Listener 4688 Harry East By Lath

[Hagen]

What an amazing construction! Not a particularly hard puzzle, though no walk in the park either, with PDMs galore. I am a total incompetent with the theme, though even I knew enough not to have to spend too long on the Net. Like last week, there may be some debate about what the final grid looks like; as ever, I have gone for the obvious. Great stuff, Lath!

(I hope AB’s useless search won’t embarrass me again.)

[HawkCrossword]

Yes, I agree with all of that, Hagen. And, yes, it's the second consecutive puzzle where the instructions don't quite fit the obvious solution (which, like you, I'm going to submit).

I was expecting something a lot tougher with that preamble, but the clues were generally accessible, and progress was steady towards a clever conclusion.

If I'm being picky, I'd have liked a more interesting sequence to end on, and if I'm being ultra-picky, I didn't enjoy the restored letter clues where the restoration was completing a jumble, but many other clues were excellent.

All in all, a very enjoyable and rewarding puzzle - thanks Lath!

[emcee]

Nice puzzle but I too am in some trepidation as to the intended appearance of the final grid. There are two main questions that I have regarding the appearance which have not been made clear in the preamble.

Thanks, Lath -- a nice idea, but the preamble could have been made much clearer.

[emcee]

Just to add as I can't really indicate the questions I have:

If I follow the instructions *to the letter* then at the end of the sequence, letter R is overwritten by something else. Which all looks completely unsatisfactory!

[AndrewG-S]

I didn’t think the overwriting was an issue if all instructions followed but could be wrong

[sunny-dave]

Excellent clues and interesting gridfill - but I'm glad I'm not submitting, as I think the rubric is not clear enough for me to be 100% sure I'm right with the very final step of the endgame.

I'm happy enough with my decision, though, so thanks to Lath for a good afternoon of puzzling.

[emcee]

Andrew G-S: It all depends how literally you take the word "these" which I have taken to mean those being referred to. Quite an ambiguity.

[NickorWan]

I enjoyed it very much, thanks, Lath. I thought three clue gimmicks would make for a tough puzzle, but that wasn't the case.

I don't feel in any doubt about what's required. However, if my solution is correct, I do think the wording of the question isn't quite right - meaning the actual answer you would give to that question isn't given by my solution.

[emcee]

Well, I've just realised my stupidity. I was trying to introduce a nomenclature which wasn't needed so didn't follow the rubric "to the letter" at all.

Apologies to the setter and those who have tried to hint to me on here!

[dannyk13]

Hagen //I hope AB’s useless search won’t embarrass me again.)
???

[sunny-dave]

Danny - the AB search routinely misses very recent threads - which means that it's easy to get a negative search reply and assume that there is no Listener thread already posted for the current week, and thus start a duplicate.

[sunny-dave]

Just worked out the title - very neat :-)

[Dim16]

Lovely puzzle. Thanks Lath