Listener 4061: 50-50 by Phi

[emcee]

Good grief, where is everyone? This week's offering is by Phi, and, my word, I'm having a fair old struggle with it! Has anyone finished it yet?

Good luck everybody!

emcee

[Deviant]

Daagg, thank for the encouragement. I'd started a bit in the top left hand corner, but it hadn't helped too much. I've at least managed to allocate a couple more answers, but it's a struggle - I'm almost looking forward to the mathematical tomorrow (and I have a 95% record of mucking those up at the first go).

By "reflective symmetry" does it mean left vs right or top vs bottom, or is a more cryptic reference?

[Clamzy]

Deviant - the answer to your symmetry question was provided by cruciverbalist earlier in this thread. It always pays to read through all the posts on here.

[Ruthrobin]

Or think 'folding'. Fold it in half in all possible ways (once only) and you have mirror symmetry. There are four possible axes - and obviously one of them has to give you what you are looking for.

[Deviant]

Clamzy, believe me, I always read through the posts before posting. However, sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees, or in this case, distinguish the right tree in the forest :)

Ruthrobin, yes I see what you're getting at. Now if I can just solve a few more answers, I might get there (next January!)

Thanks. Ian

[Philoctetes]

Well that was tough! Though congratulations are due to everyone here - 44 contributions so far, and not a single request for answers to specific clues. They are indeed tough but fair, so much so that I could only crack one or two at any sitting before my head spun. I have a completed grid, and no more instructions to follow, but I'm blowed if i can see the significance of "punctuation" or "links in the middle" referred to earlier. Perhaps i need another sesison in a darkened room with a cooling towel round my head.

[daagg]

Philoctetes, if you have worked out the significance of the main blank areas, then I think you can see similar areas over the rest of the grid, on a variety of scales. To me, the links highlight another of these areas, which are all linked thematically. Does anyone else agree with my interpretation, or am I barking up the wrong tree, or have I ended up with a completely wrong grid structure ;-)

[Cruncher]

daagg - I must confess I'm not sure what you're on about. The grid is obviously littered with thematic shapes but I have yet to find any other thematic connection beyond the unclued entires.

[daagg]

There is a pervading theme which links the title, the setter, the relationship between Phi, A, B and C, and the layout of the grid, including the position of the thematic entries and the blank areas. If you have worked this out, then I think that the detailed structure of the grid becomes clear.

[teuchter2]

I am much nearer to there than I was when I subscribed previously. I just need an offensive player (so does my team!) and I am not so happy about the third across clue, but I'll probably sort those out today. Does anyone have any advice on where I can find C as I don't believe he\she is in the same location as I found A & B neither of whom I have heard of. This one has certainly made my brain ache. I look forward to the numbers after we have seen off the Huns.

[Ruthrobin]

Teuchter2 Google is my saviour - sounds like the first line of a hymn, doesn't it? I found them there as the first offering when I fed in the bits I guessed at, and the common link.

[daagg]

Apologies if I'm confusing people. All I was trying to add was that the "linking cells" (which bridge the main split between the two parts) form part of the set of thematic shapes. If you extend the branches of the main split, and also the answers passing through the linking cells, to the left and bottom edges, then the lower left displays the theme in the same way as the upper right.

[teuchter2]

Thanks Robinruth. I had tried Google yesterday without success but have managed to find him now.

[Jogler]

I have just subscribed to the Times and downloaded this, my first Listener, yesterday full of enthusiasm! I logged on to your thread this morning and realised I might have started with the wrong week! Such is life.

[Speravi]

Welcome, Jogler, I hope you enjoy these weekly discussions. If you would like an alternative to Listener 4061 (which is very tough indeed), you don't have long to wait because 4062 should appear at around 16.00 today.

[Eril]

Blimey. Congrats to those who solved this last weekend. Just filled in the last one tonight. Now to ferret out the significance of the blanks that the lot of you have rabbited on about. Anyway, I now have a lovely latticework grid made of stuck-together strips of paper. A baby-cruciverbalists mobile?

[fancydan]

Does anyone else wonder about an I and an R along a certain line?

[tilbee]

Wow ! I managed to finish this last Monday after hours of effort. I was somewhat thrown by the two squares I expected to be empty ! Better not say too much, having been warned off after my first post last Sunday.Congrats to everyone that managrd this.

[Mysterons]

fancydan - I think these are the 'linking cells' that daagg refers to above.

[daagg]

Indeed they are!

[fancydan]

Thanks, this was a hard one for me.
I'm no good with the numbers so it's EV time
Cheers