It’s that time of the quarter again, when as word not number people our main instinct is to take cover; but the Blog Must Go On, so here’s our attempt.
Hedgehog has produced a clever set of clues on the “make real words” principle, although we had to mentally turn 1a BRAND NEW into BRANDY to keep up Hedgehog’s membership of the Oenophile Club (and there was that [be]GIN at 6ac to fortify ourselves for the journey ahead). The clues were in fact straightforward equations, but the two-letters-per-number made solving quite tricky, and may have made life more difficult for those trying to automate the process.
Not wanting to grapple with Excel this time, we resorted to the classic methodology of pencil, paper and calculator, which to our surprise did the trick, revealing the hidden message TWO DIGIT PERFECT NUMBER as what was to be highlighted –
28 of course being the only candidate, and explaining why there were just so many 2s and 8s in the grid.
So what was the pathway, you ask? Magic and luck mainly, but we did try to keep a record. What with mis-readings of our notes, lucky guesses that missed other possibilities and all the other shortcomings – here we go:
Zeroes are M and G
1d H>1
14a C>H so 3 or greater
17d O>H so 3 or greater
6d COCO can’t be more than 2 digits
3333 gives 81 the max possible
So C and O are 3
So H must be 2
And COCO is 81
6a BE >8?
Only 9X9 =81 if it is
So B and E both = 9
And 6a is 81
Back to 6d again
NUT <9
9a COO is 27
9a = 27 54 81 with T = 1 2 or 3
Not 3 because of C and O
So 27 or 54 1 with T = 1 or 2
4d B+E-T is 17 or 16
So 4d is 17 and 9a is 27
And T = 1
1d & 8a need to have A at a value giving 1d second digit = 8a first digit
So A – 2 I – 4, 1d = 16, 8a =64
11a: 13d = 18
6d = 88 so NUT = 7 so N & U = 7 & 1
28a: E>T so N>U so N = 7, U = 1; D = 4 or 5
24d & 25d: R = 4 or 5
23d: starts with 9, so 23a = 98, P = 7
2d = 24262
4a: F = 4, 5 or 6
5d: R = 5, 5d = 84, 4a =188, F= 6
25d: begins with 9 so 24a = 89, 25d = 95, D = 5
At this point all entries not involving L S V W can be calculated
22a: W = 6, 11a = 1222, 19a = 4275
27a: S = 8, 3d = 2432, 7d = 1710, 13d = 956, 17d = 8518, 18d = 8888
21a : L =8
V remains to be 4
Well, you did ask. Thanks to Hedgehog for a more accessible puzzle than we
thought it would be, and a very neat ending too.