Listener 4150 - Garden Scraps by Colleague

[starwalker]

A rapid grid fiil brings the reward of a visit to the sherry decanter before attempting to make sense of the preamble. It's a risky strategy, but someone has to try it.
On reflection, I think I boobed on Colleague's offering last year, so more care needed this time (and perhaps less sherry).

[AHearer]

Yes, starwalker, a very rapid grid fill, and the theme is sufficiently clear for me to have dug out the appropriate crayon, but I've not located the wound up protagonists yet. I was contemplating a glass or two of Shiraz...

[midazolam]

Agree, one of the quickest fills of the year, but the end game has multiple parts to slow the solve down. I have found everything except the 315deg rotation. It seems obvious what it should be and where it should be, but it seems to be the wrong letter in this place (compared the 225deg letter). Further thought required.

[midazolam]

...rotating this letter does give a similar result but the final symbol is not symmetric. The general rule is, if you are not content with the final outcome of a Listener then you are generally wrong, in this case I cant see an obvious alternative.

[AHearer]

Ah, I see -- neat -- but I'm still left with the same unease as midazolam over what I can only refer to as the final twists.

[midazolam]

...and my feeling of unease is justified. I was working on an image of the symbol from google images, which is not the one Colleague has used. My final representation of the symbol is much more satisfactory.

I recall Colleague's last puzzle "the 5 K's" that also was a little tricky to finish.

On the whole a fun puzzle, although for a Listener, the grid fill was too quick.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, a two-hour gridfill, and I, too, am heading for a glass or two before attempting to make the final move.

[easylistener]

Me too, for once! Well almost. Only the 6d to sort out and then the endgame.
I may be wrong, but theme seemed obvious straight away before even finishing preamble.

[tweaker]

Hello. My first Listener for along while. I agree, with only minutes several fills without too much hassle. Lets hope I've picked a good Listener to get back in shape...

[cluelessJoe]

Just bookmarking, and I'm going to hit the sherry before I start this one.
On the subject of rotations, I recently heard on a Steve Wright factoid (and yes, I checked it out) that if you write out CHOICE COD, invert it, then read it in a mirror you get ...
and now for that sherry

[easylistener]

Yippee! My first ever Friday night finish. Can I join the club please?

[midazolam]

you get...OXIDE

[dr b]

A pretty gentle re-introduction after a few weeks off, tho 6d took me way longer than it should have. Now for 2 more weeks off, as I drop my youngest off at school next week and we celebrate empty-nester-hood with 9 days of vacation! See you for 4153.

[Ruthrobin]

Well, the red wine seems to have worked but I am slightly fuddled about how I got to the final stage - seem to have skipped a step, which is always mildly disconcerting. I recognise a fine bit of deception in the preamble!

[Zabadak]

Agree with RR, I think, on the amiable misdirection in the preamble, making me wary of the rather straightforward grid fill (I started late) through expecting complications. Two nice windups, and for me at least, a welcome return to Listeners I can solve after two weeks in Much-Staring-at-the-Grid. And yes, I know last week's was easy, I just ran out of patience with hazy (?) instructions. This week's were just cheerfully misleading.
Congrats to Easylistener, and sure, if I'm in it, so are you!

[contendo]

Missed the Friday club again. Got the protagonists and two clashes but still mystified by the twisty bits.

[Coalminers]

Very enjoyable - reminiscent of one of the Listener crosswords of yesteryear. Can't yet see how 37a works, but I don't need to. I bet I am not the only person this week resisting the temptation of adding an accidental letter to a relevant 10 letter word.

[AndrewG-S]

As with others a rapid grid fill and a bit of head scratching for the final step. Bit of a curate's egg I thought. Lots of thematic material and decent final step, but very odd to have nothing in the clues, I thought this was almost a pre-requisite for an advanced cryptic. It would have been very easy to include some of the instruction into the clues and a shame that this was not done.

[tilbee]

Yes a gentle romp this morning. Found grid fill rather too easy for a Listener. Seem to be on a run of identifying end game quickly - must be in for a fall shortly. Had to check the required symbol on web before finally completing.

[borealis]

Some straightforward clueing, but a fair bit of reference-chasing, too. The speravi principle didn’t help much, and it took a while to shake off suspicions of it being themed around the honeysuckle and the bindweed - any of you know the song? In contrast to midazolam, it was the symbol that led me to the second straight line - the 225 degree one, of which I regret to say I was ignorant. A good puzzle.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Very good fun. I don't get to these till Saturday, so completed it without benefit of sherry or shiraz. The doughnut may have helped though.