Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

There's another site called The Answer Bank. If you Google "Listener 4422" you'll find this thread and our thread come quite high in the search results.

They have a forum convention of not giving any help, which sometimes leads to ructions there and here (and, I'm sure, discourages newcomers). They're quite snooty about this forum.

Thanks for info. Have just read through the AB site and see what you mean. Enough said.

One final thought before I go mad -- or perhaps it's already too late! Some of us have been puzzling over the phrasing of the highlighting instruction (letters rather than cells). Could that mean that the highlighting is to include a cell with a clash -- which we were told to enter side by side? If so the AERA or AREA at the end of SEARCHAREA would qualify. But if so there seem to be lots of things that look like clues still unused.

mama - Meusault knows all about AnswerBank!

What I can't understand is that there were a couple of AB posts two hours after the puzzle was released with one saying what a pleasant experience it was!! Staggering. We still haven't got agreement after a week - I cannot remember a less pleasant experience than solving the final stage of this one. The worst puzzle this year by miles. It comes down to trying to read the setters mind - ridiculous.

The LIFT approach doesn't convince me, A couple of years ago there was a Listener based on the quotation from a Chandler novel about a tarantula sitting on a slice of angel food cake; the final step (which foxed a lot of solvers, including me) involved erasing 'tarantula' to reveal 'angel food' underneath. The answer was thematically consistent, and confirmed by all the crossing answers making new real words. If I am to LIFT, I expect to see HARE underneath, not either side - and this does not make real words.

Ultimately, the least implausible solution to me is the preamble highlighting. It is literally, unequivocally correct, even if there's another such solution that meets the same criteria, so I don't see how it could be marked wrong.

buster I totally agree with you. However submitting this is not worth the postage.

What if we don't take 'a straight line' at face value. H, A, R, and E are all letters IN this phrase - and appear consecutively in the grid, at a right angle, in a spelling of SEARCH AREA.

I agree too, however I wouldn't highlight the preamble on principle.
We are clearly invited to follow a trail to its ultimate goal and then highlight it. There should be a trail and it should lead to a goal, anything else is a hoax. The actual hunt was convoluted and controversial but it wasn't a hoax.
ionacarr - LIFT is also a noun ''something which is to be raised'' and we are looking for Buried Treasure, a suspiciously overt title (i think this alone is suggesting the 'buried' preamble solution to some people).
I have followed one of three trails to a goal and highlighted four consecutive letters. I don't think it's right but it does it for me, I've just spent too long looking at it and will be glad to see the back of it.
Here's hoping the printed solution will be a brilliant surprise. I've noticed that the number three has been key to getting this far with the puzzle so maybe there's another 'third' way most of us have missed. I'll be annoyed if the preamble solution is right.
Thanks for being so welcoming, I've enjoyed the visit very much.

Hi all. Unfortunately nothing to add to the conversation. Found the clues pretty taxing, unchecked letters sorted quickly, the three alternative clues took longer, the end game was a mystery. Saw Hare as the right angle in search area - realised it must therefore appear as such in preamble - but not satisfactory - then spotted LIFT with HARE underneath and decided to go for that. Have been travelling since Monday morning till now and checked in to see the posts. Amazing. You guys have come up with countless theories which I didn't see. Will await the denouement in 2 weeks time.

What if you used origami on column 8 to bury it beneath the grid, and then highlighted HARE in row 5?