May I wish everyone who visits Listen With Others, whether frequently or occasionally, a very merry Christmas and a happy and successful 2012.

I would like to must, of course, thank Shirley Curran and Erwin Hatch for their superb blogs this year. Shirley’s weekly efforts have set an exceptionally high standard which I hope I come near to matching, and I hope that all of you find our efforts entertaining. I would also like to thank those setters who have kindly provided fascinating blogs on the creation of their puzzles.

This year, Listener-wise, has seen a major hiccup in my attempt to secure a 5-year uninterrupted run of all-corrects. I have failed on at least four occasions, initially with 4141, Trailblazers by Dysart, and most recently with 4162, Carte Blanche with a Twist by Mash. (By the way, if you’re a Magpie subscriber, there is an incredibly detailed setter’s blog for that puzzle available there.)

So it’s onwards and upwards into 2012. If next year’s Listeners match the standard of this year’s puzzles, we’re in for a real treat, so a final thank you to the editors and all the setters who keep us coming back for more.

Best wishes,
Dave.

I hope that regular visitors to Listen With Others will forgive this posting, a self-indulgent blog if ever there was one, but one that is a necessary part of my healing process. I’m sure that I will find it therapeutic, maybe even cathartic, and hopefully will enable me to start from square one all over again.

For those of you who missed my blog last week on Listener 4141, Trailblazers by Dysart, it is still available below, and is my first Listener failure for just over 2½ years (I believe). Not that I’m alone in falling after a long winning streak. Of those whom I joined in the all-correct list for 2009, most failed to make it the following year, with one stumbling after a run of 182 without error, and another after 168.

However, having taken over Listen With Others from Chris Lancaster, I feel as though I am on a pedestal each week, with my solving experience available for all to see. (I’m sure that Shirley feels the same!) Of course there is a big difference between making a silly little mistake, or transcription error that some solvers confess to, and not getting the main idea of the endgame. I remember a few years back putting GASPS instead of GASPY, when a simple analysis of the clue would have told me I was wrong. Getting one wrong on the scale of Trailblazers is a whole different kettle of fish. It feels like having been knocked off the pedestal, put in the stocks and having rotten tomatoes thrown at me. Not that anyone has had anything but sympathetic words for my hiccup, but I’m looking forward to the annual statistics to see how many others failed to solve this puzzle. From comments at the CWC message board and also at (deep breath!) AnswerBank, it has been easy for me to get the impression that I am alone in not getting this one. However, in the ten years from 2001 to 2010, there have only been four puzzles where there were less than ten incorrect entries, so I’m guessing I’m not.

So why did I have such a problem with Father Brown? I think it was not realising that the phrases ‘five-letter sequence of letters’ and ‘seven-letter sequence of letters’ were used for a reason, namely that what they referred to were not words! Obviously BLUE X wasn’t a word, but I failed to take that forward to the replacement sequence. Getting something in my head and not being able, or not thinking it necessary, to move on, I always find tough. With a lot of endgames, if you’re on the wrong track, trying to look at a problem in a different light is tricky. And in the Listener, always be suspicious of strange wording – it’s that way for a reason!

Friends have asked me why I undergo the weekly torture of attempting a long all-correct run. Well, as someone who was rubbish at school sports, especially the dreaded Friday afternoon/evening cross-country run (yes, they frequently finished in the dark), the chance of being in the vanguard of anything is totally invigorating. Of course, I’m getting on a bit in years and a 30-year all-correct run is quite (!) unlikely, but starting with Samuel’s Noye I’ll give it another bash.

Congratulations to the two Ascot Gold Cup winners that I voted for: Kea in 2009 and Shackleton in 2010. I won’t have a vote this year, but if the first half of 2011 is anything to go by, it’ll be a close contest. And here are some over the last 2½ years that have caused me most grief or panic.

 
Looking through my records for the last 2½ years has made me realise how spectacularly good the Listener series still is with a consistently high quality and some superb puzzles. So thanks to all the Listener setters and vetters for maintaining this great tradition.

And finally, congratulations to all those of you who were successful with Trailblazers, and to Dysart for a really fine puzzle. I look forward to our next tussle, Andy.
 

Zaphod has kindly posted a setter’s blog for his soon-to-be-published puzzle. However, it is proving infinitely improbable to predict exactly where it will appear at Listen With Others, but hopefully it will be somewhere close by below (or above). I hope that those of you who are fans of Zaphod will appreciate it, as well as those of you who will actually complete this excursion into the 5th dimension. Normal reality will resume as soon as possible.

Dave.

I would like to wish everyone who posts, comments, or just visits here a very happy Christmas. As well as my co-bloggers, especially Shirley and Erwin, I would like to thank all the setters and the editors for the enjoyment, happiness and panic that has gripped me at various times during the fifty-one puzzles that we’ve had. May 2011 bring as many superb Listener puzzles as have been presented to us this year.

Dave.