Monthly Prize Puzzle (August 2015)
A Puzzle by Radler
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Why not have a go at our latest Monthly Prize Puzzle?
The winner will receive their choice of any of the Telegraph Crossword Books published by Hamlyn.
Please note that, due to punitive postal charges, while the competition is open to all, the prize is only available to UK solvers.
A review will follow after the closing date (15th August 2015).
The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
I’ve left this post open for comments, but if you don’t want your comment to be deleted then avoid asking for or giving help with the clues.
I very much doubt that I will be able to solve this one before the closing date (15th August 2015).
So far … I’ve done the two easy ones!
I have six, with a possible seventh. I think it’s really good fun, though hard. The fun part may change!!
Phew! Finished it – well apart from the 3 that I cannot parse.
I would like to thank Radler very much – but I wont!
Fiendish in extremis!
Don’t think I’ll bother with this one…..my brain hurts just looking at it! I’d probably lose patience very quickly…..shame!
Yes – my brain hurts too and I don’t really understand the intructions.
I’ve got two answers and they’re both down clues so not helping to unravel the instructions. Oh well – will keep trying over the next few days but I suspect that I’m not going to get anywhere with this one.
I’m currently clueing a puzzle where all the clues have a misprint, so it’s useful to be reminded how hard such puzzles are when you don’t know which words are misprinted.
I didn’t understand the bit about the words being emboldened, because it’s not actually true of the online version. Having solved the puzzle and got the answer, I was going to complain, but then I looked at the PDF, and there the relevant words are in bold type, which will make it considerably simpler.
So if you’re stuck, look at the PDF, and it may all become a bit clearer.
I hope you’re going to enter – you might be the only entrant with this one!
He won’t be the only one – the first correct answer was received at 9:52 am. The emboldened words are present on all versions except the AcrossLite one – which is clearly stated beside the link to download it. AcrossLite does not support formatting, be it italics or bold.
I wonder how good your eyes have to be to detect that there are words in bold type in the interactive online version. I certainly couldn’t.
WOW! (there might be one letter wrong in this acronym).
Good grief, Alchemi – very well done, indeed. I’ve had the emboldened words in front of me all afternoon and it isn’t so far making one iota of difference.
Took a while to work out the instructions and then realised that my only hope lay in answering all the downs first. So far I’ve got three and a half – and two of those are only written in very faintly!
I’m beginning to think that it will an extremely small post bag for Mrs. BD to dip her hand into this month!
Well that was very hard work. I worked on it last night and got the grid about two thirds filled before going to bed. Horizontal cogitation helped to get a possible answer. This morning, with the help of the extra potential letters I was able to sort out the rest of the answers. Then the conundrum of which of the two potential answers to submit and the last sentence of the instructions came into play. Just hope I am correct.
Thanks Radler and I apologize for all those things I was muttering under my breath last night about you and your parentage.
So who’s a smarty pants then? As for the stuff that you were muttering under your breath – I’m sure that we’ve all heard worse, well, probably anyway! Who knows
I now feel even more of a smarty pants as a bit of investigoogling has shown me something else in the grid that is very pertinent. It is all so clever that it is worth persevering with I reckon. Cheers.
Kath, hope you got my apology over previous confusion. oddjob.
Yes – thank you – a total misunderstanding. It’s not a problem.
Yes, that was one of the tougher prize puzzles, so it gave me great satisfaction to complete it. I only needed to do a couple of googles to get the final two (down) clues too, so am feeling quite proud of myself.
I really enjoyed this, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is up for the challenge. Thanks Radler.
Good grief, Kitty – only a couple of Googles?!!! I’m really starting to feel incredibly stupid over this one.
So far I have maybe as many as 13 answers – or maybe as few as 6 – and lists of every conceivable combination of alternative words for the across clues. I have also listened to a great deal of ‘music’ and learnt a lot of quotations. Mr. Google and I are now on first name terms and I’m considering inviting him over for a weekend.
Now then…….do I get on with the stuff I SHOULD be doing or do I carry on looking into the US political system, women named Ruth and champagne houses…
I have eight to go and while I’m finding it a challenge, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. If I complete the grid, all the better, but I’m having fun and that counts a lot with me.
She’s got it – by George she’s got it!!!
Time on the clock is somewhere between one /one and a half days but I’ve found an answer. The fact that there are probably some 8/9 clues circled as in need of further parsing is, at this moment in time, completely irrelevant. I even managed to find the hidden hints in the grid.
Unlike ColinK, I fear that I have yet to forgive you, Radler, although I grudgingly have to accept your assertion.
I’m feeling right at the bottom of the class – at least I know my place!
I haven’t looked at this one again yet but have done an awful lot of gardening/jungle warfare today – that’s my excuse anyway.
I will nibble away at this over the next few day, or weeks – I don’t live in hope – I always find Radler’s crosswords really difficult.
Yet again, so far at least,
I spent some considerable time over the weekend staring at this but by the end of Sunday I still had no answers. Put it through the shredder as I realised it was way outside my capability.
Well done Radler.
Great challenge.
But little Frenchman wasn’t going to be beaten and I shall proudly enter the No Prize Puzzle.
The down clues were harder for me than the misprints.
Thanks again and remember: If I can do it , you can do it!
Well done you! You are a fully paid up member of the HAG Club. I still have a half dozen to go.
Keep at it, Chris – you’ll get there.
It was sheer b-mindedness that kept me going. Radler is really well out of my league, although I remembered completing his last one (eventually) and that spurred me on. I do, however, have to admit that since I first looked at it yesterday afternoon only essentials such as eating and sleeping have dragged me away from my cogitations, scribbles and my friend Mr. G!
It’s holding my interest, so I will come back to it during the work week, I’m sure.
Havent looked at it again…….think I might try theTimes back page instead! Still time to have a crack, if some of you have done it that gives me hope!
I was a little daunted by the prospect of this one, especially after I saw the first few comments, but I’m glad I persevered. It was ingenious and pretty satisfying to finish, although I can’t 100% parse all of 8D.
I liked the concise elegance of 18D, and the way 21A worked so nicely with the misprint, among others.
Welcome to the blog, Doughnut.
I just opened to see that the new Monthly Prize Puzzle had already been put up on the 1st instant. I shall be solving it this Sunday anyway, but I would like to point out that the month and year in the caption here above “Monthly Prize Puzzle (July 2015) A Prize by Radler” should actually be August 2015.
Now I have to correct myself. A Prize by Radler as stated by me should have been A Puzzle by Radler. My sincere apologies.
Thanks – now sorted.
It was a hard effort of five evenings from Sunday to Thursday and finally it’s over! All the while I enjoyed solving the puzzle and my thanks to Radler for throwing up this challenge. The across clues with the misprints were as artistic as those without (arrived at after correction), my favourites being 17, 21 and 26! Among the down clues, I particularly liked 5, 18 and the last four, but I placed the olive wreath on the head of 16! Last, but not the least, the centre of attraction seemed to be the centre itself – as I fancied the Queen reading The Golden Treasury!