Listener 3988

[cruciverbali]

This week's puzzle is Travel Agents by Hedge-sparrow

[Rapparee]

Thanks for this, Cruciverbalist. Just what is needed for a rainy Friday evening!

[cluelessJoe]

Usual Friday evening post ... many thanks C, enjoy your weekend

[mad max]

still working on 3987, but thanks for link

[midazolam]

thanks c - may have to wait awhile to start this one - but as it is now printed out I am sure I will be picking it up at every opportunity

[midazolam]

yes - couldn't resist it - even though i was here there and everywhere this weekend (very apt for the theme of this weeks listener) i couldn't stop picking it up

an enjoyable crossword, although a lot of cold solving to start with, from a ?new setter

[Cruncher]

Indeed - quite some whorl of a puzzle

[lordbadger]

Hmmm .. a bit unfulfilling .. in my humble opinion ..

[jamesah]

An enjoyable few hours on this although I managed to fill the grid and highlight appropriately with at least a third of the across clues unsolved which shouldn't really happen! I've only now worked out what actually happens to the answers to the across clues.

[cluelessJoe]

I suspect that an awful lot of hard work went in to preparing this grid. Although it proved to be technically neat, I am still undecided as to how much I really enjoyed it.
I think it's probably one of those which falls into the category of well constructed but relatively unfulfilling. Thanks to Hedge-sparrow for a nice challenge ... but next time round you may need to punch above your weight!

[Scorpius]

I think I agree with cluelessJoe. The setter deserves enormous praise for the technical achievement of the grid's construction, but I wasn't quite sure how much I enjoyed the process of sorting out the across entries and ensuring I had everything properly tied up. That tends to be my reaction to puzzles of this type. For many it will be the classic Listener.

[mad max]

I have just given up on 3987, and finding this one heavy going ( only 4 down answers at present) how you all complete so quickly ill never know

[poorsolver]

Probably the same 4 answers as me!

[bobbycollins]

I actually rather enjoyed this one. I agree that a lot of cold solving was necessary to get going but worked steadily to the finale. I found it a well rounded puzzle and the thematic name, for this solver, completed the ellipsis. It also had a major element in common with the recent ,and much more difficult, "Reappearance" by Poat.

I suspect that some of those less easily pleased than myself are setters themselves and are a lot more au fait with the finer points of technique than yours truly!

[Deviant]

Unusually for me, I quite enjoyed it. Normally, I don't get very far when a lot of cold solving is required, but I found that a lot of the down clues were very approachable & I was able to guess several of the across entries, which helped, although I'd nearly finished it by the time I realised what was happening with the across entries. Still not wildly convinced about the "theme".

[rabet]

I'm afraid I can't agree with bobbycollins's opinion that "Re-appearance" was "much more difficult" than this one. I had no problem with that, but here I have almost completed the entire grid and still have no idea of what the "entities" might be.

I think that in the search for originality and a high level of difficulty it is becoming common for setters to use the preamble to obfuscate rather than enlighten. In my opinion the ingenuity should be in the clues, not in some strained arrangement in the grid.

[Scorpius]

One of the things that marred my enjoyment of the puzzle was the fairly large number of poor clues. They worked cryptically, but it didn't seem to me that much effort had gone into getting some decent surfaces, many of which were very bland. I don't expect every clue to be a stunner, but I do expect a few that give pleasure. Perhaps so much work went into the grid that there was little energy left for the clues.

[cluelessJoe]

I think you are spot on there Scorpius ... I felt a bit guilty about my earlier post concerning what was after all a very well constructed technical puzzle, so went back for a closer look. I still came to a similar conclusion - many clues which read poorly, plus some dissatisfying splits (without wanting to give too much away, I did not like the single letter separations, and three occurrences of the same second half was a bit disappointing).
I suspect that, this time around, the Listener vetters may have been too distracted by the positive technicalities to pay sufficient attention to the quality of the clues (and to the quite messy preamble)

[Patch49]

Think I must have gone wrong somewhere on this as I have N?RS at 35ac which I can't relate to anything. Think I'll shelve it and have a go at Key Cutting and see if a break will help.

[Mysterons]

23 Down: Thin = lean
bit of oriental = o