Listen With Others

I think this is Check’s debut Listener. Congratulations, it’s quite a tour de force. I think the theme will be a popular one too!

In a puzzle that abounds with thematic material, I was especially delighted with the conversion of BELLWORT (33ac) to BELLHOPS and GLUCOSE (27ac) to ALCOHOL. What an inspired treatment of the theme!

I found the many of the clues tough and it took me a while to twig that many of the down answers were one letter short of their grid length. I never did quite fathom how 16ac (LOADED I hope rather than LEADED) parses from “Old Bill li(n)es motivated under the table” but I’m reasonably confident I’ve identified the definition, under the table. I still have no idea how 38dn, AT IT, parses either.

I really liked how the 4 instructions flowed. I’m pleased and relieved to get CARBON DIOXIDE (Quinapalus is such a help) and BREATHALYSERS, reverse engineering the BARLEY. Thanks again to Check for a splendid work-out.