Listen With Others

Once again I’m marvelling at how Ploy can construct a grid in which the vertical triplets sum to a particular number to fit with the quote (THOSE UNSHOCKED DON’T UNDERSTAND IT), and all the clues can be written in the form of highly relevant words. Furthermore, there was no redundancy in the critical early stages, and the rubric was written in a way that was consistent with the theme. Add the title into the mix and I thought that the theme was well served by the bringing together of these various elements. Respect!

I enjoyed every stage. Once I’d derived the letter value pairs, and figured out the paraphrase, I gritted my teeth and ground through the remaining clues to fill the grid, tease out any careless errors (only one) and confirm the message. Numerical puzzles can sometimes become a bit of a slog; the slogginess here was within reasonable bounds I thought. I was also pleased it was easier than the rubric suggested at first glance.

I hope Ploy feels encouraged by his venture into numerical Listeners, and gives us more please. Now you’ve cracked quantum theory the rest of the mathematical topics should be a doddle!