Enigmatic Variations No. 1556: Limitations by Jaques

Hi, intrepid EV-ers, and congratulations on securing access to the puzzle despite the LIMITATIONS those in charge at the paper have introduced.  (Not the EV or puzzles editors, I hasten to add – their skills and commitment to the series have steered it through this far.)  Before getting to the puzzle, I must give a big thank you to my fellow blogger mc_rapper for supplying me with a copy, complete with perfectly OCR-ed clues.

The two previous Jaques puzzles I’ve had the pleasure of blogging should have put me in a good frame of mind for this one but, perhaps because blogging the EV gets a smidge less fun with every attempt to kill it, I didn’t get around to starting this until Tuesday evening.  I was lucky that it wasn’t a monster!  Instead, it was all most enjoyable with a satisfying ending.

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Enigmatic Variations No. 1554 – Absolutely Nothing by Kruger

Wordplay in each of fifteen clues yields an extra letter that is not entered in the grid. In clue order, these letters give the start of a quotation from a poem (in ODQ and associated with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING) and the initials of its source. The third line of this quotation suggests how twelve answers are to be thematically treated before entry. Lengths in brackets refer to grid entries while word counts refer to original answers. Chambers Dictionary (2016) and ODQ7 are recommended; 21 is in Collins.

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Enigmatic Variations No.1550 – Elementary Solutions by A Few

“Each quadrant represents one of five ELEMENTARY SOLUTIONS; solvers must determine which quadrant each set belongs to. Clues are in normal order within each group. All entries except one at every stage are real words or names. Initial answers may not fit the space allocated. Solvers must highlight four examples of the fifth solution, each spanning two quadrants (16 cells). Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

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Enigmatic Variations No.1546 – Elementary I: Staying Alive by X-Type

“In the final grid, solvers must highlight a continuous sequence of eight symbols, all of which occur in the single unclued down entry. Five symbols consist of two letters, which must share the same cell. Of the three unclued across entries: two name examples of the third unclued entry, which we must reduce to continue STAYING ALIVE. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

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