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 additional information or special instructions, common in Listener puzzles, should also be included.
Hints only, please, no answers.

The theme...
Help towards the theme may be sought and given here. The help should be on the gentle side, just a nudge or a pointer in the right direction. What it shouldn't be is something overly revealing, something that would spoil the puzzle for others. Any posts which reveal too much are likely to be removed.

Although there are many regulars on the Listener threads, newcomers are always welcom.

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

Horrible on every level, with a gwit ending (if it's right).
Why this theme had to be recycled I'll never know... then again, it's such a popular discipline (ha ha) and The Listener appears to be desperately short of complex ideas with mass appeal.
Hated it (but a cast-iron winner I'm sure).

This one was certainly much tougher than recent puzzles. I'm not entirely sure about one or two parsings; and I can only guess that the my interpretation of the final part of the endgame is correct. Having said that, I enjoyed it more than drxx did! Each to his /her own.

Yes, a bit tougher than recent weeks. Initially very daunting, but I was lucky enough to get an early PDM, which unlocked the puzzle for me.
Not a huge GWIT from my perspective, although it would be interesting to know if anyone finds a reasonable alternative interpretation of the endgame.
I definitely enjoyed this more than drxx did!

What does GWIT stand for, please? Can only find one letter to replace but it seems to connect diagonally, the other features all do so perpendicular.

Perpendicularly!

Hi Greengage. GWIT stands for "Guess What I'm Thinking". As Mark Goodliffe pointed out in a recent Magpie editorial, it tends to be used by putative solvers who can't work out what's going on and blame that on the setter. As Listener crosswords go through a rigorous vetting process by test-solvers and the esteemed editors before being published, that's definitely the case here. Speaking personally, I enjoyed working out the gridfill, and I think the endgame was both clever and elegant. Thanks, Agricola!

Thank you ma'am!

I failed to find anything clever in the endgame - making sure the king didn't have it all to himself was enough for me (the diagonal connection didn't bother me at all - is there a rule?). The gwit is in that jokey little hint in the preamble - assuming I'm right, of course (as a putative solver, I can never be sure).
In my many attempts to find out how B's process actually works, I found just one explanation: ''squishing'' - not very elegant and (typically, for this particular discipline) not very helpful.

Here's hoping something more meaningful will come along soon.

No clue for 15a, not in preamble, presumably I will find out why?