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Hi, Brendan. Thanks for your comment about The parsing of 4a. I only had to read the first few words of what you said, and it became blindingly obvious. That meaning of "in court" should have been obvious to me once I realised what the solution was, and I can't imagine why I didn't get it. As for "formal hypothesis", if Chambers says so then I have to accept it, but as a mathematician I can categorically say that the accepted meanings of the two words in mathematics are totally incompatible. A hypothesis is, basically, an unproven assumption, whereas a ....... is certainly not unproven; that is the whole point. However, I'm willing to take Chambers's word for it that the word has been used for a formal hypothesis. When I posted my previous post, something happened which I find happens remarkably often: as soon as I posted my message saying how stuck I was, my brain clicked into action, and within a few minutes I had solved as many clues again as I had previously solved by struggling for ages. I really don't know why that happens. However, I then had to leave the crossword to do other things, and I have only just come back to it, so I still have quite a few to do. Wish me luck.

I will indeed wish you luck Micky.

I empathise with your annoyance and understand that experts in their field, like yourself with mathematics, can often feel disappointed with a dictionary's use of broad synonyms.

To be clear though, what Chambers actually says is: FORMAL in bold caps and blue ink, followed by dictum, postulate and hypothesis in lower caps and black ink (unsure of the relevance).

I think my earlier post might have been a bit misleading when I said it read "formal hypothesis".

Brendan, I am willing to believe that the word we have been discussing may have a history of use with a different meaning than that which is currently recognised by mathematicians, and if so both a lecicographer and a crossword setter are perfectly justified in using that other meaning; it's just that it's not the meaning which I know. When I posted my last message I thought I might at last be able to finish the crossword off, but again I got called away to deal with other things, so it had to wait again. However, eventually I got there, so I can be happy . 😊

That's great news, well done Micky - it was certainly a tricky one:-)

Micky, as a Ph.D. mathematician I agree with you completely, and was similarly bothered. However, it wasn't difficult to determine the intended answer anyway. I see one or two such cases per week it seems, although it's not always a math(s) term at issue.

Hi Darla and Micky,

I was wondering if you've ever heard of an American mathematician and author called Martin Gardner, now deceased. I ask because I just read a book called Bernoulli's Fallacy by Aubrey Clayton in which he highly recommends another book called Aha! Gotcha by said Martin Gardner.

Brendan, everybody Stateside (of a certain age, at least) with interest in mathematics knows of Martin Gardner.

He had a column in Scientific American for many years and wrote a number of books.

Thanks Geeker, that's the chap.

I've done some research and the book gets absolutely great reviews by seemingly everybody.

To give it its full title it's Aha! Gotcha: Paradoxes to Puzzle and Delight.

I've just added it to my 'buy' list:-)

Gday all
Came to this late, but enjoyed it, especially spotting the Nina without prompting. One problem with setting puzzles for a highly educated crowd such as inhabit this space is that there will always be experts who spot deficiencies in clues that touch on their specialism. Been there myself. I don't think it is an issue, especially if it is supported by the ultimate authority (Chambers).

Expanding on my previous post, the most famous instance of the possibly incorrect word (******'s last ******) should not have been elevated to the higher status until very recently, even though its original proponent claimed such proof.