Listener 4269 Journey To The Centre By Ilver

[Monkmonk]

I’m surprised that no one has yet commented on this first-class puzzle. Not the usual numerical but a thoroughly entertaining exercise in logic as well as plenty of clues to solve. Thank you, Ilver.

[youngoffender]

Same here. The 'instruction' seems rather to be an 'opaque suggestion'.

[contendo]

As my avatar suggests, I do have a problem with snakes - in this case specifically in the NW quadrant, so I'm still struggling, with 4 clues still unsolved. Does anyone else think the wrong letter has to be dropped in 24 to get the correct spelling of the instruction?

[perseverer]

Another one here marvelling at the construction.
I didn't find the clues all that easy, with the limited amount of checking available. I did guess the theme early on but it took a while for the penny to drop as to what the spelled out instruction meant, and even longer to get the significance of the centre row.
(Contendo - I don't think there is any problem with 24.)

[tilbee]

Contendo - I think 24 is fine

[youngoffender]

... and at last the penny drops. Shading now done after several missteps (an Excel replica helped me sort out the blunders), and I'm pretty sure what goes in the middle. This is something close to a work of genius - certainly a contender for the Gold Cup. Thank you for monopolising my weekend!

[contendo]

Perseverer & Tilbee, yes, thanks. I must get new reading glasses.

[starwalker]

So simple, when the light is switched on and everything falls into place. Thanks Ilver.

[Scorpius]

Pressure from other calls on my time means I'm going to have to abandon this; a pity because obviously I'm missing a tour de force to judge by some of the comments here. It's not only the opaque instruction that flummoxes me, I'm also puzzled by the preamble's reference to the four adjacent cells of each grid letter. Assuming diagonally adjoining cells are discounted, most cells do have four adjacent cells, but corner letters have only two, and edge letters have only three.

[perseverer]

Scorpius - I can give you a little nudge in the right direction if you want, but I appreciate you may feel that if you are going to succeed it should be on your own.
Perseverer49 (at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

[BobHWW]

Yet another outstanding puzzle. Plenty of PDMs and with a bit of a leap of faith on the shading all is revealed. I think anyone getting an 'all correct' this year can consider themself in the top league. I have rated this one equal best of the year (so far!) with Schadenfreude and Lavatch.

[olichant]

I forgot to beg for a setter's blog from Ilver, if he is reading this - I would be fascinated to hear how this was put together!

[AndrewG-S]

Yes no problem I will put together a setters blog. And many thanks to everyone for the kind comments. I can promise it took a lot longer to set than solve!

[emcee]

Didn't know you were Ilver, AndrewG-S !

Again, a fine puzzle and I'm glad we have a brilliant setter in our ranks. Look forward to reading how all those constraints were dealt with in a setter's blog.

[trux]

Bonus quiz for the week: now that we know Andrew G-S was the setter, how did he come up with his pseudonym? Apparently the great Mr Magoo worked it out whilst he was sitting in some sort of executive committee meeting and started giggling to himself ... (if you know, don't just spill the beans, please - let others work it out and giggle likewise). Like the endgame here, it's obvious once you know what to do....

[crosswhit99]

liver transplant ?

[Scorpius]

Perseverer, thanks for your offer of a gentle nudge, but an idea came to me while stuck in traffic, and I've started to implement it; my coding system seems to be working out, though nothing clear has yet emerged from the grid.

I often find that when I reach an impasse , the light dawns when I'm nowhere near the puzzle. I just hope this isn't a false dawn. I haven't reached any conflicts in my shading so I'm pretty sure I'm on the right path.

[Contrarian]

An absolutely extraordinary achievement, Ilver.

[contendo]

For me this wasn't the hardest of the year but it was certainly the most long drawn out, and I've ended up with an overflowing waste paper basket, due to multiple attempts resulting from miscounts. Brilliant construction. Thanks A G-S.

[iamamoose]

A long struggle for me, but well worth it. I was slightly distracted by confidently guessing the wrong theme right at the start. I look forward to that setter's blog!!

[JackDeCrow]

Great crossword AG-S - and great revelation of your secret identity! Certainly a spectacular construction. Glad I checked it carefully at the end as was very nearly led astray by (a slightly different, but justifiable, version of) the Egyptian dancing girl!