Thinking allowed

Bristol Surprise Major: the plain course and bobs

Armed with a con­tinu­ous blue line, as described in the pre­vi­ous post (but see also this later post), we can write this more com­pactly as a single lead:

12345678
21436587
12346857
21438675
24136857
42316587
24135678
42315768
24351786
23457168
32541786
35247168
53427618
35246781
32547618
23456781
24365871
42638517
46235871
64328517
46238157
42631875
24368157
23461875
32416857
23146587
32415678
23145768
21347586
12435768
21345678
12436587
14263857

We can also write out what hap­pens when “bob” is called. The front two bells are unaf­fected, and run in and out as in a plain course to become the 2nd and 3rd place bells. The bell in 4th place, which would have run out to 5th and become the 5th place bell, instead makes the 4th-place bob and becomes the 4th place bell. The bells above 4th place each dodge back one place, which brings them back to their start­ing pos­i­tions, so that they simply repeat the same lead as they have just done. Like this:

23145768
21347586
12435768
21345678 bob
12436587
14235678

The bob per­mutes the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place bells. If called at the end of each of the first three leads this will bring the touch back to rounds – three leads of Bristol.

3 comments

  • Sue Pacey says:

    Thank you. Per­fectly clear at last, from an older ringer who asks for Bris­tol 8 and cops 3 blas­ted bobs when all I wanted was a plain course, just for once, which makes it clear for me.

  • James Hollins says:

    Hello Simon, just read­ing your com­ments on Bris­tol major where you state two and three are unaf­fected, but if they run in and out respect­ively, then they are affected, are they not?

    • Simon Kershaw says:

      No, they aren’t affected, becuase they do the same thing as when there isn’t a bob. The bell that has dodged 1–2 up with the treble still goes out to become the 3rd-place bell. And the bell that has dodged 3–4 down still goes in to become the 2nd-place bell.

      If you look at the bot­tom line of the grid with and without a bob you will see that the 4 and the 2 are in the same place in both grids, i.e., they are unaffected.

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