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Have I missed a thread or does the silence mean that others are finding this as perplexing as me? I have a partially completed grid and there seems to 'be' some sort of pattern but I have ground to a halt.
Some sort of oblique nudge would be appreciated, for instance does the riddle have anything to do with an insect?

Hi Planks, I haven't spent very much time on the puzzle; I'm preparing to travel. However, when I see many occurrences of a letter or letters which score more than 1 on the scrabble board, I get suspicious. It's not statistically likely that there should be so many...and likely I won't get this done before I go away. But it's good to have something a little more interesting...

I have a full grid (with 51 clashes). Now totally stumped as to what to do next. No darned hare so far as I know, but yes there is an insect involved. That's as far as I've got so far ....

Thanks for that, I was beginning to be concerned about the number of clashes but it seems that I am along the right lines. It's a bit like pulling teeth though, even gardening in the rain seemed preferable.

I think I've worked out the numerical answer to the riddle, but any hint on how to apply this information would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry Planks forgot the oblique nudge bit - think literary "tall chap" ..

I'm thinking that many solvers this week will be happy for any help given. Re 33. I looked up 'mildblue' on Chambers word wizard, and was told that bdellium isn't allowable in scrabble. But checked Chambers hardcopy, and it's in.

Tristram, if you do look in, am I right that something you put up on another site has been removed ? Do the decent thing, come over here. Don't even think of justifying your actions. Freedom of speech is still alive here...they'll hate you even more when you're outside the tent peeing in...

I don't think Tristram's message was deleted. His later post suggests it was a blank message in error.

I'm not absolutely sure what the answer to the riddle is, since part of it seems mathematically impossible unless one posits an unrealistic answer that is inconsistent with the grid. I'm assuming that the answer is the larger of two possibilities displayed in the grid (depending on the choice for the ambiguous entry).

s_pugh, I assume the grid to be submitted represents the solution, though I'm not 100% certain. The consistent nature of the clashes do not seem to be thematically relevant. Perhaps the clashes are there to make the grid possible at all, and their consistent nature is merely to make things a bit easier for the solver.

Had a bit of a PDM at 5am, sad I know! I don't see a problem with the mathematical side of the full version of the riddle, since there can only be one possible total number (confirmed by summing the square root, 8/9ths plus the 2 individual critters). I did however struggle to reconcile that number with anything in the grid, then realised that one of the 4-letter down answers has 2 possible legitimate answers, to which needless to say I had the wrong one. By selecting the alternate answer I arrived at the desired total.

Have to say that I'm not very fond of what I believe to be the solution as it is very inelegant given that if I am correct there are only two 'real' words in the finished grid.