Listener Crossword 4029

[starwalker]

This week's offering is "Office Block" by Duck. Happy Easter to all.

[Clamzy]

Thanks for starting the thread starwalker, and hope all will enjoy Duck's puzzle over the holiday period. He usually provides interesting but not too difficult challenges.

[Spaghetti]

I have a completed grid and have identified the 38 cells. My only concern is that I don't fully understand the wordpaly to 27dn., although I'm fairly sure my solution is the right one. Any reassuring hints would be welcome!

[AHearer]

A very pleasant puzzle. Spaghetti, I think your doubts can be resolved by noting that one of the words in the clue may be a noun or a verb, in the latter case in either of two tenses. I don't understand the significance of the second word of the title, though.

[starwalker]

Agreed AHearer, a very pleasant puzzle with one or two clues that made me pause and think, before grinning and nodding as the penny finally dropped.

[bobbycollins]

Not such a stroll for yours truly, but v enjoyable nonetheless.

I am puzzled by several wordplays and haven't yet seen where one of the extra letters belongs.

Well constructed and falls nicely into place at the end.

Thanks, Duck (no I'm not from the Midlands!)

[Scorpius]

There's an unfortunate ambiguity in 27 down. There are two possible answers, both justified in Chambers and both fitting the wordplay. Ultimately one can be rejected because of the single misprint rule, but I prefer clues that lead unambiguously to one answer.

[robinruth]

I had no trouble there - thought the first four words of the clue, (as defined in Chambers) taking in the sixth gave me my only choice of answer (probably too naive to see the alternative answer) - but I am having trouble with the misprints - can several appear in a single word (I have two in 31 ac, for example) when they come from different words?

[turnerjmw]

I found this very tough going. Maybe just not my sort of puzzle, but I found it devilishly difficult to sort out the misprints from the extra letters. Probably because my wordplay is not rigorous enough, but I found myself wandering down blind alleys everywhere I looked. Had I not tumbled upon the theme I would probably have given up three quarters of the way through. An elegant end, for sure, but a bit too much like a trip to the dentist for me.

Robinruth, yes, I believe words can have more than one misprinted letter in them, as long as they themselves are answers to the 17 clues with extra letters in the wordplay.

[AHearer]

Roinruth, yes, there are several cases in which a word contains more than one misprinted letter. However, as far as any one word goes, none or one of its letters will be changed, the other highlighted letters representing letters that have been changed in intersecting lights.

[robinruth]

Thanks to both, that was what seemed to be the case, but like turnerjmw, my word-play is probably not refined enough for me to sort out which are which and I am struggling with only 20+ certain solutions - very hard going! As yet, nothing is emerging from my 'highlighted letters'.

[Walterloo]

Like others I too found this hard going at first because of the misprints and extra letter combination. I messed up the top right right corner with the wrong misprints for awhile which didn't help, but as soon as I spotted the theme two things happened:

1. I ended up learning about something I was unfamiliar with. Again!
2. Completing the 38 cells enabled me to finish three answers I was struggling with! So thank you Duck for placing them the way you did!

It also took a long time to satisfy myself with every clue's wordplay, but a very neat and cleverly compiled puzzle with some tough but fair clues.

[IntoTheBlue]

I've just finished this one and can see all the wordplays apart from 31a...

I had a bit of trouble with 14a and 17a until I'd sorted out which had the misprint and which had the extra letter but as I've said before any puzzle that does not consume the whole weekend and has a pleasing thematic finish is o.k by me...many thanks Duck. (Luckily I didn't see the ambiguity at 27d !)

IntoTheBlue

[Walterloo]

IntoTheBlue - Regarding 31a, letters 2,3 and 4 are a word for slowing down and the last 3 letters, if you include the extra letter at the end, are the name of an old company.

[shelouse]

I have only just got to this - away over the weekend, and seems to be making satisfactory progress so far. Belated thanks to all who helped me last week (my router went down after I posted). Finally finished it , after the obvious revelation on Thursday evening !

[Clamzy]

Following my smug remark about Duck Listeners at the beginning of this thread, I must eat humble pie. This was quite the most difficult of his puzzles I have come across, and I've done quite a number over the years. I managed to get the 38 highlights in and almost finished in my usual time i.e., Sunday afternoon, but was stuck until today on 14 across. Whew!

[robinruth]

Clamzy, you and all the other early thread commentators made me feel really small as, after a racing start, I got stuck. I have still nine clues missing, including 14 ac. and much of its area. - and the highlighted 38 letters haven't appeared. I think ones like this that depend so much on knowledge of obscure words (like 18, 22, 26, 29) and also on subtle understanding of wordplay, compounded with juggling of misprints, are dastardly for the less experienced. Delighted that you have got there, anyway.

[turnerjmw]

Robinruth, I too was amazed at how effortless the early posts made this seem. Some of the clues, eg. 14ac, are at the toughest end of the spectrum when straight, and when they include a misprint to boot . . .

For me, as Walterloo, spotting the theme was key to solving a few of the more obscure clues, so some time spent considering the title (like Ahearer, I think the first word is the only important one) might help

[perseverer]

Got there in the end, by once again having to justify my name. Comforted by reading that others have found it hard going. Looking over the clues again, so many of them now seem perfectly obvious - leaves me wondering how I couldn't solve them more quickly!

[shelouse]

I'm nearly there - 4 clues left, but I think I've got the notorious 14 ac but can't jusify the wordplay. I have got four of the words in 38 cells, but as far as I can see some of the rest appear not to be in a straight line. Is this so - it seems untidy?

[Philoctetes]

Shelouse - the cells are in straight lines. Keep looking and there WILL be an "AAh" moment. In the wordplay question, the penultimate word gives a very short word that has come up once or twice recently.