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Still no idea what's going on with the endgame. Is the phrase 18 letters, 5 words? If so I can see a 7 letter section of it in rows 7 and 8, but can't see any of the rest of it, so suspect this a red herring?

Am now looking for any hints anyone thinks are allowable for the endgame, as I'm well into endgame longer than gridfill territory now.

Got it now. Id written a wrong letter in 22d which didn't help.

Don't understand 21a?

I think 21 parses 2,1,1 but I’m not confident.

I know some thought the clues were a tad on the easy side, but surely it's hard not to be impressed at the combination of elements in the endgame, not to mention their visual representation.

Congrats to Aedites for a truly enjoyable Listener.

There does appear to be a certain karma among the weekend puzzles. Anyone troubled by finding this Listener “too gentle” simply has to move on to IQ 1963… Exchanges between Douglas Jardine and Vic Richardson come to mind.

Smithsax @30, Jack @35 - FWIW - I don't have a further comment about this week's puzzle in particular - but I think it is clear that so far this year there have been more Listener puzzles with 'easy' grid-fills than in the past. You can judge what is 'easy' by the lack of questions about specific clues (eg this week, and 2 weeks ago). I suspect this is a deliberate editorial policy, and if so (IMO) it has gone too far.

On the 'are they getting easier' question and, if so, is this a deliberate editorial policy. I have a theory - In short, we're a dying breed.

Think about it. How many young people do you know, maybe your nieces or nephews, who prefer spending hours, possibly days struggling over a barred puzzle like the Listener, EV or IQ? Or do they, perhaps, prefer the instant gratification of Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft etc?

Put another way - if stocks and shares in cryptic puzzles could be traded on the Stock Exchange, would you be buying or selling?

Maybe you have it right, or at least “right enough for jazz”, Brendan. I remember a line from a Footlights show many years ago - “I’m Dayan, Egypt” - I don’t think we’ll look upon its like again. Whatever; meanwhile, it’s good to see that your software list matches the Peter Murrell shopping spree remarkably closely!

Thanks Jack, but I have a confession to make...

I had to Google a list of the top 5 selling video games - I don't even own a console, or a TV for that matter!

Wouldn't mind a luxury motorhome though 😉

I have spent many happy afternoons playing Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto and now find The Listener much more rewarding. As many wiser than I have commented here, accessible puzzles have their place and the grid fill is only part of the process. I just hope that the editors know that some newcomers are attracted by the infernally difficult puzzles.