Listener No. 4343: Bear, Bear, Bearing By Chalicea

[AHearer]

A fairly typical Chalicea puzzle: nice use of theme, clues not too challenging (though I struggled for a while to find the extra letters in some of the mid-range down clues). A very pleasant exercise: thanks to Chalicea.

[starwalker]

I found this to be tougher than I was expecting, but never felt that it was ever going to be out of reach. Struggled with the SW corner, but all in all a lovely puzzle. Thanks Chalicea.

[Pasquin]

Got the title almost straight away, so I knew where I was going. I thought it was a bit more difficult than most Chaliceas. The grid filled almost row by row from the bottom up, and I didn't begin to make sense of the extra letters until I had almost all of them. Better not say too much, but it's nice, or sad, to think that setters must have been spoilt for choice. Thanks, Chalicea.

[starwalker]

I should have added that entering an incorrect answer does not help. Amazing that I can still forget that !

[perseverer]

I found this a bit tougher than previous Chalicea puzzles, with some wordplays taking a bit of deciphering, and only "got" the title at the end.

[jim360]

I didn't get the title straightaway but still had an early PDM. For whatever reason the theme was bouncing around in my mind already, which made filling in the top half of the grid rather simpler than it might have been otherwise. Although having solved or seen plenty of Chalicea puzzles in the last few years I'm tuned in to her cluing style by now so I would have hoped to have finished even without a lucky early guess at the theme.

Usual Chalicea grid, what with 25% of the grid thematically fixed, so that was well-done. I would have thought she might have a fit about the words at 43 and 45ac though! Anyway, thanks Chalicea, what I needed for a weekend after a tough week.

[s_pugh]

A good mix of clues, some simple, some distinctly less so. Not so enthused by the word search but hopefully I've found the same 30 cells that are expected. Thanks Chalicea.

[olichant]

I very much enjoyed this - I have to say, I found it quite hard with some nice deceptive surface readings, and the penny only dropped virtually at the end. Thanks, Chalicea!

[Flocker14]

Perfect Listener of its type. No need for higher mathematics here but a highly well-constructed, topical, challenging puzzle with a satisfying denoument, part of which took a bit of finding.
Was held up, too, by some tricky missing letters in the down clues and had to work through them again - but in the end all was revealed.

[icynorth]

I found this very enjoyable. I've been waiting for this theme to come up.

Something's not quite adding up in the endgame. Maybe all will become clear.

[doctormatt]

All done! Very clever, and ideal level of difficulty for me. As always, I marvel at the ingenuity of the construction. Thanks.

[petefoxes]

starwalker I also had an incorrect answer in a key spot - 15a? I didn't find this very hard but the thematic material was nicely constructed - thanks Chalicea.

[petefoxes]

Just to add that I agree with jim re sense of difficulty - I have done at least one Chalicea before so perhaps the parsing is the cerebral equivalent of muscle memory.

[salveMe]

Occasional Listener solver here. Enjoyed this, and found it not too hard (for this BEAR of little brain). Got the title, have the 30 squares highlighted, but am totally stuck on the final letter of 26a.

Anyone want to drop a subtlish hint? I'm not even close to understanding the clue.

[perseverer]

salveMe - if you have Chambers check for unusual meanings of one of the words in the clue. If you don't have the book, contact me, perseverer49(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk

[salveMe]

Thanks, perseverer,

I will take you up on that offer. I gave my old Chambers away before a big house move and haven't got round to getting another.

Dropping you a line.

[IainGrace]

Still working on this. Comments suggest that it's more difficult than we surmised from the rubric. Bizarrely we have thus far solved every second across clue from 11 onwards. Toiling a bit in SW corner too.

[tilbee]

For old hand solvers of the Listener and Magpie, I think we all have a good idea of what to expect from a Chalicea - very well constructed with typically accessible clueing and a significant thematic content. To me this was more difficult than the first glance at the setter's name might have suggested, and would have certainly deserved a Grade B Magpie grade of difficulty in my opinion (for those that don't subscribe Chalicea is the de facto A Grade setter). So many thanks to Chalicea, who as many regular contributors here know, iwill certainly be monitoring the posts.

[UglyUncle]

I'm happy to say I agree with most of the comments made so far: excellent working of theme, several tough clues and some especially clever ones (e.g. 21), and the title fell nicely into place as a final PDM for me. It wasn't rocket surgery but it was certainly a 'proper' Listener. Many thanks, Chalicea.

There's just one thing that niggles, and I'll be in a minority for spotting it and uttering a mild 'tsk': you wouldn't find 3 where they are said to be herein, although I appreciate the reason for the choice. Tiresome as Ian, Jock, Mac and Sandy can sometimes be (and I speak only in cruciverbal terms), setters from furth of Scotland frequently choose locations at random, not even qualifying them with 'perhaps', no doubt assuming that the Scots leid is a single entity. The BRB doesn't help. It's a mite fashious!

[borealis]

Enjoyed this. Good variety of clue difficulty, plenty of thematics. Are the clues here more, shall we say, Araucarian than the normal Listener average? I like it - stretches the mind.
I did find one or two alternatives in the wordplay (eg 31), and I can’t find 40’s wordplay in the BRB.... tell me where to look, someone!

UglyUncle - Chalicea has no excuse, since I recall she has not only visited said location, but has completed a listener within the library there.......

[Cagey]

For some odd reason I can now not log onto this site from home (on any machine, hand held, lap held or desk-top held). I blame the children, the government, Google, the change in the unseasonably good weather, in fact anything other than my own technical (and, in honesty,) general incompetence.

I enjoyed this puzzle. I agree with others that it took longer than expected and I must confess, although completed the grid and things, needed someone to explain the title to me (thank heavens that is not part of the puzzle). Have alwasy enjoyed Chalicea's puzzles, and this is no exception. Thank you.