Listener 4089 Vive la Difference by Kevin

[starwalker]

A very pleasant and enjoyable debut by Kevin. Some nice clues and a familiar theme which made me realise how quickly time passes. Possibly suitable for newcomers, but personally, I think that 32D is a bit of a beast. (I'm still not 100% convinced I have the correct answer) Interesting to see what others make of it.

[daagg]

RR, I thought you didn't do numbers :-)

[cluelessJoe]

.. just about to make the same observation Daagg
Curate's egg of a puzzle this one - a few nice aspects, some ugly ones. Shame about the non-real words in the grid, but I guess anything else would have been nigh-on impossible.
an by the way easylistener - what was the tv drama which led you astray earlier?

[easylistener]

Ha Ha well now I know what it is, I can gladly proclaim what it is not! I was barking up a tree that involved a Star Trek episode first aired on that date! And if that didn't work, I was looking at an episode of The Golden Girls which had an episode on that date entitled "What a difference...". If wrong trees could be barked up, I found them!

[AndrewG-S]

Just finished, thought it was fairly straightforward this week. Didn't have a problem with 32d - but for some reason 20d took me ages, clearly I need to get away more. Had a laugh at 8dn which I thought was a good clue. Got the theme pretty quickly after the block of 9 clashing letters. In case the editor is reading the thread and taking count, I enjoy the numbers but prefer letters so once every 3 months is perfect!

[AndrewG-S]

Having thought I had finished now having second thoughts. I have re-read the intro which refers to a calculation and I have not calculated anything, although what I have seems to tie in perfectly well. Am I still one step away?

[JCVW1]

Hi all, first post for me. Must say, very impressed with the speed at which some of you guys finish the Listeners! I manage to finish a few, probably the easier ones, but often find I don't have the time to dedicate to them.
Personally, I don't usually do the numbers ones - much prefer the word puzzles.
Haven't had a chance to get into this one, apart from a cursory glance, which didn't shed much light I'm afraid!

[bobbycollins]

Welcome, JCVW1.

While there are some naturally gifted participants here, I would say that for the majority of us it is a combination of a little talent (in varying degrees), hard work, perseverance, experience, good aids (Chambers dictionary and CD-Rom, Bradford’s, unashamed use of t’internet) and moments of sheer inspiration. What joy those moments furnish. I would never have finished this in two hours ten years ago, so the rewards are tangible.

Keep at it and very best wishes.

[cluelessJoe]

AndrewG-S .. seems you are probably sort-of there, so maybe a short step away from fully understanding the theme & full meaning of the clashes - but as may have already been mentioned, the 'calculation' is not a step you need to take except maybe to satisfy your own personal curiosity.

[AndrewG-S]

Ah, I see the calculation and significance now - not quite there yet on how this is represented symbolically - will mull over a bit longer

[catstail]

Am still wading through the clues. Not sure if 32d is correct, but that is one of the few I have filled in.Many thanks to whoever suggested amazon for theCchambers CD rom. Am trying it out, and it has already proved useful.
In case the Listener editor is reading (well, one never knows), I would like more numerical puzzles - but preferably with a pdm twist at the end.

[s436]

Another weekend of doing all the hard work and not having anything to show for it. Despite grasping what happened on that date, just a meaningless jumble of letters with no obvious connection other than partly spelling out "Times" and "Listener" in varying measures. Not sure why I continue to bother.

[failedagain]

s436, you may be underwhelmed (or missing something, as others have so far admitted to), but why spoil it for everybody else?

[AndrewG-S]

Clunk - quite a nice finish - I enjoyed this one

[Mr Crossy]

Mysterons, thanks for your reply re highlighting, and apologies for this late acknowledgment. You were very confident in your response - do you have inside knowledge, or is it from past experience?

[JackDeCrow]

Not quite sure if I enjoyed that or not! Was thrown for a while by finding my first clash in the bottom left hand corner, which neatly leaves two new real words as expected, thus making me doubt the next few clashes I found. Also thought the rubric could be interpreted two ways for a number of the clashes. Strangely, given the number of mentions it has received, 32d was one of only two I got on the first read-through. But I still don't understand how the wordplay for 15a gets the right letters out of the rugby team. And, as yet, still can't see the calculation referred to. So, mediumly happy, but at least its finished.

[AndrewG-S]

Jack DC, I am not a rugby officionado but I think there is a British team named after a wild animal - loosing a ball and changing a cardinal point gets I think to the answer.

[JackDeCrow]

Interesting - the team I was working with comes from a fair bit further away! Will think about it some more...

[daagg]

Wrong shape ball !

[AndrewG-S]

daagg, many thanks for correcting me, they do indeed of course loose the wrong shaped ball, so maybe were not too bothered anyway.

[JackDeCrow]

Doh, of course - completely wrong team! If I tell you I was thinking of the Wallabies (who actually get their own entry in Chambers as a rugby team, in a way that this lot do not), you might see how tantalising it was!