Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Yes, Quixote. I tweaked that final sentence a bit before posting and see now that I made an inelegant hash of it!

My guess is that the clue for 26D - by a considerable margin the hardest to crack - was written by the editors to replace a clue from the setter that they didn't feel cut the mustard. It's not an unusual occurrence, after all.

I too may have missed a trap as I said at #17.
I dont like the phrase under the grid starting with a three letter word. If it were a specific example of the item then that would be OK but my reading is that we are looking for something more generic.
For example if the theme was about elephants as a species you would expect the phrase under the grid to be “an elephant” or just “elephant”. If the theme was about Dumbo then the phrase starting as mine does might be correct.
I cant see an alternative. Fortunately I no longer submit.

There’s no trap. Anyone who has read the preamble properly will identify the thematic object. Quixote is, I presume, referring to the single word (abbreviated elsewhere), which might conceivably be entered carelessly, and incorrectly, at the bottom

Nice puzzle and a relatively easy one for a change! Can someone help me with the parsing of 31d? I think I have the answer but not sure about the Bury bit!
Thanks

Scubaj, in 31d, def. is 'to escape'. The characters are alphabetical. Note that 'bury' has the same number of letters as the answer.

This did seem straightforward: I’m trying to decide if that was pleasantly refreshing or slightly disappointing :-) Nice end, and what to write/do is precisely described.

I might be being dim, but I can’t suss the wordplay for 32d. Def and answer clear. If someone could just nudge me over the line…

Mooncow, 32d. wordplay is - the bookie's odds at the time that the race starts (2) + single letter abbreviation + abb. for 'the same' (2)

If the true definition of the down clue answer relating to paths is applied wouldn’t the thematic object itself split and then its parts continue splitting leaving a mess (ultimately of 3d’s if grid deeper!) at the bottom? Not sure the word ‘potential” remedies this or do I have the wrong answer?

Thanks mattrom — the abbrev at the end I recognised once you pointed it out to me, but the one at the start was entirely new to me, even when I looked up what it expanded to. Much obliged.

I don’t feel the down clue fits well, if it’s the one I think it is, so I’m glad it isn’t part of the highlighting or whatever. In fact, I’m not sure I like several aspects of it: the slightly awkward-feeling article on the item name, and alsonthat many of the items you come across don’t even feature what the grid illustrates — many just have a few apertures and rely on bounce — and what the grid shows, and the bottom line, is a slightly different game though one that *can* be incorporated into the item, and occasionally is. Hmm. This is why I was glad the preamble left no doubt what needed to be done, unsatisfactorinesses notwithstanding. Sorry, can’t log this up as one of my favourites, though a few of the clues were delicious if uncomplicated.

Speaking of which, what do folks do when there’s a whole week without a Listener to do? I see occasional mentions of Inquisitors, and I’s, and things. What are these things, and how do they compare to the Listener? I may need to expand my repertoire, now that finishing a Listener isn’t quite the pleasant surprise it once was :-)