Return of the Connecting Wall

Eight parks, you're mean!

That's not actually one of the links I'm looking for although you're on the right track. OSIs are I would say semi-relevant here.

Also my thanks to rincew1nd for fixing the image. This is the first time I've tried to include an image in a post here (without using Tapatalk).

You've found one of the links. Now what are the other 3?

That's how the game works, there are usually several red herrings; hence my comment about eight parks!

An interesting thought but that's not one of the links I'm looking for.

As I mentioned, I'm sure there's more than one way to solve this wall and that is a potential problem for connecting walls in general. In a lot of cases you could probably find a different solution to the intended one if you try hard enough and maybe come up with slightly more tenuous links. I'm not saying this suggested link is at all tenuous but I do suspect it could lead to an alternate solution.

You've found one of the links although that's not quite the exact wording I have written on my answer sheet.

You're really close but that's not quite what I'm looking for.

And that's the group I was looking for. That makes 3 links found although only 2 sets of 4 have been locked in.

(Edit to add now that I'm on my computer and not in the middle of the countryside): Also, I'm glad you appreciate this little bit of fun. Having done this twice now I've come up with a number of ideas for other links I could use. I might try to make this some kind of annual thing.

That's not the link I was looking for and also not one of my groups of 4.


Also not what I'm looking for. gantshill was really close with


The only slight issue with that (and it is very slight) is the exact phrasing.

Ah, Latimer Road, West Hampstead, Canons Park, Notting Hill Gate all originally opened by the Met Railway but now not served by the Met line.

As promised, here is the solution in full:

Group 1:

• Beckton Park
• Brondesbury Park
• Kilburn Park
• Wimbledon Park

Link: Remove the "Park"s to get another station.

Group 2:

• Bank
• Hackney Downs
• Northwick Park
• Wanstead Park

Link: They are linked with a differently named station on the Tube Map.

Group 3:

• Debden
• Liverpool Street
• Newbury Park
• White City

Link: Intermediate reversal points on the Central line.

Group 4:

• Canons Park
• Latimer Road
• Notting Hill Gate
• West Hampstead

Link: Metropolitan Railway stations not served by the present-day Met.

---

For anyone curious, this was my thought process when putting all this together: The first group I came up with was the Parks group. I figured that because there are 5 parks containing the name of another station it would be a good group with the bonus of a red herring station. I also had the idea of disguising the group further by including a couple of other parks.

Since one of those 5 had to be in a different group I then had to work out another link that would use the leftover station. The result was the interchange link that would use up Wanstead Park. My initial plan for this link was simply OSIs, however I changed my mind because I believe Kilburn Park has an OSI with Kilburn High Road, thus the solution would not be unique as those two would be interchangable in the answers. As such, I went for interchange with differently named stations as shown on the Tube Map. This is also why I was being a bit of a stickler for details with the phrasing of the link (although I decided not to press for it in the end) as I wanted a specific reference to the map since that eliminates the possible inclusion of Kilburn Park (that link is not shown). Because this was another group with good potential for red herrings I came up with 6 stations that would fit it, 3 internal (Bank, Hackney Downs, Liverpool Street) and 3 OSIs (Northwick Park & White City to go with Wanstead Park, Northwick being the first "extra park"). Incidentally, this is the reason why I said that OSIs are "semi-relevant" in my first response.

Having picked out Liverpool Street & White City I realised they were both Central line reversal points and so came up with the 3rd link. Since the first 2 links already had a number of red herrings I decided that the last 2 groups would have none because too many red herrings can make a connecting wall extremely hard to solve. This lead to the inclusion of Debden and Newbury Park (an obvious choice since it could be the second "extra park").

Having come up with 3 groups I then had a clean slate for the 4th since there were no leftover stations. It was at this point that I decided to include a 4th OSI (creating a red herring link) as a sort-of homage to my earlier idea and so opted for West Hampstead since, like the previous group, it is a reversal point although not on the Central line, hence only a partial red herring. (Incidentally, I did not originally intend for it to be a 3rd red herring for the interchange group as I actually forgot about the Thameslink station being on the Tube Map!) I wanted the final link to be slightly more obscure (it wouldn't be a proper DD quiz if it doesn't have a bit of challenge to it!) which led to the former Met stations link. I opted for one station from each of the west side of the Circle and the Hammersmith and Stanmore branches. I was only going to have 7 parks on the wall until I realised that Canons Park would be a perfect fit for this group. Latimer Road was chosen arbitrarily but conversely, Notting Hill Gate was a conscious choice as it would mean there were a total of 6 Central line stations used, a subtle hint that there was something involving the Central on the wall. I'm slightly surprised that no-one pointed this out before reversal points got mentioned.

Anyway, that's all I really had to say about this. I'm quite pleased with how this went and will definitely consider doing another one for next Christmas. It was interesting seeing some of the responses this got such as the "ex-GER station" link. That was not something I'd considered when putting the wall together but is actually a really good idea for a link. I may have to use that or something similar in a future wall.

I'm going to sign this off by saying I hope you all had a great Christmas and to wish you a happy new year!

I've got Beck, Burn and Pool.
Is the fourth one 'Spa'?

I guess this is what makes a good connecting wall, many groups but only one matching solution.