Listener 4125 Elementary Number Theory by Oyler

[dr b]

Elementary, indeed. An easily guessed theme as far as resolving the ambiguities is concerned, leading to a very quick grid fill. The most interesting thing about it was checking the statements against the unclued entries to get to the thematic word. This must have been a lot of work to create, but the nature of the solution was too obvious, I think.

[cruciverbali]

Yes, once the 'property' is accepted the grid fill accelerates considerably. Always nice to finish early though !

[aldanna]

No, I am not in the Friday club. As if. This is just to record how inconvenient this is. I always pass the numericals on to mathematician husband, but it ought to be next weekend (last in Feb). This would have suited me fine as next weekend we are going to London to visit no. 1 daughter, seeing friends before and after, going to Madame Butterfly at the Albert Hall - in short, get a life not a crossword. Now, this weekend I have plenty of time and no Listener, but next weekend vice versa.

[AndrewG-S]

Agreed fairly easy to spot the theme which then makes grid fill fast. Not really my favourite due to theme, but can't really quibble with the construction so this is just a personal comment really. Not 100% sure on thematic word as have not completely worked through all possibilities.

[cluelessJoe]

Aldanna - I'm sure I saw somewhere that the number puzzles have all been brought forward by a week, so second to last Saturday in each of Feb / May / Aug / Nov. I believe this was to avoid as far as possible having numbers coincide with Bank Holiday weekends which tended to be the case May and August. Managed to forget that somewhere along the way, so it caught me by surprise too.

[midazolam]

I was careless on a couple of entries misreading letter N, but that was changed once the "property" was seen. Worked through the letters for the unclued entries and there can only be one anagram. Not sure why this is thematic other than the title

[midazolam]

Doh...I see the connection now

[TheBear69]

Are there really four ambiguous cells? I think there is only one (beside the unclued center cell)

[fyellin]

TheBear69: Agreed. I also only had one ambiguous cell, other than the unclued center.

This was way too easy. I'm not used to finishing a Listener Puzzle in a few hours.

[AHearer]

Agreed, very straightforward, especially if one reads every word in the preamble. As ever, an impressive construction. Took a while for the penny to drop with the word.

[silversolver]

I am still not a great fan of the numerical puzzles but it makes a change to exercise a different part of the brain once every three months. I managed to get an 'A' in my A Level maths back in the mists of time but I remember my teacher saying this was due to perspiration rather than inspiration and this was the approach I applied to this puzzle, with a rather large Excel spreadsheet helping to work out the various possibilities. It did become easier once the property of the grid became clear.

[Mysterons]

No idea which are the four ambiguous cells, as this turned into Sudoku once the property emerged - perhaps we should have been required to highlight them to demonstrate a fuller understanding ?

[tilbee]

Normally take one look at the mathematical puzzles and decide it is not worth the effort. However this one is much more accessible, and once you get going the grid completion accelerates significantly.

Now need to go through the final step of determining the properties of the unclued entries. Wish my calculator allowed for more digits.

[Oyler]

Well done Mysterons. Just spoil it for everybody. Why not let them find it out for themselves?

[tilbee]

Final step more straightforward than I expected. Though had to take a leap of faith on one of the properties.

[midazolam]

For anyone struggling to work out N, then this link will help. The larger the number the longer it takes to give the result but it does get there.

http://internetfamily...factorscalculator.htm

[AndrewG-S]

Thanks for the puzzle Oyler and sorry that the theme has been given away so quickly here. A shame as this was a well constructed puzzle which offered a lot to those less keen on the numericals. I am always interested to hear how these were constructed so if you are either planning a setters blog or would be prepared to share some solution notes in due course once the solution is published that would be much appreciated. (My email is [email protected]).

[Clamzy]

Well my fun wasn't spoilt because, as usual, I don't visit here until I have completed. Reading through this thread it seems that the same applies to the majority, who post here after they have finished.
That said I enjoyed the solve and congratulate Oyler on a superb construction.
More, more.

[Silentether]

Is 1 a prime number?

[dr b]

1 is not considered prime for reasons spelled out here:

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrimeNumber.html

[Silentether]

Thanks Dr B. In that case, 18ac has me stumped.