Listener Crossword 4171, Fruitful Recipe by Dipper

[Zabadak]

A nice easy start to the New Year, encouraging me to start entering again. If there are people reading this who haven't tried the Listener yet, here's a good place to start - fair clues that take a bit of thinking, a nice endgame and (it has to be for me) a straightforward enough find the hidden message.
Thanks to Dipper, and a good New Year to all. Don't forget the tree comes down today.

[tenflags]

IN HEAR... In Hear.... in hear....

sorry couldn't resist.
regs, to you Perserverer.

[dead-eye]

I convinced myself that it was a J from enjoyment. That held me up for some considerable time.

[bobbycollins]

Sunday tree here ( and I prefer sperouts)

I bet myself and intothe blue were the only Answerbankers at Fleetwood's sad defeat today -ho hum

[Zabadak]

Possibly so - I couldn't make it as I was watching Spurs overcome the mighty Robins of Cheltenham.

[Philoctetes]

Perfect for me. I took this up yesterday evening on the sofa as I was recovering from two days of nasty tummy bug and managed to get all but a handful of answers. Checked the rest on t'internet. Still can't face the theme, but getting better. (May even try to finish last week's....)

[trux]

Apropos to not much at all, went to a restaurant in Sao Paolo last night and 31A was on the menu. Never eaten a BigL entry before on the day of its publication.

[Philoctetes]

I hope it was in answer rather than in clue form Trux

[teuchter2]

Yes, a nice easy start. I had thought that it was 1800 hours for access to the Crossword club Listener, so now I have two extra hours each week to attempt to join the Friday club! Is there any value in buying the new BRB, when I might win one? Desperate to dash downstairs and see what Trux ate as I can't remember the answer to 31A.

[Coalminers]

Long since in the post, but I have just realised that I have probably extracted the wrong letter from 15 down, and I bet I am not the only one. Thank goodness it makes no difference to the submission!

[mathsman]

Struggling with the horizontal unclued light. I have -ard-ne- and I thought that I was looking for a surname, to go with the down unclued light which provided a first name. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

[dead-eye]

Coalminers,you are not the only one. Mathsman, try googling the title of the book.

[Staurologist]

A happy new year to all from the Magic Mountain, where Saturday's Times did not arrive until Monday, and where I am making my annual pilgrimage to the shrine of the god of snow. Much prayer was necessary to get him to stop chucking it down excess to requirements, but he has relented at last. After a hard day on the slopes, I found this just the thing to wind down with, so no complaints about ease of solving. Although from the aesthetic point of view I would have preferred the grid to have been 11 x 11, or perhaps 13 x 13 with blank corners. Having the said book in my own horticultural library at home, I found this as straightforward as everyone else did. It also reminded me that Lord Brain wrote what has become a standard textbook on the subject of neurology. There are many other examples of aptronyms and nominative determinism to be found at http://www.guy-sports...s/jokes_job_name.htm, although I have strong doubts about the authenticity of some of them.

[Good joke about the pronunciation of "googling", Zabadak.]

[mathsman]

Dead-eye. I must have some extracted letters wrong since I get no response from Google.

[dead-eye]

Mathsman, any two of the first three words plus the first name should do the trick.

[easterfool]

Started today and finished today - must be a relatively easy one. Still great fun. I'd never heard of the relevant reference - might explain the state of my garden. It's a bit early for what we are told to do - especially here in the north.
Still trying to reassure myself on that first letter of 15. I suspect that a classical education would have helped.
Looking forward to Friday - might try to join the Friday club. Well New Year is the time for trying new things and living in hope.

Happy solving everyone - welcome to all new solvers from a part-timer to the comment board who has been trying to solve Listeners for nearly 50 years. It is worth persevering.

[word_cross]

Mathsman - there is a friendly agreement on this thread not to share answers in such a way that you might spoil the fun for others. The details of the unclued entry probably cross that line. Please be careful about what you post in future! :-)

[roslyn251254]

On reading this thread and you all saying it was relatively easy - I passed a few hours successfully on this, this morning - pleased to say I managed it!
Looking forward to a few more similar ones in the future for "us Listener newbies"

[Alan7777]

I agree with Sunny Dave that the BRB app for the iPad is extremely useful especially when on away from home. After two failures over the holiday period I managed to finish this one between après-ski and dinner a couple of days ago. Must remember to submit it when I get home. Skiing is fantastic by the way.

[SethMould]

Sorry to be off-topic, but what do you guys think about the Magpie folding?

Seth Mould
Chief Typist