Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
This week I thought I’d give Claude a chance to impress. I asked, “A themed crossword puzzle is entitled ‘Sobering Thoughts’. Can you suggest what its theme might be?”
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Chalicea is another prolific setter encountered in all the usual places. For instance, in the Magpie series where she invariably sets at the A-grade level. This typically indicates fewer degrees of freedom and an accessible endgame that doesn’t suffer from GWIT (“guess what I’m thinking”). This puzzle is no exception.
In true Phibs style, I told Gemini: “in a thematic crossword puzzle, we are asked to identify a parking offence and the person performing it” to which they responded laconically with:
“Offence: OVERTIME
Person: METERFEEDER (someone adding money to extend time)”.
Was that helpful? You decide.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
I have a suspicion that the phrase which constitutes the title has something to do with bellringing.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Kcit is also Phi and is based in NZ – thus the pseudonymic inversion I assume – and a prolific setter (e.g. Listener, Inquisitor and the dailies). He tends to be very fair, rigorous and on the harder end of the spectrum. The title is tantalizing and it only made sense once I had made some sense of the theme. Actually that’s pretty typical for me. Some people though seem to be able to telepathically infer the theme from the title alone which of course accelerates the solving process. I invariably find that it’s the last piece of the jigsaw that clicks into place. In this case, I speculated that it had something to do with “unmentionables”.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Hoping to make a flying start, I asked ChatGPT, “A puzzle involves two ‘double acts’ with a connection of some kind. What might these two double acts be?”
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
I often wonder how pre-”everything is available online” generations managed to solve thematic puzzles. I suppose that the answer is that puzzle construction and puzzle decoding have co-evolved. Compilers must now assume that “full text” searching is at their solvers’ fingertips but in the past could only rely on access to hardcopy indexes. Or perhaps our ancestors were simply better educated and certainly had better actual libraries.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
My most recent experience of cranberry was in an M&S Christmas Sando (very nice), but now we have a puzzle by a setter of that name.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
In the olden days (15 years ago!) I was a blogger (on a couple of the other sites) but blog quality and sophistication has improved considerably since. Me not so much.
My qualification then was that I self-described as a beginner and Peter Biddlecombe (Hi Peter!) wanted to demonstrate that mere mortals such as myself were cryptically capable.
Incidentally, my solving partner (to be introduced) pointed out it’s ironic for us to be writing this blog since this is where we come ourselves for help (thanks Phibs!).
Enough about us…
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
A very happy New Year to all EV solvers. As of next Sunday, a new EV blogger will make their début, sharing duties with me on an alternating basis. I will let them introduce themselves when the time comes, but this is the moment to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the Numpties, who got these hints off the ground back in September 2020 with Chalicea’s The Beagle Has Landed (EV 1451), wrote all the blogs until June 2022, and then took turns with me until the end of last year – in the process covering something like 150 puzzles. Suffice to say that the existence of these hints is a direct result of their enthusiasm and effort.
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
Hexagonal grids are far from unknown in the world of the themed puzzle, and they are more common now that there is software out there to create and fill them, but I can’t find any record of a hexagonal EV having appeared previously, at least not in recent years.