It is worth pointing out that we had exactly the same problem with Azed’s Printer’s Devilry (he decided to accept alternatives for at least 2 clues) a month or two ago and it didn’t seem to provoke so much indignation then. The root cause, or part of it, is I suppose the same – that both kinds of puzzle sever the connection between the definition (in the PD case there isn’t one) and the solution, so you lose one of the limiting factors.

Best wishes for 2012,
Helveticus

First of all, I have to apologise for the puzzle not being completely sound, in that a couple of alternative solutions were discovered. I made a late change to 6dn and unfortunately missed that I’d introduced another element (IR) that could be transmuted. For 7dn, SCRINE was missing from my generated word list, perhaps because it’s an obsolete word.

For the other suggested alternatives, I took that view that keeping to the main Chambers dictionary was fair. So FERRIER, BASSIA, etc could be safely excluded. Perhaps adding some extra clarification to the preamble would have helped.

In hindsight, not having either the word play or definition part of the clue pointing to the transmuted word left a bit too much ambiguity for most people. I thought it would make for more of a challenge and would stop someone from solving the whole puzzle “cold”, e.g. from using the definitions only.

Gordon:

In a first version of the puzzle, I tried to use each element just once, but this proved to be too much of a restriction. Also, as the puzzle was produced several months before, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the newly named elements in Nov/Dec didn’t ruin things!

Not sure I agree with that. Ferrier seems perfectly OK to me, although some may argue that Nother is now simply an Americanism, meaning ‘different other’, as in “That is a whole nother argument”.

Perhaps I’ve lived in this grammatically challenged place for too long!

I forgot to add that I was concerned that there may also be duplication caused by QAOS being unaware of the latest additions to the Periodic Table; or maybe even that some of these new elements were named after the crossword had been agreed for publication.
Unlike you, I did not do ‘A Level’ Chemistry, but I did study Nuclear Physics at Liverpool University, where they had a co-operative venture with CERN. I was, and still am, well aware of the bizarre development of ever-more fleeting traces of ‘new’ elements, so was cautious of whether these might be in or not.
Anyhow,the threee in November added were Darmstadtium, Roentgenium and Copernicium [Ds, Rg and Cn].
In December we also had Flerovium and Livermorium [Fl and Lv] added.
I have to say the only one that I thought might cause a problem was Flevorium with the Fl, but I suppose as it was not named until after the crossword was issued it would not be accepted? Interesting point.
Sorry to go on, but I’m sat here bored as it is late afternoon here in the USA with absolutely nothing happening!
Best wishes

Gordon

Hi bridgesong
Thanks, typo corrected.

Hi Gordon
It will indeed be interesting to see, when the solution is published, how many alternatives were acceptable. Having found 7dn I had intended to revisit the remaining clues to see if the same applied elsewhere but somehow by the time I had finished my blog I forgot.