Listener 4140 "Jumping to Conclusion" by Sabre

[Zabadak]

Not even close yet: I have almost all the "outside" clues and most of the ones that start on the outside, but tracking them through the knight moves is pretty desperate at the moment. I'm toying with the idea of spreadsheeting it (or just using a bigger version of the grid) and putting each letter in whatever squares the moves get to until I find some matches. Trouble is, I'm finding the "inside" clues the most adamantine. Anyone out there reporting success just yet?

[Mysterons]

Sorry Zabadak, I was too quick to jump to that conclusion and more importantly I hope Mrs. Z's treatment goes well for her.

[Zabadak]

Thanks for the good wishes - it's something that needs doing and we've been waiting a long time. We have every expectation that the outcome will at minimum be an improvement.
Still haven't found time to finish!

[Cruncher]

Hi Zabadak
My thoughts are with you both. Whatever the preamble it sounds like a pretty major remedy. Hope all goes well. Am glad to be with the majority here. Am also clutching at the assumption that the barring is not random and therefore indicates final letters of entries. Who knows?!

[pushmi-pullyu]

Zabadak - all the best to you and your wife in the days ahead.

[Clamzy]

Best wishes for a successful outcome Zab.

[AndrewG-S]

Zabadak, best wishes and hope all goes smoothly (more so than this puzzle, which I have limped over the line on).

[trux]

Very late start at this tonight, but quickly found it to be unputdownable. Have filled all of the outside areas - and cracked most of the knightly clues, but not even started to try to fit them together. Mefears the hard work is ahead of me ..... already, though, much pleasure so far, so early thanks to Sabre. (And, as I am sure we all share, heartfelt good wishes to Mrs Z).

[aldanna]

Zabadak, apologies for writing trivia just after you had told us of your wife's surgery - I just hadn't read it very thoroughly ( a perennial problem for me). Very best wishes to Mrs Z, and also to you.

[tenflags]

For me these crosswords are analogous to running into a quagmire .. I generally start off at a speed then slow down as I hit the deepest tough part where I can sink without trace unless I grab a lifeline, find a straw, or struggle through and then pick up speed again coming out the other side.

In this instance the pit seems to just get deeper with no shallow exit point.

Frustratingly close to homing in on the centre with some horsey moves done but a few missing in the south east corner. Best get the breathing reed cut now.

'Clime' looks fine to me.

Whilst still a freshman and I don't really know you Zadabak - best wishes to you and yours with the personal subject matter.

[Mysterons]

Another real tour de force from Sabre - how I could have thought there's an indirect anagram in 38a to produce an R for the I , about as unlikely as it was frustrating in hampering efforts to fit in 34. I've always felt it's a weakness when a puzzle's thematic material can be guessed too early on, so for me this was the perfect puzzle, keeping the solver working hard all the way.

[Ruthrobin]

But Mysterons, I think we can really spoil this one for Sabre and a lot of solvers, too, if we say any more about the conclusions we jumped to and the theme we guessed early on. Dare I plead with you to say no more?

[teuchter2]

I try not to look at this thread until I'm finished, but am really struggling with this one. I've four clues to go and have taken to trying to fit the knight's moves in for those I have got. Perhaps I should go back to trying to solve those four. It would help. Anyway, I haven't learnt anything from the thread - well not anything relevant to solving the puzzle!

[Arcticpenguin]

Finally solved the last clue. Seems to have taken forever despite my original guesses for the thematic words proving to be right. Some tough clues on the way but the usual glow of satisfaction when everything was in place. Was this a Viking tribute ?

[kwyjibo]

At last ... got the last clue having finally placed the letters in the right place.

[JackDeCrow]

Definitely some tough clues in here. Have been stuck on the last three for over a day now (all of which start in the square of course) and frankly there are one or two that I have got where the finer points of the wordplay are still eluding me. Could be a long week!

[Cruncher]

Still missing one answer but struggling to piece the central part of the grid together. I know it can be done but getting stuck at the moment. Is it correct to assume that an entry doesn't visit the same cell twice? The preamble doesn't specify this which, from memory, on previous occasions it sometimes has. If this is too much information to divulge then no problem - I'll keep hopping

[JackDeCrow]

Ah hah - make that two (and a big black mark for the mostly reliable Chambers Word Wizard!). Are all the answers in the BRB? I have one in particular where the wordplay seems to point in a very specific direction, but there's nothing there.

[trux]

Nudged over the line - and sealed in envelope. Now I can get my knightly rest. (And, JdeC et al, Word Wizard won't find 'em all ; I think one may not be in BRB but easy to check on Google/Wiki ; and, no, they don't repeat squares....) Congrats & masochistic thanks to Sabre

[Mysterons]

As far as I know they are Jack, but which one were you thinking of in particular ?

No, Cruncher, there are two entries that visit the same cell twice, and a third that has the option of going to a very busy cell for the second time.

In fact only 25 of the 144 cells were unchecked, including 7 in the centre and 3 at the corners, taking in just 19 of the 49 entries. Only one entry had 3 unchecked cells, while the busiest cell was visited 5 times !

[Cruncher]

It looks like there are a lot of different possible solutions out there!