3D Calendar Puzzle 2020

This puzzle was published in the 2020 edition of the 3D Calendar representing the month of September.

Preamble:

Celebrating the 191st anniversary of a creation, which alludes to the thematic method of entry of all solutions.

All entries and answers are real words or proper nouns (one common derivative via the Internet).

The puzzle therfore bears the working title of Peelers by Eclogue with the grid by Logogriph.

Clue answers are all of seven words and each must be "peeled" to form the five-letter entry.  All entries are real words as stated in the preamble.

It is the 100th published Eclogue puzzle.

Editorial Review

The rubric said “Celebrating the 191st anniversary of a creation (17), which alludes to the thematic method of entry all solutions. All entries and answers are real words or proper nouns”

Given that the theme was given by Clue 17 and also by the picture clue I focussed my full attention on it right from the start. Now it’s not often that I solve the picture clue before the written clue, and it’s not entirely true that I did so on this occasion. What I did do was get SLEEP going upwards from the picture clue and that helped solve the quite tricky written clue to give PEELERS. And I’m glad that I did because it was immediately apparent that we had to ‘peel’ the outer two letters of each solution in order make the grid entry. This, of course, made the rest of the solve significantly more straightforward. 

Coincidentally Lynn, my wife, and I had been watching the ITV box set of Victoria at the time we solved this puzzle and the jousting between Victoria, Albert and Sir Robert Peel may well have helped subconsciously.

From the comments I think that this puzzle was probably the toughest of the year so far. Without getting the method of entry early on it undoubtedly was. Even having done so it was a very tricky solve. I came across this quote from one of the original test solvers of the puzzle; “This was one of the trickiest 3D puzzles I've ever solved, although I did get there in the end. For me, it was much more like an Azed puzzle than a Guardian one, with a lot of obscure and Scottish words that needed constructing and then confirming in Chambers. Things were made more difficult by the fact that it wasn't just within the solutions that there were obscure words (many presumably necessitated by the theme), but there were also some obscure definitions within the wordplay elements”. Very much my thoughts too.

Eclogue is a team of two setters one of whom, Logogriph (aka Keith Williams), was part of the 3D Crossword team at the time this puzzle was set. Indeed Keith rose to the challenge of editing the 2020 3D Calendar when Eric fell ill in Autumn 2019.

3D September 2020 Crossword Solvers' Comments

 

Tricky, but good fun. I wasn't clear whether to enter the answers before or after treatment, so I may be back to the web page! AH

Enjoyed 3D by Eclogue very much. My favourite clues were to Neatens, Terrors and Venters. Very clever how the setter managed real words after answers were ‘peeled’! Many thanks. PC

So imaginative. I can feel the dementia being held at bay! RE

Enjoyed this cleverly constructed puzzle. Solvers became the thematic PEELERS, removing first and last letter from each answer before entry. Nice one.👌 MN

 A very tough puzzle. I barked up the wrong tree before I realised the (17) in the directions referred to Day 17's answer rather than a 17 letter "creation". So I toyed with THE PIANO ACCORDIAN, which google told me dated back to 1829, thinking it might imply that I had to concertina the seven-letter solutions. A fellow puzzler helped me to look again at PEELERS, which made me see that I had to "peel" off the beginnings and ends of the solutions to fit the five letter words into the grid. I found it all a bit of a hard slog to tell you the truth, but I still appreciated the cleverness of Eclogue and Logogriph. JA

 This was a rather challenging puzzle that took me longer than any other to date except for the August Extra. With a dictionary to hand to look up and check all the more obscure words and meanings, though, I got through this steadily. I enjoyed the clues. There were some interesting 'creations' in 1829, of which the typewriter and the concertina seemed to have no relevance, but the Metropolitan Police matched PEELERS perfectly. Thanks to Eclogue and Logogriph AB

The missing heads and tails made this a challenge to solve and must have been very difficult to set. We enjoyed the puzzle very much but have yet to work out what the 191st anniversary is. Something to do with gooseberries? JM

A first read through gave me only a couple of answers, which didn't bode well. Rereading the instruction saying that entries were also words helped a great deal. I can't make anything of 24 but TERRORS seems to be the only thing that fits. 14 construction seems odd. MJ

We were stuck on day 15 for quite a while....we feared we would never get to the solution! Scottish slang is not our best suit! HK

