Going to tackle a few more regex challenges. These are classified as Double Cross

Double Cross #1 (Telekinesis)

Should likely be doing this one in capitals, but…

Certainly messy looking. But my css handled it all rather well. I am putting the bottom column regexes in the table footer. So did have to add CSS too handle the arrow colours and text formatting for that region.

[^a-ru-z]
[d-hj-m]
[a-gn-z]+  [^a-di-s]+
[^f-km-z]
[a-ks-v]

Solve the Puzzle

Looking at the two row regexes we know the first column can only belong to the character set [e-gt-z]. That is [a-g] minus [a-d] and [n-z] minus [i-s]. Now looking at the first column it only allows [d-ej-l]. Then the intersection of those two reduced regexes leaves us with e.

Similarly for the 2nd column. The reduced row regex remains [e-gt-z]. The column regex goes to ([^l-rw-z][s-t]). Their intersection gives us t.

[^a-ru-z]
[d-hj-m]
[a-gn-z]+et[^a-di-s]+
[^f-km-z]
[a-ks-v]

Given the puzzles title of Telekinesis, ET would seem to be a most reasonable answer.

Double Cross #2 (GMC Vandura)

Something a touch harder.

(tm|bf)
.a
[^mci]+
(cat|a-t)+[^ki\sp]+
[ma\-\se]+(m|aps|ea)*
[ai][e\s]
[a\-z]+
[\st\-m]+
Do note:
  • \s : Any whitespace character (including \t, \n and a few others)
  • [a\-d] : \- is a literal hyphen, so match “a”, “-”, or “d”
  • [ab] : Match either “a” or “b

Solve the Puzzle

The leftmost regex on the first row says either cat or a-t one or more times. But first column regex says first character can not be a c. So, a-t it is. Left regex has no problem with that.

Then, given the top row, the upper third column regex tells us that column has to be tm. Upper second column regex says 2nd character is literal a. Then right regex for 2nd row says the first character must be e to match the ea in the alternation. And that’s that. When in trouble call on the:

(tm|bf)
.a
[^mci]+
(cat|a-t)+a-t[^ki\sp]+
[ma\-\se]+eam(m|aps|ea)*
[ai][e\s]
[a\-z]+
[\st\-m]+

Double Cross #3 (Bat Man)

Even messier.

[rush]+
(p|et|o|tea)*
.*[gaf]*
[one]*[ska].*(o|s)*
.*(re|er)[^goa]*
a+[tub]*[stupa]+
(nf|fa|a|fn)+
.*(a|e|i).*
[super]*

Solution

Intersection for 1st row’s left regex and 1st column’s bottom regex say first 2 characters of first column are nf. Neither of the 2nd rows regexes nor the column’s upper regex have a problem with that. The first row’s regex also says that a character must come from the 1st character class zero or more times and only once from the 2nd class. Given the second column’s top regex, our choices are et or o. But, 2nd column lower regex says 2nd character in column must be one of a, e, i. et would not satisfy these requirements. So, o it is—which is acceptable to all four involved regexes. As for the row’s last character, only s satisfies the 4 regexes involved.

That pretty much means that the 2nd and 3rd characters of the second column are et. Which means the 2nd and 3rd characters of the 2nd row must be er.

[rush]+
(p|et|o|tea)*
.*[gaf]*
[one]*[ska]nos.*(o|s)*
.*(re|er)fer[^goa]*
a+[tub]*t[stupa]+
(nf|fa|a|fn)+
.*(a|e|i).*
[super]*

The first column of the 3rd row must be an a, as the left regex calls for 1 or more as to start the row. And for the last character, the intersection of the 4 regexes only allows a u.

[rush]+
(p|et|o|tea)*
.*[gaf]*
[one]*[ska]nos.*(o|s)*
.*(re|er)fer[^goa]*
a+[tub]*atu[stupa]+
(nf|fa|a|fn)+
.*(a|e|i).*
[super]*

According to Wikipedia:

Nosferatu was produced by Prana Film and is an unauthorized and unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula.

Guess that fits with the title of Bat Man.

Done

I think I will continue with the rest of this set of crosswords in the next post.

Until then, if you find some time on your hands, give them a try. May you be a regular success.