Listener 4073: Quartet by MynoT

[midazolam]

I think we have turned a corner in terms of difficulty.

Another outstanding grid construction. The lack of unches made the task easier once the quotation was got, but the way it all tied in together was very pleasing. Some straightforward and some tough clues made this my favourite of the year so far.

Thanks MynoT

[Mysterons]

Thanks for the recommendation midazolam, look forward to tackling this one tomorrow.

[Zabadak]

Very elegant: a beautiful construction. Am I right in thinking that the sequence of sets is not random?

[s436]

I'd be very interested to know that too.

In fact, does anyone have any thoughts on how to approach this, for relative newcomers? Right now it looks like just cold solving and trial-and-error jigsawing.

[Zabadak]

S436 It is indeed mostly cold solving to begin with. You might find it useful to concentrate on the letters that only crop up two or three times in a set of answers, and also to be clear about how many n-letter words there are in each set, which together with the alphabetical arrangement helps with the solving. I found it helpful to identify where n-letter words went in each quadrant, too. Once you have one quadrant sorted, its overlap into adjoining quadrants also helps. This is the kind of crossword which accelerates joyfully towards the end, especially once the quotation can be divined. Stick with it - it's a really pretty one.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, indeed, this one is extremely tough. I am making slight headway with the theme discovered and the quotation a quarter complete, but what a struggle, as we have to solve so much wordplay in order to progress.

[twencelas]

I would agree - its a good 'un and once you get one quadrant sorted the others quickly fall into place. Felt slightly cheated at the end with the thematic entries until the reason dawned on me

[AHearer]

I wasn't able to make an early start on this one -- and could have used the extra time! I managed to get one quadrant sorted out, and the overlaps from that helped in deciding how the others lay. I thought one or two definitions were a bit loose. I didn't get the quotation until I had about two-thirds of the grid filled, but once I had it the rest fell into place reasonably quickly. Overall a really good puzzle, beautifully constructed.

[easylistener]

Well I think this one will defeat me. I've only solved 9 clues so far. Could anyone confirm that the set of clues fit in the same quadrant. ie set 1 top left, set 2 bottom left?

[twencelas]

easylistener - afraid not on the quadrant front

[midazolam]

easylistener, to tell you which quadrant goes where is going against what this site is trying to maintain. All I can say is that once you have gained the longest answers (you should know how many there will be) in one of the quadrants they can be pieced together barring a few cells. If you have any shorter ones then this will confirm it for you and you can work from there. What I have said is probably no help and is what you know already. sorry

[Mysterons]

A word of caution - the preamble implies that a letter has to be moved to the beginning or end of each answer before it can be entered, but in fact this is not always the case.

[Ruthrobin]

Nysterons, I am splitting hairs, I know, and I understand your word of warning, but, in fact, I believe that direction in the preamble is simply pointing out that one letter of each word goes over that black line, into the periphery - and that it must still be part of the word it is next to - i.e. it will sit at the beginning or end of the relevant word depending where in the grid the word is. It could be any of the letters of the word (first, a middle letter, or last). That way it makes sense.

[midazolam]

i made that exact mistake robinruth, by thinking it was the first or last letter of the entry, rather than the position of the entry in relation to the periphery until I realised it was impossible to jigsaw them together

[kwyjibo]

I think the direction informs the solver that the removed letter is entered in the square in the periphery adjacent to the rest of the entry rather than either peripheral square in that row or column.

[jacinth]

Very hard work so far. I've done the bottom right-hand corner, but I have to go away for a few days, so won't look at it for a while. I hope the rest will follow more easily! I too made the same mistake as Ruthrobin, perhaps refusing to believe it would be that nasty...

[perseverer]

Found this very hard going. Cold-solved 28 clues before I managed to start completing the grid. (Didn't help myself by having what I thought was a really good but wrong answer to the rather easy rock singer's clue.) Gradually pieced together the quotation without recognising what it was going to be and finally guessed the missing word in it. Bradford's is very helpful and several answers are not in older Chambers. Thank-you (I think) MynoT!

[7lattens]

I too have the bottom right quadrant completed - now to seek the next break through

[Speravi]

I have a completed grid and the quotation, but only incomplete thematic elements. The rubric requires highlighting "in full", so I'm not quite there yet.

A very enjoyable exercise with some adroit cluing, I thought: I've never been disappointed by one of MynoT's puzzles.

[Speravi]

I see it now, and echo the plaudits on the excellent construction.

[cluelessJoe]

Superb construction as has been noted above. Took me a long time, and nice to find the bar raised after a kindly start to the year.
Speravi - look very closely at your incomplete elements and think about what you have spent quite some time doing.