Comments on: Inquisitor 117 QUO VADIS? BY Charybdis

By: Chris Poole (charybdis)

Chris Poole (charybdis) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:33:41 +0000

… or, much better, if I’d stated “… via TWO OF THE four unclued grid entries.”

By: Chris Poole (charybdis)

Chris Poole (charybdis) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:31:13 +0000

Thankyou, Hihoba, for the very kind report – only just seen.
Re 40A (FLEA/FLEA), FLEA is indicated by the clue yet FLEE (as a clash moreover) was required and this was an embarrassingly stupid error on my part. My apologies to all solvers.
I hadn’t anticipated difficulties finding R.Frost’s journey though. Oh,well.
The preamble states “The grid represents a choice of journeys from top left to bottom right of the grid via the four unclued grid entries. … six cells represent the journeyer – whose entire route must be highlighted. The other six cells … act as a reminder of the location.”
The sense of the poem is that if you choose one road (as you always must) the other remains untrod. The journey is the one on which R.Frost can be found.
Looking back on it, perhaps I should have come up with a grid where the destinations don’t meet up (rather than a kind of loop). This might avoid any ambiguity – or would it?!

By: deejay

deejay — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 09:34:42 +0000

Given the above, I assume most solvers were in a dilemma over what to highlight. For me it wasn’t “route” or “journey” that worried me, but “entire”. His entire route used either all four unclued entries, or as Hihoba says, “the one less travelled by” (two unclued entries that only went half way). In my view, this conflicted with travelling one path. I suppose that aspect of the poem was the dominant theme, so I should have plumped for just the path with R FROST in it … but I didn’t! (Either way, a beautiful poem.)
Dave.

By: Ray Folwell

Ray Folwell — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:23:21 +0000

I agree that it was unclear what should be highlighted. “Travelled by R Frost made all the” doesn’t make sense and we were looking for a hidden message somewhere.

By: Hihoba

Hihoba — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:44:59 +0000

Thanks for your comment Mike. It does not say that the route must be one of the “top left to bottom right” journeys (notice “journey” not route), nor that it should be the one that the journeyer was on and his entire route was “the one less traveled by”. Anyway at least four (three Hihobas and HolyGhost) of your experienced solvers were unsure, so I think that there was a genuine problem!

By: Mike Laws

Mike Laws — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:32:52 +0000

“6 cells represent the journeyer, whose entire route must be highlighted”. I can’t see how that could refer to anything other then the one he actually appears on, and was in no doubt when I test-solved the puzzle in the first place.

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:41:54 +0000

Yes, you’re right about “I” – thanks Hihoba

By: Hihoba

Hihoba — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:16:47 +0000

I think I is alright as it’s the phonetic alphabet I (Alpha Bravo etc). I toyed with “Travelled by R. Frost” as the route!

By: HolyGhost

HolyGhost — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:36:45 +0000

I agree – the rubric was to vague on which cells to highlight. Having decided that only one route should be selected, and that it must connect TL with BR, I plumped for 1d + RFROST + 48a, since that was the journey that RFROST was actually on …

27a: didn’t like “I” for India;
40a: also expected FLEE not FLEA.