Enigmatic Variations

A nice short preamble: five answers have one letter added or removed and then arranged for entry. The lengths for these clues refer to the answer, rather than entry, lengths, so they are … Read more >>

The preamble made this sound more complicated that it turned out to be. Once a few answers were in the puzzle fell in to place quickly and the straight definitions were mostly guessable … Read more >>

In the asterisked clues the wordplay for the grid entry gave a Spoonerism of the answer suggested by the definition. The normal clues were for the most part (too) easy, though some (presumably) … Read more >>

A puzzle from one of my favourite setters (with another one from him in this week’s Listener as well). A quick read of the preamble and ‘Oh my giddy aunt’!! What on earth … Read more >>

A few misprinted letters didn’t really tell me anything but getting 5dn and a couple of the potentially intersecting across answers helped. I guessed that some squares would be left blank and looking … Read more >>

This was a relatively straightforward puzzle with an easy to find theme since it was clearly indicated by the extra letters in the wordplay and the ‘three components’ in ‘appropriate relative positions’ could … Read more >>

Nineteen normal clues, with the rest needing one or two added or subtracted letters; that sounded a bit tricky. It proved to be a tougher puzzle than most EVs recently. The NE corner … Read more >>

Oddly, my previous blog, and my final blog for the Inquisitor series, IQ 128, was an Obtrox puzzle. More oddly, it used exactly the same device: two extra letters from the wordplay in … Read more >>

Unlike the last EV I blogged, I made steady progress with this one. Having got ‘ignorance’ twice, but not the author, I might have finished sooner if I possessed an earlier edition of … Read more >>

Initial surprise that the solution to EV862 (which I blogged and submitted) received no correct entry by the closing date!! This was obviously a mistake, with the normal lucky-winner-picker being off sick or … Read more >>

Sometimes it goes like this: I solve lots of clues. There are a few clashes but on the whole answers fit together. I get enough extra letters to work out the entire quotation … Read more >>

This one took me far longer than it should have done! Having fairly confidently put in ‘garnet’ for 36a (though not too happy about cage=net), I had the grid complete, including nine clashes, … Read more >>

Quite a bit going on in this puzzle: a ‘secret’ figure to be discovered from unclued entries, three works to be deduced, two determining how two sets of clues are to be entered, … Read more >>

Quite a tough EV from Samuel, certainly somewhat tougher, for me, than his Listener puzzles I have solved. Although I had plenty of extra letters and I could make out FRIEDRICH I still … Read more >>

A little more difficult than some EVs, with one or two clues holding me up for a short while and one quibble at 31d. I’m not sure I like being given a solving … Read more >>