Listener No 4417: Hms Arcady By Hedge-Sparrow

[AHearer]

A lucky identification after half a dozen letters of the poet and I was off to a good start as I learned the poem at school, and these things never leave you! As Hedge-sparrow has crammed such a mass of thematic material into the grid the fill was fairly easy from then on. I liked the playing with the six down clues -- and the spelling I would have used for the thematic word was not that in the BRB. Many thanks, Hedge-sparrow, that was fun.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, same here! I think many of us loved that poem at school. One unclued light gave us the hint. Many thanks to Hedge-sparrow.

[starwalker]

Another vote in favour of both the puzzle and the poem. Thanks Hedge-sparrow for a fun and very packed puzzle.

[Encota]

Fun and well-packed puzzle. Like AHearer I also learned this one at school. It still took a little while to tease out the last few wordplays. Thanks Hedge-sparrow - very enjoyable!

[Cyrillic]

Yes - plain sailing after the the poem was identified. The wordplay in 23D does not seem to be validated by Chambers. Enjoyable.

[starwalker]

Cyrillic - yes, I had that thought as well.

[aldanna]

Like others I had learned this poem at school, so it was a very quick solve. However, I did not need to use the thematic clues at all, and only found the jumbled letters after I had filled the grid. Must now go and check the thematic word in the BRB!

[upsetter]

Rather simple clues, many of which didn't need solving.
The same being true of the thematics, but we were also pleased to be reminded of a school days favourite, although my absolute favourite from that time was The English Graves by G.K. Chesterton.

[s_pugh]

Never heard of the poem (obviously didn't go to a posh enough school!), but early spot of the poet led me straight there and that made for a lot of very simple grid-filling. I'm not sure the thematic word was strictly necessary as it merely adds a faint touch of ambiguity but I'm hoping I have the right one. Marvellous to pack all of the thematic stuff in there, another fine contribution from Hedge-sparrow.

[AndrewG-S]

An enjoyable relatively quick solve so time to enjoy the late summer sun. I did think the lack of any need to solve the thematic clues or to resolve jumbles in downs was a bit of a defect.

[Hagen]

I had much the same experience as AHearer - the theme identified itself quickly after which it was all over bar the solving. I enjoyed finding the thematic words in the special clues even though it wasn't necessary. Perhaps the puzzle would have been harder if the poet came after the title in the letters from the across clues? Not that I'll ever complain about a gentle and very enjoyable solve.

Thanks Hedge-Sparrow!

[icynorth]

Not only is every part of the theme represented, it's symmetrical too. This is a thing of beauty. Thanks, Hedge-sparrow.

Only minor gripe is I didn't need the thematic clues - the author revealed himself very early on.

[petefoxes]

Lovely theme (unfamiliar to me) and very smart construction. But it did unravel rather quickly with all that thematic material.

[AHearer]

Yes, I just wish it had been essential to solve the thematic clues in order to complete the puzzle -- I found a couple of them pretty tricky.

[Scorpius]

An enjoyable puzzle, but, as others have noted, the puzzle yields very quickly once the theme emerges - in my case after seven across clues solved and enough downs to reveal what had to be the thematic entry in row 2.
Although it wasn't necessary to solve the thematic clues (a defect in my view) I did after completing the grid. They are actually very good and paired very nicely. I think I would have struggled to cold-solve some. Even knowing the answers it took me a while to work out which clue led to which answer.

The thematic symmetry of the grid is a very neat accomplishment.

[IainGrace]

Fortuitously solved a few adjacent clues very quickly which provided a run of letters for an unclued entry which gave the game away. Agree that the fact that one can complete the puzzle without the need to unpack all the detail of the rubric is a flaw in the puzzle.

[IainGrace]

......thereby denying some the opportunity to note the clever tripartite structure of the puzzle.