Obviously this puzzle would have been set and commissioned well before the recent exams fiascos, but there are some prescient coincidences…
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Enigmatic Variations No. 1447: Theme Parks by Kruger
A delightful puzzle from Kruger, whose monicker is reminiscent of a famous ‘park’ in South Africa…
Independent 10,559 by Knut (Saturday Puzzle 15 August 2020)
A ‘gubernatorial’ feel to this puzzle, with three references to ‘presidents’, plus Mao, Merkel, Her Majesty and Charlie…and also some pop royalty with Tina Turner and Yoko…and all that just in the clues!
Cyclops 681 – Infection Price Tag
Typical Cyclopsean fare, book-ended by two references to ‘members’, neither of which are MPs…but also two uncharacteristic setting/editing slips, at 1A and 20D?
Enigmatic Variations No. 1443: Girl Sang Hymn by Piccadilly
Just like London buses, you wait ages for a Piccadilly to blog (EV 949 in 2011, EV 1291 in 2017), and then three come along in quick succession (EV 1419 in February this year, EV 1431 in May and now EV 1443). Where is this particular bus taking us?…
Independent 10,529 by Dalibor (Saturday Puzzle 11 July 2020)
An enjoyable puzzle from Dalibor today, with a few ‘might-have-been-topical’ clues?…(if it hadn’t have been for those pesky Covids…)…and some suspicious looking ‘unches’ around the perimeter…
Cyclops 679 – Stir-Crazy Cabinet Meeting
We are well into ‘post-Covid’ setting now, with ‘lockdown’ and ‘coronavirus’ both getting a mention in the clues. Lockdown frustration still seems …
Enigmatic Variations No. 1439: Peaceful Coexistence? by Wickball
A pretty complicated preamble, and a pretty complicated solve! Could ‘PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE’ be a (wishful) reference to lockdown life for many of us?!
Independent 10,499 by Monk (Saturday Puzzle 6 June 2020)
It hardly seems like yesterday (Oct 2018 actually) that the Indy was tipping over the 10,000 mark, and here are at just under 10,500…tempus fugit. A quick start, slow middle and chewy end from Monk today, at least from your blogger’s perspective…
Cyclops 677 – Non-stick Morality
A wide variety of references from Cyclops this fortnight, from a popular 70s TV show to the current pandemic, with Trump, Johnson, Clegg and Elizabeth I getting mentions in the clues…
Guardian Genius 142 by Crucible
The preamble for Genius 142, when you can work your way through the hotch-potch of ‘temporary’ (?) workarounds the Grauniad have built …
Enigmatic Variations No. 1168: Call Sign by Shark
In CALL SIGN, Shark offers up: a ’non-standard’, rectangular grid – 10 x 14; seven unclued entries, all of a kind; no misprints/corrections, just …
Independent 8883 by Tees (Saturday Prize Puzzle 4 April 2015)
An interesting mental tussle with Tees – with a variety of cultural references, from a South African golfer to Dante, via the slopes …
Enigmatic Variations No. 1164: Greetings by Kruger
Kruger sends his ‘GREETINGS’ – will EV solvers return the hand of friendship? I think they should!… I thought this was a wonderful …
Independent 8853 by Alchemi (Saturday Prize Puzzle 28 February 2015)
A pleasant, if gentle, workout from Alchemi – no particular theme or Nina that I could see, but some symmetrically placed (10, …