AJ

 An Alphabetical Jigsaw submitted to CrOZworld in July 2021.

A nice short preamble reads "Solutions begin with the given letter.  Place them in the grid jigsaw-wise, where they fit."

AJ by Eclogue

As well as the peripheral NINA, the longest entries are (A)cross and (D)own.

Slot 4: 

Entries:                 74

Correct:                58

Correct %            78

 

Adjudicator’s comments:

 

Slot 4. Another challenging puzzle from Eclogue, complete with three mini- Ninas, identified by a number of solvers. PEDALED needed the American usage to be derived from the former, although associated clue and resulted in four incorrect entries, PERONED, BETAMEN, PEDALER and PENALED. HYPOGRYPH, requiring a cunning interpretation to derive the “gryph”, resulted in a further four errors. Other errors included XMAS (2) and XION for XIAN.

Slot 5. Comments by solvers would suggest that three-letter words are not

                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Solver comments:

 

November 4: Eclogue (Keith Williams and Eddie Looby)

·                     I like the NINAS - BEGINS and THE END! Ann Millard

·                     Begins the end. The end! Julie Leigh

·                     This was a tough AJ to finish! Fraser Simpson

·                     Reassuring to see “begins the end the end.” Something’s in the right place. Roy Taylor

·                     Definitely a challenge here, with several new or unfamiliar usages. I liked NEUTRALIST, and had to guess for A, F and J. Not sure about Y either, if Shaky is part anagrind and part indicator. Kathy Horadam

·                     I’ve never done an AJ without pen and paper before. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if I’ve messed it up. Jenny Wenham

·                     As expected with an AJ, a few unusual words. Sad there’s only one beginning but two ends. Ulla Axelsen

·                     I found this quite hard but satisfying to finish. Robyn McKenzie

·                     Interesting AJ. Loved WALPOLE and ODORLESS. Beverley Cockburn

·                     Very clever! “BEGINS” across the top and “THE END” across the bottom and down the right side. Michael Veress

·                     Clever how once you finish it, the crossword shows you where it begins and where the ends are. David Parsons

·                     Some words were new to me, so fingers crossed! Anne Simons

·                     Liked HIPPOGRYPH and WALPOLE. The Oxford college KEBLE (not KINGS) was a surprise. Max Roddick

·                     There is a NINA. Begins, The end, The End. (I think!!) Marian Procter

·                     Nina begins and (twice) reaches the end. Andrew Miles

·                     Handy to know where the puzzle begins and ends! Kath Harper

·                     GOSPODARS, assuming it’s correct, caused some consternation in the Skinner household. Richard Skinner

·                     Begins, the end. the end. But what is a Yzmjow? Jim Fowler

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

Sketch Map

 

Published in the Australian Crossword Club's CrOZworld magazine for February 2021, solvers were expected to spot the ninas (highlighted here), of five Australian towns or cities, Darwin, Alice Springs, Sydney, Perth and Moree.

CrOZworld reported the following results:

 

73 entries

64 correct

88% success rate

And supplied feedback from solvers:

 [Comments that simply identify the five locations have been omitted, as have some contributions that incorrectly identify them, to save those members’ blushes – Ed]

An enjoyable puzzle. Ian Thompson

The title “Sketch Map” was a good clue to help find that fifth location! Fraser Simpson

El Paso, Tacoma, Domicile, Whence and Asians (I hope). Rob Milton

IIn EL Paso, not sure which is definition. Worried it is needed as a location. Roy Taylor

Nice to see TACOMA. It is mentioned in mathematics courses where; in 1940; due to mechanical resonance; its bridge famously oscillated and collapsed. Len Colgan

A lovely trip to Alice Springs, Darwin, Moree, Perth and Sydney nice to be home. Tricky, enjoyable puzzle liked clues EINSTEIN and NYLONS. Joan Smith

I tried to get the place name Yenda to work at the bottom of the puzzle, before I realised it was Sydney! Doh! Julie Leigh

Some great clues! Especially liked 6d NYLONS - simple but good! Ann Millard

The many anagrams were a big help. The. Ulla Axelsen

Fingers crossed Anne Simons

Clever puzzle. Thank you! Bev Cockburn

My geography being on the sketchy side, I had trouble locating 5 destinations. Found El Paso, Tacoma, Laguna, and Arnold. Not sure what to nominate for NO. 5, unless it is Asia. But, with the help of an Collins Atlas, I also found Alpha and Rose River, Honey Lake and Mt. Honey. I have probably NOT found a tick! Nea Storey

Fun puzzle Jean Barbour

Good one Eclogue. Robyn Wimbush

Darwin, Moree, Sydney,Perth - can”t find the fifth unless it’s Tacoma, El Paso or even Asia Merv Collins

Many clever clues: OILWELL, DOMICILE. Max Roddick

The five(?) locations. The four obvious ones are Darwin, Moree, Sydney and Perth. Also in the puzzle I found Tacoma, El Paso, Tennyson, Alpha and Arno (and I have probably missed the fifth )! Cheryl Wilcox

Darwin, Alice Springs, Sydney, Perth and Moree, plus a couple of US cities just to tantalise us with the thought of overseas travel. Kath Harper

I found 6 not 5 locations in this puzzle: Darwin, Moree, Sydney, Perth, El Paso, Tacoma! Alison Shield

NYLONS for my COTM - very neat! Mike Potts

Cryptic

Cryptic

Three interwoven tongue-in-cheek themes.  One for Christmas (green), one for the frustrations caused by Eclogue puzzles past (orange) and one for our response (yellow).

