EV 983; Lost and Found by Piccadilly

[DocHH]

Hello EV, N&C Wine Clubbers,
INITIALLY I LOST my way on this, and FOUND I had to cold solve a lot of clues, which was not too much of a chore, before I FOUND my way! I actually think I spent more time adjusting entries to achieve the symmetry, than solving clues. It wasn't helped by my incorrect interpretation of the words "horizontal symmetry" in the rubric. That FINALLY gave a satisfying grid highlighting! Thank goodness for a decent pencil and plastic eraser!
OK time for a preprandial!
Dr b, how was the first week of this current semester? I have 2 days work this week, then that's it until December. Must arrange a holiday soon to recover from this week's stress!

[devadolly]

Hi DocHH have managed to rattle through a large proportion of the clues but have no idea of what to do with them as yet. Am swamped with produce in the form of (cannot under any circumstances be wasted) veg and oh dear! Here come the damsons and plums........................................ The sloe gin is done and the bottles ready for the damson and cherry plum but there dosen't seem to be enough time to spend 'straining the brain'!
Many thanks to drb for his link re eReader, apologies for not commenting sooner, still driving me bonkers but have managed to download 3 volumes on to it, as one of them is War & Peace I should be OK for the hols.
Are there any medical persons out there? Copelander?? Have to have a parathyroid gland removed and know nothing about it, any info would be good..........have resisted the knifemen for some time but the little beast is munching my bones to nothing so its time is UP!

[dr b]

Hi all. An enjoyable puzzle, I thought - initial cold solving helped out by a plethora of anagrams. I made an early guess at the way to drop letters which turned out to be correct, so as noted it was a matter of figuring out where the blanks went. A pleasing final diagram!

First week went fine; no classes tomorrow for Labor Day but my night class begins Wednesday.

dd, I just grabbed some HG Wells from Project Gutenberg, nice to be able to fill in the gaps in one's education free of charge!

[haggis58]

Hi e'vers and welcome to the drb fan club. Yes a satisfying outcome with the highlighting but its all greek to me!

[AndrewG-S]

Hello all. Agree that a much of the time was spent on finding where the blanks were - for me this started at the bottom of the grid and for a while I thought the finale was going to be rather more animate than it actually is. Enjoyable from start to finish - thanks Piccadilly.

[kayakamina]

Like DocHH I initially confused my 'horizontal' with 'vertical' -surely the preamble is incorrect?

Finally it all shaped up and I treated myself to a nice glass of 35a!

[turnerjmw]

Agreed k. There seems to be some confusion, but the logical reading of vertical symmetry must be symmetrical about the vertical axis, i.e. left and right halves the same, which is what we have here. Straightforward clueing but a typically excellent construction from Piccadilly

[Christiana]

Hi all, completed grid, also some confusion over the symmetry, but all sorted now. BUT 2 clues which my online copy seems to have misprints in - or is it just me? 12 across. Thought it should be 'ten' in the rubrik, not 'tin' and 25d, thought "held" needed, not "hold", though it would then read wrong. Probably just me.
DD, I'm swimming in fruit and veg, though I doubt if it's in the quantities you are handling.

[dr b]

Hi Christiana, I think both those clues are OK; for 12, tin = can as in a tin of beans; for 25, remove MOON from MIGHTHOLDONEA before anagramming ("versatile") to get the answer.

[kayakamina]

Hi Christiana

I don't think they are misprints-
12a Tin = CAN
25d MIGHT HOLD ONE less (no) MOON + A = Aid to travelling

Regards
K

[Christiana]

Thanks dr b and K - had the second anagram okay but somehow messed up the letters when I scored them through. Will have to look again at 'can' now, as the answer I have doesn't work with that.

[Christiana]

How daft can you get? Have now rectified my mistake and all is safely gathered in - wish I could say the same about my apples, pears, plums, runner beans etc!

[DocHH]

Christiana, if it's any consolation, I initially started trying to solve that clue with Sn, blame it on my scientific upbringing!

[devadolly]

Good Morning All. Also fell into the Sn trap! Have managed all the clue answers but am completely at a loss as to how to organise the grid, Have read the preamble every whichway until I am blue in the face, brain totally clogged with calcium so some hob-nailed hints would be most gratefully received.
Cherry Plum & Damson gin for Xmas presents all round this year I think! At least the beans are slowing down.

[kayakamina]

DD if you have identified which letters have been removed, then think of the position of those letters in Greek terms.

The shape made by the blank squares can represent the letters.

[devadolly]

Hi K, that's the problem, I haven't identified the letters, the NW corner & 1a seems to suggest a fairly simple solution that works well in certain quadrants but then collapses in a heap of confusion towards the centre both horizontally & vertically.

[DocHH]

Devadolly, if you have chosen the correct solution, for each word, it should work for rows 1 and 13, and columns 1, 2, 12 & 13. Then you have to inject some spaces into the rest of the rows and columns. The shapes formed by those spaces represent the positions of the letters you removed from your answers.

[devadolly]

Thanks DocHH, am I correct in assuming the simple fore & aft solution for the suggested items? If so will set in stone (fill in in ink) and try again, if not.......definately back to the drawing bopard!

[DocHH]

Devadolly, yes a fore and aft removal. When you fit the remaining letters into the grid, it is not a case of moving the whole entry in one block, you need to line up corresponding letters in across and down entries. This then creates spaces in the grid. Each of the rows are symmetrical about its central square.

[devadolly]

Thank you Doc, think I am losing the will to live!

[jim360]

Hi all - someone called don sent me this puzzle after last weeks' successful solve.

Got 25 clues so far but it's hard work figuring out how to put them all in! A bit like a jigsaw puzzle with a) half the pieces missing, and b) the shapes hidden from you!

DocHH, are all the bold words in your post hints to how to solve it (initial and final) or not?