We found this to be the trickiest puzzle so far in this year's calendar. We spotted quite early that the answers contained 5-letter words, so guessed the method of entry before getting Peelers. One or two of the early answers were new to us (looking at you Bidents and Drogers). This was a tour de force of construction ensuring that every entry fitted the pattern. Thanks for the challenge! N&SI Beautifully intricate - this must have been harder to compile than to solve! Most enjoyable. EF

This was one of the hardest puzzles ever for me. There were some very obscure words. However I enjoyed it as usual and the novel idea of having words within words. MP

Harder than usual! I got the cartoon of ER straight away and didn't take long to start peeling the answers. What a great bit of construction! I had real trouble with day 10 and don't see how I got the answer but my entry seems OK. PD

Bloomin' 'eck. This was hard. So many words I didn't know, both before and after treatment. A very, very clever piece of construction but I had to have a lie down for a few days after doing it. HS

Great puzzle - really enjoyed it. BS

After two or three reads only had a couple! Long, slow burn! Seemed clear from first few entries that answers had to lose first and last, but did not get 17 for long time! Not sure I have correct 15 either. Overall an enjoyable challenge. DM

I definitely needed the Hints and Tips to get anywhere near completing this one! Identifying the theme didn’t lead to a spurt of other answers, as it usually does, and there were a lot of obscure words! JB

Although I deduced the need to remove the first and last letters of my solution to enter it into the grid after only a few clues had been solved, it was only when I got the answer to day 17 that the penny dropped. (I still can't make anything of Frank Paul's drawing as I don't know who the people shown are, and needed Google to confirm the date for the Peelers) PM

There is absolutely no way the answers I am about to give in the boxes above are all correct. The last half-dozen or so have been made to fit the alphabetic nature of the answers and tentatively the requirement that the middle 5 letters form a word. Any resemblance to the real answers to the clues is purely coincidental. This has got to be one of the hardest 3D puzzles I have attempted. It was the arcane clueing that did for me. The concept is spectacular cramming 27 words into a tight 5x5x5 cube. TR

Very complex, and hard clues ML

After two or three reads only had a couple! Long, slow burn! Seemed clear from first few entries that answers had to lose first and last, but did not get 17 for long time! Not sure I have correct 15 either or 11. Overall an enjoyable challenge. DM

What an incredible grid construction! How long did it take to collect a set of word pairs like that??!? Solving was super tough with the (necessarily) obscure words. We had given up mid-month and only finished thanks to a little help and enthusiasm from a fellow solver. Looking forwards to the return of the first and last letters in October.” J&JH

That was a tricky one! Very clever theme and idea. AR

191st anniversary of Met police, originally Peelers after Robert Peel. Apart from the peeling method to arrive at the solution, I was surprised there were no other ‘copper’ links. A completely different concept this time, thank you. SF

A fun solve. Thanks Eclogue! RR

I really struggled with this one and almost did not send it in at all because I am so doubtful about some of the answers, and two of them are pure guesses as I could not solve the clues. So I am right up against the deadline! And I am pretty certain some are wrong, but did not want to opt out of the attempt. I got the principle of the method very quickly, having worked out the anniversary and appreciated the clever clue. I enjoyed solving it at first, but some words are really pushing the boundaries of what is fair, I felt - and some strange definitions. I look forward to seeing the solutions! SB

3D Calendar Puzzle, June 2019

This Calendar Puzzle marks the 70th anniversary of the novel 1984 by George Orwell.

Thematic answers appear at:

Day 5: BIG BROTHER
Day 8: DOUBLETHINK
Day 9: ERIC BLAIR (the author's real name)
Days 16 & 15: MINISTRY OF LOVE
Days 16 & 24: MINISTRY OF PEACE
Days 16 & 25: MINISTRY OF PLENTY
Days 16 & 37: MINISTRY OF TRUTH
Day 17: NEWSPEAK
Day 19: NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR
Day 21: ORWELL
Day 26: PROLETARIAT

Letters in purple cells can be arranged to form the name of the main protagonist, WINSTON SMITH.
likewise, the letters in the green cells can give the author's first name, GEORGE, whose surname is clued at day 21 and real name is clued at day 9.

