Enigmatic Variations 951

[AndrewG-S]

Finding this one tough going. Amendments to the clue entries makes this virtually a cold-solve in many respects. I am down to the last 5 clues, but have been stuck for a while. I guess the lack of posting means others are in a similar position.

[bobbycollins]

Comfortably the most difficult of the week - but well worth the effort, though I agree that some thematic help with the clashing letters would have been neater (but maybe have made the puzzle too easy?).

Just read that back and it looks tortuous. Can't be botherd to edit though.

Regards all.

[Mysterons]

... and made no easier by the ambiguity at the intersection of 22d and 34, as noted above by DocHH. Unless I'm mistaken, both of these answers are entered with a letter altered, and although I'm sure it wasn't Rustic's intention, the preamble does not preclude additionally changing the letter common to both, ie B to M in this case. This doesn't happen elsewhere, but I don't see how it could be marked wrong. Perhaps the preamble should have made it clear that alterations can only me made in cells where there is a clash ?

[bellabee]

i saw no reason to change the b at the intersection of 22dn and 34ac. the word at 22dn i took to be the 'first part of a hyphenated word' in chambers. - i still have exactly half of the across and half of the down answers entered normally. to alter cells where there are no clashes seems a bit anarchic really because you could change any intersection -eg the t at the intersection of 23dn and 38ac could be changed to an e - maybe i am missing something?

[Mysterons]

Surely changing that T to an E would contravene the 'Half and Half' rule bellabee ? . The requirement for 22 down to be part of a hyphenated word would however rule out calamar/mitten, so no ambiguity after all, thank you.

[bellabee]

mysterons - yes and yes - but on an entirely different subject, have you done 'harry potter's headache' by zaphod? it was mentioned on the last listener thread. having solved most of the clues i can't seem to get a handle on how to enter anything.i would appreciate any hints.

[Mysterons]

No I've not seen this one yet, sorry - is it available online ?

[bellabee]

yes - eril and ruthrobin give a link for it on the last listener thread [4121] - i'm trying to mop up the last few clues but really need to find a way of entering some answers - i think i'll need some help with this one - if you decide to do it maybe you can drop a few hints on here? i'll check the thread from time to time. regards.

[Mysterons]

I shall take a look - thanks for the pointer.

[bellabee]

think i have every across answer bar 3 'ultimate end confused.......' - 'plebiscite in france....' - '...present location' - and every down bar 4 - 'fish modelled....' - 'can he put..' 'desire calm sister' - 'fourier analysis' seems like you can enter clues across + down with a gap in the middle [where i think remaining letters of the unclued items go. however, i'm not really enjoying the frustration and will probably give up on it soon. unless someone out there can give a hint or two. or enlighten me on the missing 7.