I love the Listener, and I've been solving and entering for more years than I care to remember. I really look forward to starting it on a Friday. I particularly enjoy the primary function of a good crossword, which, in my view, is the solving of the clues. This week I cold solved them all and enjoyed the process immensely.
I posted earlier that I had filled the grid, but that it didn’t seem to comply with “the rules”. In other words, a complete switcheroo of my original grid was required. I was fuming that there is so much room for interpretation. The problems I have with the grid fill are many and various.
1. The "flips" & "rotation" only work if the letters are lower case. b & d OK B & D not
2. Does this mean that entries are in lower case?
3. East West flip would suggest that these entries are all across & reversed
4. North South flip would suggest that these entries are all down and reversed
5. NORMAL would suggest that these entries are either across or down and in the right order, BUT, they would not undergo a TRANSFORMATION.
6. ROTATION looks like it can only apply to the individual letters, although LOINS / LIONS might "rotate" within a putative grid.
7. Are individual letters transformed according to the flips and rotation?
8. If we are right about the misprints, this means that
- GROUP 1 entries are normal (no transformation)
- GROUP 2 entries (b for p) are NS flip
- GROUP 3 entries (b for d) are EW flip
- GROUP 4 entries (d for p) are rotation (either across or down)
As a starting point, I've been told I have the incorrect orientation, so NONILLIONS must go in column 12.
I've just spent some time "reversing" my grid. I then went on the Help Forum, and I see, to my horror that it IS a case of carrying out the transformations on individual letters. I confidently predict, therefore, that when the results come out, this puzzle will have by far the highest failure rate. Furthermore, I just can't be bothered to go through the whole thing again. I've been successfully doing these and sending them in for years, and this is the first time, I can honestly say that a setter has managed to defeat me using the twin weapons of utter boredom and mind-numbing frustration. Well done, Yorick. You did not set my table on a roar.
Good luck with the grid everyone. I hope you have more patience than I have.