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That is impressive dedication Merenz. I worked out where the centre of the circle going through the middle of the nine os is, which is at the exact corner of 4 cells. I assume the final line must go through this cross (otherwise why mark it?). That line goes through the guide cells but not through the middle of them. I make it more like 2.7cm, but my working is far from precise. If it’s not the cross and it’s not the middle of the guide cells and you have to do some complicated construction with compasses there aren’t going to be many correct solutions....

Actually just realised I am working off a printout from online, not the paper. My printout is always bigger scale, so 2.3cm on the newspaper version sounds about consistent with mine.

Brilliant. Thanks smellyharry, that’s most reassuring. I do love the challenge of compasses and ruler constructions, hence my dedication, but realise I was going totally OTT.

I could’ve done with a larger scale print out for last week’s Jean’s Stuff!

Actually just realised I am working off a printout from online, not the paper. My printout is always bigger scale, so 2.3cm on the newspaper version sounds about consistent with mine.

I hate it when all the hard work is done and then I fall at the final hurdle. I have the two shapes, the cross in the centre of the circle, but not a clue what to do next. How many extra lines have to be drawn and what length should they be? Wiki suggests lots of lines, but none parallel. I think I will have to bin this one.

I spent most of yesterday absolutely positive that the first across answer was Milligan. It made sense. Machine (mill),U replaced by A in gun, with I as the missing letter. I now realise that was a red herring. Anyone else fall into that trap?

Don’t give up xjj... you’re almost there. You need another point through which the line goes so that you know the direction of it and hence which existing line it is parallel to. Creating the perpendicular bisectors of triangle’s sides is probably the easiest and can be done (without compasses) by measuring and using something right-angular like the ruler. Where those three lines meet gives you your second point. Hopefully the rest will become clearer after that.

Xij - have you got the item from the 9 missing letters?

If so you’ll have a 5 letter name as part of it, which you can find evenly spaced parallel to one of the triangle lines. The centre of your circle should be on one corner of one of the 5 letters. Join the same corner of all 5 letters and you have a line parallel to one side of the triangle through the centre of the circle.

At least that’s my take on what you have to do.

Xij - on a similar note, I only finished Jeans stuff late on Friday and I’ve done the grid for Poats offering from 2 weeks ago but haven’t had a go at moving the rows and columns round. Would welcome a view on whether it’s worth having a go at that or whether it will be (as my instincts tell me it will) a frustrating grid stare ultimately leading to frustration.

I don’t think the grid stare for Poat’s puzzle was too onerous smellyharry. You have two parts of the musical work already in place. There’s only one K in the grid so that narrows the search. Working out what the K word swaps with is reasonably straightforward when you consider what the final move will need to be. Hope this is helpful in the right degree

There is a slight ambiguity in the precise starting point and end point of the line. We're are told it must be the same length as a line already drawn, and we know which cells it must start and end in. There is a range of possibilities that comply with those requirements. All the articles on the subject show the thematic line crossing a line of the triangle (in this case the base of the leaning tepee). Am I to assume therefore that a correct solution must show the thematic line crossing the base of the triangle, and that anything else could be marked incorrect?
Perhaps a maths expert could advise.