CancelReport This Post

Please fill out the form below with your name, e-mail address and the reason(s) you wish to report this post.

 

Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

rad

29th May 2020, 12:46
Thanks, Harribobs, for coming on here to tell us your side of the story. I feel a little more comfortable about the scenario now, and I apologise for any hurtfulness in my comments. Most importantly, thanks for a great puzzle!
71 of 74  -   Report This Post

drxx

29th May 2020, 14:34
Well, as Harribob's appears to have justified his idea so well, I'd better try to justify my objections rather better than I have so far (which is a pity, because I didn't want to say very much about it in the first place - this was always a bus I wanted to get off).

There cannot be a regular timetable - the bus does 5 circuits per day, each day starting and ending at the depot but without returning to the depot in between times. However, this doesn't allow passengers the oppportunity of getting on/off 5 times per day - that is, if they're travelling (like most passengers travel) to and from a destination. At best, if you get on where there are 3 adjacent stops, you can get on once a day and get off twice a day on your return trip (or go out twice, and come back once). The real problem being that once you get on at a particular stop and get off again at that same stop, you create a repeated loop.
For those poor souls with only one available stop, they should triangulate the part of their journey home that must be done on foot (so that they have the shortest distance to walk after they get off the bus at the stop prior to, or following, the one where they got on).

My understanding is that mathematics is a rigorous and logical process and I've tried very hard to be logical here - but I'm no mathematician - so, if you experts are telling me that this is a reasonable scenario vis-a-vis maths and 'the real world', I'll just have to take your word for it (and, currently, maths modellers are coming in for enough flak as it is).
72 of 74  -   Report This Post

jigjag

3rd June 2020, 13:37
Drxx

I suppose in terms of maths and logic, it is not realistic but for a crossword puzzle, I think it was reasonable. Haribobs and grunger have given examples to justify it, which I thought were possible in theory.

I do appreciate the lengths you went to in order to support your case. It was very logical and a pleasure to read.
73 of 74  -   Report This Post

drxx

3rd June 2020, 15:10
Thanks for your reply, jigjag - you've been very generous regarding my input and I should try to follow your example regarding the puzzle as a whole.
I did try to explain my personal overreliance on any puzzle's inner logic - I find it hard to progress if it has to be on a wing and a prayer!
I agree that grunger made a good stab at justifying the scenario (whilst adding the caveat that it didn't accord very well with his/her own experience) but I think Harribobs' only gave us an example of how much more unlikely his/her first version of the puzzle was.

Anyway, as a puzzle, this one appears to have pleased solvers far more than The Listener example has - so I think I'll go along with the general 'thumbs up' for this one (through gritted teeth, of course).
74 of 74  -   Report This Post
Home » Forum » EV 1436