Listener 4292: Going Out In Style By Homer

[AHearer]

That was quite a work-out. I admit to firing up the spreadsheet to help with the sorting, and once I'd got the theme and saw what had to be revealed I left a few loose ends till this morning. Some beautifully hidden misprints and, for me at least, a few red herrings. Thanks, Homer, for a great puzzle and for reminding me of some happy evenings.

[emcee]

Yes, AHearer, a very tough puzzle. I was still working on it at 1 a.m. this morning.

The theme is completely new to me, thank goodness for Wikipedia!

Many thanks, Homer, for a brilliant construction, tough clues and a novel endgame.

[emcee]

I should have said the title is completely new to me ...

[Ruthrobin]

You must be a bit like me Emcee - somewhat addicted, I was fitting in the last words at 2 a.m. but the title is part of my 'cultural background'. Yes, this was tough (and I had just found out that TAPU was correct in the Tibea, where I put TABU so that was a bit of downer too) but, as usual, have to admire the astonishing amount of work that has gone into this, even if it led to some very queer surface readings. (And don't moan about my rose-tinted spectacles!)

[olichant]

I really enjoyed this, even with some quirky surface readings. More like this?!

I suspect I made the same mistake on tabu - rats. Hey ho.

[Contrarian]

I am surprised that you two would make that mistake. The confusion between TABU and TAPU would be tempting, if it weren't for the very clear wordplay of the clue (Prohibition is what fills a bath with rum, essentially).

[olichant]

I know - kicking myself every which way. At least I have a sunny bank holiday weekend to make up!

[BobHWW]

This was nice offering Homer on a subject entirely new to me. Some very nice clues and some testing misprints. Although I am confident with my highlighting I still have 5 or 6 queries, so now for what might be quite a long double-checking process before it goes in the post.

We have had a long run of (Magpie grade) A and B puzzles lately and this was a welcome change - D?

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, kick myself too - especially as a local once took me to look at a sign that had 'TAPU PIRANHA' on it, just as I was about to venture into a rather welcoming-looking pool in the wild on Tahiti (not just a Maori word!)

[tilbee]

Taken me quite some time to finally tie up all the loose ends on this. Like emcee a totally new theme for me. Fortunately the final highlighting is deducible without worrying too much about the instructed manipulation.

Thanks to Homer for a very neat construction and a good work out.

[AndrewG-S]

Very enjoyable (I think) so far, grid filled, theme got and instructions received. Not yet entirely sure how to implement them though, hopefully inspiration will arrive in the small hours as it seems to have done for others!

[AndrewG-S]

Thankfully it seems to have arrived rather earlier so I can get an early night!

[jim360]

I did managed to get TAPU. think. I am not managing to get this puzzle. At all, at the moment at least.

[sunny-dave]

Crikey - that was hard - always dangling the carrot of illumination just out of reach, but near enough to keep me going.

Very enjoyable eventual teasing out of the theme and instructions - I too used a spreadsheet for sorting.

I've done the highlighting - and am determined to try the actual manipulation - but perhaps tomorrow with fresh eyes and brain.

Thanks Homer - great puzzle.

dave

[fallster]

Well this one took longer than usual. Thanks Homer, enjoyed it.

[perseverer]

Perhaps our worries that MORE LIKE THIS would set a pattern were misplaced. It has been a while since the last Homer Listener and it looks like Homer has spent most of the time crafting this. Despite being perfectly familiar with the theme, only spotted it right at the end. For completeness, I have carried out the manipulation, and now I am not 100% convinced about a couple of bits of the highlighting!

[Cagey]

Phew! Back from hols, raced through 4291, despite difficulties last week. This one not progressing fast. Can only assume that I need another week off. I had tabu too. Oops. Oh well another example of my normal lack of attention to detale.

[jim360]

On the face of it there would appear to be a few ambiguities in the highlighting. Perhaps these would be resolved if we "actually do" the manipulation, but it's not obvious.

[perseverer]

Jim- I did think there were ambiguities but once you realise what the manipulation actually involves there are no ambiguities

[flocker]

Hats off to Homer: an absolute tour de force - and what you learn along the way - not just about the theme, which was new to me - makes it an even more valuable experience. I wasjust lucky I had the time this weekend to get stuck into it - because you really need to get stuck in - every clue forces you to understand it completely and not just enter answers on a wing and a prayer which I so often do. Glad they're not all like that though...

[jim360]

Yes, I thought that would be the case, so let's hope I've got the right idea.