3D Calendar Puzzle, October 2018

Upon our first venture into writing a 3D puzzle Eclogue wrote:

The three dimensional crossword is a little known format, probably exclusive to Eric Westbrook's site which has developed the genre in order to drum up funds for charities, the two main ones being BBC Children in Need and RNIB Pears Centre.

As well as length and breadth, the 3D crossword also has depth and appears as (usually) 5 grids tiered one above another.  In each tier clues can be entered across or backwards or to and fro and the depth aspect comes into play when an answer is entered traversing through the five tiers at one letter per tier, either up or down.

In late August 2017, Eclogue were delighted to be asked to provide the clues to go with Logogriph's design for the October 2018 grid.  The puzzle marks the 58th anniversary of the appearance of the classic Western, The Magnificent Seven. 

Thematic material appearing in the grid comprised the seven actors who played the heroes (Yul BRYNNER, the leader, Charles BRONSON, Horst BUCHHOLZ, James COBURN, BRAD DEXTER, STEVE McQUEEN, Robert VAUGHN), ELI WALLACH, who played the leader of the bandits, Elmer BERNSTEIN, who composed the film's score and The Seven SAMURAI, on which the movie was based.

Magnificent 7

Eli Wallach as Calvera

 

Elmer Bernstein

 

The Seven Samurai

Comments From Solvers

A great film - and a great crossword. HB
Taxing, but very enjoyable as usual. CH
An interesting puzzle to solve, though I found the double letters device a bit disconcerting. JA
I enjoyed solving the clues - but I struggled hugely with the grid! For some reason, it took me ages
to realise that the pink squares contained double letters, and felt very silly when I eventually
understood! DS
A great film and a regular pub quiz question along with naming the seven dwarves. Thanks for a
great puzzle. SW
A very entertaining puzzle, with the double letters an original touch, though I confess to having to
look up some of the actors -- and the recent remake was nowhere near as good as the original. I
still am not clear how 11 ,13 and 35 parse, but am hoping answers are correct, since I see no other
plausible alternatives! MS
What a great device for fitting longer words into the grid. Also impressive was getting a complete
set of actors plus the composer in there. All that and only three letters (J,K,P) short of a pangram.
JT (These thoughts are reflected in my review above Ed)
A lovely one thank you, but not too taxing. I like the way the actor’s names are clued, especially
McQueen. And possibly my favourite photograph, though April runs it close. AGC
For some reason I had a mental block on the last clue and finally got it - WISE. How fitting! JN

My favourite film and I would take the theme music to my desert island too. No real problems with
the grid fill and all fell into place. PD
This months was quite approachable and, once we had guessed the film, achievable. We laughed
at ‘gun drops second owl’. JH
I got the theme quite quickly this month and even remembered most of the actors though its years
since I saw the film. MJ
On reading the blurb first thought was James Bond with 7 double letters needed, but pretty sure
not 1960. So with that gone the magnificent 7 came to mind, which I know was based on the
Japanese film, seen many years ago. A clever puzzle even containing the villain. DM
Thank you Eclogue and Logogriph. I enjoyed solving this puzzle and was relieved to find a number
of straightforward clues. There bare still a few I can’t parse so fingers crossed JB
I think Logogriph gave Eclogue and solvers a hard time with so many solutions changing direction.
SC
The Magnificent 7 theme came easily enough. As did the double-letter in one cell manoeuvre. I
was left at the end trying to make an anagram of HELLNOD or even HHEELLLLNNOODD but
could make nothing sensible. All became clear when I re-read the rubric. The film and most of the
actors were familiar enough, except Buchholz, and the spelling of Vaughn/Vaughan, had to be
checked. Still not clear about how "The Bard's letters" make ACHES, but surely wordplay ACHE
(long) + S[mall] can't be anything else. I think I understood "Orkney's ... springtime seaweed" after
looking up something at some time - I made a note next to it: "OK. Tang & Ware" But for the life of
me I cannot remember what it is now. TR
Thoroughly enjoyable and such fun ... so impressive to include all those starry names, and the
double letter cells were very clever! The film The Magnificent Seven was based on Seven
Samurai ... and I remember it well. JR
Thank you for a terrific crossword, completed at the eleventh hour with help from my son. The
Magnificent Seven is rather out of my comfort zone, so it's taken quite a lot of Googling. JJ
Ace puzzle. The double letter idea was clever. Some superb clues for the film’s personnel. The
best one was Bernstein. MLJ
Really enjoyed this one - not too hard, not too easy and the double letters provided extra interest.
GB
I’ve enjoyed solving this challenge and learnt a lot along the way as always. SF
A joly god puzle and an oportune coment on posible por spelings of Holywod clasics. GGSS

3D Calendar Puzzle, March 2018 Extra

This puzzle was published on Eric Westbrook's 3D Calendar Crosswords site on the 15th March 2018 as an adjunct to the main March puzzle by Shark (grid by Chalicea).  It is called the March Extra puzzle, set by Eclogue with a grid designed by Logogriph.

