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 also be sought and given here. It's expected that the help will be just a nudge, a pointer in the right direction - and certainly not anything which would spoil the puzzle for others. Any posts which, even inadvertently, reveal too much of the theme are likely to be removed.

Unsolicited 'help', with clues or the theme, will be removed.

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

I had no more than a passing awareness of the thematic work. Thanks, Bungo, for making me look more closely.

I initially over-thought the endgame, but I'm happy with where I ended up. I'll be interested to see how ambiguous others found it to be.

rhsl - just completed the puzzle - theme completely unknown for me. I don't find the rubric to be very clear, but I think it does lead to an unambiguous solution. I felt some of the 'real words and names' at the end were a bit clunky.

It seems clear enough to me.

I had the wrong extra letter in 3d on my first pass.

Iratus, I assume you mean the wrong omitted letter?

Struggling with the endgame myself as I only have 2 of the removed words, 19 of the omitted letters and cannot fully parse 9d (unless there is an extra word) 28d and 29d. I hope the jumbled word in the 20 letter scenario is 8 letters - but then I am stuck.

Just parsed 28d!

Have completed the grid bar one entry, identified the work, and can highlight the creators.
That‘s all I can manage, so congrats to all those able to complete this, it has defeated me for sure.

I stymied myself by making an incorrect stab at 19d. A head-clearing walk and a second look and CLANG the PDM happened. Funnily enough looking up the work (which was unfamiliar) helped me to take another look at last week's endgame. The proverbial two birds with one stone!

Hi dim. Two hours ago, I was exactly where you are now and, like you, was about to give up. In one last effort, I got the final (jumbled) word from the unclued letters. This was a word that hadn't been mentioned in my first look at the work (wiki). I found another site with more info which confirmed things. Having this info definitely helped me get into the endgame. Please give it another try.

Hope the above isn't spoilerish in any way. I've tried to avoid any detail.

Hi Simond9x

Thx for the encouragement but I don’t have all the letters for the jumbled final word so I think I am totally stymied.

I probably need to solve the one outstanding clue I have so maybe inspiration will strike tomorrow?