Listener 4221 - In Season By Lavatch

[TheBear69]

What a masterful construction by Lavatch...This could be the puzzle of the year. I found the clues to be highly challenging; figuring out the quotation and author certainly helped with the final third of my clue solving.

The endgame is extremely satisfying...This one is well worth the struggle! Thanks Lavatch

[tilbee]

Agreed this one was well worth the effort. Saw where this was going fairly early on, but this did not distract from the excellence of the end-game nor significantly accelerate the grid fill. Thanks to Lavatch and Happy Christmas to all that gather here.

[IainGrace]

Some three quarters of the way through, with author, quote etc (thanks to G who recognised the source). Very entertaining and we already have suspicions about the endgame. Need to open the next bottle.

Christmas greetings to all.

[Arcticpenguin]

Whilst reading the rest of yesterday's Times I couldn't help but notice (on page 91) that 21 December 2013 is the 100th anniversary of the first crossword (created by Arthur Wynne of the Tricks and Jokes department of the New York World). Clue 30 was "The plural of "is" (3 letters)" !!! Things seem to have moved on a bit in the intervening 99 years. From diamonds to circles ?

[dr b]

Worked this in bits and pieces as the weekend's festivities allowed. Not a bad way to approach this one, as each 12th of the ring is solved independently anyway. Helped a lot to find the first quote fairly early and the 2nd quote at about the 3/4 mark. Quite amazing!

Merry Christmas to all.

[IainGrace]

Finished, subject to complying with endgame instructions. What a construction.

We found no "ambiguity" to resolve. Have we erred?

Also, could some kind soul please drop an email to [email protected] to explain the wordplay in the entry that goes in at 18, our solution for which we are otherwise satisfied is correct?

[emcee]

Late starting and late finishing but, there again, it's not a race.

I thought the clues were quite tough. 18 was the last one I solved: a PDM clue - pretty damned mean! The construction was good but I'm not as euphoric as others about the puzzle's overall annual placing - I think there have been better, more satisfying, solves this year.

Anyway, a nice Xmas puzzle so many thanks Lavatch.

[IainGrace]

Thanks for the replies re clue 18.

[Coalminers]

I've sent you an email as requested, IainGrace.

In my opinion there are two ways in which one could carry out the first of the instructions. One could carry it out completely or partly. I assume it doesn't matter either way but I wonder what others think. I have been careful not to give anything away, and I trust that anyone sharing their opinions on this would do the same!

[contendo]

Thanks, Staurologist, for pointing out the error in the clue for 5,6, which enabled me to solve my last two clues. Surprising that got through the refereeing process. I'm still struggling with the execution of the final stage.
Sacco mala? Yes, that had me puzzling too. Even if it was malo, what's the relevance?- and it doesn't seem to be an anagram.

[fortyseven]

I had to work through this one in short stages, as the house has been invaded by my children, back for Christmas. Tough clues but the quotation and author came fairly early on. And, with the aid of that, once one answer had been found in a block of four the other three became so much easier to find. This is sufficiently unusual that I guess it will be referred to for some time to come. What a clever idea! And fiddly at the end, of course, but by taking my time this morning I managed to end up with something satisfactory to send off.

[olichant]

Coalminers - my vote would be to carry out the first part of the instruction wholly, if only because it makes carrying out the subsequent parts of the instruction easier. (I'm conscious I could be talking at cross-purposes!).

What a delightful puzzle. But 5/6 are still refusing to yield. I'm sure I'll get there over a festive glass of something.

Happy Christmas to everyone.

[AndrewG-S]

This was a stunning puzzle. The clues were justifiably tough, but with this the surface reading was simply beautiful - anyone who didn't appreciate this should go back and re-read them. Enjoyed the endgame which was a masterful finale. A great way to spend an otherwise tedious long haul flight home. Thanks lavatch. Happy Christmas to all on answerbank!!

[jim360]

Alas, for a puzzle with such high praises I fear it's just a bit beyond me. We'll see. Slow and grinding progress at the moment and still only seven answers to show for it, plus possibly one or two more I'm not certain of. Mind, for all that I still can see why people are loving this one, as even the few I've solved are very clever clues. Back to the grind...

[EdgeofDarkness]

Merry Christmas to the few who've solved this. The continuation of the first quote isn't strictly true - you hear a lot of stuff rebounded (mainly ones own noises and collisions of particles) and when very cold the crystals don't baffle so much. Can't be bothered with the fashionable mutilation of grid - it'll go into the recycle bin as usual. But thanks Lavatch for making sobering up so enjoyable. Incidentally one setter this year thought he'd be cute and refer back to a grid 3 weeks earlier. Not cute enough - I'd forgotten to put my paper bin out the previous fortnight and was able to retrieve previous grid !

[Alan7777]

Belated Christmas greetings to all. What an enjoyable puzzle - tough, unambiguous and with a wonderful finish. I completed the grid on Christmas Eve and have just followed the final instructions.

Stick with it Jim. I'm sure you can do it and it's worth it.

[jim360]

Managed to get up to about 20 clues solved so yes, have made some progress. I hope it's worth it too Alan!

[Cruncher]

A lovely construction. Merry Xmas all

[perseverer]

Edge of Darkness - the rest of us just looked over the page in the Times to the solution from three weeks before.....(or checked the crossword club on-line.)

[s_pugh]

Like IainGrace and Emcee I thought 18 was a bit convoluted, but a brilliant puzzle construction and wonderful endgame. I wasn't familiar with either of the quotations but discovery of the first one (after I'd solved about 2/3 of the clues and was struggling to finish) swiftly gave me the assistance to work out the remaining answers. Thanks to Lavatch for a great seasonal puzzle.

[fallster]

I too am having problems with the wordplay for 18, but am pretty sure about the answer that goes there, and have done everything else. Fun endgame!