Listener 4068

[starwalker]

This week's offering is "364 263 by Xanthippe"
A straightforward grid fill which now leaves me with the problem of following the instructions, whilst not being an owner of the required medium. Oh well, worse things have happened before.

[midazolam]

A crossword that has left me with mixed feelings. On the bright side, it is a grid that does take a fair amount of thought to create, as words have letters removed, leaving real words and those letters create a new word. However the grid fill even though semi-carte blanche (as the order is known) was very easy. The finale is also very straightforward (and I am sure there is an internet site that can help you starwalker), but the very end gimmick by using numbers is merely a cop out. Again on the bright side, it all fits together very nicely. Solitaire from 2008 was one of my favourites of that year, this unfortunately may not be.

[AHearer]

I'm glad I'm not the only one, starwalker, who's held out against owning one. Nevertheless, a pretty easy fill and decode. Pleasant, but not one of the greats.

[daagg]

The first decoded sentence seems a rather complicated way of specifying the instructions - I don't see why it has to be broken into parts like that. More generally, I'm always surprised how much the order and length of the answers constrain the grid fill. I seem to be able to insert answers much sooner than I would naively have expected.

[Ruthrobin]

I thought this was quite fun. I don't use that technique either, Starwalker, but it resolves itself fairly easily into the required instruction without the technique.

[cluelessJoe]

A shade disappointing, and I'm another lacking the required medium (though as noted, it's not a great hindrance). I sincerely hope this does not end up being one of my favourites for the year, or we'll have endured much non-vintage fare if it does! Very much in the 'pleasant but not memorable' category. Hope everyone's coping with the weather - great to have real winter again, though I don't remember <i>ever</i> having my school closed through many similar seasons half a century ago.

[Cruncher]

Easier than anticipated at first sight. Although I have access to the required mechanical aid I enjoyed teasing out the code without. Did spend an embarrassing amount of time looking for the missing 5 though - doh!

[Cruncher]

CluelessJoe -"elf and safety" I'm afraid. It's the same reason why we don't see that nice Mr Claus anymore

[Speravi]

I very much enjoyed this for what it was - a fairly straightforward fair-play puzzle with a denouement that made me smile. When I first read the rubric, my heart sank, but it turns out that Xanthippe is that rara avis - a composer who knows what the 'conventional order' is, and who is able to describe symmetry accurately in terms that don't confuse a mathematician.

[Mysterons]

A nice rather unexciting puzzle - the absence of a 1 in the code was however a dead giveaway.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, indeed, Mysterons.
There is an interesting discussion of the AB going on on the 'other' (Derek Harrison's) message board at the moment with regard to the Listener discussions.

[easterfool]

Didn't take much sorting out - to my wife's surprise. Enjoyable but not a great one. I'm not altogether happy with the down clue starting "Eagles". I'm certain of the answer but not of the reasoning. Later on, can someone put my mind at rest?

[munkybiskitz]

I struggled with the Eagles clue too, until I 'lifted' the early part of my answer and consulted Chambers. Having followed the numerical instructions, my final 'representation' doesn't quite resemble what I would consider the conventional one. D'oh! Whilst typing this I've realised how I can make it work! Time to stop being a person who spent dole on some pasta! An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks, Xanthippe.

[kwyjibo]

I think I've figured out the 'Eagles' clue wordplay, there would normally be an apostrophe. I do possess the required medium but often wish I didn't.

[daagg]

How often do "triple clues" appear - I was impressed by that one. Has there ever been a "quadruple clue"?

[Scorpius]

I thought it was a nice puzzle. We can't expect a stunner every week. My only slight worry is that following the instructions results in the second part of what's formed by moved letters from down clues, not the whole of it.

[perseverer]

The letters of the second part had to be the first part to get there........

[Clamzy]

For the first time on this board I didn't understand a Mysterons hint.
Not only do I not have the column + word, I don't even have the thing along the bottom. I did find an image of one on Wiki and so was able to unravel the lengthy code, but a long slog for me.

[easylistener]

Hello all you experts, I am new at this Listener lark. Following the first flush of success from Rentokil I thought I would try more. Got the code and the shape and the phrase but stuck on some of the clues and where to put them. For starters, can anyone help me with "No longer save..." without giving the game away for others?

[daagg]

Not that I'm an expert, but I'm happy to try and help, easylistener. For that clue, you're probably best guessing a synonym for the definition (at one or other end) and trying to match the wordplay (though I found that one a bit tricky - you have 2 archaic words to find). If you have the answer, then look carefully at the across answer lengths, as several of them (including this one) will only fit in one position.

[Mysterons]

daag, triple and sometimes quadruple, definition clues are not that uncommon in certain puzzles, for example Everyman and the Spectator. I remember once seeing a clue containing 6 definitions of the answer !