Listener 4235 X And Y By Ron

[midazolam]

What an excellent Listener. Thorough enjoyment from start to finish. Solid clues with a variety of straightforward and tricky ones. The grid fill looked tough at first with no entry greater than seven, but given the number of across clues, the rows could be worked out from the start. A bit of head-scratching at the end with the bars, but with another PDM it came together without ambiguity. Many thanks Ron.

[trux]

Agreed - it turned out to be much more approachable than at first sight. Some lovely touches in the hidden quotation. Normally I don't like these type of endgames but instructions here are clear and unambiguous once you have worked out how to interpret them (!) . Many thanks to Ron for a fine puzzle.

[TheBear69]

First rate! Thanks, Ron

[Ruthrobin]

Most impressive, Ron! What a lot there was in this.

[AHearer]

Agreed, a little gem. I went to bed with the quotation found but only the top left and bottom right quadrants filled. All the rest fell neatly into place this morning. Great fun: many thanks, Ron.

[IainGrace]

Looks good fun if tricky, judged by our efforts to date. Down clues in alphabetical, rather than conventional, order is an added twist.

[upsetter]

Surely in the circumstances the 00.05 posting counts for membership of a very elite Friday club. Loved this one.

[Cloverjo]

This is a toughie for me. To give me a way in, would anyone say which of the clues might be the ones that midazolam calls straightforward?
Thanks.

[jim360]

My problem with this one is that so far I have solved more down clues than across ones! Still, barely started and already enjoying the clues. 46 my favourite so far, while 38 looks like great fun but can't make much of it at the moment.

[jim360]

Well clue difficulty is a relative term - I find this clue easy, he does not. But a few relatively easy ones appear to be 3, 22 (not sure yet on which of two the answer will be though), 44 and 46. At least, those are among the first I solved.

[Coalminers]

What an excellent crossword. And something in there to make you laugh, Ruthrobin!

[starwalker]

Excellent puzzle, in my opinion. Lots of fun with a fine mix of clues. One PDM after another. Thanks Ron.

[Cloverjo]

Thank you, jim360. I was on the right lines for 46, but couldn't quite see the detail.

[fallster]

Full grid and poem identified: quite a challenge to get there. Stuck on what to do next. Hope leaving it aside for a while will let inspiration strike.

[trux]

@Coalminers: I can confirm that RuthRobin is amused....

[olichant]

An absolute joy. Thanks, Ron.

[jim360]

After a long but pleasant slog I have now got a full grid and the relevant poem plus 24-letter instruction (mostly, anyway). Still don't understand fully what is going on. That will be tomorrow's task. Even so, thanks already Ron. Lots of fun already and I haven't yet reached for the scissors!

[tilbee]

Late start last night, but as already stated there are several elements that make the grid fill more straightforward then at first appeared likely. Picking out some of the likely redundant words helped for relatively early identification of the quotation. Fairly confident I have rearranged the bars as required, but now into headscratching mode trying to work out how to fulfil the two instructions.

[tilbee]

All now resolved, though not sure I fully agree with trux that instructions are unambiguous, at least until you have actually successfully followed them.

I thought this was an excellent offering from Ron. Good standard of difficulty in line with what one expects from a Listener, fine use of thematic content continued through from preamble into the end game, and also did raise a smile.

[jim360]

The bar rearrangement is apparently far simpler than I had spent most of the morning stressing over - oh well. All done now and thanks Ron for an entertaining offering!

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, Ron, broad smile - working on an illustration for Listen With Others three weeks from now.