Listener No 4315 Homer By Dysart

[Ruthrobin]

Very enjoyable, thanks, Dysart. I am just getting the scissors out to mutilate my grid (not as fiddly and worrying as I initially feared it might be!) Finding those ten letters missing from wordplay has been the biggest challenge, even when it became obvious what they were going to tell me. Thank you for a worthy challenge.

[starwalker]

Thank you for that RR. I have the theme and also an almost complete grid, but am missing several letters. A worthy challenge indeed. Thanks Dysart.

[AHearer]

Fun to have to break out the scissors again. Great fun digging through all the elements of this one. Many thanks, Dysart.

[jockie]

RR is right - the trickiest part was deciding where the 3rd and 4th thematic letters were. A very nice theme, and a pleasant relief after 4314, finished only this morning.

[jockie]

Oops - I meant 2nd and 3rd.

[Cloverjo]

Divebuddy, if you're not interested in this thread you don't have to read it. People like to discuss the Listener here (without giving away hints). Often the setters read or join in, too.

Personally, I look here to see if the general consensus is whether it is hard or fairly easy. If the latter, I'll try it myself. If not, I wait and hope the next week's is more suited to me.

[emcee]

One of my all-time favourite themes and collecting such literature a particular hobby of mine (there are more than one would think).

The ten missing letters were, indeed, the trickiest part of the puzzle.

Bravo, Dysart, on an enjoyable puzzle and a well-deserved recognition of the four companions.

[olichant]

Very nice - thanks Dysart.

With regard to the above, can I tentatively suggest

Rotten, rotten hotel folded in response to pest (2, 3, 4, 3, 5)

That's a pretty lame surface reading and weak definition - I leave it to other, better minds to clue it more imaginatively!

Hope everyone here has a nice weekend.

[trux]

Good fun, imaginative grid with thematic elements very appropriately incorporated. Of good Listener standard and most enjoyable, so many thanks to Dysart.

[doctormatt]

Just finished: a very nice challenge, of perfect difficulty (for me!)

[s_pugh]

Nice to have a relatively easy one after last week. Good fun and brought back memories of being very impressed as a young lad to meet the 4-lettered companion. Thanks Dysart.

[jim360]

Slipped up last week... back on track with this one, I hope. 24ac held me up for rather longer than it should have. But anyway, a very fine construction and some amusing clues. Very lovely puzzle, Dysart, thanks!

[upsetter]

Has RR inadvertently dropped a hint???
All finished but quite a few wordplays still opaque.

[Ruthrobin]

I hope not, Upsetter but sincere apologies if I have!

[upsetter]

None required RR.
In fact we had already resolved to black out instead of cut out.

[Speravi]

Good fun, fair clues, unambiguous rubric: thanks Dysart (and thanks to the Moderators for removing divebuddy's offensive second posting).

[aldanna]

Like doctormatt, I found the difficulty level perfect for me. Reading the preamble, Himself and I had a discussion as to whether the final grid represented the geographical feature or the point of departure. I wasn't sure from the sentence. And I was wrong.

[Cruncher]

Fairly gentle puzzle but nice opportunity to re-read the story behind it. Puzzled by the muslin clue although the answer is obvious enough. Any good parses welcomed - [email protected]

[flocker]

aptly named this Divebuddy - he plumbs the depths