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Thanks Malone.
As is the norm....after I'd posted last night my brain freeze wore off, I continued my grid stare, looking for the CORRECT 8 and got there eventually :-)

Yes, thanks malone, finally got there. What a brilliant puzzle!

I am very impressed with those who have managed to play the game because I am utterly clueless! I'd never heard of it (though I know the commercial version) but I've looked up the rules and I don't see how it relates to this puzzle.

What are the "components" of the game? Are they Bs and Cs or the letters in the grey cells, the initial ones being those on the left? Is the game played from bottom to top (as in the commercial variety) or top to bottom (as in Wiki)? How can I tell how many Bs and Cs I've got? How do we now what the first guess should be?

Phew!

Orson, the 'components' are the Bs and Cs. I don't think it matters if you play the game from the top or the bottom, just work your way through the rows. All you have to do is take the four letters in the shaded section as your attempt, then see if they get marked, either side, with a B or a C. For example, the first row has STTI and there's a C to the left of that - so one of those letters is correct, but in the wrong place. The attempts that are marked with a B are slightly more helpful, as it means there's a correct letter in the correct place. The second bottom row was a big help.

Thank you Orson & Malone and All. I am still totally confused (and very happy that I am not the only one) but will read and digest all your posts at length and investigate the word version (that I had never heard of). However, I'm not hopeful of this one and may resort to abandonment. Many thanks for all the help.

Thanks very much, malone. I was partly put off by the instructions in Wiki which said that each letter had to be different and make a word, so I thought STTI would be no good. Also, Stock Exchange suggests to me a Pooh-like creature instead of the second one that does appear. It would also have helped if the preamble had said that someone had already played the game with the results as shown in the completed grid.

I've a full grid
Got the message (b's & c's)
Read the last few posts
But still not clear on what needs to be done?
Solving the game can only yield a 4 letter solution? so where does the 8 letter keyword come from?
Would appreciate a strong hint

I've no longer got the paper, so can't remember the details of the preamble. To get the final solution, you show you have played the game and found the 4-letter word - having BBBB alongside this will show that the letters are correct and in the right place. There are only a few words in the grid that will adapt to having a letter changed to a B - and they obviously form a row. That'll show where the four-letter word is to go - getting the word comes from just working through the shaded area, looking out for Bs and Cs in their rows. A lot of letters can be ruled out.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Malone - I'll have another think/go and see how I get on