Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

If 24 dn. is palindromic, must its middle be 2-digits? Then how can 30 ac. have 3 digits?

The two digits are in the last cell. They are the same as the digits in cell one and cell two.

Hi Beulah,

No, the second cell of 24dn must have only one digit in it, as 30ac has only three single digits in its three cells. As 33ac has six digits but only three cells, it’s first cell must be 1X, so the answer to 24dn must have the form X11X, and the first cell of 30ac is therefore 1.

This was quite straightforward though I spent some time setting up all the clues on a spreadsheet so that the answers would be calculate automatically as the values of the letters were determined. Like others, I started by getting: A, T and S from 29dn and 30ac and R from 21ac.

Is it possible to have too much of a math (or maths as you say over there) brain? I made the assumption that the ! denoted factorial. Eventually ran into a contradiction of the rules. Starting over.

Mathprofrockstar, the ! does denote factorial. That’s how I got started with the puzzle, seeing as 14a then puts a limit on acceptable values of T in 29d.

Thanks. I was about to post a correction. That wasn't what caused my problem. I actually mixed up an I and an L. The numbers aren't the problem; I just need glasses. I originally had it just the way you posted. It actually has to be factorial, otherwise from 14 the value of N would be too large to make 25 work.

You are not the only one who cannot read the clues. I spent much of yesterday going around in circles since I had deduced, from the fact that there is an index of A - S in 25a, that S was less than A, which implied that S was 1.

Now I see that the minus is a plus, but I really had to struggle to do so.

Time for a fresh start, but I am beginning to get tired of this.

Immediate correction. There is such an index in 30, so we are back with S = 1. I must have made a different mistake.

I have had enough of this. I cannot choose M, E and D which simultaneously

a) produce a 5 digit 1a which has a 1*
b) produce a 4 digit 12a which has a 1*
c) produce a 4 digit 9d which has a 1*
d) produce a 4 digit 27d which begins 1*

I am going to do some proper mathematics.

Foinavon, as one mathematician to another, in cryptic terms, M is known as the Adele Prime. Hope this helps.