Listener No 4469 Follow-My-Leader By Harribobs

[Contrarian]

Thanks Harribobs for a very enjoyable puzzle.

I managed to guess the theme after solving the first anagram clash.

Some lovely clues (eg. 11d).

[trux]

Quite agree, Contrarian. Very neatly constructed with fine flourish as endgame. Many thanks to Harribobs.

[Ruthrobin]

It took us far longer than Contrarian to guess the theme but guessing it made the rest fare less difficult than it was proving to be up to that stage. Thanks Harribobs!

[starwalker]

Sopmetimes I suppose that it is just luck on getting one of the clashes early and being able to make sense of it. On this occasion, I didn't, but it did not take anything away from the overall enjoyment. Everything came together nicely at the end. Just one clue to re-check. Thanks Harribobs.

[Hagen]

I've often found that puzzles by Harribobs lead to an incomprehensible instruction that makes no sense to me, and despite twigging the theme from the anagram clashes quite early I feared this puzzle would be the same. Not at all - it all followed on logically and was a marvellously clever piece of construction. Hats off all round.

I can't help feeling that a couple of clues (and one of the answers) were a bit Guardianish though! Perhaps that's just me.

[kdgs2]

This had everything that makes a Listener fun to complete - a series of revelations and all wrapped up with a bow at the end. It took me quite a while to parse 5d and 35d but worth it in the end.

[12barblues]

Very little to add to the above, almost all of which I could repeat. It all came together very nicely. Getting the theme came relatively late, but accelerated filling one corner of the grid. Just as it should be. Thank you Harribobs.

[Alekhine]

Yes, some nice clues, and a tidy finish.

Harribobs has a neat way of misleading ... fair play, Sir or Madam.

[Scorpius]

I didn’t get the first member until over half way through, then three more came easily. Finding the locations for the last four should have been easy but it was far from a sprint to the finish. Parsing some of the clues to get the extra letter was quite tricky. I was finally left with 22d which I couldn’t fill until I Googled several permutations, though I later discovered it is in the latest Chambers.

Like Hagen I have found Harribobs’ endgames baffling at times, so I was pleased that this worked out without any problems. A very clever grid given the theme and the endgame. I will add 21a, 8d and 20d to the list of lovely clues.

[olichant]

Really clever, and a neat endgame. The message from surplus letters took a while to tease out. I enjoyed that.

[Hagen]

Perhaps I should have said in my final paragraph that the clues were almost all excellent, it was just one or two that I felt were stretching it a bit given the constraints of clashes and extra letters. And if 22 down is in Chambers, I withdraw my complaint about one of the answers being dodgy. (Note to self, must get updated Chambers one day...)

[icynorth]

Most enjoyable, thanks Harribobs!

I loved the deception throughout. I must have had at least 12 alternative extra letters. It delayed the denouement to the very end, which is where it should be.

[emcee]

Another top Listener. Excellent clues, neat idea and a splendid final touch.

Many thanks, Harribobs.

[sunny-dave]

Well that was a very pleasant re-entry to Listener Land (I finally got an offer from Mr Murdoch that coaxed me inside the paywall, for a while at least).

Lovely puzzle, absolutely fair and some very nice clues - the final message was a lovely touch - thanks Harribobs.

[upsetter]

Astonishing composition, but we were able to skip the actual process leading up to the entry below.

[Scree]

Brilliant puzzle and some cleverly misleading clues.

Left it for a few days to get Azed done in time, then came back and mopped up the rest.