Listener 4100: Table-turning by Kea

[midazolam]

This is what the listener is all about. As soon as I saw Kea's name at the top I knew this was going to be good. This was a real challenge, the like we have been missing recently. Masterful construction with ingenious ideas in both clues and design. The best this year so far. Thanks for the brain workout Kea.

[Cruncher]

I thought this was a great puzzle, very ingenious and couldn't quite believe that it was all going to work out ok. S-matrix must be frightfully clever to figure it all out in 10 minutes. It took me a week and all the more enjoyable for that

[JonnyDarcy]

Nice work Kea, thank you, reliable as ever.

S-matrix, I find your posts intriguing and perplexing in unequal measures. Kea doesn't float your boat, ok fair enough, horses for courses. In light of this, which compiler/setter does hit the spot for you?

[IainGrace]

Finished the puzzle a while ago and know exactly what we need to do for the final step but can't figure it out. Our first failure in a while. How frustrating.................

[cruciverbali]

Send me an e-mail Iain if you would like a nudge in the right direction. ([email protected]) In fact I found this 'last step' a great help in completing a good number of the final grid entries, as it was on occasions far easier to work back from the limited possibilities for real words than it was to solve the tortuous wordplay to obtain jumbles. I tend to agree with contendo - I don't see any particular logic in adding the bar below 27 down (or the one above 1 down for that matter) as final entries in the perimeter need not be real words, and in any case the bar makes no difference to 27 down's sense.

[JonnyDarcy]

@IainGrace

I can imagine the trouble you're having as I/we too struggled initially. My advice would be for you to revisit the very first step you make in attempting the denouement. Whilst it might not be apparent, there is another way.

[logophile]

IainGrace - only the 11th normally clued entry is [first word in the instruction] by a [6th word in the instruction, singular] - the others are all preserved in the final grid, which should help with the homicide.

[Mysterons]

The 4 'bars' around the perimeter are only half the thickness of the others - they each match up with bars bisected during the surgery - 7 in total, all horizontal. So 9 new bars are created from the 18 half bars .......... why am I feeling thirsty ?

[Roundhillbob]

Finally finished this one with minutes to spare.
Found it difficult but ultimately very rewarding. Pace other comments on this thread, the best of the year for me.

[mullingar]

I thinkthe listener may be a step too far for me given my lamentable progress with this puzzle. I've identified the poem and author but have too many gaps in the instruction and too many unsolved clues. Maybe someone could help me with 5ac in the hope it may reboot my inner computer Salvation Army, keeping quiet, blights parts of lords and ladies (8). I'm doing a little better with this weeks Nil desperandum

[Zabadak]

Mullingar - email me on [email protected] and I'll give you a hand - this is too good a crossword to miss out on!