Listener No 4338 A Game Of 15 By Glow-Worm

[Contrarian]

Another fairly straightforward grid-fill, though deciphering some of the 15ing was a little trickier.

The finish raised a smile.

Thanks Glow-worm.

[AHearer]

Agreed -- once I stopped reading and re-reading the instructions and just got on with it there were no really tough clues. I wonder if the highlighting is requested just because Glow-worm noticed that the vital item happened to be there, or whether the item's inclusion was intentional -- it seemed a bit superfluous.

[jim360]

I suppose one could hardly play the game of 15 without it, so it had to be there somehow. A nice puzzle -- lots going on, but still quite accessible.

[Ruthrobin]

We laughed out loud at what we have written below the grid. I thought this was delightful from start to finish, though as AHearer says, we had to stop worrying about the preamble and just get on with solving.

[olichant]

I absolutely loved this. A really neat interpretation of a fun theme, and lots of smiles raised throughout.

[sunny-dave]

Loved it - not that hard, but very clever & lots of thematics to tease out.

Thanks Glow-worm - excellent puzzle.

[Pasquin]

I agree about the preamble, I just went ahead and entered the answers. The extra material in the clues was well hidden and matching it up was like a separate part of the puzzle. I had encountered 15 in a previous life, but I didn't know it had that name. Thanks, Glow-worm.

[Zabadak]

Is that really the item essential to 15? I would think, given the heavy hint of what you do in 15, it was rather superfluous. Either that, or in the wordsearch PS I'm missing something. Still, decent fun, and I did wonder whether 21 would be a more exciting (and even likely) example of 24 than the indicated entry. Perhaps in a politicised version, a 6 might even be made available!
Best wishes to all.

[aldanna]

Yes, I found this fun also, and easy enough for another Friday evening finish. I seem to be repeating other comments but I also found the preamble briefly overwhelming, the final word amusing, and felt the highlighting to be unnecessary. A small quibble is that for me 2 is an odd word to use in that phrase. Thanks Glow-Worm!

[doctormatt]

Very enjoyable. Lots of smiles as each bit fell into place, and like others a bit of a head scratch over the item.

[s_pugh]

Great fun and fairly happy with the result having cross-checked all the relevant omissions and insertions. A tad underwhelmed by the final highlighting (assuming I’ve got the right item!), seems a bit of an afterthought. Thanks Glow-worm for a pleasing puzzle.

[icynorth]

Yes, this one was a walk in the park, so to speak, but enjoyable as always. Thanks, Glow-worm!

[petefoxes]

My favourite puzzle of the year so far - a briefly baffling preamble became clear through some lovely thematic elements. The clues weren't too taxing but I am no Friday-nighter; I'm pleased to have my Sunday free! Many thanks indeed, Glow-Worm.

[Scorpius]

An excellent puzzle with plenty going on in the clues, where the jumbles were neatly dove-tailed. I agree that the highlighting is not the highlight of the puzzle; I suspect it was an accident of grid construction and the setter decided to exploit it. Nothing wrong with that.

I've just noticed that I've identified only two of the three extra definitions. I must search some more. I thought I'd fully parsed all the clues.

[upsetter]

After an initial bleat about easy clues, we found this really demanding. Possibly the first echt Listener of the year?
We agree that the highlighting was an unnecessary addition to an otherwise tricky finish with the preamble engaged throughout.

[IainGrace]

Struggled a bit with this, partly due to thinking at first that "jumbled" and "unjumbled" items were two different things rather than the latter referring to the unscrambling of the former. Thought the rubric a bit ponderous and the highighted item unexciting, if we have it right - as others have said. Good entertainment, though.

[starwalker]

Lots of fun. Thanks. Glow-worm.

[EAChaplin]

There have been shedloads of answers dished out in the other place, but absolutely no mention of 1 down. I can only presume that the definition in the clue and the answer match up in the new edition of Chambers, because they don't in my older version.

[jockie]

This was great fun, and like others once I'd decided to postpone any understanding of the Preamble it all went smoothly enough. Plenty of chuckles too - thanks Lampyris (just showing off).

[UglyUncle]

This was a delightful puzzle with so many features to enjoy. The Avuncular intuition pre-empted a leisurely amble to the main PDM, as it had done twice before: with only the first letter of 15 entered I was already confident of what it would turn out to be, but it's hard to see how the preamble could have been worded more opaquely.

The clues were fine (I'd have preferred 'toured' in 14), but are we playing the Australian Rules version of the game? If not, then there's a word in the grid that I can't find any BRB justification for as an instance of a type of outcome.

[perseverer]

I think it is just meant to be an example of possible 24, but it does seem a bit strange.