Listener 4472 - Sharp Work By Puffin

[sunny-dave]

Simple but fun - A Jolly Romp for an early Friday teatime.

Thanks Puffin for reminding me to re-read an old favourite.

[trux]

Sorry, Sunny-Dave - had not spotted your earlier post. Fun, as you say, if rather short-lived.

[sunny-dave]

It was indeed a tad on the short side - although parsing 33ac took me a while.

[olichant]

I enjoyed the puzzle, although just one part of the preamble is puzzling me. Theme was in part new to me.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes short work but good fun. Thanks to Puffin.

[starwalker]

Certainly an encouragement for new recruits. Have to confess that I have never read the title in question, which I feel now that I must. Thanks Puffin.

[Philoctetes]

Silly question, but are the numbers and letters correct? My incident stretches only to 11 and I have an extra initial letter

[emcee]

Decent enough puzzle providing the right sort of impetus for beginners.

[Flocker14]

Agree about the questionable cell numbers - the extra letter though perhaps an indication of provenance?

[IainGrace]

Away most of September so still catching up - including on 4471 - so this was a welcome romp with a bit of a giveaway in the rubric, but none the worse for that.

[Philoctetes]

Silly me - that explains the extra letter, Flocker.

[fyellin]

I also have eleven letters rather than twelve, and the eleven letters seem complete. Flocker14's comment is helping.

[jim360]

Think I'm finished although also scratching my head about the 12 v. 11 letters thing. Also scratching my head about the relevance of the initial letters, seems to be just an attempt to add a gimmick really.

Wow, that's harsh. Anyway, thanks Puffin.

[fyellin]

Oops. My last sentence above was meant to be "Flocker14's comment isn't helping".

[cluelessJoe]

Definitely one for beginners - I did not start it until 6 this morning and was done, dictionary-free, by 7. Preamble was far too easily guessable so I had all the extras filled in apart from 24 (which soon fell) before I had solved a single clue. The bit I did not know was the autobiography but that was not necessary for grid fill. Thanks to Puffin for the short work

[Scorpius]

In answer to Jim360, surely the clue gimmick is relevant because it establishes another thematic strand that leads to the text box under the grid.

As for the apparent numerical discrepancy, if 12 letters are highlighted there is not actually any contradiction between the wording of the preamble and the highlighting, though it does seem rather odd.

It was certainly a very easy puzzle, one of the two easiest this year, but quite enjoyable nevertheless.

[olichant]

Stop press to all those (who like me) were confused about the reference to 12 cells. The Listener website has published an erratum - it was just a typo. It's supposed to be 11 cells.

If anyone also posts on the crossword solver website, would it be possible to post there to let them know?

[12barblues]

Yes, a fairly easy one and a nice twist on a familiar theme. The correction removes that nagging doubt that I'd been led down the garden path and missed a sting in the tail.

[Hagen]

Many thanks Olichant. You've spared me some pointless grid-staring and you've spared the posters on this site a rant from me about ambiguous endgames that may or may not have made reference to leporine creatures.

Not the most taxing Listener but I didn't find it exceptionally easy - like Sunny Dave I spent ages trying to understand 33 across, for example. All good fun, thanks Puffin.

I went out for the evening not long after 4pm UK time and the puzzle wasn't up when I left. What time did it finally appear? What with that and a crucial printing error, let's hope this isn't a bad omen for the future provision of Listener puzzles.

[upsetter]

Much better than the Editor's first choice for this theme.

[icynorth]

Thanks, Puffin. I enjoy the ones with rambling themes.

I’m disappointed to learn of the 11 letter highlighting, though. I was hoping for an ingenious red herring ;-)