Listener No 2012 Links by KevGar

[Ruthrobin]

This must be our quickest solve ever! What a delightful little compilation by KevGar. We tumbled to the theme with the first solution and have enjoyed it thoroughtly so far. Gentle, indeed after some recent ones - but why not. Thanks, KevGar. (Yes, we do still have a few cells to fill!)

[starwalker]

I suspected that there may be an early finsh to this as I gently amble my way through. Everything seems to be quite straightforward so far. Thanks to KevGar.

[dr b]

Straightforward, with kind of an odd word (or letter) search at the end. Are we supposed to get out a ruler and start computing average distances? Not much point to that last step.

[jim360]

Oh drat, and I thought my solve time was fast. Well it was for me. Just filled in 3d and 30d and hopefully have the highlighting sorted. A bit of a weaker ending but on the other hand without the first name so hidden I wouldn't have had the delightful PDM when I realised that X was not who I first thought of. Well worth it just for that moment!

Bizarrely, a totally mistaken guess for the unclued entry at "4.5 across" led me to the right X, and the other 4 unclued entries followed ten seconds later.

Favourite clues: 19d, or at least the change needed to be made - had me well and truly flummoxed until I saw what was needed and laughed out loud! Also 16a and 21d stood out for me.

[upsetter]

The B team made it into the Friday club for once - quite agree with Jim - we got the wrong brother too.

[Texasetes]

Will there be enough copies of the Z-cup to go round this week, I wonder? If only one exists, then I would very much appreciate being allowed to look after it for a week.

[Is it possible to correct the title of this thread? Listener 2012 ('Priority and Parity' by Freca) appeared in December 1968]

[Ruthrobin]

So sorry about the error in the title - we were going so fast the fingers were numb. No, I think it would be unfair to be claiming the Z cup, though I think I have missed the point of the endgame. You have to admit it was a very entertaining grid fill.

[Alekhine]

Yawn.

I think we might need a Z tea set this week.

[AndrewG-S]

Interesting to learn about X. Not very convinced by the final step unless I am missing something. Plenty of time to enjoy the weekend!

[AHearer]

An easy grid fill, indeed, but a nice theme with strong connections and a clever title. Like AndrewG-S, I still feel there's one more penny to drop about the shading.

[reg orr]

Hi, Can't really claim FridayClub - but best-ever Saturday. Paper delivered c08:00 & grid filled before noon. Treatment of answers obvious after 1st 2 clues solved. Nice PDM after finding the "group of 4". After several easy gridfills in a row - am I looking forward to next week? Maybe not.

[aldanna]

A nice easy puzzle like this suits me fine, as life has been full of non-crossword stuff recently (I abandoned an almost complete grid last week due to lack of time). As it seems silly to keep a a mathematician and minimise your own distances, I handed to filled grid to Himself. However, the resulting highlighting seems oddly unsatisfying, unless, as is all too likely, there is some subtlety we've missed.

[tilbee]

I am in the same boat, still trying to determine the relevance of the highlighting.

[Zabadak]

H'm. Solved during a rainstorm (and a bit) in Paphos (lucky me). Not sure what's going on with the ending, and at least two possibilities present themselves for measurement, perhaps in squares, millimeters (from where to where, pray?) or guesses. What a strange ending to an otherwise educational (for me) puzzle. Not irritated by this rather charming piece (someone else can have the cup this week) but a bit bemused.

[Texasetes]

I've been thinking about the end game's unsatisfying shading and the unusual method given for finding the relevant cells' locations.

Whenever there is scope for the less conscientious solver to trip up, the wording of the preamble and the contents of the grid must allow all possibilities to be found using the same method. That being the case, is it not simply that grid constraints here made it impossible for X's first name to appear in a more conventional way?

Having said that, the method of minimising the average distance between letters does seem a rather blunt tool, enabling almost any first name (or anything else for that matter) to be found in the grid I don't remember seeing it used before, and I hope not to see it again.

The puzzle's title made me smile, inwardly, at least. And I'll make sure the Z-cup is nice and shiny for next week's claimant.

[TheBear69]

I do not know if it makes a difference here, but is the value to be minimized when determining what to shade the average of:?

a) the distance between all possible pairs of letters in the name
or
b) the distance between pairs of consecutive letters.

For example if the name were TIM would the value be:

[d(TI) + d(TM) + d(IM)]/3 or [d(TI) + d(IM)]/2

I do not think it's so much the grid constraints that led to this, but to ensure that the solver has the right first name for X.

This is the type of thing that colours my opinions as to whether a puzzle is first rate or not. For example, if KevGar would have found a way to have the choices (right and wrong) for 1st name be in the grid in word search fashion, then we would all be talking about what an amazing construction it was. (Not that I could do it!)

[sampa]

Hi, all, first post here. I have not yet got out my slide rule but my preferred bit of shading encompasses some other relevant cells.

[AndrewG-S]

Does "the average distance between any two being minimised" really even make sense? I could take "the average of the distances between any two" and minimise that, I could minimise "the distance between any two", but I am not sure how I can average a single distance. Probably being picky but does not seem totally clear and given the odd placement of the shading remains unsatisfactory.

[Texasetes]

TheBear69: I've used your method a), averaging the distances between all possible pairings.

I think you're agreeing with me regarding 'grid constraints'. What I meant was that the setter couldn't manage to have the correct name and any incorrect ones all appear in a more conventional (i.e. wordsearch) form. As a result, the somewhat scattered letters and the method of evaluating how 'good' any given permutation is seems something of a kludge.

AndrewG-S: I would have been happier with 'the average separation of all possible pairs being minimised'. I think what's wanted is the group which is the 'least scattered', but they've had trouble thinking up an evaluation function for the possible sets of letters and an unambiguous way of describing that function.

[tilbee]

sampa - think I see what you are getting at, i.e the tool of X's trade seems to be hidden in a jumbled form in and around his first name. Not sure if this is meant to be significant.

[AHearer]

sampa and tilbee: I see what you mean. If that's it, it's more like digging a coin out of the fluff down the back of the sofa than a PDM. I'm still hoping to spot something better!