Listener 4828 Mass Medium By Stick Insect

[upsetter]

A well constructed and challenging puzzle with an elegant denouement.

Many thanks, Stick Insect.
 

[Cruncher]

It was a gentle solve once the structure of the grid became apparent. For me the final PDM was more of a gentle smile than a reaction of wide-eyed astonishment - although none the worse for that - and I was very happy to dodge a long grid stare.

Thank you Stick Insect

[emcee]

Completely agree with upsetter. A particularly novel endgame.

Thanks, Stick Insect.

[HawkCrossword]

Agreed. I thought this was really neat and fun to complete.

Thanks, Stick Insect!

[Philoctetes]

Another nice puzzle, with a well-constructed endgame

On another topic, is this series on Ab reaching the end? When I first found this, we sometimes had over 100 responses, now four is a good week. We managed to negotiate away from members simply giving lists of answers ("Well, it is the Answerbank") and had a good mix of subtle hints and genuine analysis of the quality of puzzles, from which both setters and solvers could learn. The hints dried up, and then we had a complaint from a setter/member that we should not criticise the puzzles because an awful lot of work goes into them. So we are reduced to providing only positive comments and no discussion. Sadly, it seems "The Other Place" is doing things better.

[HawkCrossword]

As a setter, I like to hear how people feel about a puzzle. Many solvers enclose letters with their posted entries which get forwarded on, and I would value those opinions above online comments, as they feel more considered and detailed. Having said that, online comments are interesting, as they show a solver's emotional state, having just completed the puzzle. Was the endgame surprising, or frustrating? Was it a bit of a slog to get there?  It's nice to read these in this AB forum where folks aren't also asking for help, as I think it's unfair to the solver competition to broadcast that kind of assistance. I don't know why people can't just DM each other for assistance if they really need it.

[perseverer]

Well, just in case Stick Insect reads these comments, thanks. I didn't find the grid fill too easy, struggling for a while with the NW quarter, though as usual when you get the answer, you wonder why you didn't see it sooner. It took a while to make sense of the latter half of the message, and identify those two characters, one of which I was not familiar with. The highlighting was straightforward, not to my mind a bad thing, and raised a gentle smile.

As to the other place where at one time they complained that the AB thread was about seeing who could be first finished, there now seems to be an element of the same there, coupled with complaints that the puzzles are too easy. 

[u10]

The Listener AB threads are clearly diminishing in size so I would suggest contributors migrate to the crossword help forum or the Listener Forum on Facebook. You can make your positive comments there just as well as here. I don't think Answerbank was set up for the "thank you X" comments - just look at contributions to, say, the Spectator where actual answers and strong hints are provided. The Listener is not a good fit for AB as quite rightly answers shouldn't be given to this special puzzle.

[Captain2]

^^^ Said a 'loyal' member of 16+ years .........