Listener 4431

[Ruthrobin]

A lovely bit of fun for the last of the year. Thanks to Lavatch

[starwalker]

I didn't think that I would be the first to finish this, but it took far less time than I originally anticipated. Thank you Lavatch, for a pleasant way to finish the year.

[Vagans]

Huge thanks not just to Lavatch for a happy ending to the year but to all our setters, editors, testers and of course JG.

[IainGrace]

We endorse Vagans' comment. Despite my retiring in May 2015 this is our first Friday night finish. Been out/been on holiday/too difficult/ don't do numericals/other feeble excuses. Bliadhna mhah ur when it comes.

[olichant]

Lovely puzzle.

We've had some great puzzles this year. I won't hijack this thread, but will set up a separate thread if anyone would like to join me in discussing the year in Listeners. I won't be able to vote, but I think I know which my top five would be. Well, top two, anyway - it gets a bit harder after that.

[AHearer]

I was later than usual in starting -- was busy learning knife skills (kitchen, not da street: son's girlfriend is food writer/chef and as they gave us a set of proper cook's knives for Christmas she insisted on teaching us how to use them properly. We started on mushrooms and moved up to chickens, and I've still got all my fingers). But back to the point, yes, a very enjoyable puzzle from Lavatch which, as starwalker said, took less time than expected. Many to thanks to all the setters for a good year, and, indeed, to the Sage of St Albans.

[Hagen]

A great bit of fun to round off 2016. Thanks to Lavatch and all the other setters whose ingenuity and hard work has given us another year of great puzzles.

A Happy New Year to all who contribute to these excellent discussions.

[Encota]

Thanks Lavatch! Just back from touring the Home Counties and now have had time to try it. And I'd like to echo the thanks of others to all of The Listener community - setters, solvers, the editors and, of course, JEG - for a great Listener 2016.

[sunny-dave]

I started this a couple of hours ago - thinking "I'll do a bit & finish it tomorrow" - but it was a gentle canter and so I kept going to the pleasing finish.

Thanks Lavatch - a nice puzzle and an appropriate end to the year.

Happy New Year everyone

dave xx

[upsetter]

A quite agreeable, if undemanding, end to the year - some quite tricky clues though.

[Cruncher]

An elegant way to finish the year and good luck to all for the 2017 puzzles!

[fyellin]

If I may slightly nitpick. . . .

The puzzle contained an ambiguity, and a somewhat arbitrary rule was added to the instructions ("the unclued unches in the thematic area are all different") to resolve that ambiguity. This struck me as "inelegant".

I'm not sure what I would have preferred instead. A puzzle with different words so there wasn't an ambiguity? An acknowledgement of the ambiguity, and the instructions to say "submit whichever you prefer"?

I suspect (with no proof whatsoever) that this "bug" was found late in the proofreading process, and a last-minute hack was added to fix the problem. Perhaps I'm just letting life as a software engineer affect me too much. Did anyone else feel the same?

Again, I'm nitpicking. Overall a fun puzzle to end the year. Happy New Year to all. I'm looking forward to another year of great puzzles.

[Scorpius]

Like others I found it a steady and enjoyable solve with no real hold-ups and minimal grid-staring.
I think the preamble alert was sensible and fair, but, pace fyellin, I'm not convinced that there is any ambiguity. We are told that the nine unclued entries are "of a kind." The one entry that might be considered ambiguous really has only one option that is consistent with the others. The alternative is not a dictionary entry except as an adjectival form that is grammatically different from the others, and therefore not "of a kind."

[Hagen]

Since you ask, Fyellin, I also thought that the instruction about ambiguity might have been a last-minute amendment. TBH I'm not sure it was necessary at all. The "correct" entries are all obvious with plenty of lexicographical support, while (unless I'm missing something) any alternatives are not.

Inelegant? Perhaps - the standard way of dealing with unchecked letters of unclued entries is to jumble them into a phrase which appears in the preamble, but perhaps that wasn't possible here.

It didn't spoil the puzzle for me, other than to detain me a bit longer while I wondered if I'd overlooked something in the final grid fill.

[petefoxes]

New Year best wishes to all in this community of ours, even Poat (ruiner of 2016).

[HappyUncle]

A nice puzzle to Round off 2016. Nothing else to say except Happy New Year to all contributors and to the usual suspects as defined by others.

[Philoctetes]

Likewise here. A pleasant stroll ideally suited to flitting between the puzzle and social tasks.
Ahearer - I hope you have given a penny to your son's girlfriend! It is a known tradition that the gift of knives severs a friendship, so you should always give a small sum in return.

[icynorth]

It's nice to have a break allowing the crossword to be savoured slowly. This was very pleasant indeed with some excellent clues (31 made me laugh out loud). The only minor criticism would be that the hidden message could have been phrased to be a little less guessable. Thanks Lavatch!

[borealis]

Great fun. Thanks, Lavatch.
But wait a minute - shouldn't the title have been "Pound"?