Listener 4021 Mazy by Salamanca

[Philoctetes]

Still no link, of course. But another that relies heavily on cold solving. And a lovely nod for the Classicists amongst us in the use of "boustrophedon". I suspect more such will appear.

[Cruncher]

Liked the grid. I've tried constructing boustrephedons in the past without success so good to see it can be done. Not sure about the title. Suspect there is some other reference beyond it being a maze-ish kind of puzzle. Any thoughts?

[Walterloo]

. . . and after another hour's work on it last night I now have a completed grid, and a path through the maze avoiding the lurker, and I think this puzzle is one of the best I've attempted, ever.

But.

The first item in my 'chain', starting at the arrowed square, has a final letter that appears twice in adjacently diagonal cells, thus giving two possible paths of 31 letters, different only by the choice of one of these squares.
Unless I have something wrong . . .?

[AHearer]

Walterloo, I have the same, and decided that the chain must involve edge rather than corner connections.

[Walterloo]

Thanks, Ahearer, good to know someone else was following the same path (sorry, couldn't resist).

[Apache4D]

Extremely jealous of all you solvers......I have loads of across solves (with a rough position of the switch to across clues assumed), but with only 1,2, 4, and a dubious 5 as the start of my columnar ploughing it is proving elusive!

Shame that work has to get in the way!! Hopefully this evening will be more fruitful perhaps with a celebratory beer in Walterloo's honour!

[Philoctetes]

A sudden leap ahead - when stupid me rethought his answer to 1D (that one again) - my original answer had been three letters shorter, which led me to the supposition that answers ended at grid edges, an put my last across answer in the wrong place. All in all, a right farce!! Face slightly less red now

[Walterloo]

Apache4D -- I have solved it, yes, but it was YOUR post on Sunday 12:14 regarding your logic in how the answers are to be entered that got ME going, together with posts by the legends that are midazolam, Ahearer and starwalker.
I wrote in 1D, saw where the very last clue answer could go, remembered the talk of gaps at the ends of some entries, and off I went. Slowly, carefully, but away all the same.
Good luck.

[AHearer]

Flattering as it is, Walterloo, to be mentioned in the same despatch as midazolam and starwalker, I must demur. I'm still way behind them in solving skill, and a relative newcomer to these Listener threads. Just a foot in the door, more leg-end than legend (and if that doesn't get me banned, nothing will).

[IntoTheBlue]

I've eventually found a way through this grid and agree with the 31 squares mentioned above. I don't know about avoiding the lurker (more like not noticing it in the first place);is it the chain element that appears elsewhere in the grid but does not form part of the chain ?

Enjoyed this one but things were certainly made a lot easier once I'd got 1 down as my cold solving had come to a grinding halt...

IntoTheBlue

[Apache4D]

I would like to second Walterloo's praise, I am continually impressed by the abilities and candour of all on these threads, which is what keeps me coming back.

In my first year of attempting Listener's, the knowledge that i'm not the only one battling away, the added incentive of striving to join the successful solvers, and their support is invaluable. Many Thanks.

As for 4021, I keep cold solving, but grid still remains meagrely filled.........does anyone else hate reading about bobsleigh runs?! Though have unveiled some real gems along the way!

[robinruth]

I'm a newcomer too, and we didn't even receive Mazy until today (overseas delivery) Though we have the final clue and a few others, we remain completely baffled by that 1d and amazed that you legends manage.
The thread makes a great read and I wish I could interpret the hints - it is so frustrating to be unable to see how to start. Composite anagram of how many of those words? I am giving nothing away as I have nothing but some sort of path, chain - Oh dear! Thanks, anyway!

[Cruncher]

Robinruth et al - 1dn occupies the whole of the first column. If you have the last across answer, you might be able to take a guess at the last letter of 1dn and thence guess the end of the word. It does come up on Chambers' Word Wizard anagram solver if you have the correct assortment of letters.

IntotheBlue - the beastie is positioned elsewhere along an oft-used axis!

[IntoTheBlue]

Many thanks Cruncher it all becomes clear now... I had expected to see him lurking in the shadows but he was right in front of my nose...doh !

[cluelessJoe]

Nice puzzle for sure, but - like Cruncher - I'm a bit thrown by the relevance (or lack thereof) of the title.

[robinruth]

Delighted that Clueless Joe (obviously not as clueless as me) has manged it again. We are sure that an occupation must be some sort of 'ship' but still totally stalled by the start - and abandoning.
We wonder how many hundreds of people, like us, fail and never say a word - this one seems to be particularly difficult with so much depending on getting one opening clue. Sobeit. We fail with at least one out of every three at the moment - is that about par for the course for learners?

[Mysterons]

You are correct about the ending of 1d, whose definition is the first word, and anagrind the sixth.

I'd say you are both doing very well for learners. The statistics don't go into too much detail about solving partnerships, but by far the greatest number of solvers only submit a single digit number of correct entries each year.

[starwalker]

robinruth - when I first started to attempt the Listener about 10 years ago, I only managed single figure all corrects for the first two years. Things got better after that, but slowly.

Walterloo - I am flattered by your comment. How I wish that it were true. (Significant other half is still spluttering.) There are some weeks when I just stare blankly at a part-completed grid and wonder why I am so stupid. Usually a little light dawns eventually, but often after others have finished.

[jamesah]

I've only started this today so have still got a long way to go! Just a couple of observations so far. With so much cold solving it does seem to make things unnecessarily difficult not to give us the lengths of words. It wouldn't matter so much if the grid was symmetrical. Also, why are we told that 'not all letters are checked'? I wouldn't expect them to be. Am I missing some subtleties here? Congratulations to all who have finished. This is certainly a toughie.

[Flocko]

JAH, I would interpret "not all letters are checked" as "Don't rule out any possible entry method on the grounds that it would require all letters to be checked". As for the missing answer lengths, I think giving them would have given too much information about where to place any given answer; in particular it would probably give away the split between down and across clues.
Stay with it. It is tough but perhaps not as tough as you think.

[Cruncher]

robinruth - don't woose out! If you reckon that 1dn ends -ship then you can probably guess that "spider/s" are part of the anagram. A quick check on Chambers of 12-letter words ending -ship with d, e and r in the word gives you about 8 possibilities. It shouldn't be difficult to figure out which one you want.

I initially thought that this one would be impossible but I managed to get the grid up and running with only about a dozen cold solves. It is quite a generous solve once you get going.