A puzzle like this I think is an ideal number puzzle for those who aren't particularly keen on Maths. The amount of actual calculation is very low -- a couple of subtractions, one or two divisions, that's about it. With a few tables freely available on the internet (just google "list of [prime numbers/ square numbers/ triangular numbers/ Fibonnacci numbers]" and the first link is nearly always what you need) you have all the information you should need, and really this isn't much more tricky than consulting a dictionary either. The effort involved is then in making sure you've extracted the right information from each clue and a bit of jigsawing of possible answers together. There's also a fairly generous starting point at 3a for example. At any rate the amount of number work is fairly low, so it's hopefully a good introduction to number puzzles. If this marks the first in a regular (if not very frequent) series of number puzzles at the EV, I hope very much that the same sort of puzzle is what we'll see. However wonderful some of the numericals over at the Listener and Magpie are, some of them are definitely not for those who aren't fond of maths!
I don't think you should write this puzzle off just because it has numbers in it. Have a go, and you might surprise yourself!