Listener 4096: Some Assembly Required by Mr E

[midazolam]

After part of the theme dawned on me half way through filling in the grid, i was thinking we were in for another stale ending. Luckily the ending took a fair amount of decoding, and it was very enjoyable too. Everything fitted together and, with a bit of searching, an entry that I thought was not in Chambers, is in fact in the big red book. Thanks Mr E (although "Indication of Height" will still take a lot of beating)

[dr b]

Yes, I liked this one a lot. I think I stared at the grid for a good 10 minutes before one of the longer answers provided an entry. I thus latched on to how the "irregularities" worked, and like you about half way through had an inkling of how it might all end, which turned out to be correct. Very satisfying how it all came together.

For all the regulars who are intensely interested in my whereabouts (....*crickets*.....), er, I will be absent from the thread for the next two weeks as I will be trekking in the Sierra Nevada mountains (in California). Enjoy the puzzles in the meantime.

[Ruthrobin]

I am intrigued as I have an almost compete grid and have 'arbitrary irregularities' but haven't fitted it all together as you two clearly have. Perhaps sleeping on it will help.

[Zabadak]

This is fun, isn't it? I'm nearly there, with three fifths (probably) of the decoding done, and still some clues to enter. But this is an excellent brain stretcher, and a huge improvement on last week. Cheers for letting us know it can be done!

[Zabadak]

Done and dusted - what a cracker, if (for me at least) really hard work. The two non- words had a certain red herring feel to them, but I can't see how this could have been devised otherwise. Cheers, Mr E!

[AHearer]

This was great fun. I led myself astray for a while in the end-game with a guess that turned out to be incorrect, but eventually it all fitted together very neatly. Another nice one from Mr E (though I was rather hoping that we might have seen a second appearance from Enigmatist).

[midazolam]

Enigmatist is way before my time. This one and only listener had 5 playfair codewords! It is also been awhile since we had a playfair listener (i think it was by Radix which was also difficult). Perhaps we are in for a shock soon.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, I expected Enigmatist, Nimrod or Io!

[Jogler]

What an excellent puzzle; getting started is half the fun and this one proved that the end game can be as good. It was also one which rewarded the use of my coloured pencils!

[Ruthrobin]

Almost there - but does this one rate as the most difficult this year?

[bobbycollins]

This one is making me feel really thick. Time to put it down for a day.

Sounds like thirsty work, dr b. Bet it's not as wet as the Lake District was a fortnight ago. Having said that, the Jennings bitter was very pleasantly wet on the inside.

[daagg]

I had a hunch about the irregularities after getting two entries (although they did take a while to find). Progress was then much easier, and I began to suspect how the irregularities were shaping up. The best PDM was realising how the whole thing worked, after which I had a very pleasant ride home.

I thought this was excellent, with a series of insights, but also with some first rate red herrings (eg 21ac had me down the wrong rabbit hole for a long time).

[kwyjibo]

Excellent puzzle. Not as difficult as it first appears, so worth persevering with.

[Speravi]

Very enjoyable throughout with a series of PDMs and a satisfying endgame. Fitting title, too. (Coincidentally, Oyler has a numerical puzzle in this month's Magpie entitled "Turning the Tables", which requires the solver to become the setter, to some extent.) Thank you, Mr E.

[teuchter2]

Grid almost complete and some notion as to what is going on, but like Ruthrobin I'm going to sleep on it.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Well I have slept on it and I'm still waiting for the PDM despite having filled in over half the grid. I can see not much gardening is going to be done today.

[bobbycollins]

I can see a good deal of what is going on, but fear that I won't make it to the finish. Some of these are just a bridge too far for me. Virtually filled the grid and can justify most entries, but the final PDM isn't happening.

Oh well, my garden is also in need of attention.

Greetings to all.

[Jogler]

Persevere - I think we had finished the solving before being sure that we were following the right idea. There were then a couple more steps to take that confirmed it all. I think that is what made this a cracking puzzle - the route to the end was not a gimme from the start and it all fell into place in order.

[tweaker]

Damn this crossword is brilliant! Still being new to the Listener, this is by far the best consecutive Listener crossword I've come across. There's a lot of depth here, it's a pity it's not like this every week.

Fantastic mr E.

[teuchter2]

I'm getting there, but haven't yet cracked how you decide where to put the unchecked letters in the non-words. I know what they should be. Also I'm not entirely convinced about my 26d, or at least I'm perfectly happy with it except that it makes an across answer rather stoney where I feel a different final letter would match a definition better.

[pushmi-pullyu]

I agree with you teuchter2 - I would prefer the across one to end differently - but I don't think 26d can be wrong all the same.