MPP – 079 – Big Dave's Crossword Blog
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MPP – 079

Monthly Prize Puzzle (December 2018)

Perimeter Zoo by Alchemi

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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.

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 December 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 – 079

  1. Solving the inside part of the puzzle was the (relatively) easy part. Then the real challenge started!
    Think I have got it all sorted now. Very clever and a lot of fun.
    Thanks Alchemi.

    1. Overnight cogitation made me have another look at the puzzle this morning. I might have been a bit hasty sending in my first entry and have now submitted an amended one in the hope that BD will be kind and let me do this.

  2. Cracking puzzle which I thoroughly enjoyed. The second part took as long as the solving, but there is just enough there to work it all out.

    Agree with C&C – very clever and a lot of fun. Thanks Alchemi.

  3. Thanks to Alchemi (I think) for what I have achieved so far – I have solved all the interior clues (I think) and I have allocated the 15 letter strings correctly (I think) to the four sides. Now I have the rest of the two weeks to decode the four sides and answer the question!

  4. Oh dear! I’ve got as far as printing this out and reading the instructions – please can I admit defeat here and now?
    Thought I’d ‘pop in’ to say “Hello, and I hope that your convalescence is going/has gone really well” to Alchemi.
    :smile: and :good:

  5. Ah, thought I commented earlier. Thanks Alchemi, very nicely devised. especially with the anagrams. Like others, i spent more time on the perimeter than on the inside. Even managed to get myself into a mess with one of the anagrams, leaving me without a common corner. Soon fixed.

    i now know a new jewish official i hope i will never meet, and have had a geography refresher.

  6. I really enjoy struggling with these MPPs even though I made a complete mess of last months.
    Struggled most in the NW even to the extent that I tried to “solve” the perimeter before the last few were done inside. I too learned about some new Jewish officials and animals. Going to sit on this for a day or two while I check perimeter for extra hidden animals.

  7. Thought it was going to be a daunting task but managed to get my first creature on the right hand side and went round from there on.
    Great fun.
    Agree that the clues were quite straightforward but with so many gaps to fill, it was a good thing.
    Thanks to Alchemi for the challenge.

    1. Exactly that, JL. I got slightly stuck in the SW because I kept forgetting which way I was supposed to be going. D’Oh!

  8. That was quite a challenge, particularly when it came to sorting out the perimeter. Had a bad moment in the SW corner where I was convinced for a while that I’d gone badly wrong.
    Think it’s all sorted now – I hope!

    Thanks, Alchemi – off to lock all the cages now!

  9. First time I have managed to finish one of these, pleased to be able to submit an entry! I thought the puzzle really inventive; no idea how you came up with it or put it together!

  10. This was good fun and I really enjoyed it. It turned out to be easier than I had feared as one of the animals down the right hand side was not too hard to spot and that enabled a useful start to be made on the perimeter.

    Thank you, Alchemi.

  11. Many thanks, Alchemi, and very well done. This proved to be a most enjoyable challenge.

  12. I got stuck for a long time somewhere down the Perimeter Zoo, but it was the anagram that helped me to locate the remaining animals and work out the name of the Jewish official, which in turn made me reminisce about one fine morning of my childhood when a ‘zarrah’ (the Muslim counterpart as called in most parts of India), while holding me tight and pointing towards the sky, exclaimed, “Look at the red bird over there!” and did his job. Besides 22d, my other favourites were 26a, 17d and 20d. Thanks to Alchemi for the brilliant puzzle. It was really a December to remember!

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