Listener 4084: Oh Yes It Does! by BeRo

[Zabadak]

This is fun, possibly a good introduction to the Listener genre for newcomers, without compromising quality. There are still some words no-one could be expected to know out of there usual vocab, but they're all well enough clued and findable even in my 2003 Chambers. I would be interested to know if others share my observation that there's some ambiguity in the instruction concerning the seven word phrase: I tried one plausible method before I was sure of all my letters and got nonsense, but it emerged soon enough after by another way of understanding.
Thanks to BeRo for an amusing take on clue construction and a pleasant journey towards (for me) a familiar place.

[Mysterons]

The wordplay in 1 across was indeed a little odd - the last 2 letters of the answer are given by 'in pocket'.

[AndrewG-S]

I think the wordplay in 1 ac is a bit of a victim of the need for rhyming clues

[Zabadak]

While I think we're in danger of giving too much away on this one (not that I mind too much!) I think 1 across works perfectly well as a set 3 clue (is that green? I've lost track!) with the the last word adjusted to describe the nature of words 4 and 5 vis a vis word two. I agree among sort of does the same job, but then you'd have "full house among spades in", which makes very little surface sense. If it were a missing letter clue (eg "full house among spades in pocketS") I'd say it's a poor surface, the "among" IS then superfluous, AND the extra letter's wrong!

[bobbycollins]

Brilliant, Zabadak, but I'm at the wrong end of a bottle of Rioja and will have to re-examine tomorrow (in work and sober).

Cheers to all

[Mysterons]

Andrew is right of course - 'in pocket' = IN to provide the necessary rhyme. The container is indicated by 'among'. Quite an appropriate clue to be discussing on day 18 of the snooker !

[Zabadak]

Conceded (I think!): I had forgotten I needed the change letter to provide the literal definition. I still propose that "S(pades) IN" is the pocket among which "house" is placed to provide the answer, but I guess we're just splitting hairs. I would like "pocket" to have a purpose in the clue other than providing a rhyme. Happy solving, everyone!

[Mysterons]

Chambers gives 'in pocket' as a definition of IN, so it's not redundant, just awkward.

[Zabadak]

I'm not so keen on "among XX pocket" to mean "in a pocket made up of XX" that I'll fight to the death to preserve it. But I still think it's possible. Put it to the vote on Thursday?

[AndrewG-S]

It is worth having a look on wikipedia at what the subject of the puzzle has to say on quartets, a neat summary of the construction

[bobbycollins]

Yes, the problem with 1 across is down to the rhyming element. Agreed that it seems just plain awkward. To reiterate, Zabadak, that one's a green!!!

[7lattens]

The rhyming debate is perhaps answered by the five words under the grid - am however still struggling with 38A

[jacinth]

I was happy to see that, despite some paranoia, I did submit the correct grid for 'Double Cross'. But at the same time I checked my submission for 'Hexes' and, horror of horrors, saw that I had entered 'costock' for 12d. I remember reasoning that 'castock' was the right answer from 'castock' or 'custock', but somehow 'costock' was entered in the grid. Oh, dear!

So, I've approached this one without the pressure to submit - done the grid fill, it was probably a bit easier than it looked, but my group deductions still need a bit of fine tuning to progress, but at least I'm relaxed about waiting a fortnight!

[Mysterons]

38's answer is a printing term - in a nutshell its last letter can be divided by 10 to give another word (think Roman)