Very clever but there was insufficient connection between the thematic clues and their entries.
All the same were introduced to a few interesting words.
Thanks, Stick Insect....
That was a strange journey - Thanks Agricola! I'd be frankly amazed if anyone finds the first two locations before the third, but let's see. I found them in order 3, 2, 1, connection. Some devious...
Many thanks to the Times for providing a Christmas Listener, which I particularly appreciate as the current situation meant I couldn't get over to the UK to see my family. A nice festive Listener,...
Utterly brilliant! Tough clues and uncertainties in the placing of entries made for a slow, but steady grid fill, and this was rewarded many times over by a stunning endgame. Usually I quail when I...
I can't find another thread even though this puzzle has taken me 15 hours over two days. So here goes. I have never spent this long on any crossword - not even when I started with the Listener 25...
A much friendlier puzzle this week, very cleverly arranged and clued, and with a surprise ending (I was worried I was going to have to stray into an area well beyond my comfort zone). Thanks Vismut -...
The joy I had in finally completing this one was immense - thanks Poat, that was a real treat! The only really picky thing was that some of the removal instructions were less than obvious, but my...
A terrifying preamble. Ugh. Jumbles. Double ugh. Definition/letter mix clues. Ugh to the nth power. Yet this was brilliant! Once the method of entry of the across revealed itself, a smile was...
A straightforward gridfill with some attitude added in the endgame.
I thought the final part was clever; one of those "you know when it's right" moments hits you.
Thanks, Ferret....
A very clever construction - thanks Serpent! It required a fair amount of cold-solving to get started, but thankfully the clues were all fair and accessible, so identifying the feature wasn't too much...
Extremely difficult, and unless I've missed something after hours of searching, a certain amount of insider knowledge is necessary to understand some of the thematic connections. I don't possess that...
A most impressive puzzle, thanks Sabre! Spotting the theme was enjoyable, but then the proper challenge began! It's not my specialist subject, but after a little research they fell one by one, leaving...
Can’t find a thread so here goes… After last week’s masterpiece from Android, I didn’t envy the setter whose puzzle would follow. So much to live up to, so perhaps the editors wouldn’t bother and...
A stunning piece of setting, especially if Android is indeed a new setter. Perhaps not especially difficult to get the initial grid fill, but a great achievement to then enable it to produce all real...
Probably the toughest numeric we've had for a while, so thanks for the challenge, Zag! Very difficult to get a foothold, but I liked the use of symmetry across the clues. I have three clues yielding...
Simple, even compared to a few we've had recently - but an excellent entry-level challenge for anyone who fancies a shot at The Listener. The theme has been visited many times, but is nicely...