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Orson I agree with every point you've made. I'm a relative newbie to these crosswords and need all the help I can get. I find some of the instructions more confusing and time wasting than necessary. But it won't stop my weekly enjoyment of these fantastic challenges!

Thanks djawhufc, but I must have the wrong title. I've been assuming it was Y S. I cannot see that anything else fits the prescribed colours.

I agree with Orson. Most of the clues are substandard and very dull. The reversal of TAT, a palindrome, is ridiculous. The average word length is way below the minimum recommended by the Listener editorial notes.

Anyhints as to which title I should be looking for (ie the 'omission') would be appreciated.

djawhufc, I think I see what title is meant, but what an ambiguous instruction! A very easy grid fill followed by a lot of time-wasting trying ifferent titles to colour.

Hi Dryden

Yes to YS. But the title is that of the puzzle itself. I presume you have that now?

Another problem with the puzzle is one akin to for example some playfair square puzzles : that is there is a single point at which the solver either succeeds or fails. To avoid controversy, let's just say a narrow channel, a quantum point contact.

Already, in just 14 comments, there has been questioning of the extra letters from 11D to 20D, and in addition, questioning of what 'Title' actually means. Basically this puzzle is a QPC fail.

I agree with your comment, Orson. It's becoming a fashion among Listener setters to attempt to introduce ambiguity into the preamble. Personally I think that's pretty cheap - if you can't achieve the complexity you wish for with your puzzle, you shouldn't try to compensate with the preamble...and yes, I'm 100% with your view of AB.

It's funny how matters which to some people are childishly simple, to others present impenetrable difficulty. I never had the slightest doubt what "title" meant. In contrast the theme, or an integral part of the theme, is YS. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to make the title an anagram. Such an odd collection of words certainly suggested it. I'm grateful that I have a wide collection of coloured highlighters for playing with my granddaughters!

Obviously the setter has put in a lot of work to get a grid that results in an approximate representation of the theme.
BUT:
The Listener guidelines say grids with an average word length of less than 5.5 may indicate that the thematic material is over- ambitious. I thing that's the case here. With 62 clues the setter had to make a lot of them easy to avoid the whole thing becoming a slog, But cryptically interesting (and possibly challenging clues) are the essence of any crossword, themtic or otherwise. Without that element the puzzle has no soul. The longest answer is 8 letters; there are 9 three-letter words and 21 four-letter words. That is a very limited range with little opprtunity for interesting vocabulary.

I too fell for the train of thought that had a clash in each answer. 30% done and unsure I finally succumbed to help here - very glad I did as ever! That said, I was feeling quite pleased with my efforts too until I read the comments about it being easy. Ah, the price one pays for lack of conviction and effort - of course I could have just thought 'why not just assume one clash and see how it goes........

Whilst I am here, might as well be extra lazy. I'm on holiday after all. Does 6d answer end in an n? Really must buy a chambers......

No 6d ends in L- do you want the answer? or a hint?
The L comes from the across clue which is an anagram