Listener 4725 Carte Blanche By Piccadilly

[emcee]

Very nice. Not as difficult as it first appeared.

Entering values needed much care. Now, have I missed any bars out?

Many thanks, Piccadilly.

[Cruncher]

Managed this with a simple phone calculator on the back of a Eurostar ticket travelling back from France, so no significant maths needed although occasionally some cunning deduction with some potential for confusion in the clues. Always satisfying to tease out a mathematical puzzle although having figured out all the letter values early on, the actual gridfill was a slightly thankless task

[HawkCrossword]

Agree with Cruncher. It's nice not to have to fire up the spreadsheet for a change, but, yes, the letter values fell relatively quickly, and then it was a long trudge home.

I'm not sure why we insist on the algebraic expressions spelling out random words. Does it really matter to anyone? Do you look at the clue and think "ooh - that spells VOIVODESHIP - how clever"? I think I'd rather have minimal non-word clues.

[Oyler]

A most inventive take on the hidden locations device. Most enjoyable. Thanks Piccadilly.

[Philoctetes]

Very sweet - but, like the others, I found actually solving the clues something of a slog. And getting the bars right when I transcribe will be a pain. Pluses and minuses on this one

[Dim16]

Am on sort-of-holiday this week but have managed to complete an enjoyable puzzle, although I am worried that I will omit a bar or two.

Never seen a carte blanche Numerical before, or non-integers, so was worried this would be very challenging. Glad it wasn't. Helping look after my partner's grandchildren is proving challenge enough.

[BMACMAC]

One simple question. Does HI! mean (H*I)! or H*(I!)? My algebra stretches to BODMAS, but that doesn't answer that question. Maybe once H and I are known it becomes clear, but then again, knowing the correct rule might help you to solve H and I in the first place.

[Keepatit]

It means the second of your options. HI is the thirteenth down clue number, so it must be equal to at least 13. And 13! has more than eight digits. So it cannot mean (HI)!