Listener 4131 - Carte Blanche en Tore by Ten-Four

[cluelessJoe]

Easiest one of the year for me by a long chalk. Am I getting smarter, or are these Listeners getting simpler?

[EagleCountry]

Thanks midazolam and bellabee. I have completed the grid and now (only!) have to carry out the instruction.

[jamesah]

After a few days I'm at the 'solved 32 clues and wondering what to do next' stage. Is it correct that entering all the answers correctly(but without doing anything related to a torus which is likely to be quite beyond me) a symmetrical grid will appear? If so, one down clue should end in the last letter of 52ac. Any advice would be most welcome!

[midazolam]

That was an assumption i made, but it is wrong. The grid is 180deg symmetrical without having to worry about a 3D torus. Read through the treads, it will tell you how to start.

[tenflags]

Late to the party as usual .. a bit harder than last weeks methinks.
Only 22 solved so far and trying to get to hopefully a tipping point. Jackdecrows words are however encouraging ... trouble is i'm at the wadding through treacle stage - very very slow progress now. I've posted simply to have a distraction and to say arrrrrrggggghhhhh (A bit like that cartoon character years ago that runs off to the top of the hill to scream and then comes back) - that's a bit better.

[EagleCountry]

Keep going tenflags. For me, 4 days of tedious plodding ended in 2 hours of fun
to complete the grid. Start from the middle and don't assume anything.
However I still have to carry out the instruction (hopefully)!

[jamesah]

I have read through the threads but I can't say that they tell me where to start! If the grid is 180deg symmetrical then 1ac and 1dn should be symmetrically placed relative to 52ac and one of the down clues. That down clue should end in the last letter of 52ac(which is an interesting letter and should help). I remain baffled!

[perseverer]

jamesah - that is only true if 1ac/d is in the top corner where you would expect it to be. The thread tells you which one answer (assuming you have it) can be placed in the grid with certainty - based on the symmetry and number of across clues

[Clamzy]

First words of 47ac and 4ac. I had cold solved more than 40 clues which as mentioned above, were all the more difficult for wordplay pointing to something other than the answer. At that point I still couldn't fit them into the grid until a kind friend reminded me that I had Will's unusual word in the wrong place. After that the grid fill helped me with the unsolved ones and a finish. I agree with the sentiments expressed above by AndrweGS - great fun once past the cold solving stage. Thanks Ten-Four.

[jamesah]

OK, perseverer-thanks for the comment. I guessed that 1ac/1dn weren't in the usual place but I assumed that 1ac was somewhere in the top row and 52ac symmetrically placed in the bottom row. I guess that must be wrong!

[bellabee]

you wrongly assume that that too jamesah.- where answers start and end make the bar pattern idiosynchratic.

[bellabee]

please ignore that extra that.- in fact you are right regarding the symmetry issue!

[midazolam]

jamesah, yes the point at which 1 across starts would normally be the point at which the last clue ends in a "normal" crossword, but in this case the entries wrap around. You are right in the sense that because of symmetry an across entry must end at that point. However, as there can only be a maximum of two per row, it implies that it can be either the last or the penultimate entry that fulfills this criteria.

[jamesah]

Er, right. I'll think about it!

[midazolam]

Rereading my post, I realise I am talking a load of rubbish. Of course it doesnt have to be the last down clue that finishes at the end of the last across clue.

If there is 1 across and 1 down then the last across clue must also intersect with the last letter of a down clue of the same length as 1 down. In this case it doesnt have to be the last across clue it could be the penultimate across clue instead, because they wrap around.

I think that reads better

[Ruthrobin]

Yes, Midazolam - I was beginning to wonder what amazing feature of the grid I had overlooked!

[tristram37]

Am I right in thinking that 95 (96 with this one) posts is a record for this topic? I can't remember any recent puzzle with this number. It makes (far from) Clueless Joe's original comment look a bit strange. Or was that an April fool?

[midazolam]

Listener 4126 by Corvettes was the last to break the 100 mark with 112

http://www.theanswerb...s/Question992265.html

[jamesah]

I've completed the grid at last with a little help from a friend! I shan't worry too much about carrying out the instruction. Some very devious clues, the only one I don't understand has the 'mighty in battle' in it.

[bellabee]

check the usual place at the back

[dr b]

100!!!

Well, it had to be someone.......