Listener 4144: Location, Location, Location by Shackleton

[midazolam]

Despite only solving 2 of Shackleton's puzzles before (the Jackson Pollock puzzle and the Morse code/Beethoven prize winning puzzle of last year), I have been eagerly awaiting the next.

This does not disappoint. A nice PDM, which is what the Listener is all about. Excellent grid construction with fabulous clues (particularly liking 35). It doesn't top last years puzzle, but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Thanks Shackleton

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[tilbee]

Ditto

[Ottorino]

I thought that the clues were of the highest quality and the surface reading was a joy throughout, extremely difficult to maintain given the constraint of the misprints. Too often, clues don't seem to match the setter's lofty ideas for a theme but in this case there is a lovely balance.
The downside is that it's put into sharp perspective my ambitions to become a setter.

[silversolver]

Yes, a lovely puzzle as we have come to expect from Shackleton. Some excellent clues and a very enjoyable endgame.

[abns]

Quite brilliant - and the fact that isn't quite up to "dit dit dit dah" is more down to the excellence of that puzzle. I can't think of a better puzzle this year. It's worth working through the whole preamble after finishing as there are a few extra pdms hidden inside - the "collective hint" is particularly ingenious...

[borealis]

I like crosswords which make you smile - this one kept me smiling all the way through. Great stuff, Shackleton!

[ichkeria]

"Curious, isn't it? If you spot the letters to go in the isolated squares, and have a lucky stab at how the two letter square is entered, you CAN actually produce a perfect solution without knowing what's going on. "

You'd need to be astoundingly lucky to do that, surely?
Three cheers for a puzzle which needs no highlighting, also.

[Philoctetes]

All done, fairly straightforward. However, I seem to be missing one of the words of the title!

[contendo]

Am running a week late, having spent the week in Lucca without the BRB. Have completed the grid for 4143, understand the replacement name and the solution, but am not clear whether to impose the solution which would mean the highlighting would not end at 10, as required in the preamble. Also I don't understand the logic behind the 8 truncated answers, which I presume somehow relates to the 4 "other consequences", but I wonder if it matters. As for 4144, a brief survey suggests it's going to be a toughie.

[Clamzy]

Contendo - yes in 4143 the solution does have to be imposed but it doesn't affect the highlighting.

[the_heisman]

I have full grid fill and all the locations but not much further. Very enjoyable so far and some excellent clues. Shackleton raised the bar impossibly high with the awesome Sine Qua Non but this one is still very good. Never liked the subject which may hold me back.

[TheBear69]

ichkeria, I do not see how one could fill the four isolated cells without knowing what is going on...

While I agree that the vast majority of the clues are excellent, I still feel that some of them are 'wordy', e.g. 21d, whose surface reading does not appeal to me.

One clue is flawed since it depends on a historical inaccuracy...

[TheBear69]

Ignore that last remark...I was thinking of a different historical figure...sorry

[ichkeria]

"ichkeria, I do not see how one could fill the four isolated cells without knowing what is going on...

While I agree that the vast majority of the clues are excellent, I still feel that some of them are 'wordy', e.g. 21d, whose surface reading does not appeal to me. "

I didn't claim that you could - perhaps you are mistaking my comments for someone else's?
Personally, I prefer wordy misprint clues to laconic ones - the latter are often notoriouslly difficult to parse.

[ichkeria]

I think 21 dn has an excellent surface, having just looked at it again. There's an "on" omitted after "measures", as understood by the sense.

[perseverer]

To me 21d is fine, exactly as it is, without any "on" - the requirement for a misprint will sometimes mean extra words to accommodate it.

[ichkeria]

"To me 21d is fine, exactly as it is, without any "on" - "

Yes - what I meant was that the surface reading understands the "on", which perhaps might not be picked up initially. If you put in "on" then the clue doesn't work any more.

[tenflags]

well I enjoyed that - I thought I was going to be in for a long hard grid stare but then I got it and it all made sense.

[AndrewG-S]

Busy weekend so only got round to this today. Great thematics and I thought well constructed clues which generally cleverly concealed misprints. Only disappointment was after Sine Qua Non, this was not at same level - there again that was my favourite Listener so tough to live up to. Many thanks Shackleton for another superb offering.

[aldanna]

Done it! At least I think so ... always a sign of probably not done it. It is just the divided square. There is (as someone has said) a trivial way to do it, but I can't help feeling there must be something more subtle, which is currently escaping me. Austrian mountains next week, and no crosswords at all!

[perseverer]

aldanna - there is a quite specific way to divide the box, to complete the thematic material.