Listener Crossword 3879

[mahler]

Anyone made a start? I got S=16 ; A= 49 & R=52 but 1down then requires U* - U to = 24 which seems impossible!

Mahler

[Patch49]

Yes I got S16 but then got R=13 and with top left corner to mirror bottom right this didn't work. I'll have another go tomorrow!

[mahler]

Thanks Patch49; we agree the value for S. See if we, or anyone else, can progress from there

[Patch49]

Mahler - Have you read the monograph on mathematical puzzles at http://www.listenercrossword.com/List_Referenc e.html
didn't help me much but you may be better at maths than I am!

[mahler]

Patch49 - No it didn't help me neither. However my grandson tells me I was working on the wrong assumption re "flipping" the diagonal, I was "rotating" it. So the 6969 for 1a also goes UP from the bottom R/H corner. He has finished all the grids but doesn't understand the theme element. I think I give up!

[sohcahtoa]

I got S=16, A=49, U=46 which seems to work, but I can't discover what the "theme" is at the end.

[sohcahtoa]

Here are all the values I have got:

S=16, R=52, Q=18, A=49, D=163, B=225, Y=652, D=163, L=625, etc

There are supposed to be 43 entries but I can only find 42. Any help appreciated.

[pendulum]

Hi everyone, I agree with S=16, R=52, Q=18, D=163, U=46, A= 49. This however results in the following impossibility:

This gives 10 across as 383, 13 across as 929, and 1 across as 6969.

Using these values reflected in the diagonal gives 29 across as 936.

The Clue of 29 across is A + J* + J.

From simple algebra J* + J must be a multiple of 11, but unfortunately 936 - 49 is not a multiple of 11, which is a contradiction / impossibility. I would be interested if anyone else has had the same problem, or can suggest what is wrong here. Many thanks !!

[sohcahtoa]

answer to pendulum:

J=691 and A=49 so A+J*+J=936

I still can't discover what the 'theme' is.

[mahler]

I agree the values Sohcahtoa lists with the exception of L which I have as 925, not 625.The theme is still a mystery

[pendulum]

Thanks sohcahtoa, I was still working with 2 digits for J for some reason !! (Hence the impossibility).

Have yet to find any 'helpful hints' ! Thanks again.

[logophile]

A 49 B 225 C 423 D 163 E 63 F 100 J 691 K 487 L 925 M 982 Q 18 R 52 S 16 U 46 W 148 X 576 Y 652 Z 729

This leaves 5 blank cells on the diagonal: a,b,c,d,e running NE to SW. The sum of the 43 answers is therefore 10028212 + 1001a + 100b + 1000c + 1000d + 11e.

Does anyone have an idea about the theme or any of the helpful hints yet ?

[Quizmonkey]

You have found all the helpful hints!

[Patch49]

Did anyone ever work out the theme? (Nice to be back to words this week!)

[Quizmonkey]

I tried to hint that you had found all the hints - in the values. These were all squares or reverses of squares - as were all the rows and columns. The sum of the entries made a number which was a square both forwards and backwards - so the number to be entered under the grid was the backwards version.