Listener Crossword 4135 Travellers by The Tall'n

[starwalker]

Making good progress with this. Just got the 10 lines to draw. Lots of thematic material (and lots of fun)

[Ruthrobin]

Bellabee, no cause for concern - that one is probably going by Easyjet or something. I am sure we all wondered.

[bellabee]

Think it might be clinging onto some appendage ruthrobin.

[Arcticpenguin]

Just finished. Good fun - even worked out the highlighting and lines with much less trouble than usual. 34D caught me out as well initially.

[cluelessJoe]

Well, I managed just about 2 hours on this so far over the past couple of days, and have a perimeter, and 2 modes of transport - the names and lines will hopefully follow as and when I have more time to spare. Have already suspended my membership of the maybe-sometime-over-the-weekend club, particularly given the promise of a very hazy family wedding celebration in Yorkshire coming up next time around .. hope the next setter is feeling particularly generous. Enjoy the rest of your holiday everybody.

[IntoTheBlue]

Add me to the 34d 'trap'.

Just found the 10 lines to finish a most enjoyable puzzle - many thanks Tall'n.

IntoTheB;lue

[bobbycollins]

Yes, midazolam, I fell blithely into that trap like a good 'un, although a careful reading of the wordplay renders the correct entry unequivocal. No surprises that I couldn't get the bottom row sorted...now for those lines.

[teuchter2]

A very late start this weekend as Easyjet was indeed my mode of transport, travelling between the home cities of the two snooker finalists. I've more or less completed the grid, 30d is eluding me and I have obviously fallen into the 34d trap. My perimeter is done and I have two travellers and one mode of transport so far, but I've had very little time to work on it, so hopefully will get finished tomorrow.

[Philoctetes]

Good stuff. fell into the 34d trap and got bemused by bodices but got there in the end. Was anyone else expecting a royalist puzzle?

[dr b]

Finished this yesterday, but due to sloth and indolence am only now checking in. I enjoyed the grid fill very much, but as I do not enjoy word searches the endgame was no fun for me. But, I did use different colors for all the various elements so my final grid sure is pretty.

I noted that one of the travellers appears twice in the grid; although symmetry demands that one in particular is "correct", do you suppose they'll have to accept either one highlighted?

[silversolver]

Yes, great fun. I found the endgame hard work, not helped by being unfamiliar with the theme so it took me a while to work out how to fill in the perimeter. After that, it was relatively plain sailing. Very enjoyable and satisfying.

[perseverer]

dr b - Apart from the symmetry aspect, the lines would lead to the one rather than the other.

[dr b]

Of course, but... if that traveller is "going by Easyjet", in RR's parlance, perhaps they have also shed what they were wearing. Just sayin'.

[cluelessJoe]

Well, I never had a problem with Easyjet, so it's hats off to Stelios from this neck of the woods.
Meanwhile, hats off to The Tall'n for this effort (yes, finished it and got the lawns cut too). Despite a number of easy clues, a much better batch than 'Closed Doors' which suffered from some feeble efforts to generate extra letters. This time around, even the dreaded jumbles are forgiveable.

[contendo]

Trundling along in the slow lane as usual. I've solved all the clues except 37A which leaves me with a perimeter of 52 letters, only 20 of which are firmly identified, with 18 unchecked and 14 ambiguous. Even with Philoctetes's heavy hint it doesn't leave me enough to glean an intelligible "reason for travelling". Still hoping for inspiration.

[trux]

Contendo : don't be deceived by Philoctetes : his expectation was not realised even if one of those participants did make it, predictably a little muddled, into the final grid. This theme happens much more regularly, but probably is not watched by two billion people each time ....

[contendo]

H'm, thanks Trux for at least eliminating that blind alley. Got 37A now but still none the wiser apart from a suggestion of what might be running down the left hand side.

[Philoctetes]

Sorry - did not intend to mislead.

[Speravi]

Great entertainment: this is more like it! I fell into the 34d error, I must admit. After the (inordinately) high level of cold-solving required in some recent offerings, I think that this is very well-balanced. Clues are fair and the surface readings are not ridiculous. It took me over a day of staring at the completed grid before I finally started to get some of the ten lines, but no complaints. The Tall'n has been something of a Nemesis for me in the past, so completing this was especially sweet. As cluelessJoe said, hats off to The Tall'n.

[Clamzy]

I usually enjoy puzzles by this setter and this was no exception - thanks Tall'n. I agree with abns that this was just the other side of tough because of the jumbles but especially for me the dreaded word search.
Just a thought RR and Bellabee - if the short one was seated at the very back say around row 36 of that singular mode of transport.............

[Ruthrobin]

Yes indeed, Clamzy, I hadn't seen that possibility - how difficult it must be for a compiler to remove all potential ambiguity!