Listener No 4432

[Ruthrobin]

We really struggled with the method of entry until the message helped us. Thank you to Schadenfreude for a really challenging first puzzle of the year.

[AHearer]

Same for me, Ruthrobin -- and I found the lower half of the grid much trickier at the initial fill stage than the upper. Compared with some of Schadenfreude's contributions to CAM this was not too bad -- but still quite a challenge, for which many thanks.

An aside: has "nut" as used here suddenly become fashionable? I seem to see it all over the place.

[midazolam]

AHearer, not all editors have allowed it when I have tried it, but I do not see an issue with it. I thought this was very straightforward compared to a standard Schadenfreude. He is normally a classic C grade Magpie, but this was at the B end of the spectrum. With no specified amount of cells that we must highlight, I hope there is nothing hidden that we are missing.

[starwalker]

A solid and reliable start to the New Year. One or two quite tricky wordplays, but everything came out in the end. Many thanks, Schadenfreude

[Flocker14]

Some very tough clues made it a very slow start and I thought I was in for the long haul until the second half of the message emerged which confirmed a hunch I'd had from the beginning - and the rest fell in to place quickly. Agree that some of the Cams have been harder than this. But all in all an excellent (and relevant) workout and good fun too - many thanks Schadenfreude!

[Hagen]

This was a puzzle where the emphasis was on the clues rather than the theme; I realised what was going on quite quickly but found the clues to be as tough as an SAS squadron. That's the way it should be of course but I must admit that frustration rather set in when I was trying to finish the puzzle off having fulfilled the thematic requirements.

Interesting that others mention the "nut" clue. A significant part of my solving time was spent trying to parse 2 down (though the answer is obvious) and I still don't get it. I'm not asking for hints - probably it really is time to get the latest Chambers!

As Starwalker says, a solid and reliable start to the year.

[olichant]

A great start to the new year. I agree it was a little gentler than some of the recent Cams.

I did try to start a thread to discuss the 2016 Listeners, but I think it disappeared into the mist of answerbank threads past.

If anyone can still access it, Friday's regular Times puzzle was really special - highly recommended.

[Hagen]

Finally worked out 2 down... fair but sneakier than the sneaky snacker from Snickersville!

[s_pugh]

I suspected we'd get something a bit more testing after a couple of gentle ones. All sorted now but I too find 2dn unfair as it effectively performs a double interpretation of the word in question. At least the highlighting was unambiguous. Thanks Schadenfreude.

[upsetter]

This was very good.
Difficult clues, late pdm and no grid-stare.

[Ruthrobin]

I've had the nut explained to me. It seems a little unfair to me.

[Alekhine]

I thought that the 'nut' usage worked well enough in a "If A=B and B=C, then A=C" kind of way.

Best Wishes from Alekhine Towers to all for the New Year. May your grid-staring be inspired, and may your highlighter pen never run dry.

[cluelessJoe]

Always nice to solve a Schadenfreude, my oft-Nemesis of a few years ago. This one yielded fairly easily as the well-remembered first thematic I ever solved about 25 years ago was an EV with similarly situated endgame, and there have been more recent variants on the theme from Ifor and Nudd. What did prove tricky here was the excellent and often testing set of clues which we have come to expect from this consistently entertaining setter. Thanks to Schadenfreude and a happy new solving year to all.

[midazolam]

Well, well. Hi CluelessJoe. It's been a while since we last saw you, but nice to see an ally of times gone by resurface again.

It is interesting that it was a Schadenfreude in 2014 when you and I resurfaced together and perhaps your last post until today ... HNY

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Quizzes-and-Puzzles/Crosswords/Question1331846.html

[Scorpius]

It didn't take me all that long to fill the grid with the entries and then fill the gaps to form the last three words of the 'description'. However, I then spent almost an hour trying to fully parse a few clues in order to determine the extra letter and get a coherent full description. I didn't want to trust to luck because Schadenfreude is known for setting traps in his endgames, and I suspected the highlighting might not be as straightforward as it appeared. 2d was one of that handful of clues, and since I had an alternative, perfectly justifiable extra letter for 45a I had what appeared to be nonsense in the middle of the description.

I'm inclined to agree with Ruthrobin that the 'nut' reference was a bit unfair in the context of a clue with extra letters in the wordplay (a gimmick that is become terribly over-used in the Listener). The clue also leads to a completely different, fully justified answer, so that added some ambiguity. Another ambiguity was in 38d, where an alternative spelling of the answer was justified. Normally the Listener advises setters against this.

It all came right in the end, and it was nice to end up with real words and no ambiguities.

[Cruncher]

Some tricky wordplays, not least for 2 down, but a happily unambiguous finish. A good start to 2017 and HNY to fellow travellers

[cluelessJoe]

Hi Midazolam. Yes, maybe only the second time I have posted here in as many years - have not bothered to finish many Listeners lately and rarely see them through to the bitter end unless it is a favourite adversary. Even then I tend to do so at leisurely pace over several days, all the benefit of no longer submitting. I do look in here from time to time though, if only to see who is still around - maybe that's my equivalent of scanning the obituary columns? Hope all is well, HNY, cJ

[IainGrace]

Happy New Year all. Entertaining tough puzzle, although regular solvers of the Listener and the Inquisitor such as us may prefer to see the "extra letter in wordplay" device used a bit more sparingly in 2017.

[sunny-dave]

I must have been on good form late last night - I actually had no problems with the method of entry and (once I'd got a couple of starting points) the clue solving wasn't that hard for me either. Perhaps I'd ingested the exact amount of malt to encourage Listener-type thinking.

Left the final tidying-up and highlighting until this morning - again no problems.

Thanks Schadenfreude

[fyellin]

My problem with "nut" is that "nut" = X, and a different (but admittedly closely related) meaning of X = Y. But no one would ever use "nut" to refer to Y directly.

[borealis]

In contrast with some others, found that quite tough. Justified the effort though, as generally with this setter. Found two clues with a good alternative extra letter, but eventually worked out the message and back-solved the wordplay!
Thanks for a good start to 2017, Schadenfreude, and Happy New Year to all still reading this on a Wednesday.
Olichant, where's your 2016 Listener thread? I can't find it.