With the exception of the letter L, each letter of the alphabet is to be placed once in the grid at the lower left. Consecutive letters of the alphabet cannot be adjacent in any direction, not even diagonally. The X has been added to get you started.

Every blue/yellow cell in the upper left grid shows the sum of the numerical values of the letters which appear in the adjoining yellow/blue cells of the lower left grid. So, for example, the 40 in cell 5E, might mean that Z and N (or Y and O) are to be placed in cells 5D and 4E.

The letters and numbers written outside the 5x5 grids serve no purpose, except to identify cells.

1. Since X is used, only W and Z can combine to make 49 (A5).  So, A4 and B5 are {W,Z}.

2. That leaves 46 for the sum of B3 and C4, which must be {U,Y}.

3. That means only R and V can combine to make 40 (E5).  So, D5 and E4 are {R,V}.

4. D3 = 87 - X - U - Y = 17 = Q.

5. C4 = 82 - Q - R - V = 25 = Y.  So B3 = U.

6. If B5 is Z, then 25 + D5 = 40, which is not possible because D5 is {18 or 22}.  So, B5 is W and A4 is Z.  Plus, D5 is R and E4 is V.

7. Using what's left, you can fill-in rest of the 'checker-style' grid.

_C_T_

S_X_K

_U_Q_

Z_Y_V

_W_R_

8. I used guess-and-check from here and arrived at the same answer as Charlie.  I'll work on coming up with logical steps for the remaining blanks.

Posted by Guest on 2007-05-03 19:11:12