Listener 4509 Disappearances By 'eck

[Hagen]

I can't find another thread so here goes. What an absolutely brilliant endgame! How setters can achieve such complex constructions so elegantly, I will never know. The denouement went a long way towards compensating what I found to be rather a slog of a grid fill. The point that Scorpius and others mentioned last week - a lot of short answers - was apparent here (thematically necessary, I accept) and made for rather slow and frustrating progress. Also I felt it was a bit of a mean trick to include a couple of ambiguities with the dropped letters.

Still, it's churlish to quibble with a puzzle which demonstrates such extraordinary skill and hard work by the setter. Bloody good, by 'Eck!

[12barblues]

Completely agree, after a fast start the second half of the clues was a long struggle. But any regrets disappear with that amazing final step. Well worth the effort.

[Scorpius]

I agree it was an excellent puzzle. The endgame was really very neat, and a mini puzzle in itself. Yes, a lot of short answers, though with more justification this time, given the complexity of the interwoven thematic information. They did make filling the grid very tough, especially the lower half.
The clues were first class, the best we've had for a while. I thought the & lit definition was a bit dubious, but that's a minor quibble.

[Scorpius]

I should have added to the above that the grid is brilliant. I didn't appreciate quite how brilliant until I looked at it again this morning.

[Liathach]

The final step is indeed outstanding, and takes a fair bit of courage to carry out (though I did have a spare grid handy). What an amazing construction, and what stunning clues! In many cases I found it impossible to predict the misprint but when I found it it was clearly apposite. Puzzle of the year, maybe? Congratulations, by 'Eck!

[olichant]

That was - wow, seriously impressive. A really tough gridfill with some excellent, concise, accurate clues (I agree with Scorpius' minor quibble if we're thinking of the same thing) and a really stunning denouement. Would love to know how it was done. What a brilliant treatment of the theme.

If I’m honest, I’m not sure I’ve fully understood the hint from misprints (albeit I’m sure I’ve done what needs to be done); I’ll go back and check my misprints once I’ve had a bit of a lie down. I feel I’ve earned it.

Thanks, 'Eck - that was excellent, I thought.

[upsetter]

Eck's brilliant but extravagant exercise in construction would have been pruned by a more ruthless editor.

[pushmi-pullyu]

I've got all but one of the thematic appearances but I have a horrid feeling that that's not all I'm missing. Hoping all will become clear tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.

[Alekhine]

Magnificent.

Best of the year for me, so far.

[starwalker]

Not sure about puzzle of the year, but certainly the hardest one so far. Thanks 'Eck.

[Philoctetes]

A good toughie. a possible flaw is that you didn't have to answer all the clues once you worked out what was going on. But still oustanding

[Scorpius]

Re Starwalker's comment, harder than Sabre? Surely not. I finished this by early Saturday evening. Sabre kept me going all weekend and a bit of Monday.

I'm not sure I agree with Philoctetes I don't see how it could be properly completed without solving all the clues.

[Cruncher]

Astonishing piece of engineering even if my first instruction didn't entirely make sense

[pushmi-pullyu]

Finally got there. Wow, what an amazing construction.

[Philoctetes]

Scorpius - to go to extremes, one could solve all the clues in region A, name the speaker, remember the circumstances, work out what is meant to be the end result and look for potential thematic entries. There are even pointers to the locations caused by ambiguities. I'm not saying that anyone would really do that - but my last two answers did come to me that way

[Scorpius]

Interesting, Philoctetes. I suspect we may have different solutions.

[icynorth]

It was the most difficult one I’ve seen, and I’m still not sure I’ve got it right. I didn’t find the quote, but following the instruction has certainly revealed some thematic words. Here’s hoping!

[emcee]

Only had time to do this seriously from Friday just gone.

A superb puzzle and has to be one of the best of the year.

ee bah gum, by 'Eck, good job done.