Putting the words to lights – crossword clues explained in plain English
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Stick Insect has been known to set the occasional numerical puzzle as well as regular cryptics.… Continue reading
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Uncertainty is always challenging: many of the clues have a misprint (19/34) which means we have to constantly assess and monitor clue type while solving. … Continue reading
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Gaston to my middlebrow brain hints at Beauty and the Beast – of which my main memory is that of my son sitting on my lap when the Disney film was released and since he was so excited he…
Gemini wasn’t much help: e.g.… Continue reading
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So we need to find 6 clues in acrosses and downs respectively that have their definitions swapped.… Continue reading
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According to my “sources”, Skylark is supposedly on the easier end of the solving spectrum. … Continue reading
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The original “Name of the Game” by Ranunculus (EV 1502) was blogged on this very site by its author. … Continue reading
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Kruger has been setting EV puzzles for almost 30 years now. What do our AI friends think about this one? Trying Gemini again, I gave it the preamble…
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I gave Gemini (if nothing, I’m loyal – for now) the preamble. And they proposed a promising tactic and one completely wrongheaded observation: “Two Unclued Entries: These are the key! They spell out PRESS RELEASE”. They don’t. The promising tactic: “Tackle the Wordplay-Only Clues: These might be easier to solve initially as they don’t have the extra layer of surplus letters.” Slightly helpful albeit a bit obvious.
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Shark is familiar to me as being at the harder end of the spectrum – he’s a frequent contributor to the Usual Cryptic Suspects. The title probably meant that something thematic was going to show up there and might be of some help while solving. Though I’ll admit I usually only manage to decode titles ex post facto. I didn’t bother consulting my Gemini advisor since I couldn’t imagine even him/her having anything useful to contribute given that particular title. Also, I didn’t wonder (though I should have!) whether Easter Sunday might be thematically relevant.
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If nothing else, I’m loyal to Gemini (I’ll admit to being somewhat biased, so I don’t flirt with ChatGPT and Claude). I asked him/her: “In an advanced thematic crossword, we are asked to find the real names of two GOOD BUDDIES that have ‘better-known aliases’. What do you make of this?”.
He/she coughed up “Batman and Robin” (yes, they have real names and aliases indeed) and “Holmes and Watson” (real names but no obvious aliases). And I was finally advised to: “crucially, understand the theme of the crossword”. Oh, OK. Will do. Not helpful.