Listener No 4211 One Shot at a Time, by Artix

[Ruthrobin]

What a cracker Artix! The Friday club is very quiet and that is no surprise as this was a massive challenge but what a masterly compilation. Brilliant, thanks (and sorry, AB friends - I hope I have got the number right this week).

[olichant]

Tricky, and great. And I think I have just slid in before the witching hour - huzzah. Thanks, Artix.

[dr b]

Well, I'm on the 7th tee, and as it is getting too dark to see the ball, I will pick it up again tomorrow.

[starwalker]

No Friday club here, and maybe no Saturday club either ! Much trickier then recent offerings and more entertaining. There will be a definite sense of achievement when I reach the clubhouse. Thanks Artix.

[Lathamjeld]

Newspaper just arrived on the doorstep and WHAT a puzzle this one looks...inspired by the spirit of Seve from last week's heroics in Medinah, can't wait to get started...does Ian Poulter do the Listener, I wonder...?!

[cluelessJoe]

Yet to see it in its final published version, but I solved this one about a year ago and yes, it's a great puzzle. Enjoy it.

[olichant]

Some lovely cluing here - "l" raised a particular smile.

[IainGrace]

Used to playing a little nine hole course. This looks like playing the Old Course on a windy day in the dark. Looking forward to the challenge.

[dr b]

Hard to remember a puzzle that hit the right combination of difficult/fun so well. Nice one.

[jim360]

Still not teed off, yet - four column clues solved - and those four took me about an hour. Still hoping to plod on, if I have time. This is the kind of puzzle that yields another answer just as you're about to put it away... Can't wait to see the finished product - I'm sure it will be a cracker. But don't really think I'll make it there myself.

[midazolam]

Yes great fun indeed despite being tough. What seemed very daunting to start with came together nicely with a number of PDMs along the way. Thanks Artix

[Coalminers]

Fantastic crossword. Very challenging but a joy from beginning to end. My only comments would be firstly that I couldn't quite justify the definition in 14, not that I know much about such things, and secondly that I think we are left a little latitude in how we might "show what was kept....". I hope JEG agrees with me!
Thankyou Artix!

[Philoctetes]

I have only just started, so I may be being unduly critical, but isn't this just a mass of cold solving and bent jigsaw pieces again? Not exactly a true "crossword"?

[dr b]

^That was my first thought, but the holes can only be slotted in so many ways and the letters from the columns provide the cross"words" that make it all work out. So there was less cold solving than I expected.

[tilbee]

Finding this very slow going today. Have now finally identified the 18 letter thematic phrase, so hoping things will now step up a gear.

[jim360]

There may be less cold-solving if you can start towards the left and hole 1 plus some down clues, etc - but I'm unfortunately stuck with my four column answers being i,j, m and g - so not much use when I don't know yet what hole goes where! Need a couple of hole answers asap if I'm to get this done...

[fallster]

This was great. Teetered just on the edge of being too hard for me, but then after getting the thematic phrase, fell into place faster and faster, to a nice finish.

[tilbee]

Finally resolved after a long but enjoyable slog. Found it very worthwhile to try and lay out the design for the golfcourse early on into the solve, though an error on this led me to a hold-up towards the end. Just now need to work out the wordplay for c (lower). An excellently constructed puzzle and fine, if somewhat misleading theme, so many thanks to Artix.

[the_heisman]

I am also on the 7th tee with Dr B but sadly it is not my honour

[IainGrace]

Is anyone else finding the par fours particularly challenging?

[TheBear69]

I was not able to give this more than a brief look on Friday, but this has made my Saturday very challenging. Yes, IainGrace, I found the par fours challenging; along with the par fives and the downs! This is a superb Listener, well worth sticking thru to the final hole.

By the way, am I the only one who finds this site next to impossible to use in Internet Explorer? When I try to type into the text box - or even the address bar - keystrokes are routinely ignored unless I type exceedingly slowly. When I use Safari or Chrome I have no problem. I do not get that behavior with any other web page so there must be something 'special' about answerbank...