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?

[Ruthrobin]

I'm in the same position Zabadak. Have it circled with some of the words from the centre area solved but tracking the knight's moves is going to be tomorrow's task. However, the two thematic words are a great help.

[Zabadak]

I'm sure they would be - if I had any idea where and what they were!

[midazolam]

This is one of those weeks that even the slightest of hints will spoil the challenge. So can I ask that we do not give the subtleties of Sabre's puzzle away.

I was slightly shocked at how easy the perimeter was for a Sabre challenge. The centre however is proving a (k)nightmare - I am almost there but am missing one central clue that will finish it off. The lack of unches were probably to compensate to lead us into a false sense of security.

[TheBear69]

I'm down to two unsolved clues and one empty cell...This is a very tough puzzle indeed. I have an antipathy to knight's move puzzle in general, so have found this a worthy challenge but not my cup of tea...

[AHearer]

A late start yesterday, thanks to signal failure at Slough, and I now have a full frame, initial letters in the dotted area, and am fed up with going around in circles. Time to take a break and do something more sensible.

[aldanna]

Glad others are finding this a challenge, as I have a nearly full outside and a nearly empty inside. Great help from the thematic words? Like Z I will have to accept this on trust so far. (P.S. Come back cJ).

[contendo]

It would be useful to know whether there is 180-degree symmetry in the routes taken through the centre.

[midazolam]

No contendo

Still havent got my last answer but as it doesnt matter i think I will leave it. There is enough checking in the centre to forego an answer or two.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Got most of the outside and the thematic words, but right now they're not a huge help.

[Paula]

I'm with you p-p and still have 3 to solve in the middle. Perhaps a fresh look tomorrow will help.

[EagleCountry]

The preamble doesn't say whether the knight's moves stay within the centre box. If this is not giving too much away, can anyone tell me?

[pushmi-pullyu]

Four clues to go, and a delightful spreadsheet with the words tracked in different colours, but I'm getting hopelessly confused. Maybe my brain will figure it out while I sleep.

[Mysterons]

Yes EagleCountry, and therefore plenty of cross-checking to help fill the centre.

[Zabadak]

Not that I've completed it, there being much else to do this weekend with my missus going into hospital for an amputation, but I think the answer to EagleCountry's question has to be no, or at least several of my entries work that way. That's the trouble with knight moves - they can go anywhere

[contendo]

If the knight's moves don't go outside the square that leaves an awful lot of unchecked material along the bottom and right-hand side of the frame. That would surely be the antithesis of good crossword design.

[IainGrace]

Nibbling round the edges of this, as it were. In 8 across is "clime" erroneously assumed by Sabre to be a synonym for "climate"?

[starwalker]

Just bookmarking this, having been away on family matters and not even looked at it - other than to realise it is by Sabre, my favourite setter. Nuff said.

[midazolam]

The knights moves indeed can go out of the central square and may even go back in. Managed to get that last answer in the new Chambers edition and so was a new word to me.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Glad to hear endorsement of the moves going outside the central square as that is how I have half-filled it. But sadly no inspiration for the last three clues came while I was sleeping. Another day of struggling.

[aldanna]

Finished it on rather a Jack Spratt basis - I got the words and Himself did the knight stuff. Often with the Listener I find it starts hard, then slowly gets (somewhat) easier, but this seemed to do the reverse. Pleased to have done it as we have family occasion all next weekend, then I go "off with the girls" on a four-day walk, so no possible chance of tackling next week's Listener.