Listener 4250 2016111214 91885 By Bero

[trux]

Oh, what a struggle that was! Took me far too long to twig how to get started, and then progress was at snail's pace. Can't say that I'm a great fan (bring back last week's them any time!!) but it does all fit together unambiguously in the end and the PDM held itself off until very close to a full grid which is sort of satisfying (maybe more so for setter than solver), so thanks to ReBo for a thorough work-out, the full 15 rounds....

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, hours and hours of struggling. We had five solutions in place after about two hours. This was certainly one of the toughest this year and we have ground our way through it with some satisfaction at the end and certainly no ambiguity once we had understand the title. Thank you BeRo.

[olichant]

I have just limped in. So much for a gentle crossword with a glass of wine in the sun. But count me a big fan of this puzzle - despite its intimidating aspect, it was utterly fair and really very clever. Thanks to BeRo. Amazing how tricky an apparently trivial alphanumeric cypher can be.

[fyellin]

So I have all the words, I have the theme. But I can't fill the grid unambiguously. There seem to be several words that can be entered thematically in more than one way and still fit the grid.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Well at least it's a relief that others have found it a struggle. Barely able to begin!

[fallster]

Got it. Nice puzzle, BeRo. Resolving ambiguity was a final hurdle, but got there eventually.

[Mesnilpat]

I'm glad it's not just me. I'm obviously missing something and can't get going with this one. If you fine people are also struggling, I think this particular bear of very little brain may throw in the towel and do some gardening instead.

[fyellin]

All is now clear. Grid filled in unambiguously.

For those who are struggling, I think the puzzle becomes much easier once you determine the theme. The clues with thematic two-word definitions are definitely helpful in figuring out the theme, since the second word doesn't have an extra letter added.

(A little python program to decode the numbers into all possible letters--later augmented to apply the theme judiciously--was also extremely useful.)

[jim360]

I'm having some trouble decoding the first word in the title! Once I've broken that one I might have an idea of the theme and what determines the thematic treatment of the words. Have broken all of the clues with coded definitions but very little else, so a sort of half-filled grid. Hope to return to this once I've cooled down a bit.

[fyellin]

@jim360: My hint should help you. If you know the answer to 26A, look up its definitions in the BRB.

Once you know the theme (even without knowing the title phrase), the last line of the instructions tells you how to achieve a "distinct thematic encoding of ... the title phrase".

[francspenser]

I've been poring over this for several hours now, and I still have no idea what is meant by 'thematic treatment'. Please, please, please could someone give me a clue?

[Scorpius]

I wish I could help you, francspenser, but I'm in the same boat. I have almost a full grid, with only 3 unsolved clues in the NE corner. I have all the extra letters apart from the one from the first word of the title (though I'm not completely certain about 2 of them), but I cannot make any sense of them at all. I cannot work out what the first word of the title might be. None of the possibilities I've got so far looks remotely likely, nor does the second word, which could be one of two English words or one of two German words. The thematic treatment of answers to clues with normal definitions clearly involves jumbling, but I cannot see anything systematic; I assume there must be a system to avoid the ambiguities of some entries such as 35a.

I have noticed that the letters of the second word of the title seem to be replicated, though in different order, in the last few extra letters from the numerical definitions, but it's significance escapes me. I have also followed fyellin's advice re 26A but I'm still in the dark.

Looking at the very small number of comments so far my guess is that a lot of solvers are struggling. I wonder if BeRo is aiming for the lowest number of entries for this year.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Completely baffled by 9d. I know exactly what I want it to be, but the word doesn't seem to exist. (Baffled by quite a lot of other things too.)

[AHearer]

Yes, that was a struggle, but once the thematic phrase is spotted there's no ambiguity left. Rather hot weather to be thinking this hard, though! Thank you, though, BeRo.

[Scorpius]

To pushmi-pullyu:
The wordplay to 9d is really very straightforward (part anagram), and the answer can be found under the relevant heading in Bradford's, if you have it.

I found the wordplay to most of the clues fairly straightforward and generally got the answers before working out the definition.

I have now solved all the clues, filled most of the grid and am still no nearer determining the theme. I suspect that's the way it's going to stay.

I don't know whether any successful solver's prepared to answer this, but I have a provisional C as the extra letter for 7D, but I wasn't very happy with the resulting definition and I think the extra letter may be something else. Is anyone prepared to confirm or otherwise?

[Texasetes]

Scorpius: if you supply a contact email address I'm sure someone would be happy to answer your question privately. Giving such help on this forum is generally frowned upon, and posts are already beginning to say too much.

It's nice to have a tougher listener now and then; solvers who don't like them usually inhabit the other place, where, after a few days (or possibly longer in this case), hints and answers are bandied about freely.

[jim360]

I had a C for 7d too, but eventually found that it was wrong.

Two clues left to go, so now aware of the theme and have completed the highlighting.

[Scorpius]

There's no need for anyone to answer my query above as I have resolved it myself. I now have the phrase (God bless TEA). Funnily enough my early suspicions about the alleged originator of the phrase have turned out to be correct.
Everything now clear, including how to fill a few gaps.

[olichant]

Scorpius, feel free to drop me an email - olichant08 at gmail dot com

[Cruncher]

A very hot and muggy struggle with this. Still don't know enough about the theme to sort out the ambiguous entries so at the moment this is tough going.

[tilbee]

Wow, found that tough - possibly the hardest of the year to date. Even once I had the theme (not something I would have recognised without a somewhat fortuitous Google search) I still found the completion of the final few clues quite a struggle. A very fair (and now finally completed) enjoyable puzzle, so thanks to BeRo for the additional perspiration exuded beyond that caused by the weather.