Chalicea (EV) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

EV 1744 (Hints)

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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EV 1720 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1720 (Hints)

Failure by Chalicea

Hints and tips by Phibs

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Hard on the heels of Curmudgeon’s Shambles, we have a Failure from her alter ego, Chalicea. I asked ChatGPT, “The theme of a crossword setter’s recent puzzle called ‘Shambles’ was the Charge of the Light Brigade. Their latest puzzle is called ‘Failure’, and apparently concerns the failure of a plan. What might that plan be?”

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EV 1696 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1696 (Hints)

Airy by Chalicea

Hints and tips by Phibs

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Dave Hennings’ database at xwdb.info tells us that today’s setter has had at least 186 barred puzzles published under her aliases Chalicea and Curmudgeon, and that’s before any collaborations are taken into account. The first appeared in the Magpie magazine in October 2009, which  indicates an average of something close to one every month since. Wow!

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