Listener 4040: In Shock by Hubris

[AHearer]

Not too difficult a challenge this week, but I found the highlighting a little disappointing because of the lack of symmetry: a time-invariant version, omitting the central symbol, would have allowed more. I was awfully tempted by spin and noise. I'm not pretending for a moment that I could have done better, but I think other setters could have led us to a more satisfying outcome.

[midazolam]

grid filled reasonably quickly but the corrected misprints took longer. I am now on my way with the highlighting. Several possibilities stand out but some will have to be discarded i feel.

[Monkmonk]

The highlighting seems the tricky part. Please give a hint as to what you mean by a time-invariant version, omitting the central symbol. Have you highlighted any words reading diagonally?

[turnerjmw]

I enjoyed this. Certainly the highlighting presents as much of a puzzle as the clues, and, as midazolam says, there may be a few red herrings, but once the penny drops I think the answer is pretty clear. I hope solvers' fun doesn't get spoilt by unnecessarily obvious hints on here.

[bobbycollins]

It's ok turnerjmw, I'm not in the least helped by the early comments.

Pretty straightforward grid fill, but I am struggling to make sense of those correct letters which I have identified. I have an inkling of the part description and wonder if I am going in the correct direction?

[starwalker]

I know that it cannot be true, but I seem to have spent almost as much time seeking the highlighting as I spent filling the grid in the first place. As turnerjmw says, once the penny has dropped, other possibilities are quickly discarded.
More fun in the end than I was thinking earlier today.

[midazolam]

i know i spent longer finding what to highlight that filling in the grid, starwalker. In order to make 33 i did have to remove one letter that i originally highlighted, but it is more precise to remove it, although less symmetrical.

there are no diagonals, monkmonk, and AHearer's comment just meant: if time was not an issue (time-invariant)

on the whole i feel the completed grid does work

[kwyjibo]

I'm certain of 27 of the letters to highlight. I think I have the other 6 but not entirely happy due to lack of symmetry.

[midazolam]

i am sure you are right kwyjibo - my thought processing was the same, but it can't be anything else

[Ruthrobin]

I've quite enjoyed this and am fairly sure of thirty of the letters to highlight. I am probably having trouble finding the last three because of my ignorance of the subject or because of a flawed letter in a solution. Unlike the rest of you, I took the usual eon to solve the clues and find the correct letters - not as long to spot the 'essential characteristics'.

[alice50]

Well I've finally got the description out and have found 17 of the cells to highlight (7,4 and two 3s). But I've no idea what the other 16 are - any gentle hints?

[kwyjibo]

Alice - look at the layout and the final letters describe the two 3s.

[Monkmonk]

Apart from an obvious 7 letter word I can only think of highlighting words or abbreviations contained in longer words. Am I way off the mark here?

[Ruthrobin]

I would say, Monkmonk, that you sare a little off mark and should look very carefully at the two contributions above yours on the thread. Think of what kwyjibo says in relation to your 'obvious seven-letter word'.

[alice50]

Thanks kwyjibo - I agree with the other people who weren't happy about the (lack of) symmetry and the time sensitivity, but the final grid is quite clever. Some of the clues were really bad though, so not one of the best puzzles ever.

[IntoTheBlue]

Like Alice50 I have an obvious 7 letter word plus words of 4,3,3. I'm assuming that I'm looking for two more words one on either side of the grid to describe the two three letter words...

Like others I seem to have spent longer on the wordsearch than actually filling the grid... it's proving an extremely frustrating experience.


IntoTheBlue

[Ruthrobin]

You are spot on, Intotheblue - they are there!

[shelouse]

Is everyone working with the on-line version? In my printed one 32d is indicated as (5). There are 6 cells in the grid, and I have a perfectly acceptable answer of 6 letters. I can't find any other similar cases, so is this a rare example of a printer's error? Or have I missed something? I have about three quarters of the grid filled but still working on misprints.

[turnerjmw]

You haven't missed anything. It is a misprint, and it's also wrong in the newspaper.

[Philoctetes]

Not stated in earnest yet. But is this a record - a request for "little hints" less than a day after the puzzle is generally published? Anyone for a long hard puzzle?

[failedagain]

Welcome, Philoctetes, to the world of binge crosswording - a mad dash to complete the puzzle as fast as possible, rather than savouring the solving over the allotted week and a half!