Listener 4113 Liberty Bell by Pieman

[cluelessJoe]

Phew, that was a tough one

[cluelessJoe]

.... and now for the second clue .
: )

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, that is my reaction :) and I haven't sussed out the endgame yet. I have never struggled harder for a grid fill and have some dubious areas and word play that completely escapes me.

[dr b]

I'm right about where RR is. Plenty of answers bunged in with no understanding of the wordplay. I have identified some candidates for deleting bars, but no idea where it's all heading.

28d did make me laugh once the wordplay hit me.

[AndrewG-S]

Yes 28d was amusing. Sort of in a similar place, odd wordplay. Sorry for duplicating the threads! Off to watch my son in the footie now, hope for inspiration on my return

[AHearer]

That was, indeed, quite challenging. I often have difficulty with short clues such as most of these are. There was some very clever setting here. In one way I found the ending a little unsatisfactory, but given the way Pieman had chosen to set it up I don't see how it could have been done better.

[contendo]

Just about completed three-quarters of the grid but completely lost in the left upper quadrant where I only have 4 words. Hoping a pause will bring inspiration. I like 48 dn.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, AHearer, after all that work, I, too, found the ending mildly unsatisfactory.

[trux]

Slow progress after a Saturday afternoon start. Bottom LH corner all complete but am going to rest first and return refreshed tomorrow to untangle a few more of Pieman's convolutions .... still have a long way to go !

[AndrewG-S]

All done except for a couple of missing letters. Enjoyable and tough!

[Zabadak]

Finally completed in several short stabs, partly because of unavoidable events (not, actually, including witnessing the magnificent win at the Emirates today!) and partly because 79 clues is rather a lot in any one sitting at my age. Lots of (especially short) clues seem to me to suggest alternative answers until finally shaken down, making some of the anagram entries tricky to identify. Liberties indeed in the final form: in the end, as the "refrain" begins to emerge, the final bars are kind of forced into the open, and only then do you see what is meant by only anagrammed entries being affected. Clever I guess, but a bit of a long slog.

[AndrewG-S]

Finally all done, the last few answers took a while even with the thematic elements identified. Thought the construction of the puzzle was very clever with several different levels needing to be worked through. Definitely one of the better puzzles this year, many thanks Pieman.

[starwalker]

Got to the stage of a full grid less one answer, a quotation identified and then nothing. Judging by some of the comments I wonder if the endgame is really worth the effort. Oh well, let's see what happens.

[trux]

Inspired by Bruckner's Symphony No. 2 - which takes the brain into a very good zone to unravel Mr. P's abstrusenesses - have managed to get the grid filled before noon .... Time for a break before moving onto the end-game, but can I really face a glass of the Beaujolais Nouveau I was given yesterday ?

[trux]

All done now .... exceeding clever construction, tortuous clueing ... and the final representation necessitated the liberties taken, mefeels

[silversolver]

Finally got there. Agree that this was a real challenge. Some very difficult clueing and I enjoyed working out the tortuous wordplays. I particularly enjoyed 42d. The quotation came relatively easily once I had removed the relevant bars but it took a while for the penny to drop on the final stage. And yes, the result does indeed take a few liberties.

[starwalker]

Finally got there after a few liberties were taken. All I need to do now is get my missing answer for 35D.

[trux]

Starwalker - 35D is of straightforward construction (with "height" being "H" as you might imagine) but also, curiously, caused problems for another very competent solver ...track down the right meaning of the definition word and hopefully you wil be on the right scent ...

[dr b]

Finally got there with a little help from my friends. Last step elicited a groan at first but finally grudging admiration.

[starwalker]

Finally got there. I think I will reserve judgement on this one.

[tilbee]

Only got to this today, and have sepnt much of the day finally getting this completed to my satisfaction. Overall I thought the construction was excellent, and the tough slog worth the finale.