Listener 3977

[cruciverbali]

This week's puzzle is City Tour by Mango

[JMR27]

hi cruciverbalist and thank you!

[mad max]

thanks C,
at first glance looks very complex ,don't think I will get far on this one.

[Rapparee]

Thanks for the link, cruciverbalist. Looks to be a real toughie.

[bobbycollins]

Don't be put off by the preamble. The grid fill isn't difficult, but I need sleep before tackling the denouement.

[midazolam]

thanks for the link c

yes i agree - the grid filled but will take another look in the morning to get the theme

[Mr Crossy]

Well, hasn't it gone quiet?! Perhaps everyone but me has finished the puzzle and doesn't think it worth further comment. No such luck here: I can see why there are three "words"; and they move seven times between them. One moves four times. But I find the resulting grid unsatisfactory, although one or two acceptable new "proper" words have appeared.

Has anyone worked out how long the moving "words" are? I've used trial and error, brushing up my Excel VBA in the process, but not to much avail.

In the clues, there are one or two instances where the word to be moved is not uniquely identifiable. E.g. in 10, I think you could move either "Level" or "crossing"; in 33, either "Has" or "garb" . There may be others. Hmm. Puzzled...

[cluelessJoe]

Hello Mr Crossy - the three words are related, or rather linked. You should find that your resultant final grid is quite satisfactory once you have made the right moves.
Agree with your comment about ambiguity over shifting words in some clues, but you can clarify some by recognising that they need to begin with A-M or N-Z, or maybe tie in to grid positions used elsewhere. Any odd ambiguities remaining should be resolvable by considering which of the possible final stage move options works best / is more aesthetically appealing.

[spiderFreak]

I finally got the answer plugging the 3 "words" into Google. A really nice ending I thought.

[IntoTheBlue]

Just seen the relevance of the 8th group of four.... very clever. Agree with the possible ambiguities with the misplaced words but any doubts can be worked back. (I had 2 clues that had to be resolved another way.)

[Scorpius]

A rather fine grid construction in this puzzle, with all the moves following the rules prescribed by the theme. I do think at least one of the ambiguities noted by Mr Crossy is a fault that could have been avoided. The word to be moved in 10D could certainly be 'level' or 'crossing', and someone making moves without having twigged what was going on could go badly astray if he/she picked the wrong one. I'm less convinced that there's an ambiguity with 'garb'/'has', but I can see a case can be made for either.
I'm not sure what was the purpose of the 8th move, unless to draw attention to something related to the optional highlighting

[Mr Crossy]

Well, I'm still adrift, I'm afraid. I can see that the starting co-ordinates and the ultimate destination co-ordinates form a congruent pattern, but I have no idea which sequences of characters are to be moved - that is, I can't see what the across "words" are in the first place. There's no indication as to what their lengths are, just their starting positions.

Not giving up just yet, though!

[Mr Crossy]

Btw cluelessJoe I forgot to say thanks for your response!

[Mr Crossy]

Ahh � getting there now!

[starwalker]

Once the penny drops there is no doubt about the outcome, but the eighth set is a particularly nice touch.

[cruciverbali]

Yes, this was certainly a tour de force from Team Mango - I just wonder why the highlighting is optional as it does give the solution a wonderful symmetry.

[Gazco]

Struggling with this, probaly as I'm unsure as to how the 'groups' work. Are these to be taken in clue order? In other words, can I assume that the first four letters I have in the across clues form Group 1, and that within this group letters 1 and 2/3 and 4 are the starting/ending coordinates of one of the 7 moves?

[Mysterons]

Yes, that's all correct Gazco - the 8 groups of four are separated from each other by 2 normal clues (4 groups in the Across clues and 4 in the Down)

[u10]

Sorry to sound stupid guys, but I've been staring at the completed grid for four days now and I have got the groups of four, the coordinates etc but I can't see the three "words" anywhere near the starting coordinates. Can anyone give me a clue to find where the words are and how many letters they contain? Thanks a lot!!

[Mysterons]

The two words of the title relate closely to two words closely related in the grid - you should be able to look up the third.

[midazolam]

well i have been quiet this week. I was not able to give any pointers as I have been pondering over the excellent journey that Mango have supplied us with - until finally - the light bulb switches on just before the next listener. I got it by randomly entering words into google as they do not immediately stand out.

going back to Mr Crossy's entries - I am not sure how you got the theme (i.e one word has 4 movements) without getting the words, as the length of words are self-explanatory once the theme is got

secondly there are several more choices of coordinates which is why i have been stuck for so long. These include: mark and exam in 11 across, grabbing and listener's in 1 down, stylish and up in 9 down

overall I am glad I persevered as I would have kicked myself once the answers are revealed - roll on tonight