The Theme

2018 is the 153rd anniversary of the births of Scandinavian composers Jean SIBELIUS (8 December 1865) and Carl NIELSEN (9 June 1865).

Thematic material appearing in the grid

Composer surnames, plus examples of their works:  FINLANDIA, KARELIA (Suite), EN SAGA and TAPIOLA (Sibelius) and SAUL AND DAVID and ALADDIN (Nielsen)

Further material

The purple cells can be anagrammed to form the first names (CARL and JEAN)

Carl Nielsen

Jean Sibelius

3D Calendar Puzzle, July 2017

The three dimensional crossword is a little known format, probably exclusive to Eric Westbrook's site which has developed the genre in order to drum up funds for charities, the two main ones being BBC Children in Need and RNIB Pears Centre.


As well as length and breadth, the 3D crossword also has depth and appears as (usually) 5 grids tiered one above another.  In each tier clues can be entered across or backwards or to and fro and the depth aspect comes into play when an answer is entered traversing through the five tiers at one letter per tier, either up or down.

Eclogue's contribution to the 2017 calendar occupies the July slot and marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death.  

The grid and clues are therefore packed with thematic material i.e. seven of her principal works.  The author's name also appears in the grid but is unclued.  Highlighted cells could be arranged to give two other incomplete works, Sanditon and The Watsons.

SOLVER FEEDBACK

.An amazingly clever grid, with 7 book titles plus another fitted into it! I loved the ‘incomplete set’. Thank you. JJ

Lovely grid and several laugh-out-loud clues! N&SI

Herewith my solution for the July puzzle - nice to recall all the Jane Austen novels I have read over the years.

The complete set found in the grid:

     Emma

     Lady Susan

     Mansfield Park

     Northanger Abbey

     Persuasion

     Pride and Prejudice

     Sense and Sensibility

The incomplete set found by rearranging letters in the hightlighted cells are:

     Sanditon

     The Watsons

Thanks again to you and your helpers for all the hours you spend preparing these puzzles for us. C&TH

Another smash8ng puzzle with some friendly themed clues but some tough archaisms that I needed my trusty Chambers tocrack. ‘Espalier’ was very clever and I laughed out loud at the saucy ‘penitent’. Many thanks. MLJ

What clever weaving of all the titles (even Sanditon and The Watsons)) 9n the grid. TH

My solution attached, I enjoyed this puzzle, Jane Austen being one of my favourite authors.

Not sure about 38 , how it works  but waiting to see results. NC

Day 5 held me up for a long time. I eventually found a meaning of EAGER that fits the clue but still can’t parse it. JT

My sister was visiting at the start of the month, when I had the calendar primed and ready for action. She is an occasional rather than regular Guardian solver, but she was intrigued by the cover, so we made a start together. We had a look at the rubric - help! Meant nothing at the time (it would have, later in the month, of course). We checked out the 'days' ... day one, nothing; day two, nothing; day three ... I was meant to be the confident, know-all solver here, and it wasn't shall we say leaping out of the page at me. Day 19 - a book? Anagram fodder 'crushed', two words? My sister got there first, think so too, she's probably read it - NORTHANGER ABBEY! And we were away.

Not that there were not hold ups later. She'd gone back home by the time I resorted to Google for the unclued SANDITON (which I had vaguely heard of) and THE WATSONS (which I hadn't). Great fun thereafter, putting the right yellow letters into the odd tricky clue. PA

Another good challenge with cunning twists and turns! Thanks again for the fun. R&KB

I always enjoy solving Eclogue's crosswords and this was no exception. I must admit I was puzzled for longer than I should have been by the preamble and the complete/incomplete sets. Logogriph has produced a fine grid and I love the fact that the incomplete set is represented as incomplete, i.e. as disconnected letter jumbles, while the complete set is rendered as complete titles.

