Listener 4710 - Surprised By Sabre

[sunny-dave]

Wow - we were due a difficult one, and this really delivered.

A Carte Blanche with precious few ways in, and Sabre's usual convoluted (if always fair) clues made for a *very* slow start.

Eventually a PDM and then a lucky guess at a couple of grid entries gave me a toe-hold - then it was a matter of grinding out the answers and resolving a few tricky bits.

Even with just two clues to solve and three letters needed to fill the grid it wouldn't give up - that took me over half an hour to finish off.

Tough Stuff indeed - thanks Sabre

[Scorpius]

Tough, yes, but far from being one of the master's toughest. I started yesterday around noon and completed it today. A tough Sabre will take me several days to finish.
At one point it looked insoluble, and I lost heart, but then the PDM sunny-dave refers to. After that it was a steady solve, grinding away at the remaining clues. I should have got one of the last four unsolved clues far earlier. Brilliantly misleading, as are several others. As a whole, the clues here demonstrate Sbre at his best.

[upsetter]

We are less than half way, Dave but posting to give the thread a little critical mass.

[Scorpius]

That should have been "Sabre at his best", not 'Sbre'.

[emcee]

I had cold-solved all but 13 clues before I was able to enter anything into the grid. I think it's fair to say those clues would remain unsolved had I not done so.

Tough -- I certainly don't think it's an easier Sabre from the point of view of the clueing!

Thanks to the setter. I'm glad it's done.

[HawkCrossword]

The toughest for a while, for sure. I needed to cold-solve 28 Sabre stinkers before I could start entering them, but then thankfully it was an easy ride to the finish.

I found one across clue led to two perfectly good answers - did it catch anyone else out?

Congratulations again to those who sailed through this one, and many thanks to Sabre for the challenge!

[Dim16]

I'm still recovering from last week's marathon effort (for me), and given that I've only managed to cold solve 9 clues so far I'm not minded to spend much more time on this.

It looks nigh impossible so my admiration goes out to anyone completing it.

[olichant]

Definitely tough, but slowly working my way through clues of this calibre was such a joy. Thanks, Sabre - a masterclass, but no surprise there!

[upsetter]

After the PDM we were surprised how quickly it all fell into place although we did rely on an significant nudge from Ruth Robin.
Many beautifully misleading clues.

[Cruncher]

Finally done, although there a few clues I can't parse and one answer that I don't understand at all, but hey! A real tussle