Monthly Prize Puzzle (November 2020)
The Facts of Life by Phibs
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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 (21st November 2020).
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.
Very enjoyable. Thank you Phibs. The penny drop moment when the solution revealed itself was nice.
I have a filled grid but will have to think about the solution, there are several things staring at me to sort out…
Stare at the title, then think laterally!
I think I’ve got it now – you’ll know in a minute!
Cleverly done Phibs
Isn’t that “helping” ?
Don’t worry CS, I was already doing that while BD was posting
Well, without resorting to the ‘Gielgud method,’ I have a completed grid. Now, whether it has been completed correctly may be open to question. However, before expending some brain cells on the riddle I think I will ‘move over’ to the NTSPP. Thanks to Phibs for the cranial workout.
Thank you Phibs for setting such an interesting puzzle. I now have a completed grid and can feel the life in most of the answers. But to find out its facts and pull out the odd one out is a hard nut to crack, at least for the time being. I shall definitely give it a try again next week.
I suppose I had something of an advantage when it came to one of the facts of life, the other is more of an assumption – will have to wait and see.
Many thanks for the puzzle, Phibs, some of it took quite a while to parse.
Huge penny-drop moment that made all the head-scratching worthwhile.
Thanks Phibs.
After the expected very enjoyable battle with Phibs (my second big battle of the weekend after Radler’s NTSPP), I have a full grid with everything parsed. I need more time to ponder on the final question…
The penny just dropped with a resounding clang! Brilliant, Phibs, well done yet again!
Oh dear…..the ‘puzzle ‘ bit if this jumped out at me…or at least I think it has….but I have 3 more clues to find to be absolutely certain.
I really enjoyed that, certainly one of the best MPP’s for a while.
I don’t understand.
I have a full grid but feel that something is cheating me out of a victory.
Never mind. I’ll just go and play golf.
I again gave it a try last week and yesterday was my third attempt, after when I sent in my answer. Whenever I stared at the title, I stared ten times the time at the answers. It was all the same. I felt the life in most of the answers as usual. But a compulsion from within made me meditate and I felt a strange secret of life in another set of answers. Although what the solution revealed was obvious, if it finally turns out to be not correct, I would laugh at myself for my bizarre method of analysis.
Of late, I have taken an initiative to make cryptic crosswords look easy for those around the globe including my country India who are not at all aware of the word puzzle by starting a YouTube Channel ‘Learn with Rahmat Ali’. Please have a look at it at your spare time. If you like, give thumbs up. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMjj6dUXNSw