Listen With Others

The hidden letters from the 24 misprinted definitions gave the phrase: “THOMAS HOOD: NO SHADE, NO SHINE, …” There’ll be several of you that will have recognised that one immediately. Not me, I’m afraid! A quick search yielded the poet Thomas Hood’s: No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, no fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds … November”.

The requirement to delete the contents of 78 cells (impressive!) using the poem as an instruction was clear. Having erased multiple Butterflies etc the grid appeared to look as above.

Of course now the subtle twist occurred. Hinted at by the proximity of 7 (atomic number) and 14 (approx. atomic weight) at the top of the grid, the puzzle was actually all about the chemical element Nitrogen. The large N followed by the contiguous block of cells below it, neatly jumbled (see extra highlighting below) led one straight to this actual theme for the puzzle. Who could have missed that?

At least, I think I’ve got that right …

Cheers,

Tim / Encota