Listener 4479 Postprandial By Salamanca

[Ruthrobin]

Absolutely delightful. We enjoyed every moment of this and love the theme. Many thanks to Salamanca for lovely entertainment.

[Vagans]

Yes indeed: the perfect antidote to an icy evening.

[Encota]

Enjoyable - thanks Salamanca.

[Alekhine]

Oh dear.

Woeful.

[olichant]

Is it terrible to admit that the theme was new to me? Straightforward enough, to be sure - although, that said, I have a few wordplays still to unravel, and it's a delight to be introduced to something new.

[Philoctetes]

Is the song well known enough for anyone without the internet? Slightly easy, I'm afraid.

[starwalker]

New to me as well. As if, at my age, I care. Still, an enjoyable solve. Thanks Salamanca.

[IainGrace]

A pleasant way to spend an hour on a source we broadly know,without being familiar with the detail.

[12barblues]

A Friday finish, woohoo. That gives me the long weekend here to make a dent in the Magpie. Thanks Salamanca

[Ruthrobin]

Hang on to that Z cup Alekhine!

[AndrewG-S]

Knew the theme well - so two weeks on that front. But overall a little straightforward, don’t see relevance of 6 letter answers and some surface readings a bit weak. Plus should really be more complexity to clues. This is meant to be constructive , not a moan!

[AndrewG-S]

Oh and should add ringed letters are pointless.

[Hagen]

It's often the case with puzzles that have quite a few long unclued entries that it's difficult to progress until you've figured those entries out, and easy to polish the puzzle off once you have done so. This was no exception; I didn't remember the song from source material but it was easy enough to find on the internet after a couple of guesses at key words. We've had some tough struggles recently so I for one was grateful for something a bit gentler.

[cluelessJoe]

Agree entirely Hagen. Only started this morning and rapidly finished. I thought at one stage I had a lot left to do, guessed at a couple of the unclued words and a quick search revealed all, wherafter my grid was virtually full - so if anything I ended up feeling a bit cheated.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Great fun, but please can someone explain the wordplay of 4,35d without giving anything away?

[pomona]

the "tree guardian" is a being by the author of the song

[pushmi-pullyu]

Ah, thank you Pomona.

[sunny-dave]

Trivial ... much too easy and some quite ropy clues too.

It doesn't help that the source material is so hackneyed you could call it a cab.

Sorry Salamanca - I usually like your puzzles.

[icynorth]

I enjoy 99% of Listener puzzles, including this one- thanks, Salamanca.

But I have to concur with AndrewG-S above over the clues and usefulness of the ringed letters to the solve. With minor adjustments and trickier clues, this could have been a lot better.

[Philoctetes]

I disagree about the ringed letters, though there are many too many of them in the unclued areas. There is nothing else in the preamble or puzzle to push someone who is unfamiliar with the theme in the right direction. The unclued answers themselves do not really help. Simply, if you know where it's going, the puzzle is simple, if you don't, there is no means of finding your way. Unbalanced.

[Scorpius]

I think Alekhine has been too harsh in his condemnation. I found it enjoyable, but I agree that it does suffer from weaknesses that others have noted - the sudden collapse about three-quarters of the way through solving, some lame surfaces in places, and the pointless circled letters. Only three are checked by clued entries, so not enough to provide the work. Had all but two or three been more judiciously placed, solvers without the internet would have access to the verse through the source. Many of us know at least one such solver.