Title Builder Beta See instructions

Welcome to Title Builder Beta.

This small piece of kit is designed to make building your Quiz, Crossword or Puzzle question more effective. It should make finding your question easier for others and, the easier it is to find, the more likely someone is to answer it!

To build an easy to find question title simply select the paper and quiz, enter the quiz number if relevant and fill in the Publication Date. Once you’re happy click “Build Title” and the information should populate the Title field. Fill in the final required details of your question as you normally would, and click submit.

As this is a Beta we only have a limited number of papers and quizzes listed. If you think your favourite Quiz, Crossword or Puzzle should be listed here don’t hesitate to contact us.

Remember: You do not have to use the title builder - simply enter the title and question as you normally would and click submit!

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Listener 4078: The Fragmentation of Reality by Lavatch

Zabadak | 19:10 Fri 19th Mar 2010 | Crosswords

86 Answers

This one's a gem: don't be put off by the complex instructions or that fearsome 65,536 possible combinations: It all comes out well in the end. Good, fair clues, some lovely PDM's, and a satisfying final resolution. And I learned some stuff that I didn't know (to my shame) about the main theme. I especially liked the character that needs to be ringed - thats a doozy that I've not seen used before: does anyone know of an instance?
I'm also interested to know whether the title has a particular reference to the subject: I can find one isolated connection, but a fair bit in the general vicinity.

Inquisitor 1117

BBC Focus mag crossword No 113

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AndrewG-S

Thank you, how annoying, but very clever. Great puzzle

Zabadak

Question Author

You're welcome Andrew. I think this one was more loaded with penny dropping moments than any we've seen for some time: a genuine classic.

daagg

Now the cat is well and truly out of the bag, how about this for an alternative theory.

There is a subsidiary definition of "ringed" - see Chambers second entry. Consider 14ac and another word starting at the end of 5dn and moviing right and up. These two words intersect to the right of 7dn to form the required shape, so the missing word is "made up of parts of other ...". 7dn is even another type of this class of objects.

Well who wants the simple explanation anyway?

Zabadak

Question Author

Hi daagg: an absolutely fabulous conjecture. I'm sure it's not what Lavatch intended, as it's a real push to see that as "one character". I guess it could be something of an Easter egg, and unless Lavatch 'fesses up, we'll never know. What will be interesting will be if anyone submits with the larger "character" ringed - could claim it's a legitimate solution. There are at least three marques I can think of that would be even more in keeping with the character. ( I hate all this abstruse stuff while the puzzle is live, by the way, though I entirely support the reasons for it. I have tried in my comments not to be to direct, but I do hate to see people suffer!)

Archie1962

Got the thematic name at last! Thanks for the encouragement. I had a couple of mistakes in my group A answers, which didn't help, and I have to admit that I am not particularly familar with the name.

Finally got it by assuming my first and last answers in group A were correct, and putting the four combinations into Chambers Wordgames as x??????y, then spotting a likely possibility that had most of the correct letters.

I've got the "correct" ring, but did Morecombe and Wise ever do a spoof of the relevant thematic title? (Look at the sixth letter of 7d.)

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