Never knowingly undersolved
Ten answers need a reality check but otherwise normal clues from Opsimath. The ten that needed a reality check were all authors real names. 1ac Sapper becomes (H. C.) McNeile 23ac (Alexander) Kent … Read more >>
“Ten answers must undergo a REALITY CHECK before entry in the grid. Numbers in brackets show entry lengths. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Hello all, and thanks to Kruger for the puzzle.
As I may have mentioned before, my natural instinct on seeing a ‘carte blanche’ used to be to avert my eyes and walk in the other direction to avoid it…but I have gradually persuaded myself that I must at least try them…and needs must when one falls on my blogging slot!
“Four members of a group and the name of the man who devised the group must be highlighted (all in straight lines). The wordplay in 23 clues produces an extra letter in addition to those required by the answer. In clue order, these lead to a two-word thematic hint to guide solvers out of OBSCURITY.”
Across clues have an extra letter to spell out a name and a decoration. Seven down clues have a redundant word described by two words in a book title in the middle of … Read more >>
Hi (or should that be high?) everybody.
This is the third Wickball EV I have blogged, and the previous two were pretty chewy!…What can DOTTY LINKS mean? A golf reference? Someone nicknamed Dotty?…
“Clues are listed in conventional order. All bars touching the perimeter (SCRATCHING THE SURFACE, say) are provided. Locations of further bars, displaying 180° symmetry, are to be deduced (but need not be entered). Ten clues contain single extra words. For each of these, one or two letters (not aways consecutive), as indicated by the extra word, must be removed from the defined answer before jumbling the remainder to make the thematic grid entry. All other clues lead to the answer plus one extra letter. In order, these spell out the theme. Enumerations refer to unmodified answers.”
All aboard the Skylark as Cap’n Pugwash used to say – three types of clue this week; normal, remove a letter and remove a word. Two messages to discover, an author to highlight … Read more >>
Eclogue has a CONDITION for us this week – let’s hope it isn’t too serious, what with all the waiting lists and nurses’ strikes…
“Eight clues comprise wordplay only. Solvers should identify a set of single-word synonyms of the answers to these clues. Leaving the body of the synonyms behind, solvers should take a poetic action and HEAD BACK HOME, arranging the heads into a suitable response. This response (which can be found in ODQ) will, in turn, provide a guide to the missing three-letter word in the centre of the grid. Finally, solvers must draw a continuous line through eleven cells to identify the source. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 11 is in Collins.
(This is the first and final Enigmatic Variations puzzle by Chris Dunn (inkling), who, sadly, passed away in July.)”
Six un-clued entries to be completed that hint at a song title – the song to be found and it’s singer. A cryptic hint at the solstice. A relatively straightforward puzzle this week. … Read more >>
Hi all (if anyone is left).