Listener 4180 Knight's Move by Merlin

[Ruthrobin]

I am thoroughly enjoying this beautifully clued crossword and have already found the theme and quotation. Great fun, thank you, Merlin. (Still some finishing touches to go - have to find and replace the distraught protagonist.)

[Zabadak]

Smashing stuff, and for once (no Z cup again for me this week), finding the protagonist was well enough signposted: no hapless stay in Much Staring at the Grid. Thanks to Merlin for a pleasant workout and some very clever messing about with clue wording.

[Ruthrobin]

Finished with more pleasure. I am just wondering whether 'overwriting' means just that - it seems to say that the letters are 'existing' and we write the new ones over them so that both show.

[Coalminers]

Yes, great fun, but not too taxing. One meaning of overwrite is to superscribe. Perhaps that is another alternative.

[Zabadak]

If both letters show, would the new words be legible?

[Charpy]

Kind of made it into the Friday Club. Clues all done, quote found etc. Just one problem. Removing the protagonist leaves me with mostly real words, but also one proper noun. All real words in the protagonist's new location though. Think I'd better sleep on this one.

Anyway, enjoyed the clues, the theme and the way it all fits together. Many thanks to Merlin.

[sunny-dave]

Good fun - all done - nice fiddly clueing :)

I think the proper noun is legit charpy (at least I hope it is)

[Coalminers]

Well, it was legit, until they came out with this new edition!

[perseverer]

Found top half very easy then brain packed up and struggled with bottom half, but all done now

[Walterloo]

Yes, very good. The choice of three types of misprints certainly enabled Merlin to show off his clue writing. 18 and 36 in particular, for me anyway. Enjoy your weekends.

[qwerty99]

Evening all. I haven't posted on here for a while, but I regularly read your comments with great interest. I found this enjoyable, but surprisingly straightforward. I spent hours staring at last week's grid before the penny dropped. I have started doing the Listener again after a lay-off; I don't know what you all think, but I think there has yet to be a real challenge this year. I know I am not getting any cleverer; is the Listener getting easier?

[tenflags]

I know what you mean RR .. 'replacing' rather than 'overwriting' maybe would have helped.. I figure it has to be replace but will sleep on it.
I found this pretty straight forward .. I suppose it's possible I'm getting a little better.

[Walterloo]

The more I look at my completed grid the more I like it. Excellent condtruction to get the protagonist in his appropriate locations. One of my faves for the year so far. I think I know why the word 'overwriting' was used but can't explain without giving something away.

[dr b]

Nice puzzle, i enjoyed the 3 different types of misprints to yield the quote. As usual in these cases the quote came to me long before all the misprints did and I worked backwards to figure some of them out.

[contendo]

Beautifully constructed and a lovely denouement. I don't think the fact that it was relatively easy detracts from it.

[Charpy]

Ruthrobin: I think in this instance "overwrite" must be interpreted in the IT sense as to destroy the original characters by replacing them with the new characters. I hope so anyway. Superimposing or superscribing the characters would lead to a mess that would make it difficult to interpret as "making more new words".

However I must confess that my judgment is far from flawed in these matters. I make a lot more mistakes in misreading and misinterpreting the instructions than in the initial grid fill.

I wonder what others think and also about the proper noun left behind, unless we've changed to Velazquez Diccionario de Espanol as the primary reference.

[contendo]

There are other proper nouns in the grid.

[IainGrace]

Very enjoyable and easier maybe than it looked when one read the preamble. Thought the first across and down clues were an easy entry into the grid - and it always helps when it is the clues that are mangled rather than the grid entries. Not quite finished but on the last lap, we suspect.

[tilbee]

Like others found this gentle but enjoyable. Protagonist readily found and relocated, but not yet sure if there is another step to go (i.e now need to consider use of the word 'surroundings' in the preamble.

[tilbee]

As ever Google comes to the rescue - very neat.

[silversolver]

My heart sank when I saw the dreaded "Knight's Move" in the title, but as others have said, this turned out to be a very enjoyable and not too taxing challenge. An amusing theme and some excellent clues. Qwerty99 - not sure there is amy such thing as an "easy" Listener but I agree that we have not yet had a real stinker this year, but I daresay there will be one or two before too long...