Yes. That made me smile. I found it challenging to work the path. But I have not been able to penetrate room 7, even with the keys. I look forward to your thoughts. Maybe I am missing something. But what?
Well, I’ve got six of the key words (still missing #3), but don’t see any significance to them (well, they’re all four letters, which is probably not an accident) yet. Have you solved any of the clues for within the 7th room? Seems like the key words will somehow combine with the clues, or with the answers, to fill in that grid, and then the unshaded squares will spell out the grisly finish. That’s as far as I’ve got at the moment.
No. I have nothing solved in the room 7 (well a guess on one, but it probably is not right.) I think I understand how to use the keys because my theory seems to work for most of the clues. But I still cannot begin to fill in the grid on #7. Grrr! I have hit a wall and cannot make progress.
A ha!!!
I just noticed something else about the key words.They are all of the form IS. It looks like some sort of letter substitution thing; substitute L for P, or P for L, something like that. Whether that substitution takes place in the clues or the answers, I don’t know.
4D seem like it ought to be doable. C/2π either means RADIUS, or just R.
Yet I cannot get 4d.
I think you have caught up with me now RobotArm. Even with these keys… I am stuck.
Maybe the keys are only work for a part of the clue…?
Maybe not entirely. Clue a. is “Courtier removed stocking with no error”; I know the answer is FAWNER, but I don’t know why.
Oh, wait a minute. “Removed” means FAR, “stocking” means to include the next bit, and “with”, “no”, and “error” are abbreviated with WNE. That’s pushing the edge a little.
1D is interesting, “He makes Britannia’s Alex & Maggee? (6)”. A Google search on “maggee” returns nothing of any note. Makes me think that’s part of a wordplay and the spelling is significant.
And there’s a drawing of a hatchet next to the grid. I wonder if that means something.
So many of the words in the 7th room make sense if you change the letters per the keys. But not all.
And what does it mean that some keys fit well, but others complement keys or door?
You mean “Maggee” becomes “Taggee”, “Wight” becomes “Eight”, that sort of thing? I thought of that. “Taggee” might then mean IT, but that still doesn’t give me an answer to the whole clue.
The key words are found by determining where the Plot clues, which meander around the grid, pass through each room. Sometimes the key fits well, and the word boundary is right at the edge of the room (like otherWISE), sometimes not (like improVISAtion or vitaLIS and Pesto) At least, that’s the only wild-ass guess I have on what that part of the instructions means.
Don’t forget the last bit of the instructions; “take the shady revelation you obtained behind the seventh door.” etc. I was wondering if there’s any way to work backwards from that.
I tried guessing what would be in the shaded squares, but came up empty.
“Or nearby clues may complement keys or doors.” Not clue entries, but clues. What nearby clues? What can this mean? It just about has to have some significance because why else have the text in the directions. I feel like I’m trapped in room seven, and there is no escaping.
I was grasping at straws with my earlier comment, but that’s all I got at the moment.
I do have a guess for 2D if you’d like to hear it.
By all means!
Holy Crap!!! I have made progress!
Eureka! Hurrah!! I am out of room 7!!!
You were right about the reading of the instructions! I was overthinking it! You were right about the other thing too!!!
3 months! Woo-hoo!!!
Now for the denouement.
Great, the one night I go to bed early.
2D could be VELDT. “editorial” is ED. “Mad TV editorial” means rearrange TVED. “About lapses” means put that around the letter L.
It does not use any of the key words to make that work, however.
You’re being enigmatic again.
Your Post #269 helped break it for me, **Robot Arm **— literally!
I *still *do not get the denouement.
Robot Arm, let me know if you want a hint of any kind for Room 7. The answer that helped break it for me was 1 down in that room.
Let me work on it for a little while, although I don’t imagine I’ll bash my head against it for 3 months before I ask for help.
Many of the aboves unsolved, static (6)
SDMB opponent stealthily canoeing around river (9)
IGNORANCE (anag CANOEING + R)
I feel better now. 