Half and Half

 The CrOZworld magazine has a regular slot for what it calls half and half puzzles.  That is, puzzles where half of the clues are cryptic and half are plain or non-cryptic and these puzzles are generally on the easy side.  Taking note of feedback on some of our previous puzzles it became apparent that some CrOZworld solvers perceived Eclogue as a setter of difficult puzzles.  In order to rectify this, we decided to compose a half and half crossword and hope we could temper our "difficult" reputation.

Half and Half

The perimeter reads clockwise PLAIN, CRYPTIC, PLAIN, CRYPTIC

CrOZworld editor's report and solvers' comments

Entries: 100

Correct: 54

 

Slot 1: It would be a rare Eclogue puzzle that comes without one clue that bites, and this was no exception. 15 across is a tricky clue and COPS just about writes itself in as the solution. But the answer is PODS, being PLODS minus L. We had 37 COPS – enough for a small police force! The rainbows sought were I(RISE)S, rather than PRISMS. There was also a neat “plain / cryptic” Nina on the border of the grid, which must have gone unnoticed by those who joined the police.

 

June 1: Eclogue (Keith Williams & Eddie Looby)

• I loved the clever NINA. Brian Tickle
• As I was submitting my puzzle I noticed that the perimeter top and bottom had PLAIN reversed and the sides had CRYPTIC reversed. That would have made the puzzle so much harder to compile. David Procter
• Clever double Nina. Plain Cryptic x 2 Julie Leigh
• 15A; 2D Look easy or tricky ??? Gary Lemon
• I couldn’t work out the wordplay in PODS and HEIDI David Bennett
• Not quite PLAIN but still CRYPTIC enough. Good one. Andrew Patterson
• Nice Slot 1 start; liked TASMANIA. Joan Smith
• I laughed when I discovered the handy guide to which clues are plain and which cryptic. Circumscription? Kath Harper
• Thanks Eclogue for a double plain/cryptic start to the month. Ulla Axelsen
• Plain Cryptic x 2 indeed! Pat Garner
• Took me a while to figure out that 15 across was not COPS and still uncertain about HEIDI. ["heid" is a Scottish variant of "head" + Independence - Adj] I liked the clue for ALEC. Lynn Jarman
• Thanks Eclogue! Your clever Nina saved me from a few errors right at the last minute. I liked the clue for CLUE. Kathy Horadam
• A Nina in slot 1! Quite properly it’s both PLAIN and CRYPTIC (by two). Richard Skinner
• 27 Across: Hi! Is I (or am I) correct? Max Roddick
• A Nina “plain cryptic” forwards and backwards Marian Procter
• Not till just now have I discovered the perimeter CRYPTIC/PLAIN and vice versa. Very clever Doreen Jones

A good slot one; thanks. Barbara Ibbot