Listener Crossword 4128 Ringtone by Trev

[Zabadak]

Evening all. Once again I find myself staring at a completed grid and a completed instruction, the former quite straightforward, the latter requiring a leap of imagination that so far eludes me. All the words in the instruction individually make sense, collectively they don't - yet. Currently I'm hazarding "anything at all" or possibly "annoying" as reasonable entries in the box at the bottom. Regards and best wishes to everyone.

[turast]

Came to this very late (Mon 21st March) and should just about get it to St. Albans in time if 1st class post works. I found it a bit of a slog, but eventually got the instruction. 7th word was a good hint as to what to do to the puzzle's heading. Then not difficult to identify within the grid which 6th word needed to be 7th, 8th, 9th word.

Once again I'm very grateful that I didn't look at this thread until I'd finished. Gertrude Stein? Bollywood? What are you lot on about? 90% of what was being written on the thread was totally irrelevant once you'd got the missing / extra letter instructions, surely? It couldn't have hinted more heavily at the overall theme, so the tutting at Speravi was a bit pointless, I thought. If I'd read the thread before starting, I don't think I'd have started at all or got anywhere near finishing, so the policy of not giving too much away is definitely working. I agree on the figure of 9 "components".

[turast]

I came to this late (Mon 21st March) and completed it last night after several revisits. I found some of the clueing quite hard, struggling particularly with the left hand side. The hyphen in 19 down proving a particular stumbling block when searching electronically. The instruction obtained from missing/extra letters was, in my view, quite clear and in the 3rd & 4th word a pretty broad and fair hint at what was going on with the title & other solutions within the grid. I then got to the treatment of 9 components and the final calculation.

I was amazed when I read the thread. Gertrude Stein? Bollywood? If I'd read it before starting to solve, I'd have probably given up on the spot. All the tutting at Speravi was a little misplaced, I thought, because you couldn't get a more broad hint than the ones provided in the missing/extra letter instructions.