Listener 4269 Journey To The Centre By Ilver

[Monkmonk]

I’m surprised that no one has yet commented on this first-class puzzle. Not the usual numerical but a thoroughly entertaining exercise in logic as well as plenty of clues to solve. Thank you, Ilver.

[emcee]

Trux: A pure guess based on the initials of the setter:

Ag - S(ilver)

[contendo]

If you tried to explain to a non-aficionado the whole process of what you had to do to complete this crossword they would think you were absolutely bonkers.
Brilliant deduction, emcee, it's got to be right.

[Scorpius]

Finally sorted out the shading, which exposed an error in my entry of some letters in the NW, though there's an another area of shading that doesn't look right to me so I need to check that part of the grid as well.
I don't know how anyone manages to produce a grid like this. It must have taken many hours of painstaking work (50+?), then there's the clues, which needed careful construction, so couldn't be dashed off in an hour.

I've yet to see what goes in the central cell. I have one idea, but I'm not totally convinced by it, so that means it's probably wrong. Is anyone prepared to say whether any specialised thematic knowledge is required.

[jim360]

Not really -- the letter is indicative of the relevant anniversary and "just happens" to complete a thematic description.

[EAChaplin]

It didn't 'just happen'. That central row is a thematic part of Ilver's devilish plot:-)

[jim360]

Obviously it didn't "just happen". Hence the " ".

[tramart]

Yet another instance where using an Openoffice Calc spreadsheet was, for me, essential. Found it useful to use two colours to show the shaded and unshaded cells.
My thanks too to Ilver.

[Whenland]

Still struggling here. Enough clues solved to work out the "instruction" but our first two ideas on how to implement it don't work, so more head-scratching is obviously required.

[the_heisman]

Andrew Gillespie-Smith

Now that you are in self-revelation mode, were you at a benefit do for Graham Swann at the Hurlingham Club a couple of months ago? Either you or a person bearing your name were/was bidding in the auction. thanks for the great crossword although i am still at the lower foothills through lack of time - but very good so far.

[pushmi-pullyu]

Filled the grid, finally achieved the shading which threw up a couple of mistakes along the way, but still at a loss for the central cell. Another night's sleep is needed.

[AndrewG-S]

Yes I was. I ended up with rather a bagful of goodies, including golf with prior and root. Were you a "winner" too?

[Staurologist]

Who would have thought it. After such a tedious solve, what a stunning denouement! Tardy, as so often, I have only just got around to cracking this one, and near the end I had to invoke the help of my companion, who is not a crossword solver, but with whom a brief conversation, as so often, led to the pdm. Funny how the brain works. [Scorpius's doubts would have been allayed had the preamble read "its orthogonally adjacent cells".] Perhaps Ilver will give us a Jules Verne "Journey to the Centre" next year?

[the_heisman]

Andrew
Given the phenomenal and hilarious high pressure auction technique I am pleased to say my wallet escaped with only a nasty fright. Small world!

[Scorpius]

Comments above by Jim360and EAChaplin more or less confirm my idea for the central cell; that's what I've submitted anyway, though I feel I've missed something in the grid. To repeat what I said above, the grid's a stunning achievement.

Incidentally, the Chambers entry for a thematic item appears to be slightly inaccurate (at least it doesn't tally with what's given elsewhere).

[IainGrace]

Virtually complete grid but a couple of puzzling incorrect cells. Also I's grid differs slightly from that of G's grid, done separately. Way to go yet. No idea of theme, but at least we don't do numericals so we have some breathing space, as it were.

[Whenland]

Finally finished this morning. All fell into place once we had sorted out how to do the shading. Well worth the effort and, as others have said, a truly magnificent construction. If someone could post a link about where to find the setters' blogs, we would be grateful.

[AndrewG-S]

http://listenwithothers.com/category/setting-blogs/
The setters' blogs appear on this site. Andrew

[the_heisman]

Incredible construction and I found the grid fill very satisfying too. My final letter seems obvious but I can't seem to make it mean anything regarding either the anniversary or the transport. Thank you very much ilver for one of the very best.

[Philoctetes]

Spelndid - ages since, even with my nibbling approach, a Listener took me into the second week. In the end it was letter blindness that did for me. I had a perfectly shaded grid, except that every instance of a particular letter had the wrong numerical value. It has taken me two days of staring to calculate the correct value. Doesn't really bode well for this week's! :(

[teuchter2]

This is the first time I have looked at this thread. I thought I would resurrect the puzzle, having finished this week's quite quickly, but I still have five clues to solve. I didn't find them at all easy. I had got the message and worked out how the shading works. In view of how brilliant it seems to be, I'll have another look.