Listener article by Vikram Seth

[castro221]

Just in case any Listener fans are watching this website, here is a link to tomorrow's Times article:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/art s_and_entertainment/books/article4786591.ece

(I hope this works - if it doesn't, Googling "Listener 4000" will soon find it!)

[cruciverbali]

Thanks for the link castro - we now await the puzzle with baited breath.

[Deviant]

The link in the article does work now - time to get going. I have a feeling that this is going to take a while.

[jabone]

Anybody else having problems printing the grid? I'm missing the last two rows.

[cluelessJoe]

Printed ok for me.
Thanks for the link Castro and good luck everyone .... might this be the first one for a while that Midazolam does not have solved by Friday tea-time?

[midazolam]

thanks for the link

i doubt it cluelessjoe - only just got in from work and 4 pages of paper just to print out the clues!

just think it will nearly 20 years before listener 5000

and i might be divorced and without a son by the end of the weekend!

enjoy all

[obmuloc]

Listener 4000 missed the last two rows when I printed direct from the web. So I saved as image and then printed it. Now all is well. But I think I have to put aside all chores this weekend....

[mad max]

many thanks for link

[starwalker]

Terrific themes and some wonderfully devious clues from four top setters. There were times when I despaired of ever finishing it. Now I just have to hope that I haven't made a silly transcription error. Oh well, just the small matter of a 20 year wait for Listener 5000, but I suspect that I shall be past caring and possibly everything else by then.

[Scorpius]

Congratulations, starwalker. It's certainly an exceptionally tough puzzle, with some fiendish clues, as befits this special occasion. A couple of days ago I also had grave doubts that I would ever fiinish, but having at last cracked Dimitry today I'm a bit more hopeful now. Just Viking's thematic clues to sort out now (no doubt easier said than done).

[Scorpius]

Wow! Sheer brilliance.

[starwalker]

Unlike you, Scorpius, Viking was the first of the setters to be "knocked off". Dimitry had to wait until the very end. I am still studying the whole thing because I'm sure that some of the subtleties escaped me first time around.

[midazolam]

all i can say is aMazing aMazing aMazing aMazing

I am not sure what can beat this masterpiece

[Cruncher]

On the home stretch. Only half a dozen entries to fill. I too took longest to figure out Dimitry's unclued entries and still have a couple to go. Didn't expect to get this far with it. Mmmmassive

[cluelessJoe]

Almost there too ... I'd hoped to finish without overlapping 4001 but have a handful still to fill. I was ok with Dimitry's, but spent some time with a full top half and fairly full bottom right corner and virtually nothing bottom left. A good run today despite two blokes hammering away replacing my roof - once I'm shot of them I hope the rest will be a peaceful stroll.
Great puzzle, and congratulations to Starwalker for such an early finish

[spiderFreak]

I feel like someone struggling over the finishing line in a Marathon. I too was left with just Viking's clues and had to work back from guessing the grid entries. When I unearthed 99ac I began to understand why!

[jamesah]

Well done to all who've finished! I've managed about 90% since Monday. I've got Dimitry's quotation but haven't managed to take the hint from that. Any additional subtle hint most welcome! With Viking's, are the answers to the clues and the final grid entries of the same length? I've found the cold solving of clues without definitions or checking letters very difficult.

[midazolam]

with dimitry - take the whole of the quotation (apart from the first word) literally

with viking - yes the clue answer connects with a thematic answer of the same length which is then encoded (and ends up the same length) - you have to work backwards to get the 26 letters which you can then reverse decode if you havent got all the clue answers

not sure if that makes sense???

[jamesah]

Thanks, Midzolam. That makes perfect sense but whether it will help or not I don't know!

[Philoctetes]

I'm now down to three of the "Mcguffin" answer sets. I think I know what is wanted from Dimitry but cannot turn the letters I have into anything useful. I have no idea what is wanted from Viking. I have answers in Arcturus but no connection leaps out. Wonderful. This is what life is for. Will we ever feel satisfied by a standard weekly again.

[Clamzy]

Me too. I have all the quotations etc., and 4 of Dimitry's unclued, but no amount of Googling is turning up the other four. In Viking I have a Czech name for clue 99 and haven't the foggiest idea in how to fing its "associated word" which presumably includes a double letter.
Where are Rapparree and Monster when we need them?