Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Following Meursaults sequence helped me tremendously! I never saw the change is 13a until the very last letter change, then all became clear. A classic object indeed.

I'm happy it worked out well, Gitto.

S_Pugh, apologies for absence. Maybe easiest if I just say that 10D becomes 'norsels', which is in 11th ed TCD (2011) and is plural for a piece of line for fastening fishing nets.

I too am worried about the 14dn / 24ac issue. When 14dn changes to PALS it forces another proper word at 24ac - SAWN. This then becomes SEWN. As far as I can make out this is the only instance of a real word being created before the second adjustment in a word. Is there a trap I’ve missed?

And belatedly, S_Pugh, I see the problem you've described. And in both cases, that is 24A and 4A, I've also infringed the rule that one has to have an intermediate non-word (I had sawn and sauces). I think I didn't see this before because I was believing my own propaganda that the sequence of changes didn't matter...that whole situation came about because the chain of changes and checking each time for word/non-word was, to say the least, becoming a little tedious...

Yes Meursault I have just seen there is a second instance of this issue which I missed in 4ac.

Hi Unclued. There is a loophole, which I believe, from last week's puzzle, is also an ambiguity. The preamble states "This change makes a crossing down entry a non-word, which must have a letter changed to make it a new word..." but the preamble never explicitly states that any crossing across entry is made into a non-word...

You are dead right. I reckon the setter attempted to make them all non words to start with but didn’t quite make it. I was unaware of the theme until the very end which was quite satisfying.

Yes, it was certainly a satisfying endgame. But I'm only suggesting the loophole...I don't want to mislead, and it doesn't seem a wholly satisfactory explanation...

I also noted the absence of a specific reference to across clues in the preamble, which I guess will be Pointer's 'cop out'. But I think it is grossly unfair given the complexity of the endgame not to make it clearer. I had the clues cold solved within a couple of hours yet the endgame has taken me 12 hours (and counting) - even with the earlier identification of 13ac and the thematic object. The puzzle is another fine construction with a terrific endgame BUT the absence of an unambiguous preamble tarnishes it for me.

Thanks to everyone who has provided nudges along the way, much appreciated.

S_pugh et al, you have touched on the issue that has been troubling me for ages. After changing 14d, 24 is still a word, as you say, ditto 20d/4a. I am not convinced by the loophole. Firstly, if any changes are not forced by the fact of the new entry being a non-word, the whole process is pointless. Secondly, the third sentence of the preamble says, "This in turn triggers changing another letter in the crossing (across) entry to make it a real word, and so on." The main part of that sentence refers to the third change in the sequence (to 22a); the phrase, "and so on" must apply to all subsequent entries, including across ones like 22a.

If any changes are strictly unnecessary then the preamble is not just ambiguous, it's wrong.

As I said earlier, Pointer sets traps, and he may have set an elephant trap here.