Enigmatic Variations

“Eight clues comprise wordplay only. Solvers should identify a set of single-word synonyms of the answers to these clues. Leaving the body of the synonyms behind, solvers should take a poetic action and HEAD BACK HOME, arranging the heads into a suitable response. This response (which can be found in ODQ) will, in turn, provide a guide to the missing three-letter word in the centre of the grid. Finally, solvers must draw a continuous line through eleven cells to identify the source. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 11 is in Collins.

(This is the first and final Enigmatic Variations puzzle by Chris Dunn (inkling), who, sadly, passed away in July.)”

Read more >>

Hi all (if anyone is left).

Read more >>

I was double-Serpented on the weekend of the York get-together, with his Indy puzzle to blog on the Saturday, and then this EV on the Sunday…if I had a BELIEF SYSTEM that included previous lives, I would suspect I had done something wrong in one of them!

Read more >>

Clues to the nine-letter entries — all real words — consist of three definitions to component parts in order. To form the entry, each part must suffer an identical LOSS affecting the same letter each time in a given clue. The six letters thus obtained can be arranged to give a relevant two-word phrase, which must be written below the grid. Nine other entries are deemed to have suffered the same LOSS leading to a different word being clued. However, the entries have their losses restored, always in checked cells. Numbers in brackets refer to the spaces available. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; 5 is in ODE.

Read more >>

Hello everyone, and the now-usual thanks to mc_rapper for ensuring that we bloggers have access to a usable version of the puzzle.  That I wasted a few moments wondering what relevance Daniel had in 24d is due only to my own imperfect proof-reading of the converted text!  As for the puzzle itself, another enjoyable EV from Vagans, to whom thanks.

Read more >>

Is Vismut referring to the current cost-of-living crisis, and urging us to try and SAVE a few pennies?…

Read more >>

“NAME THAT TUNE to be highlighted in the grid, behaving in a manner befitting its title. The unclued entries making up the top row composed the song. The album from which the song is taken is the other unclued entry. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”

Read more >>

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.

Read more >>

The RULES OF THE GAME for the EV series seem to have changed, with it disappearing from the online Telegraph puzzle site and becoming a ‘paper-only’ puzzle…I hope most of you were still able to get your fix…

Read more >>

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.

Read more >>