Listener Crossword 4079

[starwalker]

This week's offering is Sine Qua Non by Shackleton.
No one should panic that I have finished it already - I've only just read the preamble and feel the need for a lie down in a darkened room.
No doubt it will all make sense in the end. I have always found Shackleton to be sometimes tough, but always fair. Let's hope that this does not prove me wrong.

[Monkmonk]

This is a brilliant puzzle; please try not to give it away here.

[cluelessJoe]

Thank you Monkmonk - I could not decide whether to even bother to start this one, as this has to be the worst preamble I have seen in months (if not years), so I thought I'd check in to see if there were any early endorsements. Your post suggests that it is indeed worth continuing, so I will go away and have a crack at it. However, at this early stage I have to say that if I were a potential new solver looking at the Listener for the first time this week, I'd dump it from the outset and probably never come back. Here's hoping it gets better!

[Zabadak]

Almost there - waiting for the last penny to drop. I agree with CJ: the preamble is almost as convoluted as the hints on this blog when we're trying to do as Monkmonk asks and not give anything away! I've seen enough to believe the journey is worthwhile, though, and I've decided to sleep on it.

[Zabadak]

Sound of gentle snoring....sound of penny (and jaw) dropping. WOW!

[JackDeCrow]

Anyone else struggling to get into the Times Crossword site this morning? Here I am, up an hour early than I needed to be due to a misunderstanding, and I can't put that hour to good use - how frustrating!

[Philoctetes]

I have only just started this, after my usual brief skim, so I still have no idea what's going on. But I would like to say that what really attracted me to Listeners (gosh, is it really 40 years ago?) were preambles like this one. They just ooze with a sense of intellectual challenge, which is, after all, why we do the things. And fun. So don't start up a call for plain preambles - they are as much of the fun as the puzzle itself.

[Zabadak]

JacjDe Crow: the site often fouls up with Internet Explorer. I use Google Crome to access, usually with no trouble.

[Ruthrobin]

Clueless Joe, it gets easier but I can only agree about the preamble. 'Fun' you call it, Philoctetes! I'll be gone in forty years but doubt I'll start enjoying difficult ones like this even in five.

[dr b]

Well, I have a completed grid that I'm 93.5% confident in, but enough question marks and blanks regarding "corrected letters," such that the hints regarding the 2 versions of the questions have not fully revealed themselves yet. Time to put it down for a while, I think.

[daagg]

I think this is the best Listener puzzle I've done yet. I fully agree that the preamble makes no sense at all for a long time, but there is a whole sequence of PDMs towards the end. Brilliant - thank you, Shackleton!

[easylistener]

Help! This is doing my head in! I believe all you good folk that this is a goodun but I can't seem to get started. After almost a whole Saturday surrounded by all my dictionaries and the internet I have only got 4 clues solved. Can anyone give me a leg up on some easier clues without giving the game away? Or if Ruthrobin is around, you may have my email from a few months ago? Thanks!

[cruciverbali]

I'd be happy to give you a hint or two easylistener - just send me an e-mail to [email protected].

[Ruthrobin]

I'm here too and almost completed easylistener but can you send me another at [email protected] then I don't, by accident, send a bit of help to someone who wouldn't appreciate it at all!

[bobbycollins]

Filled the grid, seen all of the wordplays and got the hints - and that's me done. My medium sized noggin can't go any further.

Some of the toughest clues that I have encountered in a long time - just wish I was brainy enough to get to the end.

Congrats yet again to the real solvers.

Regards to all

[LewapYellow]

Grid filled. Hints found. First version of question deduced (very clever, Shackleton!). Applied the same method to get second version...and there it all fell apart. However I HAVE found the four elements, but neither 5-letter word. Any hints to how to work out the second version of the question would be gratefully received!

[daagg]

Lewap, I would be surprised if you managed to find one version of the question by itself. If you have found the first version, then plough on downwards.

[daagg]

Oh, sorry, I think you meant how to find the second message! You should stare at your four elements and try to interpret one differently. How could you specify which letter of which word?

[LewapYellow]

Yes - Daagg! When its components didn't make sense, I assumed that I had it wrong - it seems I have to broaden my language skills...
Thanks!

[LewapYellow]

That'll teach me to read the preamble carefully - I had chosen the correct component but only applied it to the letter and not the word as well!
Now all makes sense!

[LewapYellow]

Finished! What an awesome listener! Certainly the most exciting I have seen. PDMs all the way through to the last moments. Shackleton has certainly packed it all in to this fabulous crossword! Bravo!