Listener 4273 - Conflict By Pointer

[TheBear69]

Thanks, Pointer, for an absolutely superb Listener. Maybe POTY...

[Lubumbashi]

How can I download Listener 4273? Got withdrawal symptoms because there's no Speccy puzzle for another fortnight:(

[slaney]

Lubumbashi, online it's on the Times Crossword Club site which is subscription only.
My hard copy should arrive shortly. If you email me at [email protected] I will try to send you a copy - that is a zero after slaney.

[midazolam]

An incredible construction. There were also other aspects to this puzzle that made it even better. Only shame is that there is no festive annual Listener treat that seems to be tradition. Today's IQ will make up for that,a fun delight from Nudd. Back to the Listener, yes a worthy contender for POTY. Great work Pointer.

[Mesnilpat]

Festive greetings from the slow lane! I can't believe I'm the only one who has ground to a halt after a promising start, with an increasingly confusing set of initial letters that aren't currently shaping up to spell much that makes sense? Hey ho, I'm obviously missing something somewhere.

[contendo]

Yes, I'm with you Mesnilplat. If my initial letters in clue order spell an instruction it's in a strange language.

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, indeed, what an amazing construction. Many thanks, Pointer. Of course, Mesnilpat, you are not the only one who came up against that hurdle! I, too, thoroughly recommend Nudd's delightful IQ in the Independent if you are suffering from Spectator withdrawal symptoms.

[Mesnilpat]

Thanks for the encouragement Ruthrobin, I shall plod on and hope for enlightenment

[olichant]

Just ingenious. And, aside from anything else, a masterclass in clue writing.

[tilbee]

Just back from my weekly shop to find that the Times here does not have its supplements, and thus no Listener. If anyone would be kind enough to send me a copy at [email protected] it would be very gratefully received.

[tilbee]

That was quick - many thanks RuthRobin.

[BobHWW]

I thought this was a very clever puzzle. It reminded me a little of a Listener classic from 20 years ago or so. I won't say which one for fear of giving the game away.
Some lovely clues - I particularly liked 25, 14 and 35. Still got two wordplays to sort out before I can say I'm finished.
Thanks Pointer.

[aldanna]

I haven't ground to a halt yet but it's going pretty slowly. Slightly encouraged by the fact that Contendo and Mesnilpat think the instruction looks to be incomprehensible.

[jockie]

I'm having the same troubles as others. Clearly I'm failing to tease out the subtlety in the Preamble - but it looks so straightforward. Still, even gazing at a load of apparently unrelated letters beats watching the hoofers on BBC1.

[dr b]

This was just amazing, right up to the last pdm.

[AndrewG-S]

Fabulous puzzle with brilliant clues. I still have two to sort out but should get there soon. Thanks pointer

[emcee]

Great puzzle. I have two clues which are proving troublesome but have the message and the likely word to be entered below the grid.

Hmm... some double checking to do. Need a clearer head, so tomorrow!

[IainGrace]

Intriguing puzzle and encouraged by posts. Most of grid completed but spectacularly failing to understand wordplay or run of initial letters of extra words.

[Lubumbashi]

Thanks to all who helped and commented on my plight.

[Cruncher]

Slightly perplexed by this. Amazing construction and great cluing for sure, and have arrived at a final grid and a word to go under the grid, but can't see how the preamble works

[Scorpius]

A brilliant grid that must have taken a lot of thought and time to construct, one to rival Kea’s masterly constructions. I twigged how to make sense of the hidden message yesterday, fairly shortly after looking at a meaningless string of letters, but I’ve spent ages since then solving a few remaining clues and working out the wordplay to some answers that I already had. The wordplay to 9dn still eludes me, and for a long time I had a wrong answer.

I don’t altogether agree with Olichant and others that this was a masterclass in cluemanship (I’d reserve that accolade for the likes of Sabre, Lavatch, Shackleton, whose clues this year have been outstanding). The use of extra words alone makes it easier for the setter to deceive. While many clues were excellent (and included some gems), the difficulty of some clues depended on sheer obscurity rather than deception; the wordplay to one clue was entirely based on a vaguely indicated, uncommon abbreviation, another seemed more appropriate to the Guardian crossword and didn’t strike me as standing up to scrutiny, while a third was really anagram-based without any indication as such. And some of the surfaces were not all that great. I’m not trying to denigrate Pointer’s achievements, merely saying why I'm less impressed by the clueing than some others. Putting these little clue niggle aside, it was an outstanding, original and, for me, challenging puzzle. Taken as a whole, it is a very impressive piece of work.