Crossword Help Forum
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Not you, loge - I know your 'face' (and it's always welcome).
Zabadak posted earlier on, and made a point about the riddles being unconnected - I hope he keeps popping in.

Yes, I hope so too, and we miss him on AB too.

Loge, Drxx, nice to see you’ve made up !
More to the point, we have ambitions of compiling. Listener crossword ourselves. Made the mistake of emailing Waterloo’s website unfortunately for some advice, forgetting his sad demise last year. As you are both experienced solvers (and maybe even setters), we seek your advice as to how best to proceed. The Listener website does give quite a lot of details but we have more questions than the site provides answers. Don’t want to submit a puzzle only to find it’s too difficult or assumes specialist knowledge etc. Any advice, pointers etc welcome. Thanks in anticipation.

simplesimon - I think for solving ability I'd advise, become very old.

I have set a few puzzles and got somewhere close to getting a Listener idea through (this was ages ago!). That experience pretty much put me off setting puzzles... unless I'm really interested in something and I'm prepared to waste a lot of my own time on it. Anyway, my advice (from very limited experience) is -

Don't get involved in on-line spats with crossword people - especially setters, because they are a very close-knit group and really stick together.
Don't EVER criticise mathematical puzzles (just about everyone at the top in crosswords has a maths background... I know... but it's true).

Seriously though - I hope you get your ideas through - I think the crossword grid is a marvellous little area of creativity but, sadly, very undervalued (and I look forward to tackling one of yours quite soon).

Simple Simon, I don't know what experience of setting you already have, but if you're aiming that high I assume you must have a reasonable amount, at least. The Guidance for Setters https://listenercrossword.com/HTML/Reference06.html gives a lot of useful information (if you haven't already seen it). It's been yonks since I set a Listener puzzle but the basics haven't changed. The grid and clues must be Ximenean, and it's stipulated that information about the theme mustn't be only available on the Internet (though some puzzles have rather stretched that!).

Most important is to have at least one test solver (preferably more) who is a competent solver of barred puzzles and has a decent working knowledge of the principles of good cryptic grammar. The test solver(s) should also be people who will give you an honest assessment rather than tell you what you want to hear!

Good luck.

I have managed to finish this excellent puzzle, but I was expecting the words along the escape route to make some sort of overall sense. As far as I can tell, they do not do so. Have I missed something?

zabadak @13 noticed the same, 0pt0 and I haven't spotted any linkage (but it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for the puzzle).

Simplesimon

Hi. I am a current setter. I would say:

Take your time over the clues, and try not to fall into he trap (as I do) of prioritising smooth / clever readings over rigorous clue grammar

Give it a go - the editors in my experience are very friendly and helpful

Dont expect to hear anything for a while - typically around a year between initial acknowledgement of submission and any further news.

Hope this helps

Has anybody yet explained the significance of the last 5 words of the riddle for the NE quadrant? I completed the puzzle with that as my only query and came on to this forum hoping for enlightenment. I haven't read the work in question.

Do you mean NE, turast (which is straightforward, I think and only has 6 words) or NW?