Listener 4134: Cruciverbalism by Poat

[AHearer]

Thank you, Poat. Quite pretty, but not tough enough to keep me away from the garden for too long this fine weekend. I have to admit I had to rely on the phrase to get me started on the bottom right-hand corner.

[midazolam]

Blimey AHearer, you were on a roll tonight. I didnt find it that easy. Getting the extra letters helped fill the remainder of the grid, but the clues were not that straightforward for me. Deja vu but in reverse. Thanks Poat

[dr b]

I looked at this off and on this afternoon and didn't make much headway; came back to it tonight and everything fell into place. All in all a nice puzzle, I think.

[starwalker]

Also not finding this too easy. I have the phrase, but it doesn't help with a mostly empty grid.
Is it me, or are we overdosing on "carte blanche" at the moment ?

[Ruthrobin]

What a difficult one but how very satisfying in the end! Surely it must be time for a gentle romp - they seem to get more difficult week by week!

[trux]

on train up to Crewe, have all extra letters, but not all clue answers yet - looks quite neat to me .

[bellabee]

yes, it works out nicely but i can't say i liked the clueing here - 'the dissolvent enzyme...' one really annoyed me, using a word that deliberately skews your attempt to solve the clue without the benefit of a good surface reading and [it seems to me] leaving a surplus word behind! plus other oddities not covered by chambers. liked the 'omissions' though - i kept thinking 'who???'

[dr b]

I was more annoyed with myself than with the cluing when all was said and done. A much easier grid fill than the doughnut puzzle, where I had "SPIKIER" and nothing else for quite some time. With the first answer a 9 letter, that really limits the possibilities.

Much fun weather here last night. I hope none of you were planning on visiting me any time soon:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_missouri_storms

[bellabee]

i preferred the clueing but found the doughnut indigestible. my eleventh hour pdm was a complete dud [my 'copied without understanding' crib from perseverer was nearly right but had a couple of stray lines] having now read lots of blogs on it i can at least confirm that it required a MATHS MIND-SET to finish it. i'm so glad i stopped submitting them this year.next time i get a whiff of something similar it goes straight in the bin.

[Zabadak]

I'm not quite sure why this one was such tough going. Although I'm somewhat distracted at the moment both by observance of the season and domestic concerns, the outcome looks as if it ought to have been a really simple solve, Two clues only resolved once the grid was completed (the middle downs as it happens - perfectly fair in retrospect but I just couldn't see them) and I see I'm not alone in reverse engineering quite a lot of this.
I agree with starwalker on cartes blanches - or maybe it just feels that way. Lots of cold solving before getting anywhere, and I used Excel after destroying two prints.
A glorious spot from Poat to fit phrase and available spaces together, don't you think?

[Paula]

I think I must be really dim - Looked at this for a couple of hours last night and on and off all day today and cannot solve a single clue. Off to the pub & will look again tomorrow.

[tilbee]

Personally, found this one prettty straightforward. Fortunately the first few clues I cold solved, pointed me in the direction of the phrase, and worked out almost immediately how this needed to be represented in the grid. Like Zabadak, worked backwards to resolve the two final down clues from the completed grid.

[Zabadak]

Paula - I think this is one of those wavelength things. After my first session of Friday, i had two answers and nowhere to put them, and decided to attack it in short bursts, which eventually worked for me, with a lot of acceleration in the final phase.

[perseverer]

Like Zabadak and others, I found this really hard going. Yet there are plenty of clues to the subject matter if you spot them - of course I didn't. Also only managed to solve most of the bottom half after I finally figured out where the omitted letters were taking me (having spent too much time misled by the first word and one of the clues) and got the phrase.

[dead-eye]

avoided much cold solving with just four answers. all of which fitted together in the top left of the grid. better to be lucky...

[IainGrace]

Lot of cold solving needed but solving the first clue helps. Given 180 degree symmetry, second 9 letter entry is presumably the last across. Still working away. A little teaser in all senses, with 80 cell grid and one line clues.

[tilbee]

Agreed - solving the first across and down clues as always key in a carte blanche.

[Ruthrobin]

Paula, you echo my experience - two hours before I solved a single clue and the rest very hard going indeed. I am surprised that some found it so easy. I think it really is a question of 'wavelength'. However, it is certainly a compilation of quality and well worth persisting.

[teuchter2]

I found this one more straightforward than I expected it to be when I first looked at it late last night, but after getting the first clue this morning I have made steady progress, punctuated by a fair bit of gardening. I managed to be working on the wrong quotation for a while and this caused me some havoc, but soon realised the error of my ways and was able to finish. Quote of the day from a bus driver: 'there's a wedding or something on Friday.'

[Arcticpenguin]

I quite liked the format but with only 22 clues the whole thing was a bit too simple. No doubt we'll be paying for it next week !

[freiheid]

One of the 'clues to the subject matter' is the metre of the clues! Ti tum ti tum...