"Mind The Gaps" by benchen71

[edestlin]

Across the moat! Smooth and fun, thanks!

[benchen71]

Here's a solver update for you:

Gutman
Ergcat
JeffsPuzzles
shalmanezer
The Hooking Post
woozy
Slime Hudson
Porcos
DrTom
Qmark
Johnny Luau
markhr
Lobsterboys
edestlin

We're up to 48. By the way, I'm keeping a list of "possible alternate answers", so if you have one make a comment on Crosshare and I'll add it to the list.

[DrTom]

Crossed the Moat on stones (and NO Stones is not the recording artist) carefully minding the gaps. By the way, did anyone notice the very nice Easter egg Ben included?

Well played sir, well played!

[woozy]

. By the way, did anyone notice the very nice Easter egg Ben included?

I think I've been too confused and distracted wondering why he would think have heard "Mind the Gap" is something to be fortunate or lucky to have experienced.

[ajk]

By the way, did anyone notice the very nice Easter egg Ben included?

Not sure if it's what you're referencing, but I did just notice something I'd missed before that significantly increases both the elegance and difficulty of the construction. And I thought it was nifty *before*

[ReB]

Crossed the moat today after I finally pronounced the password as "shibboleth" instead of "sibboleth" to the crossing guard!

[benchen71]

Things are ticking over nicely. Here's the latest group of successful solvers:

Sharkicicles
HeadinHome
Spid4567
Wally
zonkswonk
Rufus T Firefly
kurtalert
Mr Tex
JM
Carolyn
ReB

We're up to 59 now.

[benchen71]

I'm going to release the nudges early. Two more solvers to add before I do that:

Frisco17
Meredith DeCarlo

[benchen71]

And then here are the nudges:

Nudges, in order of increasing blatancy:

1. If you follow the clues, you will be left with four gaps in the grid.

2. What single letter will fill these 4 gaps?

3. The numbers of these gaps are not coincidental.

4. You need to think of an artist's name that is phonetically suggested by what you did to fill the gaps. (The numbers may help you, following another hint given in the grid.)

[benchen71]

Monday morning, here in Australia, which means it's time for the answer reveal. But first, the last tranche of successful solvers:

SeamusOL
Byron
incandenzant
CPJohnson
Dawn Landry
ellequin
MrTheHan
Darrell
Michael Epstein

That's 68 all told. And now on to the answer...

[benchen71]

Here's the solution to "Mind The Gaps":

I constructed this puzzle in the aftermath of having not gotten the answer to MMMM's January 2022 puzzle, "Just A Number". As I said in my comment at the time, "I'm seriously disappointed I didn't get this one. No excuse really, other than I just didn't connect the numbers to 'age', despite the puzzle's title." So I thought I would see if I could construct a puzzle with ADELE as the answer. And this was the result!

Possible alternate answers suggested by solvers:

• Elton John ("L TO JOIN") - DrTom / Ergcat

• Pharrell ("FOUR L") - Qmark / Kurtalert

• Ellen Whyte ("L IN") - hoover