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).

[AndrewG-S]

Not sure where to start with a puzzle of this quality, quite simply stunning. Like others at the outset thought it was going to be an unappealing cold solve but far from it, the ingenuity of the design and preamble allowed many ways to start piecing the puzzle together. Then a cascade of PDms but all in the right order with the last element only falling into place once the final few clues were solved. Brilliant and great fun, thanks artix.

[jim360]

I have a complete solution but I think less than 60% of it is my own work, so shan't be submitting. There IS a lot of cold-solving, though thankfully I was able to construct the full golf course based just on one hole and a column (up to an ambiguity that disappeared once I had all the words). That helped a lot - and also the way I've done it on paint makes for a very colourful grid!

Lots to appreciate about this puzzle. Hard (too hard for me, in reality), yet with a totally logical solution. Two thematic messages spelled out in a sensible order. Several wonderful clues: Hole 1 is marvelous; 5 is a wonderful stroke of luck well-exploited; and I enjoyed columns a, g and m.

Now all I'm left wanting is to be able to do this sort of puzzle without a massive leg-up...

[tilbee]

TheBear69: Since McAfee seem to think they bought my PC when I took out a subscription, and therefore they have a right to 100% of my CPU usage, I am very familiar with the inability to type key strokes into forums like this, though must admit this is worse than most.

[emcee]

A brilliant puzzle. I found the set of clues the most difficult of the year - this was the hardest part of the puzzle for me. The course-construction wasn't too difficult as there weren't really any blind alleys to follow, it panned out pretty naturally.

Nice for a change to have a (very) tough set of clues and a straightforward endgame rather than vice-versa.

Thanks Artix (1 setter or 2, I wonder?)

[teuchter2]

I am making very slow progress, with only about a dozen clues solved, half of them columns. My only consolation is that tomorrow I am going to stay with the person who introduced me to The Times crossword, back in university days.

[IainGrace]

Just to be clear, the instruction re the greens spelling out something means that one takes the last letters in order of clue hole 1, hole 2 etc? Looks mighty odd to us at the moment, if so.

[IainGrace]

Sorry, mean the answers to these clues.

[magichour]

In a similar position to teuchter at the moment - 11 clues solved for definite and 7 of those columns. Tough going - nothing entered in the grid yet.

[TheBear69]

Staurologist, why would you post such information? If you want to be a source of help to those who want it, post your email address and let others communicate with you privately.

Iaingrace - yes, the instructions are not misleading.

[Arcticpenguin]

Totally agree with emcee. One of the best for this year to be sure. Very clever.

[Texasetes]

I struggled with this one. Some of the clues seemed intractable, so I attempted to fill the grid without them. Surprisingly, the phrase from the greens became apparent fairly quickly, leading to the first piece of advice, but I couldn't see how the second one fitted in, and eventually went to bed with a headache.

After a good night's sleep, I quickly realised that I'd gone out of bounds at one point. When this was corrected everything worked out.

I was amused by the novel (to me) clueing device used for hole 8. Has anyone seen this before?

[the_heisman]

Excellent crossword
Sitting in the clubhouse after a very satisfying round. Superb clues and very clever golfing advice. I played this morning with rather less success.

[Alan7777]

It's looking as if I may need the benefit of a handicapping system. I'm struggling to get off the first tee at the moment and the warmth of the clubhouse feels a very long way away.

[Coalminers]

Sorry to change the subject, but does anyone know of any useful software that can be downloaded, preferably free, for compiling crosswords....ie filling in grids? I've never compiled a crossword before, and though I could never aspire to Artix' greatness, I feel I ought to at least give it a go sometime.

[Keepatit]

jim360, with the greatest respect, because you seem like a jolly nice chap, I am not sure you quite get the point of the Listener. You have nearly three weeks to solve the puzzle, and yet a day after it is printed you have effectively conceded defeat and obtained a solution which, by your own admission, is little more than half your own. Yes, these clues are difficult, but there is nothing unfair. All it takes is patience and effort, and a little skill, which only comes with perseverance. If you bale out so quickly, you are missing out on much of the fun, and all of the sense of achievement. And before you say that you simply don't have the time, none of us does. But we still manage!

[IainGrace]

Also, Jim360 can submit a joint effort. This household has been doing so for years.

[JackDeCrow]

Phew. One of the hardest I can remember for a long time. Felt like it used to when I first started the Listener - lots of words I didn't know and obscure meanings of some of the ones I did know! (And of course quite a lot of cold solving.)Very slow progress over the weekend, but Quinapalus very helpful once I finally got the course layout (give or take one tee in the wrong place). Think I might need a lie down - will hopefully get some work done tomorrow!

[jumperjudy]

Trailing the field as usual, I find myself well established in a bunker. My vocabulary doesn't seem to be up to this one, but I will keep on at it, but the club-house looks a long way away from here.

[AndrewG-S]

Coalminers, I think crossword compiler is the thing to go for, this will help set up the grid, add the numbering, suggest words to populate the grid etc. But it does come at a price. The alternative is pencil and paper (or better still an iPad app such as notetaker to avoid all the rubbing out) and the chambers app so that you hit on words which are acceptable and can use the word search function. Finally you will need to read the listener guidelines for crossword setters in their website so that you don't fall foul of the unching requirements. If you need anything further feel free to drop me an email at [email protected]