Listener 4172: Fruitless Effort by Hypnos

[TheBear69]

I found this to be a somewhat difficult puzzle with very competent clueing, clever concealment of many of the misprints and a nice theme. Thanks, Hypnos.

[freiheid]

For me, a tough fill in the top right and bottom left, but heavy use of computer aids helped me out in the end. A bit too much 'crosswordese', and some difficult clues, with many of the answers needing to be guessed from letters in the grid and then justified (probably virtually impossible to cold-solve, e.g. the hard-to-justify 19a). On the other hand I liked the definition in 33d and some others.

[aldanna]

I didn't start till yesterday morning and was finished by late afternoon; if even drb took half an hour for his first two clues that's pretty good for me. Last week was my first ever in the Friday club but what I really aim for is to be able to post the Listener along with the Mephisto late Sunday afternoon on my way to the gym.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Yes, I don't get 19A either, freiheid. Looks like a vi definition to a vt answer to me. Can anyone shed light?
Noting the post about hard copy, thanks to last week's subscriber who mentioned the on-line Crossword Club. At £25 a year that's £5 a month I'm saving just on Saturday's edition alone.

[IainGrace]

Almost there now. Good challenge. Re an earlier post, think that having misprints anywhere enhances the challenge - precious few in anagrams, in fact. More familiar with the theme from 45 years ago than from the original source.

[bobbycollins]

Pretty much the perfect Listener for yours truly. Challenging without being tortuous. Minor quibbles with the use of a couple of proper nouns which may not be familiar to some - this has been touched upon earlier. I had the same quibble with the use of "Amen Corner" a few weeks ago, which was fine if you knew it (happily I did) but bordering on the unfair if you didn't.

I am with IainGrace in my initial exposure to the phrase - hugely apt at the time.

[magichour]

Almost there now - have the quotation and source and most of the grid fill - just need to complete the tricky top right corner (still baffled by 8d) and locate the highlighting. Certainly a tough puzzle.

[Alekhine]

Thoroughly enjoyable. I worked on most of this while listening to a famous Charlton Athletic win at Hillsborough and completed it during a fine couple of days in which I also picked up my 250th geocache.

An almost perfect weekend was spoiled only by having to settle a hefty overdue Income Tax bill.

Does it get any better than this?

[Zabadak]

19a - don't think it gives anything away to comment that I saw it as a verb and a noun, though like quite a few they're both a two step process in Chambers, with neither clue nor solution turning up in the other's definitions. If I were to be mildly churlish, I would say there's a fair bit of that sort of thing here - as I commented above Hypnos can be pretty oblique and is probably having a bit of a pop at electronic solvers.

[Staurologist]

So, after Dipper's "Fruitful Recipe", we have Hypnos's "Fruitless Effort". Can we now expect puzzles with titles such as "Fruit Cocktail", "Fruit Machine", "Fruit Salad", and "Fruitcakes"? If not,there are some challenges for setters.

I was a bit of a caterpiller (in the BRB's archaic definition) when it came to completing this one, but the solution emerged when I finally "spotted" the beautiful Nabokovian finish. Although, like Dead-eye, I was expecting another [perhaps less totally thematic] form.

I disagree with those who think that the inclusion of proper names is [bordering on] unfair. In a good Listener puzzle one can expect about half of the lights to be rare or uncommon words, of which a regular solver may not have heard of about a half until looking them up in the BRB. [D S MacNutt, in "Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword" recommended that there should be equal numbers of common and rare words in a barred puzzle.] Some will also have to look up unfamiliar quotations in the ODQ or elsewhere. There is therefore no reason why one shouldn't have to use other reference books to find proper names that are equally unfamiliar.

[magichour]

Finally got there! Slightly dubious about 12d which I think may be an alternative spelling in the new edition of the BRB - it can't be anything else, from the crossing answers. Found the highlighting a lot more quickly than expected. All in all, a tricky but satisfying puzzle.

[Mesnilpat]

I completed the grid and pretty quickly - albeit with a few that were 'best fit' - and got the quotation, but have been gazing at the grid ever since and just can't see the highlighting. From reading other posts I am beginning to think I may have a few incorrect letters. Back to the grid. Hey ho.

[silversolver]

Came late to this one after a busy weekend and it appears from the comments above that I was not the only one to find this a real challenge - it took an unusually long time to solve my first clue and from then on, it was a painstaking process to complete the grid, and even when that was done, to work out some of the more obscure wordplays. A very enjoyable puzzle - thanks, Hypnos.

[emcee]

Quite a struggle this week, I've only just finished! It was certainly a waste of time taking the puzzle to the pub on Friday as, without the BRB at hand, I only completed three clues (2 of which, I hasten to add, were wrong).

I'm now happy about how each of the clues work but it took quite a while to get to that stage. The shading was the simplest part of the puzzle.

Thanks to Hypnos for a real workout.

[Mesnilpat]

Hoorah - finally seen the highlighting. Thanks Hypnos, liked that one.

[tenflags]

Unlike Dr B and one or two others I solved my first clue correctly in less than a minute but then true to form have taken until now to finish. - so no change there then.

Aloysius535 and Iamamoose - re "next Friday club' - I started a "rear-gunners" club some time ago - i.e. happy to finish at all. Your very welcome to join as usually by the time I finish, and might post, others have turned the lights out as it were.

Found this tough - enjoyed it - no way would I have got some clues without having to work backwards to them at the end - especially when one can find some very convincing alternative solutions (for potential) misspells that work.

Still chewing my neck about making a transposition error in my 'Seaside Shuffle' entry - doh.

[Philoctetes]

Pleasantly satisfying, though I do think too many of the clues are stretching things. In fact still trying to understand a few of the wordplays. But glad to have finished after a very unpromising start

[Cruncher]

Spent a day unravelling the wordplay to 21ac but finally all complete and hopefully correct. Indeed a tough puzzle

[Ythelon]

Ten Flags if you read this please tell me more about the "Rear Gunners Club". ([email protected])

[easylistener]

I'll happily join the rear gunners club or Wednesday nighters or whatever for those who are just glad to finish without having to ask for hints for once! Finally did this one without asking for hints. Really quite chuffed!

[Tarraco2]

Nearly there. Got the quote and highlighted the missing element but there are still two clues threatening to defeat us – and two for which we have answers but can’t sort out the wordplay. We are definitely candidates for the ‘Rear-Gunners Club’ or a ‘Nearly Club’ if one exists!