Enigmatic Variations
I’ve been seeing rumours that The Telegraph has decided to discontinue the EV from end of July.
I say rumours because I’ve had no official word from anyone. I’ve tried emailing the puzzle editor but so far I’ve received no reply.
As (and when) I receive any more information, I’ll post it here. In the meantime, I believe that there is a petition of sorts in place. If anyone has information then please post here.
Thanks,
kenmac (admin)
Alan Connor makes reference to this in his Guardian update which can be found here
There is also a comprehensive thread, including feedback from those that have received responses from the editor, here
I have a post about it on my site phionline.net.nz where I try to refute one of the suggested reasons why it cannot continue.
I emailed the puzzle editor and had in response:
Thank you for your email regarding our Enigmatic Variations crossword series.
I realise that the loss of the EV will be a blow to its small but very loyal group of solvers. The decision to drop the series was not made lightly, as you can imagine; I myself have been an EV solver for over 20 years, have compiled around 50 puzzles for the series, and was its editor for some years, so understand that it will be missed.
We will still be providing a weekly non-themed barred cryptic crossword in print, which will replace the themed EVs; hopefully this will go some way towards making up for its loss.
So it does seem to be the real thing. A real and unnecessary blow in my opinion. Happy to sign any petition that comes around, but assuming that fails I cannot help but wonder whether an independent blog of some sort might be set up with fees covered via Patreon or some such service. I’d happily pay a few pounds a week and I’m sure I’m not alone.
Where is the petition to sign?
@3
If this is true …
“We will still be providing a weekly non-themed barred cryptic crossword in print, which will replace the themed EVs; hopefully this will go some way towards making up for its loss.”
… then why can’t they use that space for EV?
Me again. There have been some grumbling comments about non-themed barred puzzles – having set one of those regularly for some twenty years (alongside what will be 70 EVs), I don’t like to see them denigrated. They do take skill to make them entertaining. Perhaps whoever does them will insert incomprehensible Ninas.
The interesting thing is that they’re to be paper-based. They’re 100% suitable for the interactive treatment (as are the majority of EVs , of course). I don’t see the argument for removing something considered paper-only, only to replace it with something that could be interactive.
That is, of course, if you accept that lots of people solve interactively, of which I remain uncertain.
Phi (wearing the hats of Kcit and Beelzebub)
Maybe the view has been taken that the EV has become a club for the compilers based in the Sunday Telegraph, which has no benefit to the latter.
Perhaps the perception at the Sunday Telegraph is that no-one else looks at the EV.
Just a thought.
Anyway I have enjoyed both the solving and the setting of this puzzle over the years.
Phi@6
Interesting point about solving interactively. I can imagine some would for the less taxing puzzles, but a recent (presumably quite able) blogger of Mephisto reported a sitting of two hours. Two hours in front of the computer, do we think? Not that I know whether Mephisto is interactive.
Most likely solvers will be printing barred puzzles and a lot will be printing the blocked ones. To just replace the EV by something because it can easily be made interactive, but will be printed, seems odd. As you say, EV could easily be made interactive, yet printed.
As part of the overhaul that seems to be taking place, I hope The Telegraph is going to be using some of our subs towards making a load of much-needed improvements to their current ‘interactive’ offering. The current user experiences across web, mobile and app are all frustratingly lacking in one way or another. As it currently stands, print-outs of puzzles is the only way I want to solve them!
I’ve written to, and received a reply from, the editor which broadly mirrors what others have posted or copied to me. The salient point is that none contains an explanation of why this has been decided. As Phi reminds us, conventional cryptics rightly have their place, but solvers of these are already well catered for, not least by the Telegraph. There may be something in Vismut’s point that solvers and setters are one and the same – but since I started sending entries after the last furore I check winners’ names, and I don’t recognise many of them. As others have said, there seems to be no compelling reason behind a decision that I know will lose subscribers.
I don’t think solvers and setters are the same Ifor, but it might be what the Sunday Telegraph thinks.
It will be very sad to lose the EV. Solving the EV is the only reason I pay a subscription to the Telegraph puzzle service. They will lose my subscription and some others, but presumably not enough to bother them. I suppose that’s what running a commercial newspaper is all about.
I add my voice to the many others which have condemned this decision by the Telegraph to axe a puzzle at a time when it was in the rudest of health and on what seem the flimsiest of grounds. I sincerely hope that the decision can be reversed, and I will actively support any initiative to ensure the continuation of the series, whether in its current form or otherwise.
I finally received a “personal” reply from the editor. It was so personal that it was exactly the same as Rick’s @3.
He has given his Twitter handle as at-sign Samuel The Setter (no spaces). Do with that what you will.
I still don’t understand how replacing one barred crossword with another achieves anything.
@Kenmac I suspect that you’re targeting the wrong person in your last comment. Chris Lancaster not only occasionally sets for the EV, but used to edit it until recently (he is now puzzles editor). If I had to hazard a guess, he will have fought against this. It will have been a decision taken at a higher level, possibly a strategic one by the Telegraph, maybe linked to a potential move away from the print edition.
Why don’t you write to Allister Heath the editor of the Sunday Telegraph ?
EV is the highlight of my weekend, I shall feel bereft without it. No reason to buy The Sunday Telegraph any more.
Sad news. I too will cancel my subscription (EV is the only reason I pay). Goes without saying that the argument that setters=solvers is absurd.
As for interactive vs. print: of all the themed puzzles (Listener, Magpie, Inquisitor, EV) — EV seems a good candidate for interactive – I can’t think of any cases in which “cut out/fold/build a 3D model, …” was a requirement. Actually now that I think about it, same applies to the Inquisitor.
As “typical” EV solver, would be happy to see EV continue as a separate service and pay for the privilege.
Terrible news! I am yet another subscribing to puzzles.telegraph.co.uk solely for the EV and will not be renewing.
Until the expiry date I will be downloading all the archived EVs I haven’t yet tackled. Sadly the earliest available
is No. 792 – due to a lack of space according to the Telegraph. I have completed a couple of hundred of these back-numbers
as well as the new ones, particularly during the pandemic , and this has been a godsend. What a shame these will be cease
and that so many of the old ones are unavailable.
I will protest (again) but with fading hope this time. It does seem though that there might be another supporters to fund a second life elsewhere.
That should read “enough supporters”!
Hearing that Steve Barltett, EV Editor, is saying in mails to setters that…
“It is with happiness that I am informing you that the Enigmatic Variations series will continue in the print edition…”
Maybe a bit late to the party here.
I’ve had nothing resembling official notice but this thread on Crossword Solver (comment #54) seems to support what Jay @21 says.