Enigmatic Variations No. 1603: Pie Crust by Jaques

9 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No. 1603: Pie Crust by Jaques”

1. Greatly helped by noting PIE CRUST = ‘moving pictures’ at the outset.

   Over the years I’ve done a few grids where specific words were required at specific clue numbers, and they’re fiendishly hard. What’s been achieved here is quite extraordinary – I would not have thought that so much thematic content could be arranged thus. Bravo!

2. For me the title jumble was very much ex post facto. would have helped had I seen it earlier!

3. I missed out on this one unfortunately, shame as it looks like good fun.

   One thing I don’t understand though, is why the Thematic entries are wordplay-clued to give their clue numbers? Wouldn’t it have been easier to leave those unclued and say something like “unclued entries must be completed thematically” (or similar)?

   Seems a bit unnecessary to have the wordplay for 13 giving the answer Thirteen, etc, especially as most likely solvers will only realise this once they’ve discovered the theme.

4. The theme became obvious early in the solve and, once one had confirmed that the clue for 7dn could lead to SEVEN, the remaining wordplay-only clues were superfluous. I’ve seen similar ideas tried a few times, but they inevitably seem to lead to a single moment of illumination followed by a smooth but dull glide to the finishing line.

5. Thanks for the comments so far – much appreciated, as usual.

   High praise for Jaques from Phi/Kcit at #1 – ‘quite extraordinary’ grid construction…bravo indeed

   Arnold and Nox – I see your points, that the wordplay clues for the numbers might be superfluous – particularly after the first one, in Nox’s case SEVEN, in my case TWELVE, but that first one did help…even if making them ‘unclued’ would have made your blogger’s job a bit easier, with eight fewer clues to parse!

   Anyway, the clue for 27 was worth the admission alone – I didn’t really hype it up in the blog, but ‘letting loose’ the FOUR horsemen of the apocalypse from 24-7 took a leap of the imagination, with a pretty epic surface read to boot…

6. MC, it’s good to see your rule#1 being successfully breached; I was talking recently to one of your fellow EV bloggers and lamenting the relative absence of comments on the excellent blogs. One can only hope that there are lurkers out there who are silently appreciate your efforts.

   As to the puzzle, I’ve little to add – as has been said, an outstanding construction (although Jaques has plenty of form in this regard) and some ingenious cluing of the thematic entries, which could be admired even when the theme was understood and so the answer known.

7. I’m a lurker who scans the blog to compare the blogger’s solving experience with my own, given that 10 days later I have forgotten most of the details. However, because I did not work this puzzle until the day before MC posted the blog, I read it more closely than usual and needed it to realise the full genius of this grid. I did not abide by rule No. 3 and so did not understand the title. I agree that the clues were more taxing than usual and I never did figure out TWENTY-SEVEN until I read the blog. Thanks to Jaques and MC.

8. Re 27, I can’t accept ‘all time’ as valid shorthand for ‘all the time’, any more than I would consider ‘half time’ the same as ‘half the time’.

   I concur with the general view regarding the fine grid construction, but at the same time the puzzle’s deficiencies are, I think, directly linked to the challenge of trying to create a poser from what is essentially an exhibition piece.

   I wonder if I’m alone in trying not to attempt decryption of the title of a themed puzzle for as long as possible lest it should spoil the pleasure of gradually unravelling the knot? Sounds like I might be…

9. A great EV title can be a thing of beauty. PIE CRUST is certainly up there with GREAT PARLIAMENTARIANS in the Inquisitor a few months back.

   Rule 1 has now definitely been smashed to bits. What next?

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