Enigmatic Variations 1768 (Hints)
Coincidence by Skylark
Hints and tips by Phibs
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The first Skylark puzzle I blogged was EV 1569, back in December 2022.
Author: Phibs
EV 1766 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1766 (Hints)
On Board by Luxor
Hints and tips by Phibs
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This is Luxor’s twelfth EV, and I have had the pleasure of doing the hints and tips for ten of them.
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…
EV 1762 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1762 (Hints)
Onlookers by Ifor
Hints and tips by Phibs
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I didn’t feel there was much for Claude to get his virtual teeth into here, so I asked him, “What do solvers have to say about crosswords compiled by the setter Ifor?”
EV 1760 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1760 (Hints)
Poster by Robyn
Hints and tips by Phibs
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This week I gave Claude the chance to impress.
EV 1758 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1758 (Hints)
1, 2, 3…Go! by Charybdis
Hints and tips by Phibs
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I gave Claude the entire text of the preamble and asked him, “Do you have any idea what the theme might be?”
EV 1756 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1756 (Hints)
Holy Anthem by Raffles
Hints and tips by Phibs
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Raffles is the name of the cricketer and gentleman thief created by Ernest Hornung, the brother-in-law of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle.
EV 1754 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1754 (Hints)
Block Letters by Nudd
Hints and tips by Phibs
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Today the EV community extends a warm welcome to our new editor, the cruciverbal legend that is John Henderson (Elgar, Enigmatist, Io, and editor of the Inquisitor puzzle in the i newspaper); at the same time, we bid farewell to Steve Bartlett, who has been in the editorial seat since 2019 and has by my reckoning brought 373 puzzles to us during his seven-year tenure – I’m sure you will join me in thanking him for a sterling shift, in the course of which, along with editing many fine puzzles, he introduced these ‘hints and tips’ blogs. Thanks, too, on behalf of all EV setters: there’s no doubting that when many of those puzzles were received by Steve they were significantly less satisfactory than their polished, published forms.
EV 1752 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1752 (Hints)
Double Crests by Luxor
Hints and tips by Phibs
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After Claude’s problems with the primates of EV 1750, I gave him a chance to redeem himself, asking, “In a themed crossword puzzle, we are told that we must find the title of a work featuring ‘double crests’ and the name of the series of which it is part. Can you suggest what the work/series might be?”
EV 1750 (Hints)
Enigmatic Variations 1750 (Hints)
Protégées by Vismut
Hints and tips by Phibs
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I felt there was enough in the preamble here to give Claude a fighting chance, so I asked “In a themed crossword puzzle , we are told that the completed grid includes a nickname (13 letters) and the names of three protégées to whom the nickname refers (35 letters in total); the completed grid also contains three ‘study groups, one of which is hanging upside down’, associated with these protegees. What might the theme of the puzzle be?”