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This is far from my POTY. I am still struggling with some misprints, and quite a few of those I have are definitely stretching the limits of fairness - as are some parts of normal wordplay. I have the alternative offered by the group, so I know what to do with the three normal clues, but not how to do it, nor do I have the 11 letter name nor the 14 cells fitting the phrase. Another bout of grid staring awaits.

I'm with gitto here. For me it's a terribly frustrating puzzle and I may well bin it shortly. Hardly any of the verbose clues have any semblance of a surface reading. I'm probably simply not on Seps' wavelength.

Good to know that I am not alone bobby. I am extremely worried about my solution. I have changed 6 letters in the 11 to give the 14 letters required but that gives me all real words with one abbreviation, I have no word related to fiction. Additionally, my 3 normal clues amount to two more letters than those needed to give the group - but even then I can't do that leaving real words in the grid - but the rubric doesn't actually state that the final grid only has real words.

Gitto - your abbreviation IS the word related to fiction.

If you treat all of the 3 normal clues following the hint given by the the phrase from the altered letters, then the phrase group emerges directly,

jbird54, That is what I have one, but as the phrase group spans different answers I am surprised that you are not asked to highlight it.

Gitto - yes, I agree that a highlight requirement would make sense

Love this puzzle and everything has worked out in a satisfying way; I also worried about a GWIT ending but that wasn't the case at all.

I'm having trouble with the final letter of 29 down. I know what the answer is but the word plays seems to me to indicate a spelling that I cannot find anywhere?

The final letter of 29d is a single letter meaning "yes"

I don't think this puzzle is for me: too much 'general knowledge' about an activity I have no interest in. Having wondered why the Empress Augusta popped up twice I now see what it was meant to signify, but still it took me a good 20 minutes to work out 1 across. Wasted an inordinate amount of time chasing a Hulk. And there are several places where i have two out of three or four letters and cannot complete. I suspect that the resulting chase will also involve lots of material which is well-known to the pub quiz community but not to me.


I seems a bit early to give up, but if each extra letter is going to be such a struggle, it might be sensible.

Foinaven, your comments - and your, if I may say so, rather snobbish reference to the “pub quiz community” don’t reflect much respect for either the setter or the editors. Virtually no general knowledge about the theme is required to complete the grid, although those who have that knowledge will better appreciate the skilled clueing. The endgame needs a little research but no more than many other puzzles and there are at least two further delicious PDMs to come once you get past the first theme. It’s a brilliant puzzle and worth persevering with.