Never knowingly undersolved
Well, on the scale of ‘Fifty Shades of EV’, this was a masochistic 40-plus for your correspondent…Kruger exhorted us to ‘GO FOR IT!’, but I staggered across the line like a marathon runner … Read more >>
We have an abundance of instruction this week. All but two clues contain extra words. The first letters of these words (and the numbers of the other two clues) give an instruction. Nine ringed cells give a thematic object and surname.
A wonderfully complex preamble this week. Read once, twice maybe three times? And then start on the clues and hope it all falls into place. The preamble in summary: There are 9 … Read more >>
After my last EV slog blog (Mynot’s atomic numbers), hopefully an easier week with Chalicea. The preamble was straightforward, so all boded well: In TEAM, 20ac (two words) in the 27ac was the … Read more >>
Hmm…what sort of ‘COASTLINE CLASHES’ is Oxymoron testing us with this week? I’m not so good on history, so if it is sea battles I might struggle… The preamble states: “Each of the six … Read more >>
“The puzzle’s theme is a work by a well-known British crime writer.” Well, I just read a book by a well-known British crime writer, and I know who I think it is…
No bars this week. Extra letters in all the clues which spell out a line from a play. The letters within the speaker of this line then need to be highlighted. Sounds amusing. … Read more >>
All answers in this puzzle needed to be changed thematically before entry, “[w]ith the help of an OCCASIONAL ITEM OF FURNITURE”. (Do you like the way I put square brackets around the initial … Read more >>
A cinematic pun-fest from Samuel this week, in MYTHOLOGICAL FILM CLUB… The preamble states that: “In a game of MYTHOLOGICAL FILM CLUB, ten thematic clues each consist of a partial film title which … Read more >>
The wordplay in all across clues and in sixteen down clues are thematically modified. The across clues have extra letters, which spell out a message; the modifications applied to down clues are to be worked out. There are also two unclued entries, which must be replaced in line with the theme.
Half the clues lose a letter and the other half gain, with the letters lost matching the letters gained. These letters can then be rearranged to provide a thematic link to a surname … Read more >>
Here we had Ifor opening his soul to us, but obviously in code. The preamble read: An exhausted and destitute Ifor says “I’m XXXXX and on my XXXXX, so I’m going to stop … Read more >>
I have to admit I found REPLACEMENTS by Artix a pretty tough EV – so much so that I even considered calling for ‘replacements’, from amongst my fellow EV bloggers. But I persevered, accumulating answers … Read more >>
Puzzles like this one, where the clues given in alphabetical order of their answers, tend to involve a fair amount of cold solving before a tipping point where (if the solver is lucky) everything slots into place. I have a soft spot for them, but the obvious worry is that one will run into difficulty with the cold solving.
Bonjour Gaston – Extra letters in the wordplay – these give a pointer to the number, order and content of the 7 unclued entries. The ending is to highlight a character. Sounds like … Read more >>