Not 100% sure but I can't see what else these could be: For
HOLLY variation 3, answers appear to be HOLILY and HOMILY, for IVY they are
CIVILLY and VIVIDLY. IVY appears in both answers, but HOLLY does not. So I am
missing the "consistent" part of the derivation of these answers.
But, nothing else seems to fit.
Thanks to Eclogue, and season’s greetings indeed to all.
It's been ages since I was able to solve a Crossword Centre puzzle
completely. I might have gotten something wrong on this one, but I enjoyed it
so much that I had to send in my solution. A very pleasant romp on the theme of
"The Holly and the Ivy". Happy Christmas (Georgie explained to me
that you don't say "Merry Christmas" in the UK) and New Year to you
and to the two at Eclogue.
I do think 20 was a bit obscure (I needed the Chambers Gazetteer),
unless it has some significance to Britons of which I am not aware.
This was a very good puzzle and I found it quite a test with some
unusual words added to my lexicon. A very clever grid too. It was nice to learn the identity of the
compilers and I recognise Eddie as a prolific solver of prize crosswords in the
Times and Independent.
That was a nice way to end another great year.
Please see attached my entry for Seasons Greetings XI. Relatively
straightforward given the fiendishness of recent puzzles. My only concern is an
incomplete understanding of variation 3 and how those entries specifically are
formed. I look forward to finding out when the solution is released. Many thanks for a year of excellent puzzles. I
always look out impatiently for the next one!
My solution is
attached, although I don't quite see how variation 3 works, as although the
others include the letters of the theme word in order, the one at 6dn loses an
L. Also, the clue to 8dn is wrong:
although Chambers defines the word as 'steep', Collins makes it clear that it
is 'precipitous' rather than 'pricey'.
This was a toughie. It took
my third online anagram finder to locate Ilorin and Zdna was a bit testing too.
However I did get great satisfaction from completing it!
Thanks to Eclogue for
keeping this series going, and keeping it fresh. I like the device of
using the puzzle title to complete the final entry – a nice touch.
I enjoyed the solve and discovering the theme which was deployed
with commendable imagination by the setters. A neat set of clues added to the
satisfasction - thanks to Eclogue.
It took quite a while for the penny to
drop, almost had all the clued entries in before so. A few new words for me -
shchis, panix and zdna amongst them. A
nice endgame and I think I've got the correct alternative at 12D. Last weekend's Listener theme helped!
Enjoyable puzzle. Not too difficult.
Thanks to Eclogue (both of
them.)
In general this was quite
accessible, although the '3' variations did seem a bit arbitrary, presumably
the consistency including the fact that the included letters were all Roman
numerals.
Many thanks to Eclogue for
another excellent crossword. Theme and Variations provided quite a tricky
challenge.
Very nice!
An interesting puzzle but I’m not sure
I fully got the ‘3’ variations completely - not my favourite in the series but
enjoyable nonetheless.
I enjoyed it
immensely. It was like a treasure hunt for the 14 unclued once I cottoned onto
the theme. I did manage to make the NW corner harder for myself by initially
entering “Aethers”, an anagram of “heart”, “e”, and “s” (the faces of Eros),
instead of “Meteors”. Once I realized my mistake 1A and 18A were the last 2 to
fall. Many thanks as always to Eclogue
for the annual challenge.
I usually worry about my ability to
solve a puzzle with so many unclued entries, but I didn't find it too hard to
solve enough clues to work out what was going on. I managed to guess words that
could be the '2' variations first, which led me to the theme words and then it
wasn't too hard to work out the other variations, with the extra hint from the
preamble that the '3' variations involved Roman numerals. I initially thought that the '3' variations
involved adding more Roman numerals to the theme word until I came to 6d. I
used an electronic search to find other possible '3' variations which confirmed
that those appearing in the puzzle plus the unused alternative are the longest
possible for each theme word.
Very, very tricky. Thanks for the
challenge.
