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I’d also like to express my appreciation for all the hints on the forum. Recently, I’ve been finishing The Listener Crossword on Friday evenings, but this one took until well into Monday. I don’t mind cold solving if the answers come quickly, but with some answers involving as many as seven letters not indicated by the wordplay and others with extra letters that had to be ignored, misleading checking, and other complexities, this was sadistic.😩

Let’s hope for an easier one next week! 😀

Indian-summer greetings to fellow-flagellants! I looked in here because I found this very time-consuming and wondered if I was alone in that. So both relieved and appalled to see 270 posts. I've skimmed through the later ones, recognising so many of my own problems along the way. It got very much easier for me when I realised that a rich source of sets of things, including groups of people. is pop music - this has happened before. My younger daughter, 50 this year, was sufficiently into this set to help me. It's not my sort of thing, but I was upset to see the very sharp antipathy in some of the posts. These young people had the guts to take on what they saw as an Augean task: would that there was more of that spirit about in UK today. Hooray for them, say I.

You’re absolutely right Durban and well said. I retract my embarrassment from my earlier post. They were certainly a positive force to be reckoned with, that’s for sure. Given I’m also your daughter’s generation, it was pleasing to have a theme which didn’t require extensive googling on my part. (Wagner on the other hand… 😬). Now that I’ve forgiven Enigmatist, I can applaud him/her/them for their inclusivity.

No problem with their success but like or loathe their music, and I count myself in the latter, they certainly made an impression on most of us! Can't say I like Wagner's music much either.....

I am impressed. Fiendish but fair clueing, lots of PDMs needed to get to the end, unambiguous if tricky end game.
I can’t remember the last time I was still working on a Listener on Tuesday.
Best of this year so far in my opinion.

I'm struggling to see what's fiendish and fair about, 'Current year critical', smithsax - or 'Cloudy north of Geelong's location', for that matter... in a carte-blanche puzzle... with clashes, split entries and a preamble that's only helpful after the puzzle has been solved. I think 'fiendish' might be accurate but probably not in the way you're using the word.

A 9 letter word meaning “of Geelongs location”. I pencilled that in early and it pointed me towards the theme.
Agree about current year critical but not impossible towards the end.

Have got a fairly full grid after many hours and help from this site. However I can't get the clue starting "The Listener" although no one else seems to have a problem. I should be grateful if some kind soul would give me the answer!

James, the answer is a word (plural) used to describe the first work shift of the day. Wordplay is the part of your body you listen with + 4-letter word for "is" as in "is situated" or "remains".

I am duly admonished durban. My disappointment was that, after hours and hours of struggling, the theme was not one that either engaged or educated me. I think it's great to have themes that appeal to a younger(ish) audience to encourage newbies but the complexity of this puzzle would surely be impenetrable to that audience.