete.
I have some sympathy with tristram37 and Cloverjo. There have been quite a few carte blanche or semi carte blanche puzzles this year. I must admit that I found filling the grid of this one rather a slog. I don't think I was able to make a start on the grid until I had 24 or more clues cold-solved and even then I made several wrong guesses initially, because of the high number of 5-letter, 6-letter and 7-letter entries, besides other features of the grid. I only really started to enjoy it when I saw an alternative location for one entry that was causing me problems, after which I made far better headway.
Having said all that, the carte blanche approach is fully justified, even if it makes things tough. And, to be fair to the setter, many clues were not that hard to cold-solve.
I have some sympathy with tristram37 and Cloverjo. There have been quite a few carte blanche or semi carte blanche puzzles this year. I must admit that I found filling the grid of this one rather a slog. I don't think I was able to make a start on the grid until I had 24 or more clues cold-solved and even then I made several wrong guesses initially, because of the high number of 5-letter, 6-letter and 7-letter entries, besides other features of the grid. I only really started to enjoy it when I saw an alternative location for one entry that was causing me problems, after which I made far better headway.
Having said all that, the carte blanche approach is fully justified, even if it makes things tough. And, to be fair to the setter, many clues were not that hard to cold-solve.
With other commitments this weekend I have had to dip in out of this, but having now completed the final step I agree that this was a real joy. Failure to contemplate the grid before starting on the cold solve meant that like Perseverer I delayed beginning the gridfill far more than necessary, but at least this meant that this was completed quickly once initial answers were finally entered. The third sentence in the preamble sent me down somewhat of a blind alley, so reverted to engineering the construction by deducing the author and then searching for a relevant quotation. Many thanks to Shackleton.
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