ChatterBank1 min ago
Listener No 4278: Generalisation By Samuel
47 Answers
This was a very clever idea by Samuel. Despite getting the theme quite quickly and also deducing the quotation, it took me quite a while to solve all the clues and to construct the grid. But there was no coming-to-a-halt time; things just moved along slowly but surely.
Answers
This thread was started by fortyseven and there have been only 46 posts so I thought why not......... .....
14:11 Fri 31st Jan 2014
Wow - that was one hell of a workout. Got the quotation very early on with only a handful of letters, don't know how but without it I would never have cottoned onto the theme. After a few hours (yes that bad!) I was agreeing with EV_Solver that it would have been easier to show the A/D split, but having finally got there I think it was better it didn't as it added to my confusion to the last. A brilliant challenge from Samuel, my only minor beef would be that this puzzle might be very tricky without a certain amount of knowledge of the speaker's language. Now where is my black marker, I trust we won't be marked wrong if we use another colour?
Thought I'd never finish. I guessed the quote and theme once I had a couple of the thematic answers, and about 5 of the early misprints, but headway was still slow, especially in the lower half of the grid, where I had several unsolved clues. I reverse-solved 4 of the thematic clues after seeing likely grid entries and then finding out what they were in the speaker's language; I knew one but the others were totally unfamiliar.
The tricky grid construction made this the hardest Listener in a long while, and it's certainly the hardest Samuel Listener that I've ever encountered. He certainly exploited some less than obvious definitions buried in Chambers.
I must day the final grid looks remarkably good. Well done Samuel.
The tricky grid construction made this the hardest Listener in a long while, and it's certainly the hardest Samuel Listener that I've ever encountered. He certainly exploited some less than obvious definitions buried in Chambers.
I must day the final grid looks remarkably good. Well done Samuel.
After a reasonably gentle start to the year, this is a real horror. I have cold-solved all but seven of the clues, including seven of the thematic words, but with such a large grid, no symmetric guidance and the presence of empty cells, I can't see a way of putting them together without endless trial and error. The preamble suggests that all the thematic stuff will be together, so I guess I need to focus on that...
Formidable! It wasn't until I had solved all the clues (the last across clue last) that I saw what the exact orientation was, and then the whole pattern emerged. Bars and numbers would have spoiled it. Had the preamble not said "blacked out" I would have used a different colour to shade the unused cells.
Yes, it's little things like that that make me happy to never submit the puzzle. This one was quite remarkable (even Mrs. dr b, who looks upon this pastime of mine with, at best, bemusement, was impressed by the final grid). Very glad to have started with a blank spreadsheet which made fitting it all together a bit easier than I suspect paper and pencil would be.
Boy that was hard - fair but very difficult.
Got the quote quite quickly and then it was a long process to get enough answers to have a crack at the grid - I had about 33 (including 2 which turned out to be wrong) before I got a decent start at the gridfill.
The grid evolved as the final few clues were solved - very, very nice final layout.
Probably the hardest for quite a while - but all beautifully put together - and (once it is finished) you can have confidence that you are correct.
Thanks Samuel
Got the quote quite quickly and then it was a long process to get enough answers to have a crack at the grid - I had about 33 (including 2 which turned out to be wrong) before I got a decent start at the gridfill.
The grid evolved as the final few clues were solved - very, very nice final layout.
Probably the hardest for quite a while - but all beautifully put together - and (once it is finished) you can have confidence that you are correct.
Thanks Samuel
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