Listener 4256 - Boxes By Radix

[olichant]

Oh my goodness.

What an incredible feat from Radix. I have not been able to put this down since I got a foothold in - the construction, symmetry and elegance make the mind boggle. I am slightly ashamed that I used a late-twentieth-century technique to make headway, and (for the moment) I cannot imagine how I could have completed it otherwise.

Truly humbling. Thanks, Radix. I think I can now understand what people see in numericals!

[ad41]

I'm confused. It says "a, b, c and d are integers with no factor other than 1 common to them all". However, it also says that "exactly one of each box's three dimensions must be odd". If that's true then 2 dimensions are even and therefore both have 2 as a common factor...

[dr b]

"common to them all" means a, b , c AND d share a common factor. It's OK if only two of them do.

[jim360]

"No factor common to them all" -- so all three would have to share the same factor to break this rule.

[ad41]

Yup - just realised my error after I posted. Planned to post up and found two replies already. You're too quick!!

[JackDeCrow]

Phew. Staggered over the line finally. Thanks to all who encouraged and to Monkmonk for the links to helpful software, without which this would surely have taken months. I guess that's a bit of a grumble as I wouldn't normally expect to have to learn new software to solve a Listener, but the construction is extraordinary and I still hope that when the solution comes out it will turn out that we all missed something very elegant!

[Alekhine]

Late starting on this after Bank Holiday weekend frivolities.

It was a bit of a chore, but I'm wondering if there is more than one numerically correct solution. I have a full grid fill where all of the answers work (yes, I have checked them a million times), I have the obvious message with which I have subsequesntly complied. I have one ambiguity in the grid and that leads me to two 'words' neither of which are actually words.

Is it possible that there is more than one numerically correct solution?

I've always wondered about that with numericals.

[Ruthrobin]

Alekhine, I think that is the major concern of anyone considering writing a numerical Listener. (I am happy to be corrected, of course.) Radix is one of the most meticulous compilers of all and certainly made as sure as possible that there was not a second solution. Your post actually indicates where your problem is. To say more would be a spoiler. Email me at [email protected] if you like.

[AndrewG-S]

I shall be having nightmares over 576 and 13824 for weeks.

[crosswhit99]

I was left with 2 symmetrical ambiguities, each in unchecked cells, leading to 4 "words" , only two of which are real. I guess if you have the non-words that you've overlooked the ambiguity on the right side perhaps.

[borealis]

Wow. For me, a contender for the best Listener since I have been doing them. There are clearly three classes of solver - calculator alone, spreadsheet, and programmer (Java/Python etc). I am in class two, for this one, and I bow to anyone in class one. With a spreadsheet, there was a clear (with hindsight!) route. I found various steps to be amenable to logic and a calculator, but would love to hear if there is a route that I missed to solve in a reasonable time without a spreadsheet.
Radix, thank you very much indeed. A wonderful puzzle.

[Cruncher]

I was holed up in Malaysia with only a basic calculator and an awful lot of paper and pencil and can confirm that it was possible to work this out with nothing more sophisticated. A couple of long haul flights with nothing much else to do certainly helped and, by the end, I had become much more cunning about working which possibilities to pursue for the individual entries.

[borealis]

Well done, the appropriately named Cruncher!