Listener 4613 Escape By Xanthippe

[Hagen]

I can't find a thread but no doubt AB search will embarrass me again...

This was FUN! I loved the riddles and the way their answers led through the rooms and ultimately to freedom. Excellent clues too, especially the way that what initially looked like ambiguous choices of redundant words turned out to be part of the wordplay, usually in the form of single letter abbreviations.

Not as hard as it looked, once I realised that the double lines in the grid weren't impenetrable (if you see what I mean). Nice one, Xanthippe.

[upsetter]

Agreed Hagen.

Some nice clues and well hidden extra words.
All in all a journey of discoveries.

Thanks, Xanthippe.

[upsetter]

We forgot to mention the Xanthippe themed answers.

[Philoctetes]

Very pleasant. I stared at the last two rooms for an hour, without spotting anything, went away to start cooking tea, came back after an hour and bang! You've just got to love the brain.

[Cruncher]

Great fun. I particularly enjoyed the penultimate across clue

[Scorpius]

Rather a depleted thread considering it was such an enjoyable puzzle. I agree with all the positive comments here. Just what an easier-than-average Listener should be - a mix of easy and trickier clues, a message that required a bit of work to identify some of the extra words, plus some riddles to be solved and a path to freedom to be discovered. Who could ask for more?

[emcee]

My apologies to Xanthippe for not commenting on this puzzle sooner -- I came to the puzzle late.

It provided some happy memories of playing, as a teenager, "Castle of Riddles", a text adventure for the BBC Micro back in 1982! I wonder if anyone else remembers it?

Great puzzle, Xanthippe, and one which was accessible to all.

[PhilipW]

That was such a fun crossword to do - despite having to do it a weekend in arrears, well worth the wait. Thanks Xanthippe