Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Although location is a bit of a wooly definition!

You know where setters like to hide things in the Listener so I’m sure the penny will drop with a clang.

Main character is replaced by where the action took place.

And it does result in some very dodgy looking words but I've checked and they are all fair (including two abbreviations and one word that looks like an abbreviation but is actually just US slang)

Thanks both. I was being dense; I'd seen the main man, but not registered that it has the same number of letters as the title.

I'm struggling with 45a. What is the third letter of the entry? A hint to the wordplay would also be welcome.

Bananabean - third letter is e. T(hose) - spilling (to) water (as in to hose) - pay as in fee. Perrier is extra word.

Having now fully parsed all the clues that I didn't fully understand I can't see any that I would describe as dodgy (pace Gitto) and most are excellent, with coherent surfaces and some examples of imaginative wordplay. One possible quibble (but very, very minor) concerns 25d, where the cryptic construction really requires a finite verb rather than a present participle for the penultimate word. It's something that Azed has commented on in the past in his comments on clue competition entries.

I also think the setter deserves considerable credit for constructing a grid in which the endgame substitution results in real words and a couple of abbreviations, bearing in mind that the two elements coincide at only one point.

The pseudonym suggests it may be joint creation by two setters.

Finished the end game etc but still stuck on a few clues. Can anyone help me please with 11a and 26a. Thanks.

11A anagram of IS POE and O(rdinary) (2,4 : Latin)
26A shortening of two words used to define machines which produce straight line beams of particles; backward inclusion in 'builders can ill'

Back after 4 weeks (Listeners) off. I’m still trying to do the numerical, so massive congratulations to those who completed it. That, and the one that followed, made me give up doing them. But I gave this one a try and was surprised to finish it in about 3 hours. Google gave me the theme after just 3 names. Best clue was 9d.
Just in case I don’t get a chance to tackle next week’s, may I wish you all a very merry Christmas, and thanks for the help during the year.