Listener 4460

[tristram37]

listener 4460

[icynorth]

A fine achievement, thanks Sabre. I love the beauty of the theme. The title brought a smile, too.

[Osirun]

I guess the endgame is obvious enough given the numbers involved (though pity those, like me, who were one out for a long time and had to count and recount everything dozens of times) but it seemed a fairly arbitrary to "resolve" the clashes? Or there's always the possibility I've missed a better one, of course :)

[Scree]

Looks a bit beyond me. I have a handful of answers but there are clearly numerous clashes and thus the solver's mainstay - letters given by crossing words - is undermined. Would need to cold solve plenty of clues which remain baffling.
Ironic that a clash would have helped with Azed 2351. I posted a year or so ago about a printer's devilry clue which somehow failed to win approval (a very similar clue won), and was advised that maybe I'd posted too late. I pooh-poohed the idea, but noticed Azed gave a stern warning soon after about people posting too late !
This time I made sure I posted Friday afternoon, but my downfall was not checking my answers thoroughly. I note that the first clue I solved, 11A, (Some sort of old weapon king sheathed, not required) was SPARKE, but I blithely entered SPARRE and thought no more of it. (I knew it meant spar but the conviction that it also meant spear slipped in under my guard).
Such a shame! I toiled with RHAGADES but I knew 'cracks in the skin, extremely rough, aching around edges' wasn't great. Then I tried googling 'rhagades', and came up with a clue that was light years better.
Could be caused by syphilis, which also produced 'sabre shins'. Was treated with silver nitrate. Suddenly I had a clue which stood a real chance.
Nasty business, _____________: might display sabre shins, silver used for treatment?
Comp anag & lit (business rhagades/sabre shins Ag used). I'd created a clue far closer to perfection than most I've managed, but it was academic as I'd got an answer wrong.
If only that R/K hadn't been the one unchecked letter in 11A! A clash would have alerted me to my folly. (No good exhorting me to check answers more thoroughly - I do try, but I fear this one would still have slipped through).

[Cruncher]

Osirun. With you on this one. Seem to be one down on the endgame. Hmmm. Tough but fair clues but I agree with others that this has been less imaginative than other recent puzzles

[pushmi-pullyu]

All done but 26d. Hoping to follow you, Emcee, and get the answer as soon as I've posted.

[sunny-dave]

Not quite as hard as I feared (either from Sabre's reputation, or the early comments here).

The gridfill was tricky but (given that I quite quickly spotted what was happening with the clashes) not actually that difficult, once I started using the quinapalus word matcher to generate possible entries for crossing clues.

I'd never have got the riddle without the magic of Mr Google, but that's par for the course these days, and once I knew what I was looking for my totals were spot on.

Thanks Sabre - 'hard but fair' as ever.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Finally made it. Still don't totally understand 26d, but confident I've got the right answer for it.

[sunny-dave]

At the risk of breaking the taboo ...

Look at the 6th definition of your answer in the BRB (at least in my iMac version) - it took me a while to find.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Thank you sunny-dave, it was when I found that 6th definition that I knew the answer was right. I still don't fully understand the wordplay though.

[emcee]

pushmi-pullyu: think of a non-PC train and a Geordie term of endearment.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Thanks emcee - it was the non-pc train that was holding me up but I went for it anyway. Glad I did.