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That was great! The most difficult this year by a country mile but absolutely fair.
I made it much harder by skinning the apeman and taking the a and n with “l” and 2 unclued letters to make “alone”. Clearly wrong but I could not see it for ages and it screwed up that corner for days.
Slight quibble but if you read the unclued letters between the parentheses in row order (as in the source material) I get
a
cs
e
I am sure it should read (case).
Well done though Nebuchadnezzar - a great challenge.

0pt0
22 is thematic. First word is an abbreviation for black and a six letter word for bat - replaced in the grid by a symbol.
23 The first three words are the definition. Tarry as in delay and dope as in information.
27 First two words the definition. A for about the usual abbreviations for good and George Rex. One unclued letter.
35 First two words definition. Abbreviation for Faroes, then an unclued letter then a country word for a crow without a D.

Many thanks Smithsax.

Just on the cusp of giving this up. Have progressed by very slow degrees. I’m really struggling with top right corner - in particular clue 6 (both). Could someone tell me if the answers begin with A ? I have ‘Alone’ for one of the answers but fear it is incorrect. Also can’t get 19. This is the hardest Listener I’ve attempted yet. Thanks.

Hi goshawk. The 6 clues both begin with P. For the 5 letter one, sole is indeed the definition but not the kind of sole you’re thinking of. Naked in the clue indicates outer letters removed.

For 19 the definition is ‘main part of an oil’. A word meaning well or well done. The NOL for no hint of leak. I didn’t know the word for well so searched 7 letter words ending NOL.

Great. Thanks Merenz. That helps a lot.

I've spent three days pondering the penultimate sentence, and its predecessor. Could someone please confirm (or not) if I am on the right tracks.

(1) The entire grid, including symbols, should be in "l.... c...".
(2) The connection required to "depict an image described in the work" should be one which shows the action described, rather than the object itself.
(3) Only the nine letters are to be connected, rather than nine letters plus the symbols, and in "clue order".

I agree this was a tough one, and I found it a really good challenge (I'm ex-Azed, btw).

Thanks!

Cass. I agree with (1). I’ve pondered the final sentence too and am not entirely sure which way to go...

My first attempt is a bigger version of the object itself, goes through the letters and the symbols, with the point of the object in the top left cell and the line of symmetry going all the way from 1 to 48. But this makes the extra letter C seem somewhat redundant. I can see another way of drawing it would be to have the pointy bit at tother end, have the base of the object at the extra C, and then a stem between the C and the top left cell. The former looks like a more pleasing shape to me, more akin to the actual object. But the latter seems to use the extra letters better and is more suggestive of the object falling. Hmmm...

I'm pretty sure that it's the whole grid in L/C.

Thanks Unclued for confirmation.