Listener 4459 Shock Therapy By Serpent

[Ruthrobin]

Great fun, thank you Serpent. We filled the lower half with little difficulty but had a struggle to complete the 'upper part'. Definitely one for the men this time. It was more difficult than last week so the grumpy critics should be happy!

[Flocker14]

Why does this site keep freezing when you write? Challenging this - I held myself up a bit at first though by misapplying the preamble bit about the extra letters. Last week's was fun too in its own way.

[Hagen]

Indeed great fun. Predictably the top half was much harder than the bottom, though I worked out the top row and its replacement quite early and this was an invaluable help. I will resist the temptation to make theme-related jokes, not least because they would be at my expense! Thank you Serpent.

[upsetter]

Good fun - thanks Serpent.

[olichant]

Hagen, I suspect we are hovering over the same pun(s).

I was hoping tha

[Cloverjo]

'Definitely one for the men'? Does this mean us wimpy girls can't do it? :)) I always look at this thread to see if it might be one I might be able to do. I'll have a look in The Times tomorrow and see if I might be able to solve a few clues. :)

[AHearer]

An anniversary yesterday kept me away from this until this morning. I know the condition all too well, but am not a user of the replacements. As others found, the bottom half was a pretty easy fill, with the top half greatly assisted by those replacements. All very nicely constructed, so thanks to Serpent.
I, too, am suffering from the pressure of pent-up puns, some even worse than the title.

[Ruthrobin]

Have a go at it Cloverjo - I would say it is of middling difficulty and you will see what I meant when you complete it.

[Aloysius535]

As one of last weeks grumpy critics I was delighted to have a listener that was beautifully crafted AND challenging. Thank you Serpent

[upsetter]

Welcome back RR. Thanks for last week.
Sorry, but can't resist commenting on A Hearer's excuses for not being first to post.
Emcee made a less ad hominem comment a couple of weeks ago.

[s_pugh]

Excellent, challenging but fair, fun and totally lacking in ...... ambiguity ;¬) Thanks Serpent, I enjoyed that.

[Scorpius]

The only thing I would add to the general appreciation here is that the clues are first-rate. They display impeccable cryptic syntax, deceptive and wonderfully smooth surfaces. I've commented before that whatever the theme, decent clues that are worth savouring are the essence of a Listener, and any puzzle for that matter.

[sunny-dave]

Now that was a really good work-out - one of the most enjoyable for a while.

Hard (but fair) clueing in the much more difficult top half of the grid made this a real challenge even after the condition was obvious - then after the grid was full, parsing 4D had me scratching my head for a while.

Great stuff - thanks Serpent

[midgler]

Yes, couldn't agree more - a hard puzzle with clever, economical clues, but with a structure that allowed steady progress instead of those dispiriting hours waiting for the next bit of inspiration. I can't begin to imagine how a puzzle of this complexity is set, I can only admire it. Thanks Serpent.

[Cruncher]

Tricky clues but a fun ending and indeed nice to find a new top. Might try it myself one day

[icynorth]

Not being acquainted with the theme, I can only put it down to carelessness :-)

Top quality puzzle, thanks Serpent! Those clues were delicious.

[Alekhine]

This was much more like it. A little delayed this weekend as Mrs Alekhine and myself called into the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. We thoroughly recommend a visit.

By the way, negative criticism should not always be attributed to grumpiness. My comments are always delivered with a smile and a song ... and perhaps now with an occasional oration in lowland Scots.

[crosswhit99]

Yes, I was also a bit thin on top to start with and only managed to solve some of the upper down clues with the help of the real word entries. It's perhaps not correct to state that this is definitely one for the men this time as universally this is an extremely common disorder that affects roughly 50% of men and perhaps as many women older than 40 years. Whilst the incidence is commonly considered to be greater in males than females, some evidence suggests that the apparent differences in incidence may be a reflection of different expression in males and females and as many as 13% of premenopausal women reportedly have some evidence of the condition. However, the incidence increases greatly in women following the menopause, and, according to some authors, it may affect 75% of women older than 65 years.