Toughie No 374 by Notabilis
Anax can fall
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty **** – Enjoyment ****
I really enjoyed this, but I also found it very difficult – not that I had to look anything up beyond confirming a couple of answers I’d written in. But, after solving, it turns out a couple of my partners in solving crime had far less trouble than me.
Notabilis has been one of my favourite setters for a long time and, as ever, what shines through in this puzzle (beyond his usual inventiveness) is conciseness, clarity and fairness. The enjoyment rating is only at 4 stars, though; for me the clues were pretty much faultless – just one very tiny grumble – but it just needed a genuine WOW moment to tip it into 5-star territory.
My favourites clues are shown in blue text, but these are the pick of a very high quality bunch.
Leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.