Listener 4141 : Trailblazers by Dysart

[starwalker]

Grid fill is proceding quite quickly and smoothly, especially when compared to last week.
However, I know that this will rapidly slow down as I know nothing about either the two adversaries or the title. More reading required.

[Zabadak]

tilbee: glad someone else is mystified. . Check the *two* elements contained in the source, place one (symbolically) inside the other, and you have seven letters that fit rather neatly. But it's not a two word phrase, so as I say, it's right in every respect but that.

[Zabadak]

Also pleased someone else spotted the alternative hero/antihero combo - made impossible by 30ac once you got it.
Anyone else here come up with a better solution to the 5/7 final play?

[AHearer]

Zabadak, the preamble says that all the grid changes result in real words, including a two-word phrase, and in that it is only referring to actual are-we-allowed-to-call-them-lights. The two-word phrase may not immediately strike you as such, as you may mentally convert it to another form.

[Clamzy]

Zab check your email.

[tweaker]

Just an off subject(ish) topic. Where has 'The Mysterons' guy from Listener threads gone, I haven't seen him here for a while?

[tweaker]

Forget what I said. I saw him last thread. Sorry!

[tilbee]

Thanks Zabadak have this now - had to (almost) fully research the original text rather than relying on Wikipedia synopsis. As Ahearer states the two word phrase refers to modified entries affected by the modifications - though again as stated this appears in a different form in BRB (assuming I have this correct).

Only thing still bothering me is justifying the solution to 22a - though only one solution seems feasible.

[contendo]

Tilbee & TheBear - Thanks for your comments. You were right, TheBear, it was my wordplay that was wrong rather than the definition. Now if I could just get 14 & 23dn and 22 & 32ac I could move on to the interesting bit.

[perseverer]

tilbee - if you have the correct entry, BRB confirms it pretty specifically. The entry is half of a bigger word, given by the wordplay.

[Clamzy]

I want to thank Dysart for restoring a modicum of confidence after last week's bruiser.
There was enough thematic material to retain interest throughout, and it was all new to me.

[tilbee]

Thanks Perseverer - had indeed made an incorrect assumption here.

[BlackHugh]

A very enjoyable puzzle. I always find it good to be reminded of things that had given one a lot of pleasure in earlier life. A great contrast to last weeks and the only drawback in having completed it (for me) quite early is that I now feel obliged to going back to head-banging on the last few clues of Sabre's.

[JackDeCrow]

Lovely puzzle I thought - taught me about something I didn't really know about, nice use of a theme and a clever little denouement that left me smiling - and all in a puzzle that didn't torment me for a whole week. Thanks, Dysart!

[Antmark]

Think I've finished but I don't understand the title!

[dr b]

A trailblazer is "One that blazes a trail to guide others"; I think it can just be taken quite literally to describe the actions of 1a and 1d in the source.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes indeed, this was a gentle rest after Sabre's astonishing challenge last week, though I was out of reach of the Internet and even being familiar with the adversaries didn't help me to complete the endgame. I have a number of places where I was not sure of the wordplay - just a mite disconcerting - I have to agree with what trux was saying earlier.

[Coalminers]

I suppose it could be argued that it is more specifically a one, as opposed to a two word phrase.

[trux]

dr B : perhaps the title (as I tried to suggest earlier if only it was in the singular) could have been more specifically interpreted as TRAIL - BLAZER (with second bit representing one of the adversaries) ... ?

[trux]

yo ho ho, Coal M .... Wag ? U really are a ... !

[tristram37]

Regardless of its qualities I believe that this puzzle should not have been publlshed. The notes for setters states: "Preference is given to ideas that can be confirmed using commonly available reference books"; and further on: "The vetters wish to reaffirm that the availability of thematic information at a web site is not a sufficient justification of accessibility." I think that the puzzle fails that test, I also think that the final step is a cheat. I can't give details without giving the game away, but I'm sure that those who have solved it know what I mean, even if they disagree.