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beepy

19th November 2017, 19:06
Two of the five-letter words in my completed grids can form another five-letter word when read in the opposite direction. If I count these reversals, then I end up with two too many five-letter words. Is it safe enough to assume that we should only read from left to right for across words and top to bottom for down words? Can anyone confirm they also have two reversible words?
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crosswhit99

19th November 2017, 19:23
The middle column of the first grid and the top row of the second can indeed be reversed.
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theragman

19th November 2017, 20:43
In one of the early posts it was said that letters were added to each grid to even out the numbers of each and that the original letters don't move! Quite a few letters must be moved if you end up without rubbish in some rows and columns and even get two palindromes! Explanations get more baffling by the minute, unless I'm losing it.....
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crosswhit99

19th November 2017, 21:13
Whilst it's true that none of the original grid letters change cells, it's not the case that any of the words they form are palindromes.
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theragman

19th November 2017, 21:26
Sorry, my mistake, use of wrong word! I meant reversible, of course. Nothing reversible in my letters grid, so maybe it's wrong!
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beepy

19th November 2017, 21:31
Thanks crosswhit99 for the verification. Your reversibles tally with mine.
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wintonian

19th November 2017, 22:18
I think that the important point in the preamble is that the third hint gives the total number of five-letter words that must appear in the completed grids. This suggests to me that there should be at least the number of words given by the hint, not that there should be exactly that number. So if we can find additional words by reading backwards, that doesn't create an inconsistency.

This was certainly a challenging puzzle. I think that the setter should be congratulated for building in an alternative, but ultimately incorrect, pathway that provided a sequence of letters that, when put in ascending order of the numbers they represented, included a number that was plausible for the number of words in the grids, albeit incorrect. I benefited greatly from the hint about 2dn given in an early post, as I'd gone astray first time round and found that I couldn't reconcile the elements in 7ac because of an incorrect value for t.
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verlaine

19th November 2017, 23:13
Is the bottom row the same in each grid? Or perhaps one letter different? I'll be able to pursue some lines of one tomorrow but right now I'm not near a dictionary...
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wintonian

19th November 2017, 23:23
Verlaine,

In the left grid, the bottom row is left entirely blank after completing the numerical clues, and in the right grid, the first, second and fifth cells are blank. Completing the bottom row in each grid will give different words, because these need to fit in with the other letters in the columns. However, I have inserted the same letter in the first and the last cell in both bottom rows to give valid words in all relevant directions.
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verlaine

19th November 2017, 23:25
Ah, never mind, I've found a better track of and I like the look of my grids better now! No need for reversing words to make up the count I don't think...
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