Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

I’ve had another look, and I don’t like my solution. It works, after a fashion, but there are aspects of the preamble, however much I dislike it, that seem to contradict it. So please ignore me. I’ll come back if I’m happy with it

The second sentence deals with clue enumeration where we have:
8 semicolon 4, 8 comma 4, 8 + 5, 9 + 4. Does anyone really understand that?
The fourth sentence says .....must start from there. Any ideas where 'there' is?

Q, having now solved the rather obvious Succeeded (hindered hugely by being convinced that Belittling was dodowning, which fits the clue perfectly) I can now hope to make some progress.

Hi
Think all it means is that entries start at the edge of the universe, towards the centre, including numbered and unnumbered entries. Thus, the entry starting at 13 cannot be entered from east to west, instead it goes south to north. Hope that helps.

I agree entirely with that, muraria. I’ll be interested in how you get on, jockie, and whether your solution has the same minor issues as mine.

At the risk of giving too much away - not that I have anything useful to give - I note that there are 3 types of galaxy and 3 different types of enumeration (eg. 8;4 and 8,4 and 8+5). I infer that these refer to answers belonging to the three types of galaxy. This hasn’t lit a pathway, however. Am I right in thinking that the first digit is the number of letters in the answer to the clue, and the second has a bearing on how it is entered?

Jockie, my solution does not distinguish semicolons and commas in the enumeration. Those with a + in them have a slightly different treatment, but thematically form a similar shape. Galaxy clues are really two clues together, first to a longer word, and then a shorter one.

Hi there. So what is the consensus on orientation? Is the top of the crossword north or another point?

Hi
Not sure about 'orientation'. The preamble is opaque, to say the least, and I'm really not sure which of the "clues to numbered answers, one of which..." is being referred to (it's also ambiguous, is it a clue or the answer to a clue?).
So, I simply filled the grid as presented, without rotating, reversing or mirroring.
If I had to say what the orientation is, it would be 'towards the centre'.

I thought the “Going west” answer made most sense at 3 in terms of orientation. It also locates the start of the first galaxy clue at the top, so I’m rather surprised anyone would think otherwise. It’s certainly a defensible solution, but I don’t submit so it really doesn’t worry me either way