Listener 4389: Teeing Off By Nutmeg

[kdgs2]

A very satisfying puzzle this one, and thankfully easier to make inroads into than last week's. Everything fell into place quite quickly once I had enough answers to have a go at grid entry. I like the method of entry for the 12 answers. Thank you Nutmeg.

[jim360]

First Listener I've even attempted in a month, I think, and made it to the end after a slow start but a quick dash to the finish. A slight schoolboy giggle at a word appearing prominently in the fourth row in my early fill didn't help either... anyway, thanks Nutmeg for drawing me back to Listeners.

[Hagen]

I loved the PDM - I haven't enjoyed that Aha! feeling this much for ages. Simple once you see it but beautiful in its simplicity.

I'm normally not keen on carte blanche puzzles, but here we had some obvious entry points and after a few false starts it all fell nicely into place. It helped that the clues were quite straightforward to compensate for the cold-solving that carte blanche requires.

Terrific. Bravo, Nutmeg!

[AHearer]

Indeed, just the right balance between difficulty of clues and challenge of carte blanche, and about the right number of unconventionally entered solutions to make life interesting. Overall a very pleasant puzzle -- thank you, Nutmeg.

[s_pugh]

After last week it was nice to have something simple, though I must admit I felt a bit underwhelmed by the endgame, hardly a PDM – more of a ‘oh so that’s how they go in’.

Still, at least my brain is spared another frazzling so a change is as good as a rest. Thanks Nutmeg.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Quite fun, but didn't give me the sense of triumphant achievement that last week's did.

[lyrabelacqua]

Oh, I was slow to see this one. But I disagree, the PDM was very satisfying. They always are when you've been staring at the grid for that long! And nice though it was to finish last week's, I'm not sure I'd be up for that level of effort every Friday...Nice clueing Nutmeg. Enjoyed it.

[TheBear69]

Thanks for a lovely puzzle, Nutmeg.

Does anyone else agree with me that sorting the clues alphabetically by answer is too much help? I realize the intent is to make some Listeners easier than others (especially after one like last week's). However, a lot of these clues were quite cold-solvable and if they had been in random order, the puzzle would have still been a fair if much more difficult challenge.

[Bobbibunny]

Would anyone be able to email me this puzzle please? I bought a copy of The Times at Luton airport this morning but found it had no Weekend section. After last week's miserable effort, I need something to restore my confidence!

[TheBear69]

Bonnibunny, what's your email address?

[Scorpius]

A very good traditional Listener. As usual with Nutmeg, the clues were excellent. I didn't see immediately what was going on and opted for something different initially, making some wrong thematic entries, so as far as I'm concerned the difficulty level was fine, coming after last week's stinker. Not all the clues were easy, so I appreciated knowing the likely letters to begin some answers. So no, I don't agree with TheBear and I'm quite pleased to have a completely free Sunday to do other things.

[Contrarian]

TheBear,

Yes, I agree. Sorting clues by alphabetical order of answers makes a puzzle so much easier. Having solved a few clues, you can more or less work out what letter each answer begins with, which is an enormous help in word retrieval.

[jim360]

Yes, but it's still effectively only one (or occasionally two) crossing letter out of five or so. I don't think there's any reason to abandon alphabetical order unless there is a thematic reason for doing so. We can be too masochistic about puzzles at times. This was a good puzzle to introduce the concept of semi-cartes blanches for anyone new to the concept -- and for anyone else, a pleasant-enough diversion.

[Bobbibunny]

TheBear69, my email address is [email protected]
Many thanks

[emcee]

I liked this puzzle! Especially after the four days of torture before completing last week's offering (which is the hardest I've done for a long while).

The clues weren't all THAT easy ... some were, yes, but there was a nice balance. I thought some of the first few clues were quite tough.

The PDM was very satisfying and helped me solve the remaining half dozen clues very quickly.

Nice puzzle, Nutmeg ... thank you.

[aldanna]

I don't think I could have cold-solved the clues without the alphabetical-order help. However, with it I had every clue solved before handing it to Himself to fit into the grid. He has not yet managed this. You just can't get the staff these days.

[upsetter]

The Bear - we seem to recall an alphabetical third way (wince) where clues are listed in clumps in order of first letter only and randomly within each group.
Looking at the clues again, we think that we would have found them almost unsolvable in a random list.
And even now, having completed the grid yesterday, we have only just managed to parse several of the clues.

[olichant]

This was just the right level of difficulty for me. Floundered for a while but it came together in the end. And some really nice clues. Thanks, Nutmeg.

[doctormatt]

Lovely puzzle: just the right level of difficulty for a six nations weekend!

[IainGrace]

Agreed, doctormatt - and a satisfying result for us Scots. The Inquisitor in the Independent this week contains an item about the Listener that no one solved. Number 7890405 by Atahualpa in 1980. Anyone recall it?

[icynorth]

Nice puzzle. The clues were on the easier side, but I've still got the DTs after last week. Thanks, Nutmeg!