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You don’t have to go far at all in the original source to find the relevant part. I actually think Shackleton was well aware that Wiki was incomplete, and that was his trap. Only one letter reveals the “hideous truth”, so I’d be astonished if it’s not the single letter.

If the hideous truth is vanity, or greed, the answer differs. The story is structured to reveal something hideous about human nature. But I see the more mechanical answer.

That’s ingenious, barnacle, but in the context in which the enlarged characters are located, and the title, I think you would overlook the physical at your peril. I’m very happy with my resolution, and I will never post on here again if I’m wrong

I mean the title of the work, of course …

The other, obvious, point, is that you can choose the other answer with a cursory reading of Wikipedia, and without having understood the four generations at all, or what the single letters stand for. Given that Shackleton is a multiple Ascot Gold Cup winner, I find this result wholly implausible.

Thanks Quisling - your rationale at #45 is completely plausible.

Thanks for the reply. Glad you concur

Perhaps you're correct, Quisling. I wrote that I could see your answer. No ingenuity involved. Mine seemed the natural response to me. I'm happy to be wrong.

Mack, thanks for your reply at #39. I had made things difficult for myself by wrongly converting the numbers back to letters in the 2 x 2 blocks. However, all now seems in order.

If quisling is correct then my dislike of Shackleton has intensified further. I detested his two ascot gold cup winners as being massively over complex, and if you can't find the correct answer here from the wiki entry then that is just ridiculous.