Listener 4005

[Rapparee]

Good afternoon, folks. The link for this one:

Wild Goose Chase by Tea Leaves

[cruciverbali]

Thank you Rapparee - I've been on a few of these with The Listener over the years !

[mad max]

many thanks Rapparee

[kayakamina]

Thanks for the link Rapparee.

[bobbycollins]

Been stuck at work all day but should be away at eight. It's rather a pleasant experience tackling the Listener on double time whilst jobs run in the background. Upgrading a major DWP benefits system and the high ups are terribly twitchy.

Anyway, managed to fill the grid but am lacking 19 of the "extra" answers, and am finding the cold solving hard work. I think that I have the five groups but this looks like another stinker.

Have you cracked it midazolam?

best of luck to all

[spiderFreak]

It's been pretty wet all afternoon so had a chance to stick into this one. Right enough, all the cold solving is a bit of a challenge, but managed to get them all out, with a bit of help from Bradford's. No really obscure clueing like there was in 10 by 8.
Got the 5 word phrase after a bit of trial and error, and thought that would be it, but I'm now stuck on what to do next.
"Wild goose chase" does seem to be living up to its name.
Think I'll give it a break.

[Listenerite]

What on earth is wrong with you people? The puzzle has 12 days from publication to the submission deadline (assuming that you get the puzzle on the Saturday), and on day one you're already on here bleating that you can't solve it and wanting guidance from the Great God Midazolam. Work at it! You'll get more satisfaction that way, believe me.

[himsuperstar]

and on day one your'e already checking it yourself to tell other people what to do and how other people will get most satisfaction...

[failedagain]

Where's midazolam's usual smug gloating about finishing the puzzle already, with some lame pun that tells everyone what the theme is? Has something happened to him/her?

[spiderFreak]

Just came back and twigged what the 5 word phrase might mean! If I'm right, it would be a very neat ending.

PS I suggest everyone just ignores postings from L & Co. After a while they might get fed up and leave us alone.

[bobbycollins]

You are, of course, right spiderFreak, but I am miffed by L since I don't believe that I was either bleating or requesting any answers. In any case I feel that we are all "listenerites" ,it's just that some appear to see themselves more so than others.

Two of the extra answers left to find, and slogging away with the next step. I wonder what L will take umbrage with in this posting?

[Scorpius]

Listenerite's posting was possibly premature, since nobody has explicitly asked for help, merely made some observations on the puzle's level of difficulty.
However, I do have some sympathy with his general complaint; these puzzles are not easy, and you have to work at them. If you get really stuck it is best to give it a rest and come back to it with a fresh mind, rather than come to this message board in the first instance, looking for inspiration. And he is right that it's more satisfying to get to the end with no hints whatsoever.

Although this is possibly harder than the average Listener, it's not that hard. If it were I would not have finished it on Sunday. Everything is clearly signposted, and most of the clues have relatively straightforward wordplay. Once the 5 groups have been identified it becomes easier to fill in the gaps for any unsolved clues.

[jamesah]

Very enjoyable. I haven't worked out the complete phrase yet but the second half was enough to enable the puzzle to be completed.

[x_word_fan]

Struggling on with this - just missing 5. Does careful examination of the 28 words mean trial and error - one letter from each??

[Clamzy]

It's logical that if from 28 words you need 28 letters there will be one from each. However there is a definite "flight path" so no trial and error needed.

[Patch49]

Very pleased with myself for solving this one without having to ask for hints - and it is so much more satisfying to finish it unaided.

[alice50]

Okay, I'm starting to lose sleep over this one. I've got all the clues - now what? I understand it's one letter per extra answer, but the first letters don't spell anything, nor the last, nor any other method I can think of. Help!

[turnerjmw]

Like alice50, I'm hitting my head against a brick wall, with half a dozen of the Extra clues unsolved, and no Bradford. Admiration and very ell done to all those who have cracked it, but comments about how wonderful you feel when you complete it without any hints from anywhere don't really do anything for those who haven't. I have spent a long time on this, so I haven't exactly rushed to this site at the first sign of a problem. I haven't really much more time to spend on it, and I never send the solutions in anyway, so should I just give up, as the Listener Police and purists seem to think? In my view a judicious hint or two would help me accomplish more.

If no one wishes to post on here that's fair enough, of course, but if they fancied kindly giving a hint as to how the five words in the flight path might be found, or at least the identity of the group of ten, so I can eliminate several possibilities, I'd be most grateful. My email address is

patmark1 @ btinternet.com

[Scorpius]

To alice50:
If neither the first nor last letters spell anything helpful then you have to try something else. In cases like this I often write the extra words vertically and scan the first few words and the last few words to see if any combination of letters looks promising. Sometimes the selection is random, but that's usually the case when the choice of letters is limited. In this case it's not. If you get either the first word or the last of the hidden message you should see how to proceed.

To turnerjmw:
If you have all but 6 of the extra words you should have enough to see how they fall into 5 groups, even if those groups are incomplete. Even if you haven't identified the ten-word group, the wording of the preamble should steer you towards it. Depending on where your gaps are you may have enough to try discovering the hidden message.

[alice50]

Thanks Scorpius, I can now sleep soundly!

[turnerjmw]

Thank you very much for your help, Scorpius