Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

I have proved to my satisfaction that e and U are the same. Clearly an erroneoUs conclusion, so may I check that I don’t have to go right back to square 1. I have the sum of the four squares given by Sets 1 to 4 as 5336. Is this right? It would be nice to finish this while May is still with us, but that looks increasingly unlikely now.

jockie, that fits my total, and I've just crossed the finish line. I second iratus's comment about the final result.

Thanks, barnacle.

Jockie

Good news - I believe 5,336 is correct

Thanks, sh. That means that e is definite. But the clue for 25A in Set 8 gives the same answer for U. n and t are correct because they are checked by the 5336 and r comes - uniquely? - from 27A, where I and N are known. A very simple place to go wrong! But hiw?

I had e and U the same at one point. Checking, I discovered that I had e and i wrong.

The sum of the first four sets does not uniquely specify the value of e.

So I’ve discovered. The path ahead looks clearer.

War and Peace, Part VI: this very long-term solver and - confession time - occasional setter is struggling to interpret the “message”. The third word implies there might be an anagram somewhere, but light has not dawned from that thought. 9,5,6 might be verb, preposition/pronoun, noun (a bit like contemplate your navel). Gazing hopefully at possible pairs of numbers has resulted only in early-onset strabismus. And I have a Maths degree, for heaven’s sake. Oh dear.

I can't speak for others, but I wouldn't have known where to start without solving the clue.