Crossword Help Forum
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THE CLUES
Requests for help should normally include the clue itself, the number of letters in the answer, and details of any you already have. Any additional information or special instructions should be included.
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THE THEME
Requests may be made here for GENTLE NUDGES only towards the theme. GENTLE is tough to define, of course - but it should be enough to help, not enough to give away too much. Please do not reveal the theme under any circumstances.

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The Listener is a unique puzzle and should be treated with respect.

Just a gentle reminder to ALL our Forum users, please be very careful when posting that you don’t give away too much in the way of hints or the theme.

This last week there were 3 posts that other users thought gave away too much, two posts by Buddy #61 and #101 and another post by Jeg #103. None of these posts were amended because it was Thursday by the time I was made aware of them, however it would have been a different matter altogether had they occurred at the weekend.

Please don’t get carried away by your enthusiasm to help others, read what you are posting and ask yourself “is this too much information”. Thank you in anticipation of a peaceful weekend..

In interpreting the rules, am I correct to understand the line "In each row, one answer must be entered with an extra letter (provided by a crossing entry) anywhere along its length" to mean that the extra letter must be present in one of the Across-clued answers, as opposed to, say, in an unchecked cell that's part of a Down clue?

If this is considered a question whose answer would be considered too revealing, please feel free to ignore it. I only intend to ask about the literal definitions of the terminology of the rules as written, not anything beyond that.

Chris, I think I understand it to mean that each (across) row has to have an extra letter added found in a down solution. If you look at the first two across solution lengths, they are 4 & 7; so an extra letter needs to be added just to fill the top row. The same applies to the last two across solution lengths.

... although, now I think about it, the row could of course be filled by a letter of a down solution which is barred from both of the across solutions. When Ive got rather more than the 25% of solutions that I've managed so far, I might see more clearly!

Think it just means that you insert an extra letter into one of the across answers in each row, which comes from a down answer

It's been a little while since we've had an unbarred grid, so this is just a reminder that this little tool I threw together a while back might be handy for people figuring out how the grid might work:

https://codepen.io/dcwarwick/full/wvdebxB

Since the symmetry is 180 degree, the vertical bars (separating across entries) and horizontal bars (separating down entries) are effectively independent of each other. The placement of the across clues will have to be worked out as the answers are solved, especially with the extra-letter business, but I think the lengths of the down clues force the arrangement of the down answers in the grid -- so this might be helpful for solvers who aren't so good at cold-solving. Like me! :-)

mooncow - Wow that was incredibly useful; thanks!

Hardest Listener in quite some time, I think. Bravo, Sabre

mooncow - not got past Go on the puzzle itself but that tool is amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Mooncow, that's brilliant!

This is a hard one anyway - instead on my usual dozen or so solutions on first run-through, I've only got three, with few obvious answers. Time will tell.