Listener 4156 V by Parsnip

[AndrewG-S]

An enjoyable puzzle, but nothing too challenging. Strange that no clue for 4a, at least not in my version. Anyway all worked out fine in the end. Thanks Parsnip

[dr b]

Agreed. Quibble: one doesn't need to figure out the '5 out, 5 in' twist to get a complete grid and the 'cryptic representations'.

[contendo]

No problems with the left half but the right half's tougher. I'll sleep on it.

[TheBear69]

I agree that the absence of 4a is strange and concur that it's too bad one does not really have to link the two sets of five, though I believe I have that right. I was surprised at the difference between the definition for 9d that is in the Chambers CD-Rom and the definition in 2008 BRB. I thought it was a nice puzzle; not too hard.

[Walterloo]

AndrewG-S and TheBear, take another look at the preamble and your doubts about a particular clue will vanish.

I thought this was excellent. The highlighting took some working out and there were some terrific clues. Some of the best I've seen in my opinion.

[TheBear69]

I did not say I had doubts about any of the clues...

[Walterloo]

Yeah, sorry guys. Didn't quite grasp what you were both saying. Looking at it again I suppose it is a bit weird to not have a clue. A bit like me when I misinterpret what someone's saying! It's late. That's my excuse anyway.

[AHearer]

Fun, and glad to see one of my favourite authors making an appearance. I agree with Waterloo that the unclued light was adequately covered by "Solvers must complete..." In contrast with contendo, I found the difficulty gradient to be top to bottom rather than left to right.

[Zabadak]

A pleasant couple of hours this morning, though I'm not too sure of some of the "cryptic representations" - looks too much liked a wordsearch when you're not wholly convinced what words you're looking for. Has anyone divined the title other than as a Roman numeral?

[LankyLanky]

.

[silversolver]

Yes, fairly straightforward but fun, started late last night and completed watching the England tryfest this morning. Some enjoyable clues and some of the misprinted letters were cleverly hidden which meant that the verse did not become apparent until much of the grid was completed. Thanks, Parsnip.

[Coalminers]

That's a bit too cryptic for me, LankyLanky, but I'm sure I agree with you. I see there's a little bit of (or too much) eccentricity in what's revealed towards the end, just like last week.

No I don't quite grasp the title either.

[Zabadak]

Took a break and came back to search out those pesky cryptic representations. Once again, I find I have a solution which satisfies the conditions, but which may also be one of several interpretations. At least it helps with the two sets of five letters, which I think must be the key. And you do (sort of) have to work out the in-out twists to get the sets right (or in my case to help with some dodgy cluing in the SE), as some of the in-out words are a bit interchangeable (IMHO)

[Eril]

An excellent puzzle, and there is a very clear definition for 4ac. Surely pointless to define it twice. I wonder whether the editors asked for a change elsewhere though as there is certainly one other entry that could have been unclued but that would have meant too many unches in another entry. As to the title, just possibly it is a reference to Corinthians?

[AndrewG-S]

I agree it is perfectly OK that 4ac did not have a clue and no ambiguity. Just thought it might have been better if it had been clued, but it works either way. As with others unravelling the 5+5 was the last step for me.

[Zabadak]

Eril: presumably 2nd? Or not that Corinthians?

[perseverer]

Like others, sorting out the 2 groups of 5 came last, with one clue I still have to resolve to my satisfaction. Also, referring to the penultimate sentence of the preamble, it was the 10 initial letters that helped me find the highlighting. Not sure how anyone would know what to highlight without being fully aware of the theme.

[starwalker]

A favourite author of mine also, which makes the long time spent getting the quotation all the more embarrassing. Shame that more could not be made of the 5 and 5, but an enjoyable outing for all that.

[Speravi]

This provided very enjoyable, if gentle, exercise for a couple of hours - thank you, Parsnip. (Good to be able to post a comment without feeling it necessary to criticise the preamble.)

[contendo]

I'm finding this a curiously frustrating crossword. I've filled the grid apart from 29D, got the quotation, think I understand the implication of the first three words but I'm finding the substitutions heavy going, with too many ambiguities and some unmisprinted clues which I cannot get to fit the theme. I've got nowhere with the cryptic representations. Difficult to see a way forward.

[perseverer]

contendo - a bit early for too specific hints perhaps, but if you have almost filled the grid and know the quotation you presumably have identified most of the clues which do not contain misprints and so have most of the initials to the 10 answers. Are they of any help? Most people posting here seem to have essentially completed the puzzle before they sorted out the 2 groups of 5 so you don't need to worry about that till later.

If you remain stuck, you may have my e-mail address from a few weeks back.