Listener No 4444 Food For Thought By Handyman

[Ruthrobin]

Sheer delight, thank you, Handyman. What beautifully clear cluing and fun from start to finish.

[AHearer]

Indeed, a delight. I found differences in the difficulty of the quadrants (one, perhaps, for obvious reasons). Listeners to trailers on Radio 4 Extra will have been well prepared for this one! Many thanks, Handyman.

[Encota]

Loved it - great fun! Thanks Handyman!

[Hagen]

I think this is a debut? If so, a very auspicious one. The theme presented itself quite quickly, which I suspect was intended, though I found that completing all the clues was quite tough. A relatively short grid-stare (kudos to Handyman for that) and when the highlighting and vertical lines all fell into place, the brilliance of the execution of this lovely theme became apparent. Bravo!

[starwalker]

Having got the theme I spent too long on this just completing the grid. As AHearer mentioned, some quadrants are easier than others. Thanks Handyman for an interesting trip down a very early memory lane.

[olichant]

I thought this was brilliant. Aside from the delight of the overall theme and its implementation, I found myself marvelling at an impeccable and really enjoyable set of clues. Wonderful stuff. Thanks, Handyman.

[Scorpius]

Great fun. I remember the event (when I was a sceptical 13-year-old) but revisiting it via a recording on the internet was a delight.

There were several admirable examples of cryptic deception that had me putting ticks of approval down the page. The theme came late for me, only when I'd worked out how to enter the four consecutive answers, three of which I only solved when I'd seen the system from the other one. I love the final grid.

[upsetter]

If you can remember 1 across then you weren't there.

[HappyUncle]

I can contribute little more than a ringing endorsement of the praise offered to Handyman by others. It's the first appearance of the setter's name as far as I can tell (it's not in Dave Hennings' database), but the puzzle is so accomplished that I'm wondering if it's a new alternative name for someone well established. If not, then debuts don't come any better than this, and I hope we can look forward to more Handymen soon.

The device used for part of the answer at 10 is one I've never seen before. It suggests a devious talent for imaginative clue-writing. The accolade that comes to mind is a thematic one: Bravissimo!

[emcee]

Another excellent puzzle. The modifications provided a nice PDM, which I should have twigged far sooner.

Many thanks to Handyman; more please.

[sunny-dave]

Jolly good fun - a nice wind down after a long drive today, with some apt thematic material and clever clues.

Thanks Handyman

[icynorth]

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Great puzzle - thank Handyman!

And some new words to get my teeth into this week.

[Postigod]

Well that was a lot of fun. Theme took far to long to spot, probably in part due to me starting this over a week late. Great clues with a nice mix of straightforward and devilish. Thanks Handyman