The clues were very good indeed. I didn't find any of them particularly tough to solve but that was made up for by the quality of the clues as well as the preamble.

Favourite clues were those for EMMA, ESPALIER, GONAD, MANSFIELD PARK, NENE, PASH (especially), PENITENT, TITE, as well as the spectacular SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and the fabulous PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Hats off!

Many thanks to Eclogue

PS I solved this quite a while ago, before I resovled to send more useful feedback. I intend to make more notes when solving future 3D puzzles. And apologies for waiting to the last minute to submit the puzzle, I confused myself by solving it early and got it into my head that I'd test soilved it ages ago! Realised my mistake just in time. BL

The theme emerged very early and lulled me into thinking that this would be very straightforward. In fact there was a lot still to do. I never did fully prove 1 21to ALIGN. Also 5 10to EAGER leaves me very concerned. Chamber’s defines EAGRE as ‘a bore or sudden rise of tide’ matching the clue definition; but the wordplay and the grid clearly lead to EAGER. I look forward to enlightenment in due course. AG

 I enjoyed this month’s offering and the subject matter of Jane Austen, although the entries were very haphazard.    Not sure about a few of my answers, but hope I’ve made a reasonable stab at the challenge. SF

An excellent puzzle - don't know how everything got fitted in! Found it difficult and I 'm not sure about a couple of my entries. 

I struggled with 10 to, the rising tide etc. I ended up putting Edgar in as I'd come across Edgar and Emma by Jane Austen and thought it would be a waste if it wasn't used! 

I also dithered over 38 to. I could find Yakker as australian for graft/hard work, but Yakser seemed to fit the clue as Ox (Yak) and short peasant once (Ser no f).

JP

Hello Eric

July's puzzle was a delight! To get anagrams of the unfinished works on levels 2 and 4 was nothing short of inspired and the whole thing was extremely well constructed and clued. Many thanks. JM

I've already said how much I admired Pickles' June Extra puzzle. 

Eclogue's July offering was equally good - managing to include all 

Jane's main titles was quite an achievement and I thought the clues were 

very accomplished. JBs

Pushed for time this month, and struggled with a few ("yakker" almost did for me - a completely unknown term, and whilst the first half was very gettable, the second eluded me (despite being familar with both the military and typographic meanings of the word "kern").

I thought the theme was woven into the grid very well, and whilst I've only read P&P, the rest of the novels were known to me. And happily Wikipedia knew the bits in yellow that I was completely ignorant of.

Many thanks.MN

A distinctly bipolar crossword – seemingly simple but with a real sting in the tail !  I found the themed part very straightforward.  Given all the publicity around the bicentenary of the death of Jane Austen it was obvious that she was the theme and that the complete set was her published works so it was just a matter of looking at the word/letter counts to determine which went where, without even having to look at the clues.  It was also predictable that the highlighted cells in tiers 2 & 4 would spell the titles of her unfinished works,  The Watsons and Sanditon.  However it was several of the unthemed clues which provided a real challenge and, even now, I’m not satisfied that I have fully rationalised my solution for day 5 with the second part of the clue.

We shall see. MC

a very enjoyable afternoon’s entertainment and welcome while I have been confined to base a little more than usual after a small operation on my foot.  Thank you!  All is progressing well though and we are hoping to escape to eastern Switzerland next week to explore Heidiland and the Appenzell area.JBn

Here's my solution to the July puzzle - no problem with the theme this time, as she's been all over the news !  I was amazed that Eclogue and Logogriph succeeded in including every one of her mature works (with a couple I don't recall having heard of before now) by the ingenious use of snakes without having to resort tp obscure words.  I remember that when I constructed a puzzle to submit as a tie-breaker it was really hard to get enough material on that theme into it. PM

 Thank you for another enjoyably difficult puzzle. Last year , I remember , we had the first seven recorded LPs of the Beatles and now the complete works of Jane Austen. Quite a cultured lot really! GS

Relatively easy once the theme became apparent, fairly early on. I must confess to not having heard of The Watsons, nor having read any of the others. MJ

Jane Austen came quickly, though did not know unfinished works. Had not heard of LIGON, LADY SUSAN, but clearly defined and EAGER was new to me. Good job W there to avoid SUEDE which is old for SWADE! Thanks for this. GM