Listener 4587 Of Course By Malva

[Hagen]

This had a very satisfying PDM which facilitated solving considerably after a slow start. Certainly no pushover but not too hard either, for which I was grateful after an exhausting Christmas. Thanks to Malva.

[sunny-dave]

All done & dusted - once the alterations became apparent, it wasn't that hard to fill the grid & get the creature.

The highlighting was another (very irritating) matter, even when I knew what I was looking for, it took overly long to find the two needles in the haystack.

Thanks Malva - a decent challenge for an enforced indoors day and a good diversion from my moping about (tonsillitis is no fun at all).

[tnap]

I didn't find this very satisfying, I'm afraid. There seemed to be too much ambiguity in the thematic treatments for me readily to resolve the clues into groups of 10 (and, even knowing the theme, I still haven't been able to do so definitively). I probably wouldn't have got the theme at all if it weren't for a fortuitous grid-stare moment. Then having identified (what I presume are) the 2 examples based solely on their relationship(?) with the creature, it took me a while to realise how they were linked to the thematic treatments. It all seems a bit tenuous to me.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

[perseverer]

Thanks Malva, but I think I am rather with tnap on this one. Certainly with Malva you should have a good idea of what the theme is going to involve. On the plus side, I have learned how a certain place got its name.

[NickorWan]

I enjoyed the grid fill and really like how some of the clues are amended. It took me far too long to click what the theme was, although a fan, so I didn't enjoy the last bit I'm afraid, though 'of course' that could me at fault. I would have preferred the actual two at the end, which I think too would have been fairer, particularly to those who aren't fans of the theme.

[pushmi-pullyu]

I've filled the grid, though three of the answers elude my understanding, and I think I've found the creature and its two unwelcome encounters, but I can't for the life of me see a theme. Commiserations to you, Sunny-Dave - in my case it's a broken ankle that's keeping me indoors.

[Philoctetes]

Very doable, and a satisfactory challenge. But the "creature" aspect is a tad forced, and jumping from there to the highlighting with no obvious clue in the puzzle itself does not, to my mind, constitute a "theme". Too many elements of "Guess what I'm thinking".

[emcee]

A bit weak. tnap has expressed my thoughts perfectly.

HNY to all who post here.

[Cruncher]

Confess I found this a bit frustrating, partly because I thought some of the clue alterations were guesswork and especially because once the theme had been figured out it didn't really matter what the alterations were anyway. I think I've finished up with two sets of ten but as it doesn't make any difference to the outcome it felt a rather academic exercise. And I found the final step very tenuous.

[sunny-dave]

Can I commend this weeks IQ 1627 by Harribobs to anyone with a few hours to spare - far better than many (most?) recent Listeners and a genuine pleasure to work through.

Happy New Year everyone

SDx

[IainGrace]

Got the idea but not really engaged by it so moved on to other puzzles. Bliadhna Mhath Ur. (Yes, that does give us an advantage with references to Scots words in clues.)