Listener 4672 Form..ation By Mr E

[HawkCrossword]

A very enjoyable extra word puzzle, made challenging by excellent clues throughout - thanks, Mr E!

The endgame is not difficult to spot, but I don't understand why we need to highlight the non-participants - it detracts from the overall effect, I'd say.

[Eagledave]

Thought it framed it nicely myself

[HawkCrossword]

Ah, I see what you did there! Yes, that's an improvement.

[emcee]

Very good clues -- Mr. E of old -- and a neat finish. I liked it!

Thanks, Mr. E.

[Philoctetes]

Straightforward, but none the worse for that. My biggest hurdle was identifying the sont. Thanks

[Hagen]

Long grid stare after a relatively quick grid fill, with a couple of obstinate clues which I've parsed to my satisfaction but don't like very much. All very clever but I'm not sure the pay-off was worth the time spent looking for it.

[NickorWan]

Quite a surprise that it was a quick grid fill and quick endgame for me, though Eagledave’s comment worries me so I may well have erred. (Not seeking hints.) A couple of clues I haven’t parsed yet, but I’m happy with the answers. Enjoyable, but I much prefer the tougher Mr E – a few too many of one particular type of clue in this.

[sunny-dave]

Agree with Hagen - not all the clues read very well after the extra word is removed, and thus the parsing is a bit laboured in a couple of cases.

That said, it's a nice puzzle which I enjoyed very much.

Thanks Mr E

[Scorpius]

I found this surprisingly easy considering it was by Mr E. The high number of anagrams made it the quickest grid fill of the year for me. The first Listener by him that I solved was an exceptionally tough one ( Listener 3721).
I expected to be faced with a tough endgame, but there was no grid staring, since there is a perfectly logical starting point.
Re the comment by sunny-dave, it's fairly normal for removal of extra letters and words to leave dubious surfaces, so it doesn't bother me. It's a bonus if removals leave sensible surfaces, but it also makes them easier to spot, which may be regarded as a weakness.

[olichant]

I agree with Scorpius all round. Enjoyable solve and logical endgame. Lovely use of the theme which made me smile.

I agree that loss of surface reading isn’t an issue, as for other clue gimmicks, not least because it can make the extra word stand out like a sore thumb in many cases. Lovely if a clue can read naturally before and after, but I don’t think it is a problem if it isn’t.

Hope everyone here is well.

[Dim16]

Have solved nearly all of the clues so was hoping that the song would be easily identifiable,but no such luck, not helped by uncertainty as to the extra words in several clues. Time to give it a rest tonight, have one last go at it tomorrow.

[tnap]

A straightforward grid fill, and I got the theme and song quickly too. But it's then taken 3 days of repeated grid-staring to complete the end-game - I was obviously being much more obtuse than the others on this thread, finding patterns when there weren't any and not seeing what I now presume is the right one. However, I'm still not convinced by the distinction between participants and non-participants.