Enigmatic Variations

I did a blog for a Salamanca puzzle at Listen With Others back in January 2010. However, this is my first for one of his EVs, which is surprising since he’s had ten … Read more >>

In a blaze of publicity, celebration, and razz-a-ma-tazz, the likes of which have not been seen since the Y2K celebrations of 1999/2000, the EV series has reached its own millennial milestone…congratulations to all … Read more >>

‘All Change’ seems appropriate for a puzzle published on 1st January. Will the theme at least be more apt than last week’s war-based Christmas offering? Once again, we’ve to resolve clashes by substitution … Read more >>

Only ten weeks since the last Oxymoron EV (988, Pairs), but I, for one, am not complaining. One letter or (in five cases) word to be removed from each clue, and they would … Read more >>

Well a crossword published on Christmas day and what a preamble! There are three conflicts to resolve symbolically (historic events). There are historic events to highlight in the completed grid There are 3 … Read more >>

A shorter (and less complicated!) preamble than some recent EVs – each clue giving an extra letter, which would spell out an instruction to apply to all answers before entry. I was lucky enough … Read more >>

The preamble doesn’t give very much away: 12 normal clues, the answers to which require ‘adjustment’. The other clues must have a letter removed before solving. The last sentence includes the always-worrying “numbers … Read more >>

This week – straight clues, 5 unclued entries and elements from a quotation around the circumference.  Sounds quite easy for an EV? And so it proved to be. Relatively simple clues (for an … Read more >>

We were given a CHOICE by Raich with EV 985, and now it’s Chalicea’s turn. Here we were presented with a 14×14 grid and sixty-two clues — I felt that perhaps an overtime … Read more >>

For a long while, the ‘gap’ causing the most problems for me with this puzzle was the one between my ears… I can just about get my head round those ‘alphabetical jigsaws’, like … Read more >>

Hey, boys and girls! Do you like shameless cross-promotion? You do? Well, that’s just great, because I was about to tell you that you should listen to Mighty Mighty Mix Tape on www.oxideradio.co.uk … Read more >>

So some clues with extra letters this week, these will reveal a quotation and an anagram of the author. Then the other clues must be modified before entry.  What can be so difficult … Read more >>

I think that this is the third puzzle of this type by Rustic … and I’ve blogged all three! Each clue is really two clues in one, and leads to two words symmetrically … Read more >>

This was a rather fun, um, ‘probléme’ to solve, and I can only say, erm, ‘bon mots’ about it. The preamble refers to six thematic, undefined answers which, combined with a quotation made up … Read more >>

I found this an enjoyable little number. A certain amount of cold solving required for the thematic clues, but it was helpful that they were listed in alphabetical order. No word lengths given, … Read more >>