Listener 4352 What’S Missing? By Artix

[Pasquin]

Excellent puzzle. Totally misinterpreted the first missing item I found, then spent about three hours looking for eight more similar items, before realising I had led myself well up the garden path. I'm familiar with the theme, but I didn't know about the three unclued entries, which took a bit more searching out just to confirm. Great fun, thanks Artix.

[Grubb]

I agree, Pasquin. Steady progress through the evening, the last few clues only solved and placed once the theme was recognised. An excellent challenging puzzle - and all the better for not requiring grid-staring. Finished just before one and went happily to bed.

[Contrarian]

Well, I'm totally flummoxed here. I've cold-solved over half the clues, but still can't see what's going on.

[BobHWW]

I really enjoyed this. Many thanks Artix and nice not to have to get the highlighters out!

[perseverer]

Quite a challenge, and a fair bit of Google before the penny dropped.

[pushmi-pullyu]

I'm with you Contrarian. Totally baffled.

[starwalker]

An interesting challenge. The penny having finally dropped with most of the grid completed but I am wondering if a particular version of the ODQ should be specified in future, as the title is not in my copy. Many thanks Artix.

[UglyUncle]

Couldn't resist looking to see how far others had got. Five of you home and dry, two in the dark - which makes three of us. Regardless of how solvable it turns out to be, I can already feel the red mist of Angriness rising when confronted with a grid containing *three* double unches.

[perseverer]

You may be less Angry than you anticipate.

[x_word_fan]

Ugly uncle - I cannot see any double unches!

[Scorpius]

UglyUncle, with 60% of clues solved I haven't managed to get a toehold in the grid, so I cannot speak from knowledge, but I would guess what look like double unches are not really,

[salveMe]

Well, that would be four of us.

I think my inexperience with these puzzles is telling on this one. I've cold-solved most of the clues now but am still none the wiser regarding how to fill the grid. I keep re-reading the instructions, sure there must be a hint in there somewhere, but no joy so far. I'm getting to the point where I may have to abandon ship and settle for a learning experience when the solution comes out.

[doctormatt]

Really enjoyable challenge!

[UglyUncle]

You know what - as soon as I'd posted my remarks I realised that the preamble made double unches much less likely. But that doesn't mean I've got anywhere. Experimental jottings of possible intersections have left me none the wiser.

It looks like seven solvers and five strugglers now. Not the usual Saturday evening ratio at all.

[Vagans]

I did get there with this one despite being a bit of Dumbo, so don't lose heart folks!

[icynorth]

What a delightful puzzle - I enjoyed this one immensely. A wonderful example of everything a Listener should be. Thank you, Artix!

[tilbee]

Like Pasquin the first item I found led me down the wrong path but eventually all came together nicely, with a little assistance from Google. A typical tough but fair challenge from Artix.

[olichant]

Absolutely magnificent. And some really superb, devious-but-fair clues. Thanks, Artix. Great fun.

[olichant]

I should add that I was baffled for many hours before pennies started to drop. It is absolutely worth persevering, though!

[AndrewG-S]

An excellent puzzle with innovative grid and and amusing/challenging cluing + no ambiguities at the end. Perfect for a long haul flight. Many thanks artix.

[AHearer]

It took me ages to see what was going on, and I too got the wrong theme in mind when the first example appeared. The next one put me on the right track, and I was happy to see that the entries I had pencilled in so far were in the correct places. I found some of the clues very tough, and there were a couple I only solved by working backwards from guesses at the examples. Many thanks. Artix.