Listener 3996

[cruciverbali]

Today's weighty challenge is Half a Ton by Llig

[cluelessJoe]

Hi Cruciverbalist - many thanks for the link. cJ

[mad max]

many thanks C, looks more like my level unlike last weeks which I'm still struggling with.

[Rapparee]

Hi Cruciverbalist

As it turned out, not quite the heavyweight the title seemed to suggest.

Thanks for the link.

[cluelessJoe]

Yes, plenty of free time this weekend - time to draw breath before the next numbers Listener?

[slaney]

Thanks for the link cruciverbalist...
a good one for some of us to make a start, though..

[captainandy]

Last one:
26d 'One might participate in Carnival of the Animals, sustained by LP maybe' (6) T - NRE - . (tenrec?)

[Rapparee]

Yes, tenrec

ten - abbreviation for tenuto, sustained
rec - abbreviation for record

[bobbycollins]

The perimeter theme took me an embarrassingly long time to spot after such an east grid fill.

I can only see one clued light with a connection to the theme but can't be bothered to dig too deeply. I had unwittingly associated that clue with the theme on Friday evening but thought nothing more of it until just now when the penny dropped.

The solution discussed above was my only uncertain wordplay, and am disappointed that I now cannot work it out for myself.

Cluelessjoe, good to have the footy back even though it will no doubt break the hearts of Leeds and Everton fans!!

[Cruncher]

BobbyCollins - the references are in the clues themselves rather than the grid entries. A quick glance at Wikipedia will reveal about half a dozen references. I had a moment of panic when I saw the word 'encode' appear in the grid, before I'd sussed the perimeter, and thought we might be in for some more Playfairing...

[Philoctetes]

Once more, a Red card to Rapparee and Captainandy. It may be easy to you, but there are some who actually like to work out these clues for themselves. And, I think, Saturday evening is more than a tad early to be asking for help. Work on it until it is too late to submit, then start giving the game away!

[Quizmonster]

On the contrary...well done to Rapparee! Had he not provided the answer requested, I certainly would have.

[bobbycollins]

Back under the stone, Quizmonster!!

Cheers, Cruncher....(dooooh)

The dooooh is particularly appropriate, I am both familiar with, and fond of, the thematic material.

[cluelessJoe]

Good grief - after all this time, Quizmonster arises phoenix-like from the ashes. Where have you been QM? - and this week you must be well put-out that someone beat you to it!

That said, I don't think the straight red was warranted Philoctetes .. not a big infringement compared to some in the past, Rapparee was only confirming an answer which someone had already reached, albeit tentatively. I'd have been pushed to award a yellow.

Yes bobbycollins, footy's back - and another agonising season for both teams no doubt. Doubly sadly, I end up suffering for both teams as - despite the warnings - my daughter managed to marry an Evertonian!

[Quizmonster]

I'm not sure what you mean by "all this time", CJ. I've been lurking in the ashes of the Q and P category for the simple reason that there has lately been no - as far as I'm aware - Listener query to respond to. If you wandered around the rest of the AnswerBank occasionally, you'd see that I have been here virtually daily since we last 'spoke'.
And no, I wasn't put out not to have got here first...I'm always pleased when a questioner gets an answer here...after all, this is a Q and A site!

[cluelessJoe]

Interesting response Quizmonster - I don't really want to re-open old debates as these tend to lead less to dialogue than re-statements of diametrically opposed views.
However (sorry everyone but ..) I was moved to respond to your recent post because it merely re-stated your entrenched let's call it anti-Listenerite stance.
OK so you have hung around elsewhere on the Answerbank (interestingly "with no Listener query to respond to"?!) ... can I just ask whether, during that time, on any other thread - anywhere else - you have been prompted to declare that "had he not provided the answer requested, I certainly would have"
Should we all be floating around other sections of the Answerbank posting similar add-nothing comments after others' responses to questions - or were you maybe just trying to rattle a few bars here in case someone (yes me for one!) happened to rise to your bait?
'nuff said!

[Quizmonster]

As you say, CJ, our positions re the Listener's right to exclusive treatment is on a par with Richard Dawkins' and the Archbishop of Canterbury's positions re religious faith...utterly irreconcilable.
However, I recently saw these two discussing that very topic on TV and neither one said the other was ignorant, a ranter or something that dwelt under stones. Listenerites have seen fit to apply all three to me...one right here in this thread! Nevertheless, you still seem surprised at my "anti-Listenerite stance".
For the record, I have a Master's degree gained almost half a centruy ago, an IQ in the high 150s and I live in a perfectly normal terrace in England. Accordingly, none of the above descriptors applies to me.
My response you refer to was not an "add-nothing comment", it was - perfectly clearly - a comment in support of Rapparee.
Let's leave it at that, eh?

[midazolam]

back from another gloomy bank holiday weekend away.

A relatively easy fill, but the first part of the perimeter i have not heard of before and was not in wikipedia's main thread on the theme.

Interestingly, i note a recurring theme in Llig's recent Listeners: Divine in 2003 and Henman 150 in 2006. The title confirms. (although before my solving time!)

P.S. was this recurrent bantering necessary chaps? get back to the Job in hand and talk about the current Listener

[bobbycollins]

qm, the stone bit was meant to be flippant - an allusion to your absence from this thread. Surely nobody has ever doubted your brainpower or your sincerity about the stance which you are perfectly entitled to take. You have always seemed the sort of chap with whom one could happily spend a few hours nattering over a couple of pints; and no doubt disagreeing with from time to time.

[spiderFreak]

I've a question (having already submitted my entry): what's the connection with the title of the crossword?

[Walterloo]

The person concerned with the theme of the puzzle is having a 'celebration' of a certain number of years (alluded to in the title) since their demise.