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Many thanks to Granama (at # 187 & 188) and Lumen (at # 196). All I need to do now is to decide which shape to shade. Earlier in this thread, the shape was referred to as being either elliptical or triangular. I favour the former, as the leading player says that the element which accounts for the upper part of the ellipse is compulsory. Would others agree?

For me I read it as more about what you can’t have rather than what you must have.

Thanks Polyn. I see what you mean.

I eventually got there, but I only determined which characters to replace by working back from the theme.

Despite being familiar with all three (or perhaps four) writers I still needed to rely on Google to complete this puzzle. The only bit I found easy was the diagrammatic part, but then I ought to be fluent in that department, and other people might need help. Is this entirely fair? What would we do without the internet?

However, an extraordinary conception, with so many distinct elements. Definitely the hardest puzzle for a while, and very satisfying to complete. Well done Quinapalus.

0pt0 - I’d say that the shape to be shaded has mirror symmetry - only - and has a concave edge.

The beauty of the Listener is that - unlike with many similar online fora - we’ll all know definitely in a shade over a fortnight who was right and who was wrong!

Best wishes -

hw7

I don’t submit so I did not complete the shading, assuming it would be straight forward. The discussion here has prompted me to have another look. The end of the week so I hope this does not give too much away.
We have a figure which contains 7 separate areas (A, B, C, AB, BC, CA, and ABC).
We can have all three consecutive, accounting for A, B and C or concurrent, accounting for ABC. Assuming the label beginning with B is “B” we can have AB, BC but NOT AC.
AC is the only infeasible area.
This assumes that lack of all three (the area outside the figure) is feasible.
But I could be wrong……

My take on the shading - it's not triangular. To have A and B without C is 'infeasible' therefore I'd shade all the bits of A and B that contain no C ie A and B without any C and end up with a rather magnificent moustache (or a not so magnificent saggy bra). 😄

The triangle has some C in it.

I don't think the universal set ie the grid frame comes into play.

I could be wrong. (Or right 👍).

This was discussed at post 156 et seq. A and B is very different from A or B. A or B is "all the bits". A and B is only the bits that A and B share.

Well, we'll see in the fullness of time whether Quinapalus conforms to Set Theory. You are right (A n B) and (A u B) requires an interpretation of 'and' and 'or'. (I don't have 'cap' and 'cup' symbols on my keyboard) but if someone asked me for A and B they'd get them, not their intersection.

You want beans and carrots without broccoli?....yup we can do you beans and carrots with no broccoli...you get beans and carrots. 😄

I’ve actually changed my position on this from granama’s to buddy’s.

Feels like it might be one where both end up being marked correct. Would be really harsh to get to the end successfully of this really tough crossword and fail to an arguably ambiguous interpretation.