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Listener 4312: Elementary Deduction By Rood
24 Answers
After a day when my mind has been destroyed by builders, a pick through a water pipe, and trying to find a plumber at 4pm on a Friday, I little thought I'd be the first to check in. A very fair and entertaining offering by Rood, for which many thanks.
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Straight in at number one in POTY contention, surely? Unbelievably brilliant, all the way through the puzzle.
I just recently read a blog about a Magpie puzzle last year by Rood, which was also brilliant, starting "Puzzles that stem from the setting partnership that is Rood occur out of desperation"... more desperation please, if it produces gems like this!
There's one nagging doubt, at 24a that I can't parse and has two plausible entries. Hope I can sort that one out soon...
I just recently read a blog about a Magpie puzzle last year by Rood, which was also brilliant, starting "Puzzles that stem from the setting partnership that is Rood occur out of desperation"... more desperation please, if it produces gems like this!
There's one nagging doubt, at 24a that I can't parse and has two plausible entries. Hope I can sort that one out soon...
I'm glad others are finding this hard - it makes me feel less feeble at my attempts to climb the steep learning curve. This is where we beginners find things hard, I imagine - the grid fill, although taking a lot of care, is done, the message discovered, but the clash-resolving, the hidden 2-word phrase remain opaque. And having worked out the instruction, and carried it out, it seems not to lead to anything meaningful. A gentle hint would be welcome to [email protected]
Despite the puzzle's complexity, thought-provoking endgame and a grid that must have presented enormous constructional difficulties, I wouldn't consider it a contender for POTY. A weakness for me was the number of clues that could be parsed to yield a variety of elementary deductions, often making parts of the message difficult to ascertain. In the case of 39d, the clue provides the answer without any deduction, which is a practice to be avoided in my view.
One thing that has puzzled me is the third word of the warning (the 8-letter word). It doesn't seem to be the appropriate word, unless solvers are expected to do something I haven't even thought of. Is anyone else puzzled by it?
One thing that has puzzled me is the third word of the warning (the 8-letter word). It doesn't seem to be the appropriate word, unless solvers are expected to do something I haven't even thought of. Is anyone else puzzled by it?
Utterly stumped here. I guess we are in "Maxwell's Demon" territory here - if you do not know something exists, there is nothing in the puzzle to lead you in the right direction. And why does this always occur on this side of the divide? Should we expect a puzzle based on the tribute lists of the Delian League - basic o-level stuff.
Late starter and (very) late finisher here.
I enjoyed the puzzle immensely and thought the title of the puzzle was very clever.
Some tough clues -- 31ac was the last one that I struggled to understand. As has been said earlier, a weakness was there were some clues which, when parsed in a certain way, gave the correct answer but yielded the wrong extra letters.
Hell of a construction though and a brilliant piece of work.
Many thanks, Rood, for a 'workout squared'.
I enjoyed the puzzle immensely and thought the title of the puzzle was very clever.
Some tough clues -- 31ac was the last one that I struggled to understand. As has been said earlier, a weakness was there were some clues which, when parsed in a certain way, gave the correct answer but yielded the wrong extra letters.
Hell of a construction though and a brilliant piece of work.
Many thanks, Rood, for a 'workout squared'.
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