Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

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 special instructions or additional information should be given.
HINTS only, please, no answers.

THE THEME
Requests may be made here for gentle nudges towards the theme. It is, of course, hard to define exactly what constitutes a 'gentle nudge' - aim to help without being overly revealing.

Early finishers should avoid any allusions - jocular or otherwise - to the theme.

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

Not Ifor’s hardest gridfill, but I needed to sort out the triplets to work out the song, which I imagine is what was intended. So no grid staring required, for which much thanks, Ifor

Some of these triplets are a lot harder than others (or maybe I'm just being more dense than usual). Mind you, I have only 14 of the required words.

Everything but the 'singular' requirement is very neat, I think - but why that?

A quick look back and I now see why that was necessary - but is there a missing hyphen in 38? I'm sure Ifor will be right, he doesn't make mistakes.

I've can see a likely abbreviation but that raises another issue for the wordplay - 'beginning' is awkward... and there's an unwanted hyphen now.

Drxx, I think the abbreviation you mention in #6 is certainly what’s meant. I think “beginning” is ok in terms of how the designation works, but I agree it introduces a redundant hyphen. Slightly weak, for me

Thanks quisling, I'm sure you're right - it just seems a little tortuous compared to everything else.

Agreed, drxx. It’s too precise not to be correct, though, imho. Do you anticipate any queries about the number of letters to be highlighted and the exact following of the preamble?

Not really - but there are other versions with slight differences, so anything's possible (one thematic adjustment isn't as well described by the song as it might be - maybe there's a better version for that?).
I think the 'singular' requirement actually confirms the final part of the endgame - that's the only bit I wasn't sure about.