Crossword Help Forum
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Most fundamentally - why search Internet sites or books if you want to answer a set of quiz questions without the chance of finding the answer online or in a book?

E.g. if quiz question were "Which is the fastest land animal" you wouldn't (unless looking for help) enter the term "fastest land animal" into your favourite Internet search engine, nor read a book about animals.

The most illogical activity is seeking a solution and then complaining when you find it.

Mark - explain that last post slowly. i am missing something somewhere.

George - you correctly observed that searching online is no different from looking in books.

But you then suggest that it is dumb for people to put answers online when others are in competition for a prize for completing a quiz or crossword.

And it seems that puzzled was ranting as the answer to this 1 quiz question (out of 80) can now be read by someone looking for the answer online.

If it is dumb to put answers where others may see them, then why do we have on the forum answers to odd clues for £500 prize crosswords, or indeed the Daily Mail cryptic crossword with its prize money for correct solutions? Because people ask for help and get it.

It is not logical to search online or look in books for help when trying to answer a question, and then complain when you find the answer.

To find the answer to this particular individual question, you need to search for the precise string with all those = signs - a very narrow online search which only someone trying to find the answer on the Internet would employ, and only some of the search engines would satisfy.

I never complain when I get the answer - that is why I was looking in the first place!

So George, you're not complaining, but you are just of the opinion it is dumb to put solution online that others could read. I defend your right to your opinion, and to state it in the forum.

To clarify my observation that "only some of the search engines would satisfy" a search for this question online, when searching for I = TPATP, PI = CA, R = TWC, T = TGGO, TM = TTOT and TPOP = TSOD I got these results:

www.dogpile.com - 2 results - GBQuiz 195 and this forum question
www.google.co.uk - 2 results - GBQuiz 195 and this forum question
uk.ask.com - 2 results - GBQuiz 195 and this forum question
www.altavista.com - 1 result - GBQuiz 195
www.lycos.com - 0 results
www.bing.com - 0 results - just a spurious hit on www.onu.de

Big Dave gave a big clue to the answer on page 3 of this thread.

Did you really need to type out chapter and verse as to how the answer has been arrived at? Would it not have been better to let the questioner figure it out for themselves.

If you spoonfeed the lazy quizzers they will just keep coming back for more rather than find the answers themselves (see various arguments raging on the Answerbank from time to time)

GeorgeIII,

The answer to your question is yes. Mark did need to tap out the whole set of solutions. He needed to show us how clever he is (or thinks he is). That Big Dave showed him the way to go is neither here nor there to Mark. He now knew the answers and by god we were going to know he did.

What Mark apparently doesn't understand is the distinction between finding something out for yourself and simply asking someone else to find out for you. You could go further and point out that Mark didn't solve this,i.e. he couldn't answer the question as posed. All he did was follow up the huge clue he received.

So does this beg the question what is the point of websites such as Answerbank, this forum or Yahoo answers? Surely all these and others like them "spoonfeed" answers and make people lazy? Or do they instead serve to help others and in their way educate people? It is an interesting question.

Incidentally, whilst you are objecting to the answer being given (by BigDave) and explained (by me working from Big Dave's clue), puzzled was objecting to the question being asked - even before it was answered.

Terry - all questioners on this forum don't distinguish between finding out for themselves and asking others to do so for them. Or rather it is likely that they do, but seek help.

'The whole point of the forum is to help those who ask for assistance solving word puzzles' says Mark disingenuously. No, the whole point of the forum is to provide a platform for those who enjoy showing off their quick-wittedness, or, in most cases, their dexterity in manipulating internet search engines. Be honest all, this means you.