On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:13:55 +0100, "David Biddulph" <groups [at]
biddulph.org.uk wrote:

If you want to use 12 hour format, then of course you need to include the AM
or PM. That's what 12 hour format is.

As I said in the part of my message which you snipped, data validation and
cell display formatting are two separate unrelated features of Excel. Data
validation can constrain the numbers that it will allow you to store in the
cell. The format in which you choose to display the number is a separate
matter.


The only exception, then, is if one chooses "custom" as the cell
format, and sets that string to "hh:mm". Maybe it is a bug. ;-)

That is why my cells would not accept any other input. After choosing
one of the given "time" formats for cells, it works fine. Apparently my
"custom" setup also forces a specific input mode, which ends up being a
type of validation.