Listener 4692 - Whodunnit? By Kruger

[sunny-dave]

What a grand puzzle - a carte-blanche with a couple of entry points and then some excellent clueing to make it a real challenge. Well hidden wrong letters too, in a couple of cases.

Loved the endgame (all real words this time!) and altogether very satisfying.

Thanks Kruger - a great start to 2022

Happy New Year to all fellow Listenerers

[sunny-dave]

Do I mean carte-blanche? Possibly not.

I'm a bit too tired to remember the correct terminology - and whiskey has been taken :-)

[NickorWan]

Yes, a lovely start to the year, thanks very much, Kruger. A really enjoyable puzzle to solve with a very satisfying endgame.

I'd call it a jigsaw puzzle, sunny-dave. I think of a carte blanche as one without bars and numbers.

Happy New Year to all.

[Hagen]

The Times put this up early yesterday, so for me this was a nice way to round off a year of fine Listener puzzles. I wonder how long it took Kruger to find suitable thematic examples as there can't be many. Lovely neat conclusion and oh, how satisfying it is when grid changes result in real words!

Happy New Year to all.

[Dim16]

Happy New Year!

One of my resolutions is to complete 50% of this year's puzzles, which would be a 50% increase on 2021.

To do this I need to have more PDMs. But by their very nature they either come or they don't. For example in 4690 I have no idea where to place the 3 bars.

Anyhow I'm just starting to look at this puzzle and it looks like fun. WHOOPEE!

[upsetter]

A splendid start to the year - thanks Kruger.

[Philoctetes]

Another one that just begged "Just one more" until...Bingo! Very nice. HNY indeed!

[Scorpius]

A satisfying conclusion with new words forming, but I thought there were far too many four-letter words for a jigsaw puzzle, especially an asymmetric one, which gives the setter far more latitude. Half the entries are under six letters.

[sunny-dave]

Interesting, Scorpius - I thought the same at first inspection - but the (few) longer words gave an unambiguous lattice to start from in the NE corner and the alphabetical placement of the shorter answers then meant that steady progress was always possible.

I wonder if the number of short words was a consequence of the (very praiseworthy) desire to have only real words at both stages of the gridfill?

[emcee]

All very neat.

Many thanks, Kruger, for an enjoyable puzzle.

HNY everybody.

[HawkCrossword]

A fine jigsaw, thanks Kruger!

The first few puzzles of the year are usually quite accessible affairs, but this one was a lot more meaty than I'd expected. As others have said, it had a nice easy entry point, but I wonder if it will put off a few novices, as this type does require a substantial amount of cold solving.

And a Happy New Year to one and all!

[Dim16]

Bit of a slog, but worth it for a very satisfying conclusion.

Thanks Kruger

[pushmi-pullyu]

Great fun. Well done Dim16, good luck for 2022!

[HawkCrossword]

Yes, well done Dim16. I remember around 7 years ago when I rarely used to complete the puzzle, but when I did, I felt like I'd achieved something special. Soon after, something clicked, and I can now solve them every week. Not panicking at the challenge in front of me was probably the biggest thing - they're always fair, if sometimes a bit obscure, or a bit of a slog.

I can now enjoy unlocking those themes every week, but it's never quite as exciting as when I used to solve the occasional one.

[Dim16]

Pushmi-Pullyu

Thanks!

Good luck to you too.

[Dim16]

HawkCrossword

Thanks.

I think not panicking or being discouraged is key. A couple of years ago I would have given up on this one given that initially I could only cold solve about half the clues.

Although I doubt I will ever be able to solve every week's puzzle (that seems amazing) I feel I am still improving and 50% is a good target for this year. I always get a buzz when I identify the theme or work out what the final step is.