Well, that's me scuppered! Not quite, am being very brave and counting furiously, however....... Many thanks to djw and all for the help on 1212, am almost there which is something of a miracle, much preferred Mr& Co.
Hello devadolly, this weeks EV has all the elements I detest, so I haven't even bothered to start it. If I wanted to do a number puzzle there are more than enough on X3 of the Puzzle section. My sunday is ruined!
Except it isn't a number puzzle! It's a normal crossword with normal clues, and "kind of" crossing letters and everything. Plus most of the clues are very straightforward, which helps.
A pleasant if challenging puzzle to brighten up a very gloomy and wet Sunday afternoon. Must admit this was right up my street although I struggled with a few clues. Had to start at the bottom and work up. Nice to get the colours out at the end.
Now there's a clue Ringer! Have hopefully put in the last two on the acrosses as they added up to a reasonable amount....have I done the right thing??? Ever hopeful.
Hi devadolly - last two should fill the bottom row. You could ask Ginger Mog for his opinion. Hope you are well and keeping dry and warm. We seem to have got the back end of Henry (or the beginning of Imogen) here.
I suppose I enjoyed that! Although EV_Solver is right about most of the clues, I thought several were tough enough to make quite challenging. I found it hard to believe that, given how many letters can map to each number, there was not a more straightforward English word that would fit where the solution to "Congolese town..." goes, but I really don't think there is. A very clever construction. At least the colouring was easy, and I haven't had the full crayon set out for a while.
Except that it isn't a numbers puzzle. The only numerical component involves primary school arithmetic and you can even avoid that if you write down the letters A to Z and then number 1, 2, 3, 4, 0 and continue with that sequence of 5. You could then change the digits to Greek letters or emoticons or some other symbols if you don't like digits. The last part is just a jigsaw based on the grid information and shouldn't take that long - honest! It should be noted that some crucinumerists won't have tackled this as it was a crossword!! Oh and Elroy? It's Oyler and Samuel.