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.
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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?”
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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?”
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Enigmatic Variations 1748 (Hints)
Martyrdom by Kcit
Hints and tips by Phibs
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Wondering just how many EV puzzles Kcit had set in his long career, I consulted Dave Hennings’ excellent xwdb.info site.
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Enigmatic Variations 1746 (Hints)
In Part by Miles
Hints and tips by Phibs
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I was at school with Tony Miles, who went on to become the first UK-born over-the-board chess grandmaster, in the process winning the £5,000 prize put up by Jim Slater.
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Enigmatic Variations 1744 (Hints)
Reassuring by Chalicea
Hints and tips by Phibs
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It’s probably fair to say that in my four years of doing EV hints a significant majority of the puzzles have been beyond an imaginary halfway line in terms of difficulty.
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Enigmatic Variations 1742 (Hints)
Prime by Arcadia
Hints and tips by Phibs
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The name Arcadia immediately brings to my mind a shop in St. Michael’s Street, Oxford.
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Enigmatic Variations 1740 (Hints)
Gentle Observations by Luxor
Hints and tips by Phibs
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Having got clearance through from the Pentagon, I asked Claude, “In a themed crossword puzzle, we are asked to identify a work and its creator (not ‘author’) and then position three words appropriately in the grid, each one representing a ‘gentle observation’. Have you any idea what the theme might be?”
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Enigmatic Variations 1738 (Hints)
Cross Words by Robyn
Hints and tips by Phibs
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Telegraph regulars will recognize today’s setter as the deputy puzzles editor, using a pseudonym normally associated with his Toughies; he has set themed puzzles for several publications in years gone by under a different nom de guerre, including ten Listeners (three more than me), but as far as I can ascertain this is his first EV – if so, we extend a warm welcome to him.
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Enigmatic Variations 1736 (Hints)
Crack Up by Shark
Hints and tips by Phibs
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With very little to offer Claude in terms of today’s puzzle, I asked, “Why would a setter of themed crossword puzzles choose to call themselves Shark?”
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