Enigmatic Variations – Page 51

Enigmatic Variations No.1031 – Single Shot by kcit

Sat August 25, 2012 at 12:00 am by Mister Sting

An abundance of missing and added letters and words this week. To be precise, 15 omitted letters, 21 extra letters and 4 extra words. But a ‘single shot’. What could it all mean?

Enigmatic Variations 1030 Swimming Aid by Rustic

Sun August 19, 2012 at 7:59 pmSat August 18, 2012 at 12:05 am by twencelas

So a short preamble – all entries are affected by A SWIMMING AID, leaving non-words predominantly. I should add that the clue lengths refer to the grid entry. Well 13ac was an exception, … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations 1029: Turning to Eccentricity by Ifor

Sun August 12, 2012 at 12:32 pmSun August 12, 2012 at 7:15 am by Shenanigans

Apologies for the late running of this blog, but having just gone through the trauma of preparing for a house move, and then experiencing it, many crossword-related tasks have been delayed. However, I … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations No.1028 – Small Change by Piccadilly

Sat August 4, 2012 at 12:00 am by Mister Sting

A simple enough preamble introduces ‘Small Change’. All clues have an extra letter in their subsidiary indication, and these letters spell out an instruction. All well and good, but will the small change prove to be a big headache?

Enigmatic Variations No.1027 – Checkmate by Shark

Mon July 30, 2012 at 2:44 pmSat July 28, 2012 at 12:00 am by Mister Sting

Hopefully I’ve got the right puzzle this time. Let’s check… 1027. Yes. Good.
Many apologies for posting the wrong one earlier.

Shark’s ‘Checkmate’ has extra letters and highlighting galore, which I’d like. I’d also like it if ‘Checkmate’ was a reference to the Wu-Tang Clan (warning: link contains rap music), but I doubt it will be. (It’s not.)

Enigmatic Variations 1026 Going Global by Chalicea

Sat July 21, 2012 at 10:22 amSat July 21, 2012 at 12:01 am by twencelas

A short preamble, this week – across clues have an extra letter in their wordplay to spell out an instruction related to an unclued light. Sounds entry level, but is it? The answer is … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations 1025: 13 Down by Kcit

Sat July 14, 2012 at 7:00 am by Shenanigans

Just to reiterate what mc_rapper highlighted last week, The Sunday Telegraph is now accepting email submissions for Enigmatic Variations. This requires you to scan your solution/entry coupon, and email it to prize.puzzles@telegraph.co.uk, with … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations No. 1024: Two Drifters by Nudd

Sun July 8, 2012 at 8:33 pmSat July 7, 2012 at 12:01 am by mc_rapper67

Phew…this was enough to drive a man to drink…(well, this man, anyway)…fiendish preamble, tricky devices and tough clues – with maybe a modicum of encouragement in the definition part of 35A – ‘…this can be resolved‘. … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations No.1023 – Phoenix by Rasputin

Sat June 30, 2012 at 12:00 am by Mister Sting

I’ll get my grumble out of the way first: the crossword editor should be hanged. There were FIVE length errors (46 across and 2, 16, 32, 42 down). These didn’t make solving harder, but such mistakes can do so, and are in any case unacceptably sloppy. Also, 38dn should have been hyphenated, and this did affect the difficulty. Furthermore, speaking of affects, 31ac read ‘AFTER AFFECTS’, rather than ‘AFTEREFFECTS’.

No one who solves the Enigmatic Variations with any regularity will be inclined to the opinion that perhaps the editor had an off day, as errors are far too common. In summary, next time I suggest that the editor uses the time-honoured technique of actually looking at the puzzle. With their eyes.

Enigmatic Variations 1022 Protagonist by Salamanca

Sat June 23, 2012 at 12:05 am by twencelas

A short preamble, straight clues apart from a protagonist to find and several without a definition 3 descriptions of the protagonist and four works by them – Sounds like this might be one … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations 1021: Blown Off Course by Jaques

Sat June 16, 2012 at 8:30 am by Shenanigans

I started this puzzle only a couple of days shy of this blog being due, so I was beginning to panic. The clues sounded relatively straightforward, with only seven misprints to be found. … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations No. 1020: Loss by Samuel

Tue June 12, 2012 at 11:02 amSat June 9, 2012 at 12:01 am by mc_rapper67

There are several devices going on in LOSS – answers altered before entry; extra letters in wordplay; clashing across and down entries; and lines to be drawn in the completed grid. All probably … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations No.1019 – Losing the Plot by Nutmeg

Sat June 2, 2012 at 8:21 amSat June 2, 2012 at 12:00 am by Mister Sting

A standard format this week: missing letters form a message that will hopefully give enough information about the theme to allow the grid to be filled in without too much difficulty.

Enigmatic Variations 1018 Self-Evident by Kruger

Sat May 26, 2012 at 12:05 am by twencelas

Well quite complicated in the preamble stakes this week. Single letter omissions from definitions in some clues spell out a phrase and 4 down clues have missing letters in their wordplay. There’s also … Read more >>

Enigmatic Variations 1017: Epilogue by Oxymoron

Sat May 19, 2012 at 7:30 am by Shenanigans

I blogged the last EV Oxymoron puzzle, with its Humphrey Bogart and Sir Isaac Newton theme. That was great fun, so hopefully more of the same here. Single letters were to be dropped … Read more >>