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Thanks drxx - as always, the title PDM occurred shortly after posting.

Thanks to everyone on here, I’ve finished this one.

Quite often we are expected to know titles, authors and principal characters, which may require quite a bit of googling, or a very well stocked bookshelf. Now we have to know all sorts of details from the story. I had never read any of this author’s works, though I must admit I enjoyed reading this one.

Surely they cannot keep up the pretence that the internet is not needed for these puzzles!

I totally agree with your last comment rad. Assuming you hadn’t read the book, the only way of confirming what’s going on (pre-internet) would have meant a trip to the library only to find the book was out on loan or never available in the first place. This puzzle is a perfect example of the sort that without access to the necessary reference material, the endgame could never be guessed. I certainly couldn’t have done this without numerous google searches.

I didn't recollect the book at all, but I remembered the famous tv versions...

That’s a point which has been debated for some time, Rad. As it happens I possess a copy of the story, so wouldn’t have needed the Internet, but still looked at the Wiki version to save time (because I’m lazy).

In principle I agree with you. I can’t see how anyone could have completed 4603 without online help. One could argue that three weeks’ solving time was enough time to look up Grand National winners etc. in a library, although that was hardly possible at the present time!

I suspect that the rule about Internet references is there to discourage setters from themes that can ONLY be researched online, with no other possible resources available. It’s obeyed in spirit, I think, if not to the letter.

In addition to moving the weapon twice, what needs to be done in order to leave a total of 14 empty cells ?

Hi son1ofrover1, "heed the instruction" given in the unclued.

Thanks, Ginge, but how does one go about d...ing P in a way that leaves 6, rather than 7, empty cells (the other 8 being caused by the weapon's double movement)?

Hi again son1ofrover1, think of a synonym for the verb in the instruction, perhaps used in the sport of boxing (3, him, 3, 4). He's not disappearing.

Hi again son1ofrover1, I didn't want to be overly specific this early but if my last post didn't get you there look at the other thread.