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 also be included.
HINTS only, please, no answers.

THE THEME
Requests may be made here for help - hints and nudges - towards the theme. It's hard to define 'gentle nudges', but Forum members seem quite capable! The theme itself should not be revealed under any circumstances.

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

Some tricky misprints made this a reasonable enough workout, and I think the ending is unambiguous, though doubtless there’ll be moans about grid staring. I do wonder whether there’s an definitional error in 22a, though.

Enjoyable work-out and nice idea for the endgame although I think I’ve only got 38 cells highlighted so may need to reconsider one of my options!

Now got 39 cells but feels like one could get tripped up

I think the endgame is unambiguous but agree that the wrong kind of bird is defined in 22. The grid-stare was just right for me - I enjoyed it.

Still one thematic entity to find - it seems more obscure than the others wordplaywise.

Interesting to me that the preamble could have requested highlighting of one other line, but didn’t. I’m sure it wasn’t there by accident.

Are four of the lines parallel?

Far too early to answer that on here when most people haven’t even seen the puzzle, Bananabean.

Agreed there is a definite species error in 22Ac.
There's a nice double possibility trap (which I initially fell into) at 8D as well. By the way, if you'd like a genuine frisson, "The Mezzotint" is still on BBC i-player.