Chalicea (EV) – Big Dave's Crossword Blog

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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EV 1673 (Hints)

Enigmatic Variations 1673 (Hints)

No Prize by Chalicea

Hints and tips by Phibs

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A search on Dave Hennings’ database at xwdb.info reveals that Chalicea has had 161 puzzles published in the Listener/EV/IQ weekly series and the monthly Crossword/Magpie magazines. A further 18 by her alter ego Curmudgeon take the total up to 179, so I make this number 180, an achievement of truly Phil Taylor-esque proportions.

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