Listener 4640

[IainGrace]

A gentle start to the year. Happy New Year all.

[Hagen]

Sorry IainGrace, I searched for every conceivable variant of "Listener 4640 by IOA" and your thread didn't appear, so I started another. AB search needs a major revamp.

I suspect some will lambast this puzzle for being far too easy - and it certainly could have benefited from a less obvious treatment of the basic idea and perhaps some more challenging clues. Still, I welcome a gentle and positive start to the year, which I hope will be less of a train wreck than 2020 and our lives won't be further ruined by the pan(dem)ic. All the best for 2021.

[Philoctetes]

Quite gentle, but none the worse for that.

[upsetter]

This was more like a Spectator than a Listener crossword.
Rather too easy but good fun all the same.
Thanks, IOA.

[emcee]

A gentle start to the new season and fun. It reminded me of the old Indy Mag puzzles from the '90s.

If only all Listeners could be completed so quickly.

Thanks IOA and a HNY to you all.

[IainGrace]

This week’s Inquisitor is an entertaining challenge.

[sunny-dave]

A gentle start to the Listenering year - but a very pleasant one.

I thought it was a very good effort to have over 25% of the answers needing to be processed before entry - if that had been coupled with some more circuitous clues it could have been a very difficult solve indeed.

Thanks IOA and HNY to all.

[NickorWan]

I was reading emcee’s post and thinking to myself that I would probably stop subscribing if all the Listeners could be completed this quickly. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind an easy puzzle, particularly when it is fun to solve as this was, and there is no better time for an easy one, but I do relish the bigger challenges. (I will no doubt be eating my words next week!)

Anyway, this was a very nice gentle puzzle with some clever clues. Thanks, IOA.

Happy New Year from me too.

[Patch49]

I didn’t find this easy at all and even with most of the grid filled I can’t see what’s going on.