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Thanks keepatit. Sorry I missed your response. Indeed I was wrong. My alternative worked but not as neatly. I had “I” meaning “one” in column 6 “followed by” gxxxxl in column 7 and then “0” for zero in column 8. Contiguous cells. Sort of works but I sensed it was wrong.
The power to the power answer is not in the quoted source but the “one followed by” answer is.

Happy to help, smithsax. As you say, it’s the Wiki entry that makes the second representation clear, not the source. I think Google Images on the theme word will also show it in the top ten hits.

"So my preference is for a graduated response with light hints early in the thread and for specific responses to be reserved for later."
Smithsax - I couldn't have put it better!

"So my preference is for a graduated response with light hints early in the thread and for specific responses to be reserved for later."
Smithsax - I couldn't have put it better!

And for me also. I too have family and sporting commitments that usually prevent me looking at the puzzle till Monday night at the earliest, and it can be a little disconcerting to find answers rather than hints on page one. (This is one of the reasons why I'm rarely able to offer help - I'm behind the curve most weeks.)

Perhaps, then, I shouldn't visit this site till later in the week? Maybe, but it is useful to come here to get a collective view on the challenge ahead of us: is it a two-hour job, or should we be cancelling other commitments and appeasing the wife and kids in the knowledge that it's a stinker? I suspect others do this too.

Finally, may I respectfully suggest that we all remember this is only a crossword? I really enjoy solving it, and greatly value the contributions made here in what is usually good humour, but surely it's not worth people falling out over...

Absolutely, Smithsax/Orientfan. Let us help people in the tempo in which help is requested.
I must say, there is one habit that truly gets my goat. There is one contributor who regularly posts along the lines of "Could anyone confirm that my answers of aaaa bbbb and cccc are correct?" This is not asking for help, nor is it really giving it, as usually no one has yet asked. It is simply a "Look at how clever I am". IMHO, that is abusing the spirit of this board (as it was found to abuse the spirit of The Other Place.

Thanks for the useful contributions to this debate. It's obvious that there are people who merely want to come here for a hint/nudge to get them going again and others who want a forum to discuss, in more detail, the wordplay, parsing, gridfill, etc. Indeed, as the week progresses, people are more probably more likely to use the latter as they hit, what may be for them, insurmountable problems. It's also evident that people start the puzzle at different times and progress at different rates so, even by midweek, some people may still only be looking for hints rather than participating in detailed discussions about endgames.

Can I suggest, just as an experiment this coming week, that I set up two parallel threads...... something along the lines of:-

Listener 4532 Thread 1/2 - for hints only - no answers please

This should only be used where people need a gentle nudge to get them past a sticking point but don't want to be given explicit answers or other detail that might otherwise spoil their enjoyment of the challenge. So really just request for a hint, hint provided, no further discussion. People can use this thread confident that they won't inadvertently see actual answers.

Listener 4532 Thread 2/2 - for detailed discussion, may contain answers

This is used for all other help requests and detailed discussions such as we currently see on the forum. It would probably include detail of the answers, construction and endgame.

I'm not trying to suggest 'rules' as such or stifle help and discussion, just trying to make it fair on everyone. Happy for other suggestions or to be shot down completely. I do agree that it's only a crossword puzzle so nothing to fall out over, but it really does detract from the challenge and ultimate satisfaction when one inadvertently sees answers before having had chance to solve them. For what it's worth, I've only been doing the Listener for 18 months, so I do need hints more than other people may. I do it purely for the challenge, I've never submitted my solutions.

simon9x - I like the idea of having two threads but perhaps it's only necessary to post your first thread, that way people who start the puzzle a day early and those who do not want explicit help can set the tone of the thread without disadvantaging solvers who expect more help to be given. Any subsequent threads, or individual requests could then be no holds barred - contributors would simply reply in the spirit of the poster(s) and, as meursault pointed out, that may change from week to week depending on the challenge.

orientfan - I also like to know what kind of challenge is on the way if I have something planned for the weekend. I check the answerbank site on Friday night - if there are few posts then I know there's trouble ahead (and it's nice to get some value out of that otherwise redundant thread).

It's becoming clear to me that quite a few people do not like seeing answers posted that have not been requested. I'm sure the poster is only trying to smooth the way for other solvers but I'd only welcome this kind of 'spoiler' when the setter has been manifestly unfair. But even then, as it's clearly a matter of opinion if a puzzle is fair or not, it's perhaps best not to preempt a request for help - if it is unfair, one is bound to come sooner or later.

Please excuse the typo simond9x.

I have finished the crossword at long last, but I cannot resolve the last down clue. The only word that I can see is used, but I cannot reconcile that with the clue. The clue is about the court of sessions and t.he corrected misprint is l. Can somebody give me a gentle nudge.

Casanova, you are correct. The answer can mean “expert” in Scottish, hence Court of Sessions. Witness mostly is se(e) inside the second letter of gunshot and an abbreviation for corrected word in the clue