Enigmatic Variations 1477
Overlapping by Piccadilly
Setter’s Blog
Eleven entries are formed from overlapping words.
I watched Richard Osman’s House of Games on TV, and I actually knew who some of the ‘celebrities’ taking part were. The final round, Answersmash, gave me the idea for this puzzle.
First, I spent some time making a list of overlapping pairs of words which I could clue with normal-seeming phrases (not all of them were used). Then I built the grid incorporating the thematic answers among the normally-clued ones. I could probably have dispensed with the anagram of unchecked letters in thematic answers, were it not for GAME BIRD where GAME could be POLO or SOLO.
A full review of this puzzle can be seen over on fifteensquared.
Very enjoyable puzzle. Found it one of the easier EVs but enjoyed the clues. Liked the idea – Little Mix etc. Nice to have a puzzle not requiring a grid search. Thanks Piccadilly.