Listener Crossword 4093 Times Group by Colleague

[starwalker]

Another Friday, another Listener and another new setter (or is it).
After a very straightforward grid fill, I shall now retire for a glass of something to consider the preamble.
These easy fills are starting to worry me - what is coming round the corner ?

[BlackHugh]

Yes - I've filled in the grid as well (record time for me). Some of the wordplays outstanding and I've no ideas about the pre-amble yet. What sort of groups one wonders. I wonder if my rapid progress is due to the fact that due to driving duties i cannot currently also have a glass of something as usual :-)

[AHearer]

Yes, starwalker, I'm in the same position -- a lot filled in on the train without a dictionary to check the words I might have just been making up, the rest soon rounded off -- and hoping for inspiration from the glass. I share your premonition: there's bound to be something nasty round the corner.

[Zabadak]

Two groups are easy....

[midazolam]

you say that zabadak. one group is easy but i seem to be fixated on two anagrams who are close relatives but do not form part of a group. although football has been a distraction i have been looking at a full grid since starwalker's posting and can only see a hidden name completing one barred-off cell.

easy fill, tricky finish. Starwalker, it seems that Colleague has had one previous listener in 2002, before my time. penalties await...

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, indeed, an easy fill but, oh dear, I shall have to sleep on it and hope the groups leap out at me with a fresh look tomorrow.

[dr b]

Me seven. Will try to get back to this tonight to figure out the groups, as my daughter will be home this weekend and 4th of July stuff will demand attention.

[Zabadak]

I have a solution: the right number of objects, a key word in an appropriate shape, and a name which fits the pattern. In my opinion it's really obscure, though it is in my antique edition of Brewer. The other two groups are much better known, at least to me, but their "titles" do lead directly to the third through their pattern. Midazolam, the name you're seeing completing one of the squares looks like a red herring: something else has to go in the square just to complete the set.

[AndrewG-S]

Finished the grid fill, alarmingly easy - it looks from the above like the challenge is yet to come...

[AHearer]

Actually, Zabadak, you don't need Brewer. It's all at the appropriate place in Chambers. Quite a pleasing finish.

[Zabadak]

So it is: I hadn't looked for it that way round, if you see what I mean!

[turnerjmw]

As has been said, a very straightforward fill, but the remainder is a most interesting puzzle to unravel. It would be a great shame, I think, if any more was given away on here than already has been.

[Zabadak]

Hi tjmw: I entirely agree, not least because it took me (working with a blind spot, as has been pointed out) some considerable and strenuous internet research to get my answer, and even then it was difficult to be sure it was the right one. But it was enjoyable and satisfying, and more of a challenge than several recent offerings. Cheers

[aldana]

Yes, even I raced through the grid but, dr b,, there are no p's d-ing so far about the rest of it.

[midazolam]

Phew, more luck than judgement with this one. Laptop out in the garden, kids in bed, and I managed to stumble upon the second group. Not known to me before, which means my anagrams were also red herrings. All slotted together very quickly from then on. Nicely put together Colleague. Thanks

[segue]

Haven't looked at this yet, but an interesting post-it on my statistics this morning from JEG, after I said his hard work was much appreciated by all on this site: "Whatever Answerbank may think of me, I deplore its very existence - it's just a cheat's charter". Not an opinion I share obviously, but each to his own. Hope you're all enjoying the sun as well as 4093

[cluelessJoe]

Hardly surprising segue!
Tricky close to this one, though I'm almost there - I have the groups, the writer etc but still just need to find the theme word to highlight, though I have a good idea of what kind of thing I'm looking for. Time to cut the grass, and return with a fresh pair of eyes.
Thanks Colleague

[catstail]

Haven't started this yet - my allotment is keeping me very busy. Have also discovered possible subsidence in my conservatory. Will go and have a go at the crossword now, and will stop searching for such esoteric terms as foundation depth and underpinning on the web. Hopefully the crossword will be more productive!

[cluelessJoe]

.. yes those moles can do a lot of damage catstail. I built some big and deep raised beds this year, and every last ounce of the soil I used to fill them came from molehills. I'm expecting the rest of the garden to subside when the tunneling collapses.
Meanwhile, back at the puzzle, and after cutting the grass, it took less than two minutes to do that very last bit. Can't imagine how I missed it earlier.

[daagg]

Bingo!! I had the two groups very quickly yesterday evening, but could make no further progress until a huge PDM just now. With hindsight, my floundering research came tantalisingly close to finding the third group. The theme is rather similar to one in a different series last year.

[starwalker]

On my third hard stare at the grid I finally frightened it into revealing the second and third groups and the thematic word - all of which took much longer in total than filling the grid. The third group was completely new to me.
Is it me, or is this style of easy fill followed by hard slog becoming more prevalent this year?