MPP – 075 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
View closed comments 

MPP – 075

by Admin  

Monthly Prize Puzzle (August 2018)

Too Many Words by Alchemi

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

Why not have a go at our latest Monthly Prize Puzzle?

The winner will receive their choice of any of the Telegraph Crossword Books.

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 (18th August 2018).

The competition is now closed

The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.

Please read the instructions carefully. 

I’ve left this post open for comments, but if you don’t want your comment to be deleted then do not provide any help for other solvers or mention any detail about the puzzle, especially references to individual clues, until after the closing date.

16 comments on “MPP – 075”

  1. What a great challenge that was. Each clue had to be worked on carefully to identify the extra word and then the problem of putting
    it all together. Still marveling at the cleverness of clues such as 9a.
    A brilliant puzzle.
    Thanks Alchemi.

    1. Thanks. A very nice comment to see as I recover from my heart bypass earlier this week.

      1. Oh – just read your comment as I came through to print out the MPP.
        I do hope that you’re recovering quickly, that you’re being looked after really well wherever you had the surgery and that you’re home soon.
        With all best wishes to you.

      2. Sunday morning here now and just noticed your reply.
        When the review comes out in a couple of weeks would love to hear some comments about how you put this together.
        All the best for a speedy recovery.

  2. Very enjoyable. What I thought was the question ‘dropped out’ about halfway through the solve, which aided the elimination of the remaining superfluous words, and this must be my fastest MPP solve ever.

    Thanks Alchemi and I wish you a speedy and successful recovery.

  3. I wonder how many folk could, in all honesty, have answered that question without help from the likes of Mr Google – I certainly couldn’t have done!

    Took me quite a while to work out all the individual answers although, like Senf, I was greatly helped by gleaning the question before dealing with the last few.

    Hope you’ll soon be back on top form, Alchemi – take good care of yourself.

    Many thanks for the puzzle.

  5. Great puzzle, thanks Alchemi.

    Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

    In answer to Jane – nope!

  6. This was absolutely brilliant, Alchemi, and my best wishes to you for a speedy recovery.

    I’ve still got two answers unparsed but that hasn’t stopped me submitting my answer (for which I too had to resort to Google).

  7. Excellent puzzle!

    Some nice surface readings both with and without the superfluous words.

    Thanks, Alchemi.

  8. Nice workout for me waiting for the Sunday dead tree. As Senf I got a good guess at the question about half way through and that helped me sort out most of the holdouts. I have an answer for 16d but look forward to the parsing.
    9a 29a 8d 15a fighting it out for my podium
    I too googled the answer.
    Recover well Alchemi.

  9. I love a puzzle within a puzzle.
    Thanks to Alchemi for this super crossword.
    Wish you a speedy recovery from your op.

  10. The house of the desired question was constructed brick by brick to a large extent and the answer seemed gleamingly obvious even when some bricks were not yet in place. But this could not stop it from being my fastest solved-ever MPP; instead the construction itself aided it. I know where my destination is, but on my way through this journey, I have been wondering for quite some time about my decision to ponder over the existence of superfluity in **. But, nonetheless, after sending in my answer, I shall still be looking forward to perusing the review for its parsing in particular. My favourites are 16d and 24d.
    Thank you, Alchemi, for your brilliant effort and wish you, from the core of my heart, a speedy recovery.

  11. Late to this one, but I had to comment on the excellent way the puzzle was constructed and mention what a pleasure it was to solve.

    Many thanks, Alchemi and best wishes for your recuperation.

  12. What a marvellous puzzle. Really enjoyed the unique solve.
    Managed to extract the solution about halfway through which eased the remainder a little :)
    I wish you a speedy recovery Alchemi, and a hearty congratulations on such a brilliant puzzle.

Comments are closed.