Enigmatic Variations No.1362 – Christmas Eve by Augicea

“The unclued entries (6,4 and 5,5,6) were responsible for the thematic event which took place on CHRISTMAS EVE. Across and down clues clash in seven cells. In each across clue there is an extra word which must be removed before solving. The middle letters of these words, read in clue order, give a phrase that cryptically tells solvers which of the clashing letters must be chosen; not all resulting entries are real words. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; one answer is a variant spelling that can be found in the Oxford Dictionary of English.”

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Azed 2429

It’s traditional for the last Azed of the year to be on the easy side, after the rigours of the Christmas special; so it was with this one, though it was by no … Read more >>

Guardian Prize 27,704 / Paul

Owing to the seasonal intervention of Maskarade’s Jumbo puzzle, I find myself back again in sync with Paul’s customary fortnightly appearance in the Saturday Prize slot. After some great puzzles over the Christmas … Read more >>

Independent 10,055 by Phi

Phi just goes on producing, doesn’t he. Nothing much to say about this except the usual praise for the setter. But 21dn is still a problem.

Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.

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Financial Times 16,056 / Wanderer

Quite a stiff challenge from Wanderer today with some unusual devices in the wordplay which may have caused some parsing difficulties for the less experienced solvers. I enjoyed the tussle so thanks Wanderer … Read more >>