Listener 4271. Extreme Behaviour By Nudd

[AHearer]

A couple of lucky guesses helped me through this, so that I only needed to cold-solve about half a dozen clues before I could start filling the grid-- but admittedly I was lucky with the clues I solved first. The nearly disconnected nature of the four quarters of the grid made life a bit harder. Good fun, though, so thank you Nudd

[dr b]

A nice workout, marred, I thought at first, by the fact that the quotes and entry method had been used in another puzzle in recent memory. I looked up that puzzle, though, and "recent memory" turns out to have been in the fairly distant past, so I guess the statute of limitations has expired. Even latching on quickly, it took a while to track down all the wordplays and extra letters. So, a nice puzzle and I am pleased that my memory is better than I thought.

A frigid 9 degrees (F) tonight in old St. Louis. Too soon!

[Nudd]

Wasn't aware of the other puzzle Dr B, but have now tracked it down. Yet another of those coincidences which can plague compilers, but hopefully diluted by the passage of time for solvers. You do well to remember that far back - I'm firmly in the David Crosby "If only I could remember my name" camp.
Thanks for the comments ... & stoke up those fires.

[BobHWW]

I'm surprised there are so few comments for this one. A nice fun puzzle that fell together fairly easily once the methods were sussed. Now back to Sabre.

[Scorpius]

I found this frustratingly tough to start with. I think I had only 8 or 9 solves after an hour, but most of those were acrosses, which gave me enough to guess a key word, whereupon I found one of the quotes in ODQ, then guessed what the other quote was likely to be. I needed to get a few more answers before I could be sure of the method of entry. After that it was more or less plain sailing, though, like dr b, I found working out some answers and wordplay quite challenging, even knowing what the extra letters were. I found the NE corner particularly tricky to finish off.

A nicely constructed grid, exploiting the coincidence of the identical length of the two names.

[jabone]

Thanks Nudd, I enjoyed that.

[teuchter2]

I obviously haven't worked out the method of entry yet, though I think I have got the quotations. What I thought should happen just doesn't seem to work for some of the crossing entries I have worked out so far. It's very cold here and I am struggling with an eye infection as well as trying to write cards, so putting less effort into it than usual.

[starwalker]

I wish that I had Dr B's memory. I had both quotations and writers before I was able to enter a single letter. Thanks Nudd.

[IainGrace]

Cracked it and working through grid fill. There are limits to what 1,1,5 might be, although we had two ideas.

[emcee]

I certainly wouldn't say this was a nice, fun puzzle. Fiendish and frustrating would be more apposite. I managed about 12 clues last evening and gave it up. Momentum gathered tonight and I managed to guess consistent rules for entry which then allowed the horrendously tough clues to give up their secrets.

Not fun and very tough.

[Arcticpenguin]

Totally disagree with emcee - it was certainly tough and took me a long time to put anything in the grid. In my opinion this was one of the best of this year's offerings. And at least it was fair and the highlighting was straightforward - even helped with the last few clues. Anyone know if we've a "special" in 2 weeks time ?

[perseverer]

Certainly becomes much easier once you realise how to interpret the quotations, but I still found some of the clues a struggle.

[sunny-dave]

Seriously hard - struggled for a good while with x-rated cold solving, until a word emerged in the extra letters that gave me an inkling of a quote.

Once the methods of entry were clear it became much easier - although I have to confess that I haven't fully parsed every single clue.

"Harsh but Fair" I think - thanks Nudd for a real brain stretcher.

[IainGrace]

Finished, partly because G readily identified the quotations, both of which she knew. Still haven't parsed 11 across. Some very minor consolation for stumbling over 4270 - grid filled and instruction understood but failed totally with shading and final step in what was shaping up to be a best of the year.

[IainGrace]

Now got 11 so satisfied.

[teuchter2]

Finally got my brain back in gear and understood entry method. Pretty straightforward from then on, but I nearly forgot about finding the authors!

[Mesnilpat]

I started this one late and am flummoxed by the entry method despite having the quotes and a good few of the clues cold solved. I am heartened that others had the same trouble and I hope for a pdm

[jim360]

Having spent some time on this so far and cracked all of four clues so far I'm inclined to give this one up as a bad job. Maybe inspiration will strike later ?

[flocker]

Many thanks to Nudd for brightening up a rainy weekend. This was one that repaid perseverance: I also started very slowly and found the clues extremely challenging, but a speedy identification of the first quotation and a lucky guess at the second and then the methods of entry (not that hard to work out) meant that I could get a small foothold in the grid and with a bit of trial and error the rest falls into place gradually and satisfyingly. It's not all cold-solving either as if you enter the clues you've solved correctly in the grid a bit of work will slowly reveal the ones you still need. One of the best of the year for me. Stick with it.

[olichant]

Yes, don't give up Jim - I was in the same position as you (well, one more answer) for a good two hours before things started clicking into place. I found this one of the toughest of the year - maybe it was just me. Thanks, Nudd.

[jim360]

It would help if I had some crossing answers. There is presumably a limited number of ways to modify entries so here's hoping that it's guessable without too much cold-solving of what appear to be very tough clues.