Listener 4489 Ocean-Going Vessel

[lyrabelacqua]

Am I truly first? Loved this one, and have just finally nailed my last replacement. Quick, but very clever.

[kdgs2]

Yes, that was a bit quicker than the rest of 2018 so far. What fun though! I got a little tripped up by what were and weren't supposed to be real words, but everything seems to fit together in the end.

[Hagen]

You folks are obviously far smarter than I am! It was certainly an easy grid fill, which took me less time to solve than Phi in the Indy, but I am getting nowhere with the letter changes. I've tried several alternative routes and each one results in a dead end.

I'll probably keep trying off and on, especially as we're due a numerical next week which means a week off for me, but I've rather lost interest in this one. I admire the considerable skill and effort necessary to construct something like this, but for me a 20-minute grid fill followed by hours of frustrating fiddling does not an enjoyable Listener make. Sorry!

[trux]

Agreed. Quick gridfill and surprisingly easy to find the right path for the changes, I found (sorry, Hagen; I know that won't help you - must have just struck lucky). The final flourishes make it all very satisfying as ever from probably the most inventive setter currently producing puzzles. Many thanks (yet again), Pointer.

[Hagen]

I've got there now using brute force. Well OK, very clever, but still not really my roughly hemispherical drinking vessel of infused leaves in boiling water!

[IainGrace]

Yes, quick gridfill but still going down some blind alleys with the letter substitutions, regularly failing the three consecutive letters test. Thought this might be an easier one after the last two weeks challenging but enjoyable contests. Will persevere as we are in the “numerical are not crosswords” camp.

[olichant]

I found that endgame a bit of a monster after an easy gridfill. Having said that, I loved the way it all came together thematically (not least the object).

[Liathach]

Finished after quite a struggle with the alterations. If I had seen 13a quicker, it would have been a lot easier, but I was not aware of either the theme or the object. A tour de force of construction; well done, Pointer.

[sunny-dave]

Sorry - it's all very clever - and the final object is amusing - but the balance is just totally out of whack.

A Listener should not be such a trivial gridfill and then a ghastly grind of trial/error processing to get to the solution .

It's lucky my third attempt to pick my way through the maze worked, or I'd be inventing the SD Cup - like the Z Cup but rather crankier.

[pushmi-pullyu]

I've got the beginning and I can see clearly what the end is going to be, but I'm completely stuck on the substitutions in one corner. I'm posting this in the hope that doing so will make the light suddenly dawn, as sometimes happens.

[HappyUncle]

Having filled the grid I thought I'd just check in here to see if the slog to the finishing post was going to be worthwhile. It looks as if it isn't.

I assumed that the sometimes clumsy surface readings had been made necessary by the three-in-a-row thematic letters, but that would only apply to down clues. To take one across clue as an example of what I mean, surely a pupil (however reluctant) could more pleasingly be described as 'falling for Shakespeare'.

[pushmi-pullyu]

And it worked. Realised I had a wrong entry at 3d. All in place now.

[tnap]

Just got back from holiday, and my plan to get hold of a copy of yesterday's Times has failed. Can anyone e-mail me a scanned copy of the Listener? peterflippant (at) ntlworld.com

[Lewap]

Have completed grid and found object (so I assume new down answers are correct). However, I am not sure my new 9a is a real word. Any hints?
Thanks!

[Scorpius]

Lewap, I have a number of issues with this puzzle leading me to wonder if my final grid is correct but 9a isn't one of them. I have a very common word there. The one that strictly isn't supported by Chambers is the final entry to 15d.
Am I alone in thinking the preamble is just a bit misleading?

[perseverer]

The 15d final answer is ok according to Word Wizard and the Chambers app.
In answer to your question, no, but I suppose it's how you read it.

[upsetter]

Fantastic composition.
Bit of a grind at times but a lovely denouement. Seems mean to bleat about the preamble.

[tnap]

Very many thanks to those of you who provided me with the blank grid pdf.

[Cruncher]

Lewap, 9a is one of a couple of final answers that doesn't show up in Word Matcher/Quinaplus which was otherwise useful in suggesting letter alterations. I would check Chambers for alternatives for the crossing entries

[emcee]

Sorry, not impressed with this puzzle.

I have checked several times and some intermediate words are already REAL words after their first change. Specifically 24ac and 4ac both are real words before their second alteration.

This seems to be at odds with the preamble and there doesn't appear to be an alternative solution to this.

Have those of you who have also completed checked that this property of non-words has been satisfied in every answer?

[lyrabelacqua]

Emcee. Yes, as far as I can see you are correct, but given that we are told that each final word contains exactly two letter changes, I did not trouble myself with an over detailed examination of all the "intermediate" answers, since the rubric was explicit that each needed a further change, and pressed on to a solution. Slight smacked hand for Pointer perhaps, but it seems to me a tad harsh. By the way, nice though it is of "sunny-dave" to tell us all what a Listener should be, I'm not in agreement with him.