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Holy smoke that was tough! I’ve been chipping away at it all weekend, and was staring at a blank grid for the longest time. It all fell in to place beautifully in the final stages. What a satisfying solve. And an incredible construction… thank you Shark. What with completing Manhunt and a 10K race today, I think I may need to sleep for a week!

Anyone able to help with my post #19 with a hint for 9a? Many thanks

Simond9x, I have answered this on the other thread.

This was a superb puzzle - just the right difficulty for me.
HOWEVER, can anyone seriously admit to having solved this without the use of the internet? It seems to me that people without internet access these days would be at a serious disadvantage and probably most weeks would not have a hope of finishing the endgames. How different to 50 years ago when only reference books were available. How did solvers manage in those days? Perhaps we have it too easy now.

Agreed, Unclued. I (and others) have been saying the same for quite a while. In this case, putting the extra words into a search led me to an article which contained all the necessary information, so that I not only had the code at my fingertips but also a good idea of what the decoding would lead to.

I started doing the Listener about 10 years before I got the internet. I didn't always finish back then, but that was because a grid fill like this one would have totally defeated me. I don't remember ever having to give up due to lack of information; ODQ, Brewer and a single-volume encyclopaedia sufficed.

I think the depth of information required to complete endgames is far greater now than it was in ye olde days, as a consequence of the information being available on the Web. I'll be interested in others' views.

Yes I agree about more puzzles requiring internet access to solve.

However, I think that it has been beneficial in that setters have had so much more scope in devising the theme for their puzzles. A great improvement from the days when you were limited to searching for a quote in ODQ.

I found it fascinating to read about the background of this masterpiece's theme, yet it would have been impossible (for me, at least) to solve without access to the information in the wikipedia article.

I agree that the internet is now essential to solve most puzzles. I imagine the median age of a Listener solver is over 60, so I understand why this may be disquieting.

The Notes for Setters state that “Preference is given to ideas that can be confirmed using commonly available reference books” and “The vetters wish to reaffirm that the availability of thematic information at a website is not a sufficient justification of accessibility”. However, I believe those guidelines are more honoured in the breach than in the observance now.

I actually am all for it. I sympathise, of course, with solvers without access to the internet, but crosswords need to evolve, and the richness of themes the internet provides at solvers’ fingertips is sufficient compensation in my book, as Blakwhole says.

Perhaps I should add that in 2020 “only” 54% of over 75s used the internet in the UK, so given my assumption about the Listener demographic I see why this rears its head from time to time.

Just adding my thanks to Shark for a wonderful puzzle. My favourite Listeners are those where the solving leads me to learn something new, and the thematic material here was top notch - a perfect combination of "quite obscure" and "utterly fascinating"!

Great puzzle. My tip is: guess the theme! I managed this after solving 15 and not much else. OK, having been a schoolboy in the 1960s did help me, I admit.