Enigmatic Variations 1614 (Hints)
Hide and Seek by Piccadilly
Hints and tips by The Numpties
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It is a pleasure to download a crossword by Piccadilly who has been setting them for 34 years and EVs since 1995. Of course he sets for the Listener and Magpie too. When we see a carte blanche, we are surprisd, as this is unusual in the EV series.
Preamble: In this puzzle, solvers play HIDE AND SEEK, whereby the answer to each clue is concealed within it, as is the definition for another answer. The pattern linking definitions and answers is to be discovered. Clues are listed in conventional order, and solvers must add bars so that the completed grid shows 180° rotational symmetry. Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended; one answer is a prefix and one proper noun has a two-word definition.
The preamble surprises us even more than the carte blanche and we soon realize that our ‘hints and tips’ will need to take a slightly different form this week. Clearly, we are not going to give Picadilly’s game away by highlighting the definition parts of clues!
We understand that each clue is going to have its answer ‘concealed’ in it. By this, we soon realize that the letters of two or three words in the clue (or maybe hidden within a longer word) will spell out that clue’s answer. We need to look for a definition for that answer elsewhere and we understand that each clue will also contain the ‘definition’ of another clue – presumably hidden in the same way.
How can we hint and tip? We can remind solvers that rotational symmetry is ‘is the property a shape has when it looks the same after some rotation by a partial turn’. In this case, the 180° turn means that the grid will have identical bars when turned upside down. By adding bars as you go along, you will make the grid fill easier – producing some clue lengths.
We wondered about the ‘pattern linking definitions and answers’, noted that there were 20 across and 20 down clues and came to a speedy conclusion.
Just a few clue comments here:
Across
For purposes of PR, EMI sent a man dual-band phone
We needed Chambers to explain the answer to this clue, though when we had worked out the ‘definition/answer’ relationship, it was clear that it had to be another name for a more familiar creature. The definition hidden here, though fairly obviously spelled out, was for an unusual word that appeared in the partner clue.
I loathe ptarmigans, they’re treacherous
Poor maligned ptarmigans – actually they are rather endearing, shy little creatures. The answer here is the ‘prefix’. We head for Athens next Monday – that is the origin of this word.
Sloe gin, a new batch, I made it yesterday
The definition and answer were not difficult to find here but the example of the definition, that appeared in the partner clue, was not a familiar one for us.
Champagne with rum and coke could incur very large bar bill
One last comment that may be helpful if you are still working out what is going on. Redundant words in crossword clues are generally frowned upon but in this case Picadilly has allowed himself lots of them in order to create valid surface readings (in this case you might well incur a healthy hospital bill if you mix too much of that lot!) In this clue, for example, the champagne, the coke and the large bar bill are there to perfect the surface reading.
Of course the penny-drop moment produced a smile, as it usually does in a Piccadilly crossword. Do please send in your entry – don’t forget to check those symmetrical bars and add your comments here and to the setters’ blogs that are appearing on Big Dave’s site on Thursdays and to the detailed blogs that also appear on Thursdays on fifteensquared.
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After chatting to proXimal at the S&B he recommended that I try the EV and I am pleased I did
I have Hidden and Seeked and have an almost complete list of answers and definitions. Fitting them all in the grid is another kettle of 17a but I will persevere
Running out of paper, I just cannot find a way to fit what I have into a grid I feel like a right 6
EV GRID
Sloop John Bee – are you sure you have 3d right? That’s a sneaky one and hindered my progress rather.
Welcome to the blog
I got 3d Ok it came up in a recent toughie, I had most trouble with the pesky three-lettered ones
Are you adding the symmetrically-opposite bars as you go along? This should build the grid up, so you enter the first entry and the last across entry together and then so on. That should give a skeleton helping to locate where some others start and finish.
It certainly helped when I did that, It also helped me realise that the length of the answers was symmetrical
This looked a lot more complicated at first glance than it actually was. At least to find most of the answers and definitions. Getting the 180 degree symmetry posed a few problems, mainly because I had overthought one answer and couldn’t see for looking at two others. I just hope I have all the bars on my entry and in the right places
Thanks to The Numpties and to Piccadilly for something quite different. I shall however look forward to solving clues again next week.
Phew, what a scorcher, I appear to have a full grid!
I may have mislaid a God or two but they may reappear as I transpose to the pink page
Thanks to Picadilly for stretching my brain further than I thought it would go, and not forgetting the Numpties whose fine nudges got me started