Comments on: Genius 76 by Araucaria

By: bridgesong

bridgesong — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:11:47 +0000

Judge, you’re quite right. A slip of the keyboard, I’m afraid. And thanks also to Tom and Russ.

By: Judge

Judge — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:43:36 +0000

shouldn’t 17d be:

CLASSIC – ASS in CLIC(k)

By: Russ

Russ — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:34:42 +0000

You are right that it was a Periodic Table theme. The indicated places were based on the atomic number. So, as examples, F+EAST would go at 9, since this is the atomic number for fluorine (symbol F), NASTURTIA would go at 11, since this is the atomic number for sodium (symbol Na). Once you got the hang of that, then it made fitting the grid a whole lot easier.

By: Qaos

Qaos — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:56:50 +0000

Very well done to those that completed this without spotting the theme! I managed not to spot that 2nd letters of the elements were also used, so can only imagine the extra difficulty of not putting in all those helping letters.

I think the only detraction from this puzzle was the obscurity of some of the words. The theme and implementation were pure genius (no pun intended), but I guess it can’t help but make the grid that much harder to fill. As a result, I found the last 1/4 of the puzzle a bit of a word search than solving.

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:24:00 +0000

I struggled with this (on and off) all month, but finally finished it today – too late to submit an entry. I didn’t spot the theme either.

About all I can add is in 11ac I think the wordplay is T for “cross” (T-cross or tau-cross being a T-shaped cross) in Asturias with N(orth) at the beginning, and not S(outh) at the end, the result being a notional Latin plural for nasturtium which is not normally used.

By: bridgesong

bridgesong — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:03:11 +0000

Thanks, all for your comments. Quite how I managed to solve it without spotting the theme is a mystery to me: well done to those who did.

By: Gaufrid

Gaufrid — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:48:23 +0000

Mr Beaver
‘Ines’ is a variant of Agnes, a female forename meaning ‘chaste’.

By: jetdoc

jetdoc — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:03:48 +0000

I too solved this without spotting the theme — though I thought the Periodic Table must be involved somehow — and found it quite hard going. My companion, who saw the theme almost straight away, had a much easier time of it.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:24:26 +0000

Hi Gaufrid

Your comment on RYEDALE gave me a sense of déjà vu. I’ve discovered why: it echoes my own comment on Araucaria 24,671 on 11th April. [Ian, in this clue for RYEDALE, the D came from 'end of and'!]

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:09:59 +0000

Hi Ian

Apologies for relocating you – I shouldn’t comment so late at night!