Listener No. 4345: Essentials By Samuel

[AHearer]

The length of the preamble was a bit off-putting, but taking my courage in both hands and plunging in showed enough fairly straightforward clues to be able to get started. The last step was a bit tricky, as I hadn't solved every clue so didn't have the clash. Luckily I had enough to be able to see what the 11 straight lines were, and I could position them by completing the essential with the three omitted letters. Then I could finish. Thanks, Samuel: that was fun.

[olichant]

A late start for me this week, and quite a slow solve (thanks to a number of really sneaky clues). But well worth it. Thanks, Samuel, that was fun. And I'm a big personal fan of the theme.

[olichant]

A late start for me this week, and quite a slow solve (thanks to a number of really sneaky clues). But well worth it. Thanks, Samuel, that was fun. And I'm a big personal fan of the theme.

[olichant]

A late start for me this week, and quite a slow solve (thanks to a number of really sneaky clues). But well worth it. Thanks, Samuel, that was fun. And I'm a big personal fan of the theme.

[olichant]

A late start for me this week, and quite a slow solve (thanks to a number of really sneaky clues). But we'll worth it. Thanks, Samuel, that was fun. And I'm a big personal fan of the theme.

[AndrewG-S]

Olichant, clearly you are quite a fan

[Scorpius]

Certainly an enjoyable puzzle with a well-integrated theme, and not too hard to solve.
In preparing my copy for Mr Green I find that it's almost impossible to comply with the preamble instruction that the "further straight line" should pass through the three specified letters, rather than just join them. I wonder why three lower letters were not chosen, which would have looked better in my view and would have allowed the solver to comply precisely with the preamble.

[olichant]

Oh rats - sorry about that. I blame an unfortunate combination of Gatwick airport and a new lo-tech phone.

[Cruncher]

AndrewG-S - thanks for that. Made me smile. Very neat puzzle

[roslyn251254]

Only got round to starting this today due to too much time spent getting the "summer garden" ready! Really enjoyed this!

[crosswhit99]

Nice puzzle but a lot of the clues were rather uninspired and some uncharacteristically sloppy. For example, the definition in 20d is incorrect (the anvil is in the middle ear) and 21d requires an indication of how the wordplay could produce the answer eg " Expert team playing with this could produce ..."