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Agreed, woodlouse. A lovely puzzle. I don't submit, but I will be interested to see how they interpret "(reasonably) accurately". Certainly I think you need to work out the two solutions, and that requires a pretty full understanding of the entire puzzle, which is as it should be.

wintonian - you explained it perfectly well, but 14d, rather than 5d, is the problem. 5d has two separate entries that could be entered in either order, just like all the other double entry answers. 14d is different. It has a single 2-word entry and you must have the two 41a entries ordered correctly to make 14d work.

But, woodlouse, the first word of the instruction is not COPY. If I **** something there is going to be a FROM as well as a TO. And I think that means two empty cells. What do others think? It's surely relevant that with those two empty cells the words there are still words or abbreviations.

cockie, I agree with woodlouse. You say "If I **** something there is going to be a FROM as well as a TO. And I think that means two empty cells." You might want to think again. At the risk of repeating myself, you need to find the two solutions (to the statement) and understand how 14 works. Then you should see what woodlouse means

Thanks, keepatit. With a maths degree I know more than I need to about 14s, and the instruction to **** produces such things as mark the spot pretty much where they are needed to solve the equation as originally printed. Leaving them where they were as well produces four spot-markings, two too many. I cannot see any justification for not having two empty cells at the end, and if I am right it's unfortunate that the preamble doesn't say so. But if I'm wrong I'd like to understand why it's acceptable to COPY and not ****. I think there's a debate to be had here. Woodlouse and Keepatit think I'm wrong - what do others feel? We may be in for a KOHb moment again.

... unless the **** is only half as far as I thought, in which case the placing is precise, but then the word "reasonably" is redundant and the failure to indicate this rather unusual method of placing a letter is regrettable. Other views still keenly sought!

Hi, buzzb,

You are absolutely right. The answer to 41dn that is linked to the three-word answer to 38ac must be above the answer that is linked to the one-word answer. We can get the one-word answer to 5dn to the left of the three-word answer, as the clue implies, but only at the cost of not following the implied order for 38ac.

As the letter order for 14dn is crucial for satisfying the preamble that “all grid entries can be read”, this probably overrides the clue orders, unless there is a cunning method of entry that we have both missed.

cockie, that's why in my first comment I said I was interested to see how they interpret "(reasonably) accurately". I took it to mean that solutions with empty cells would be considered incorrect, because they do not demonstrate understanding of the statement. And, as you said before, the fact that all real words remain is therefore significant

I'm really struggling here. I've got the top right corner but not much else.

Could someone give me a nudge for 1D? That might get me going.

Something to do with (h)ostler?

Hi, cookie,

I think the word “reasonably”, together with the vagueness of the instruction, would justify either full or half movement. As was noted in an earlier post, full movement leaves a word and an acceptable abbreviation, with empty cells in each, and filling the original gaps creates two new words.

However, with half moves, the moved letters could be argued to be shared by two answers each. Mathematically, the half moves are closer to the actual solutions, and “reasonably” may simply imply that we don’t have to hit the precise spot.

With this and the ordering of letters in cells with two letters, this was a good puzzle with a slightly unsatisfactory endgame.