Hi all. Chalicea’s puzzles are often reassuring for a solver and this one looks like it might be doubly so. Only one way to find out …
Enigmatic Variations
Enigmatic Variations No. 1743: Moral Tale by Stick Insect
Does Stick Insect have some sort of cautionary TALE to tell this week?…
Enigmatic Variations No.1742 – Prime by Arcadia
“In the 180° symmetrical grid, two unclued entries (each of 13 letters) give the names of an author and a sequel to their PRIME work. Cells illustrating a counterexample of a PRIME quotation from the work, involving a further unclued entry of four letters, must be highlighted (13 letters, three words). Clues are in normal order, the wordplay in PRIME examples leading to an extra letter, spelling out the name of a charitable trust. In the final grid solvers must change two letters and then highlight the trust’s initials, a novel and a publication (three, four and six letters respectively in straight lines), all of which were PRIME creations of the author. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Enigmatic Variations 1741 Troubles by Deuce
Easter Sunday is here and a puzzle from Deuce. There are a number of clues with no definition – these have extra letters that spell out characters central to a theme. There are … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1740: Gentle Observations by Luxor
Hi everybody. Luxor has given us a puzzle to remember …
Enigmatic Variations No. 1739: ABC Order by Vagans
We crossword solvers like a bit of alphabetical ordering, so Vagans calling for a bit of ‘ABC Order’ should be right up most people’s street…
Enigmatic Variations No.1738 – Cross Words by Robyn
“In each of 12 clues an extra word must be removed; these words define the theme. A further 12 clues each have a letter missing; these letters suggest how to derive the exact wording of the theme – which must be written below the grid – from CROSS WORDS. Answers to the remaining 12 clues “clash” in 6 cells; entering the correct letter in each affected cell will display a symmetrical representation of the theme (24 cells in total), which must be highlighted. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Enigmatic Variations 1737 What he said by Vismut
A complex preamble – the useful bits – remove a word from all bar 2 clues and use the first and last letters to produce 4 messages. One is a quotation – the second message is an instruction based on the previous 4 words of the quotation. The third is the unchecked letters for the perimeter and the last a second instruction to put the speaker’s name in the grid. Then highlight what he’ll do no matter what.
Enigmatic Variations No. 1736: Crack Up by Shark
Hi everyone. Sometimes a crossword brings you joy, sometimes double joy. This one also left me with an earworm, which may be deducible from my final comments.
Enigmatic Variations No. 1735: Unstated by Kcit
Kcit challenges us to find an UNSTATED end to a poem where the relevant part wasn’t even in the original published version. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld: ‘There are known unknowns and there are unknown unknowns…and there are unstated endings to unpublished verses…‘
Enigmatic Variations No.1734 – Dynamo by Ifor
“Clues to perimeter entries comprise wordplay only. Each contains an extra word. Reading either the second or penultimate letters of these in clue order, followed by the alternative choices,
Enigmatic Variations 1733 All’s well that ends well by Kruger
Two unclued entries and a mainfestation of this in a number of entries. All words, phrases or proper nouns in the final grid.
Enigmatic Variations No. 1732: Protection By Check
Hello all. No kitties were harmed in the writing of this blog …
Enigmatic Variations No. 1731: Columns by Chalicea
Chalicea has some ‘inspirational’ COLUMNS for us this week, although my first instinct on hearing the word ‘column’ is to think of data in tables or Excel files…less inspirational than than Doric or Ionic columns, or even well-written newspaper features…
Enigmatic Variations No.1730 – Popular by Skylark
“In each of 17 clues, there is a misprint in the wordplay part; correct letters, in clue order, spell out the first four words of the most POPULAR part of the theme. An extra letter must be removed from every other clue before solving, spelling out an instruction involving 21 cells in two straight lines. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”