Listener No. 4384: Xl By Harpy

[AHearer]

That was a lot of fun. It took me longer than it should have to spot what was going on in the Group B clues, even though I had seen what the instruction told me to do elsewhere. Many thanks, Harpy, both for the puzzle and for taking me back to the source of the quotation.

[Ruthrobin]

My, that was rapid AHearer! We thought this was quite a remarkable compilation. We have loved it, thanks Harpy.

[IainGrace]

Sorry to see an intimation of the death of Sir Jeremy Morse in yesterday's Times. A fine cruciverbalist.

[perseverer]

Well, we are only 5 or 6 weeks into the year, but my favourite so far.

[olichant]

Brilliant puzzle. Am more than a little in awe of AHearer and Ruthrobin for dispatching it so quickly!

[Flocker14]

It's an arduous journey with no real short cuts but well worth it when you finally arrive

[upsetter]

An aesthetic triumph.

[Pasquin]

This was one of the longest drawn-out PDMs I've ever encountered, but it all made sense in the end. Quite brilliant. Thanks, Harpy.

[tristram37]

It took me ages to discover this thread. It does not get referred to under Listener 4384. How can I get back to it

[s_pugh]

Good challenging puzzle and one of those where you just have to go for the grid fill once you have cold-solved a few clues. Got stuck for ages in Group B as I managed to come up with what seemed a perfectly legitimate (but wrong) answer to one of them. Glad the length of the ‘phrase’ was clarified as I wouldn’t normally have deemed it as such. Only ambiguity now is how to present the solution as I don’t really see how folding is an option given the dimensions one is playing with, so doubtless get marked wrong after all that. Ho hum. Thanks Harpy.

[Ruthrobin]

It says (eg folding) so I can't imagine scissors and Scotch tape can be marked as wrong. Tristram37, I save the thread as a favourite so that I can see what other people are saying during the week (useful for blog purposes!) then delete the favourite on Friday to make room for the next one.

[Cruncher]

Very nice puzzle. Couldn't see how it was going to work until the last minute. More like that please

[Scorpius]

I'm probably in a minority of one in not being wildly enthusiastic about the dénouement. I thoroughly enjoyed working through the excellent set of clues and overcoming the problems in assembling an unusual grid, but I found the unexpected finale a bit contrived, though not without interest. I was hoping for something more closely linked to the very fine source of the quotation, rather than something only tenuously linked.

For me, rather than folding or scissors and paste, the easiest form of submission would be to construct a computer grid without the connected cells, but I don't know whether that would be acceptable.

[starwalker]

Although I enjoyed this in bursts, I did find the endgame to be a bit of a slog that took me far longer than it should have. Thanks Harpy - just a shame that it clashed with the start of the 6 nations, but that is hardly your fault.

[fyellin]

s_pugh: I agree. One of the Bs has a perfectly reasonable, less obscure, alternative answer.

[icynorth]

Brilliant puzzle- I really enjoyed it. Thanks, Harpy!

One query over the hidden instruction. Have I miscounted? The result makes sense, but my cell count is too high.

[olichant]

I sliced rather than folded - hopefully the marker will be lenient.

I agree with Scorpius that it would have been nice if the solution was more closely linked to the quotation (I love the quotation). But that very minor niggle aside, it was such a fun solve. And, aside from anything else, what a wonderful set of inventive and tricky clues.

[olichant]

icynorth - I got the right cell count result from the hidden instruction coupled with the preamble.

[IainGrace]

Enjoyed this very much, albeit agreeing with Scorpius. It was rather a game of two halves.

[Contrarian]

Brilliant puzzle.

I particularly loved the insertion in the "Masses of fish seen in these, . . " clue.

[emcee]

A tough solve and I should have got there quicker. I liked the way the group B answers worked with the theme. I, rather stupidly, spent too much time trying to solve the first B clue when it could have been deduced far sooner.

Still, a testing puzzle so: "Thanks, Harpy".