EV 1764 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1764 (Hints)

Superficially by Kruger

Hints and tips by Phibs

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This is Kruger’s 82nd EV puzzle, and his third of the year, following one about Little Bo Peep and another about Peter James’ detective Roy Grace. Perhaps this time around we can expect Little Boys in Blue…

In five previous years Kruger has had four EVs published, so this may not be his final appearance of 2026.

Preamble: 26 (2 words), near 44 14 8, the brainchild of 3 1 Across, was SUPERFICIALLY intended to be a showcase for 20, 27, 25 and 22. Every clue except the first and last contains an extra word of at least four letters that must be removed before solving. In clue order, the first, third or fifth letters of these extra words (approx. equal numbers of each) identify the legend to be written under the grid. Chambers (2016) is recommended. 39 is in ODE. One answer is an abbreviation.

Apart from 1a and 40d, every clue contains an extra word (of at least four letters, according to the preamble, but it seems likely that they will all contain five letters or more) that must be removed before the clue can properly be solved. So if a clue were “Setter seen in dark rug, combover eradicated (6)”, the word ‘combover’ must be removed before the hidden answer KRUGER can be identified in ‘darK RUG ERadicated’. Although the word ‘seen’ is technically redundant, the clue can be solved whether it is there or not. We need to keep track of the extra words, which will be required in the last part of the endgame.

Across

6a  Waste time returning a lot of money to Dubliners on a regular basis (6)
The ‘lot of money’ is a three-letter word that describes what Harry Enfield’s plasterer ‘Loadsamoney’ used to flaunt shamelessly.

11a  To some extent, quaint unopened cotton flower in Louisiana not special (5)
The convention of underlining the definition in these hints leaves the extra word here somewhat exposed. The ‘unopened cotton flower’ could also have been indicated by ‘geometric figure’, whilst the ‘to some’ is there because the answer is shown by Chambers as ‘dialect’.

19a  Movement of foreign stocks and shares since I invested (4)
There is something known ‘in the trade’ as an invisicomma between ‘since’ and ‘I’, because the letter I must be ‘invested’ in a synonym for ‘since’.

30a  Put aside gadget’s uncovered handle (5)
‘Put aside’ leads to a seven-letter past tense meaning ‘postponed’ (in practice, often permanently).

36a  Large market for computer kit arranged in part of London (4)
The market comprises not big corporations but users in small, and home, offices.

39a  River in central region of Colorado basin already indicative of where the mouth is (6)
Don’t biff in the only word in Chambers which fits with the crossers and seems to vaguely chime with the definition; as implied by the preamble, the answer here is not in Chambers (it’s not in Collins either), but is in ODE, and can be found online in The Free Dictionary. For a word not given by the primary reference, the definition is perhaps a little on the loose side.

Down

1d  Rampant Caledonian kinsman to damage steelyard in Kirkwall (6)
The ‘rampant’ here indicates reversal of one three-letter word, while the three-letter word yielded by ‘to damage’ is a crossword regular.

4d  City, say, to complain about old-fashioned comprehensive teaching? On the contrary (6)
The wordplay involves a two-letter word meaning ‘to make a particular interjection (which can express surprise, joy, pity, complaint, objection, etc)’ and a four-letter word for learning of a traditional kind. The indicator ‘about’ combined with ‘on the contrary’ means that rather than the former containing the latter, it is the latter which contains the former.

6d  A few weeks in dreary Norfolk town appals (7)
‘A few weeks’ corresponds to approximately 4.29 weeks; those who live in the town in question will probably be more kindly disposed to our setter once they have removed the bonus word.

9d  No sports clubs to embrace impudence (3)
The wordplay is clearer if you mentally replace ‘to’ with ‘in’, since a single-letter abbreviation is to be removed from a four-letter word.

29d  Marsh possibly beside last of Nicaraguan cypress trees (6)
A slightly odd clue, given that the first name of the New Zealand author (famous for her detective novels) referred to in the wordplay derives from the name of the tree which (in its plural form) constitutes the answer.

33d  Name heartless former marine in advance (6)
I’ve never liked ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ used on their own to define a random boy’s or girl’s first name, so you can probably guess how I feel about ‘name’ being used in a similar way. The five-letter word which sometimes appears in wordplays indicating ‘RM’ here loses its heart ahead of a word meaning (among many other things) ‘in advance’.

35d  Old reindeer overlooking northern Alberta’s dead bracken (4)
An obsolete word for a reindeer loses two consecutive single-letter abbreviations. The answer might put you in mind of the plantation in Gone with the Wind.

38d  Regarding air staff always heading in one direction (4, 2 words)
A two-letter abbreviation combines with a word of many meanings, one of which is ‘in one direction’.

Definitions in clues are underlined

The unclued entries at 44 and 8 should be enough to guide you to the ‘main theme’, either with or without the aid of Google, and from there filling in the remaining blanks should prove straightforward. Having written the first, third and fifth letters of each extra word in a vertical list, you need to pick out some words or likely letter sequences. The first four triads (and then the following two) represent a good starting point, and there are only two possibilities for the letter in triad seven which begins another word. Further down the list, groups 18-21 offer a limited number of potential combinations and should help with the fifth word of the six. Having worked out the message, which consists of 12 first letters, 12 third letters, and 11 fifth letters, finding the ‘legend’ should present few problems.

The clues were made trickier by the presence of the extra words, but there were enough at the easier end of the spectrum to provide toeholds around the grid. Completing the unclued entries wasn’t too challenging, but the identification of the message from the extra words took a little effort.

Phibs Toughness Rating : 🥾🥾/🥾🥾🥾 (Some solvers may find the endgame tricky)

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