Listener No 4252 Carte Blanche By Lavatch

[trux]

Wowee! Amazing stuff, but really hard to fathom initially and then, and then...all of it starts to fall into place ... pause ... think again ... think again ... Eureka!! A joy, Mr Lavatch. Many, many thanks.

[IainGrace]

Early days. Intrigued, but making reasonable progress with cold solving.

Regarding the solution in today's paper, was it obvious that one had to draw a large centre circle in addition to the smaller one?

[BobHWW]

Yes this was perhaps the best this year so far. Nice PDM's and some very tough clues.

As for the solution to Shark's puzzle - it does say that three thematic markings must be found (in addition to) the small circle. What I don't understand is why the puzzle depicts a team (Liverpool presumably) kicking off a game and after seven passes ending up by their own corner flag. I suppose it is an indictment of the sad defensive nature of today's 'beautiful game'.

[olichant]

Incredibly tough (I thought) but incredibly rewarding. Many thanks, Lavatch. A superb - SUPERB - puzzle.

[TheBear69]

All done I think, but somewhat ill-at-ease as to whether I really have it right.

For two clues, I do not understand the wordplay yet.
I've filled the spaces and found a reasonable way to resolve clashes but I wonder if something further is required. And for the final step, I sure wish I knew how many cells were affected as there theoretically may be more than one affected place in the grid.

[trux]

TB69: I am pretty confident that you will KNOW for sure when you have got it all right. I think there is no ambiguity whatsoever.

[Scorpius]

With some effort I have the initially completed grid, and have worked out the name and the quotation. I'll leave the rest until tomorrow. One puzzle is that according to Chambers one of the clues has a clearly identified misprinted definition, but it has to be normal because that makes too many misprints and mucks up the key word.

[silversolver]

Haven't posted on here for a while but felt I should come on to say thank you to Lavatch for a quite brilliant puzzle - very tough but very satisfying when it all comes together. My favourite of the year so far.

[AHearer]

Yes, definitely a hard one. I kept urging myself on with 'just get the ten-letter answers and all will be well' and then 'fill in that middle row and the penny will drop' but still the small change is resolutely defying gravity. I've enjoyed solving so far, and I thought some of the clues were tough (but fair - like the Piranha Brothers), but this is going on one side for the moment.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, superb, than you, Lavatch. Indeed there is no ambiguity and you will know when you have completed successfully. In response to the queries about the Shark Anfield puzzle, a setter's blog appears on Listen With Others that will answer the questions posed here.
http://listenwithothers.com/

[tilbee]

A late start today, but was fortunate in being able to start the grid fill after around ten of the clues had been solved. Now have a full grid with the requisite number of blanks, but only 13 misprints yet discovered and as yet no idea on the name and word, so looks like still some way to go on this.

[Coalminers]

Yes, some of the P's took H's rather than M's to D.

[tilbee]

Many thanks to Lavatch for a very enjoyable puzzle. Left this for a while but was aroused from semi-sleep by the first of a sequence of PDMs. Very satisfying as it finally all comes together.

[AHearer]

And with the dawn came illumination! My ears are still ringing with the sound of cascading pennies. Thank you, Lavatch.

[Scorpius]

Certainly a splendid puzzle. A minor niggle (perhaps a distraction rather than a niggle) was that part of the quotation led me to attempt something that proved fruitless in the end, though it looked promising at first.

[perseverer]

Final penny has dropped here too - I found it helped to include bars in the grid, even if I won't put them in my submission.
Still a couple of wordplays to sort out.

[emcee]

An excellent puzzle as we have come to expect from Lavatch. I don't think there is any ambiguity -- you'll know when everything has been done correctly. I worried about the middle instruction until the penny clanged.

Very tough, but all perfectly fair.

Thanks, Lavatch, for providing a puzzle that you just don't want to put down.

[IainGrace]

Grid three quarters full. Puzzled by the misprints/corrections, but doubtless all will be revealed.

[starwalker]

I agree with everything so far. I have just got to the stage where I have the gaps and clashes and the quotation to obey. A break is definitely called for whilst I try to make sense of the final step(s). Utterly amazed by the whole thing.

[upsetter]

we have found a credible theme that enables us to to resolve the clashes, fill six out of seven blanks and make the changes. But the seventh blank is not amenable.

[ichkeria]

I can see there being some highly amusing incorrect entries to this one :-)