Azed 2736 Last 2 Confirmation And...
Crosswords0 min ago
Listener 4147 OZ and WR by Theod
67 Answers
Having seen that this has a Playcode code, I was intending to put it to one side. Having failed at that, I now find myself within an ace of finishing. Much easier than I expected, but I realise that for some that this will be a bete noir.
Thanks Theod.
Thanks Theod.
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I unexpectedly enjoyed that as well. Although I must admit my heaart sank a bit on seeing the dreaded Playfair word! But thanks RuthRobin and Midazalom for the Quinaplus and Crossword Man sites which I haven't seen before. As these things seem to roam in packs I'm now far more confident for the expected next playfair puzzle.
Many thanks to Theod for an excellent puzzle. Mine is now in the envelope ready to post tomorrow but I can't claim to have finished.
I solved the four coded clues and therefore the playfair was no problem, but those extra words -phew. I'm still trying to get to grips with the first few down ones, but fortunately got enough others to "get the message".
I solved the four coded clues and therefore the playfair was no problem, but those extra words -phew. I'm still trying to get to grips with the first few down ones, but fortunately got enough others to "get the message".
A neat use of a good theme. The final touch should satisfy all tastes.
As a scientist, I consider that any method available is acceptable for solving problems. Indeed, there are some scientific problems that can only be solved by recourse to electronic databases and search engines. Anyone who didn't use such aids would be considered very peculiar. I therefore do not consider the use of engines such as Quinapalus to be cheating. The prime purpose of a puzzle is to give entertainment, and anything that enables that should be acceptable. Having said that, I would encourage others to give the cold solving a try before going to the engine. In this case the Playfair yielded up quite quickly, because two of the encoded pairs were in the same column, which is rather unusual for such problems; when I saw that, it fell out quite easily and gave me more pleasure than I think I would have had from using the engine.
For those who have not come across the theme word before, there are actually five words (perhaps six) for different forms of this type of construction, which compounds the problem of solving. Chambers includes three of them (perhaps because the others do not have English equivalents).
Incidentally, is this the first time that a Listener puzzle has dealt with copulation? :>)
As a scientist, I consider that any method available is acceptable for solving problems. Indeed, there are some scientific problems that can only be solved by recourse to electronic databases and search engines. Anyone who didn't use such aids would be considered very peculiar. I therefore do not consider the use of engines such as Quinapalus to be cheating. The prime purpose of a puzzle is to give entertainment, and anything that enables that should be acceptable. Having said that, I would encourage others to give the cold solving a try before going to the engine. In this case the Playfair yielded up quite quickly, because two of the encoded pairs were in the same column, which is rather unusual for such problems; when I saw that, it fell out quite easily and gave me more pleasure than I think I would have had from using the engine.
For those who have not come across the theme word before, there are actually five words (perhaps six) for different forms of this type of construction, which compounds the problem of solving. Chambers includes three of them (perhaps because the others do not have English equivalents).
Incidentally, is this the first time that a Listener puzzle has dealt with copulation? :>)
Keyword, codeword, themeword - anyone else confused? I thought I might be there but my word is no way weird/unknown. As ever, "might be there" means not there. Thanks for the tip about Quinapalus (however spelt) - I had already directed Himself to find a site to solve the Playfair, which he did, but will bookmark Q.
Like everyone else it seems, I solved this using the specialist software on the web. Absolutely no qualms whatsoever as I've never managed to finish a Playfair puzzle before. It does however take some of the fun away.Even picked out all the extra words correctly first time - and that must be a first time for me.Someone said last week that the only thing worse than carte blanches were Playfair puzzles and along one comes. Must be the thought police again.
I too used Quinapalus which and was astounded at how few letter pairs it needed to come up with the unique keyword. I thought this was a great way to construct a puzzle based on an interesting theme word that was brand new to me.
For those who want the satisfaction of solving the Playfair unaided, this one turns out to be at the fairly easy end of the scale, since you will have a number of XY->YZ mappings which means that XYZ are in the same row or column. From those it's fairly easy (as things things go) to get an initial structure and keep tacking additional letters on until you get well over half of the 5x5 grid filled. Next you look for patterns of letters that are in their normal alphabetical order and cycle the rows and columns around until the ordered letters are at the bottom.
If you got the keyword via Quinapalus, I would encourage you to go back and try to solve the Playfair cold; this can be an illuminating exercise.
For those who want the satisfaction of solving the Playfair unaided, this one turns out to be at the fairly easy end of the scale, since you will have a number of XY->YZ mappings which means that XYZ are in the same row or column. From those it's fairly easy (as things things go) to get an initial structure and keep tacking additional letters on until you get well over half of the 5x5 grid filled. Next you look for patterns of letters that are in their normal alphabetical order and cycle the rows and columns around until the ordered letters are at the bottom.
If you got the keyword via Quinapalus, I would encourage you to go back and try to solve the Playfair cold; this can be an illuminating exercise.
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