Editorial Remarks

Slot 5 This proved difficult with a 71% success rate – not quite the SIMPLER ECLOGUE promised by the Nina. The African country TOGO lost 12 dots (with TOGS and TOGA representing popular alternatives). MISLABELS caught 5, OZZY 2 and A BOMBS 2 (H BOMBS) .See explanations

 Solvers' Comments

I thought this was simpler than the usual Eclogue. Then I saw why! Len Colgan

I liked the “Simpler Eclogue” Nina. Shame I didn’t notice it until I had finished!! Julie Leigh

Sadly my midirons are used for fairly short shots now.Roy Taylor

Took me a while to wake up to ENZED! Nea Storey

SIMPLER ECLOGUE as a NINA! I enjoyed this puzzle very much. Thank you. Some great clues. Ann Millard

Very enjoyable. Ulla Axelsen

I like the way Aussies and Kiwis are linked in bottom right! Is that a prophecy about COVID’s end, or am I clutching at straws? Jenny Madden

SANTA and ENZED were fun. Kathy Horadam

Indeed it was. Andrew Patterson

“OLD GLORY” flying in St. Petersburg ? Not even today! [Only in Florida – Adj] Max Roddick

Challenging puzzle fingers crossed! Joan Smith

Fascinating clues and challenging answers. Lynn Jarman

Liked ENZED and IBEXES in particular Michael McCabe

Simpler Eclogue? Cheryl Wilcox

Couldn’t be simpler, Eclogue! David Parsons

Well, perhaps it was a “SIMPLER ECLOGUE”? Time will tell. Richard Skinner

Thankyou for some interesting clues. Jean Evans

Definitely a ‘simpler Eclogue’ - it must have been, because I solved it without resorting to 7 down. KathHarper

It was with not a little trepidation that I embarked on this puzzle, having attempted Eclogue’s previous offerings (and the September mind bender in the 3D puzzles). The “simpler” offering was much appreciated! Feel free to continue in this vein. I gave STARS AND STRIPES my COTM vote. Andrew Miles

As someone pointed out to me, this was a “SIMPLER ECLOGUE” but still a challenging puzzle! Bev Cockburn

A NINA of “Simpler Eclogue”! Marian Procter

‘Banner over St Petersburg’ was a great clue. Very hard to choose COTM. Anastasia Webster-Hawes

Great to have the 15-letter solutions as the scaffold. Didn’t understand 17ac though [Ra the god and NI the metal – Adj]. Gabriel Fuller

Sweet Listening

Pubished by CrOZworld, 1/5/2020 in Slot 5

Seven clues lead to answers connected with their respective grid entries.  Collectively, these entries form the (otherwise unclued) 11, 25 down by 17.

Solution Grid

This puzzle celebrates The PLANETS SUITE (11, 25 down) by Gustav HOLST (17),   

the seven movements of which are:-

(6) MARS, the Bringer of WAR

(18) VENUS, the Bringer of PEACE

(23) MERCURY, the Winged MESSENGER

(10) JUPITER, the Bringer of JOLLITY

(25 across) SATURN, the Bringer of OLD AGE

(12) URANUS, the MAGICIAN

(19) NEPTUNE, the MYSTIC

The title refers to the homophone of SUITE as SWEET.

There were only 59 entries, of which only 35 were correct, which scored by far the lowest in the first five slots (and the lowest I can remember for a while full stop to be honest).

 

Puzzle No                  1             2              3              4              5             Total

Entries received           93            94           74            83            59            403

Correct entries             73            76            56            78            35            318

Success rate (%)          78.5         80.9         75.7         94            59.3         78.9

 

Slot 5: This puzzle produced copious comments and lots of errors. Not

an easy puzzle to be sure, but once one planet was discovered, the penny

dropped for a few. Almost half the clues produced some sort of error, but

the greatest offender was 22dn, with 16 members settling for NUTATES,

probably on account of the planetary theme of the puzzle. But sadly,

NOTATES was called for.

 

May 5-2020: Sweet Listening by Eclogue (Eddie Looby & Keith Williams)

• Particularly liked SASSENACH & the use of "setter" to clue PECTIN

in SUSPECTING. Suggest you might try to reduce the use of obscure

words eg SEW (drain), MAG (chatter), WAR (worse), THUS (censer).

Ian McKenzie

• Too hard for me. It's fi lled in, helped by knowing of Holst's work

and having a Chambers dictionary, but no idea what is going on in

about ten clues. Rob Moline

• Very enjoyable puzzle and interesting theme. Had no idea of the

theme until I saw that JUPITER had to be an entry. Ian Thompson

• It is "suite" listening, indeed, Gustav Holst's Planets Suite. My

favourites are Jupiter and Mars. An extract from Jupiter (called

"Thaxted") formed the basis for the patriotic hymn I Vow to Thee

My Country and was also, if I recall correctly, the theme music for

the 1990 Rugby World Cup, World in Union. I enjoyed the clueing of

EMPIRIC, STRONGMEN and RAPTURE. I don't think the integrity

of the puzzle would have suffered had 10 & 18ac been indicated as

theme clues from the outset. I could not follow the parsing of 23dn's

signpost answer MESSENGER – is it ("food") MESS+GREEN*? How

does "cloud" fi t into the defi nition? In 28ac, does "communicating" =

IN TRUTH? In 25ac, is the superior time a GOLD AGE? I had these

few residual queries but, on the whole, thank you for an enjoyable

challenge referencing some favourite music. Andrew Miles

• Hope I got all the "entires" right. Roy Taylor

• Very clever concept, which appeared early when I had to delete

JOLLITY to enter JUPITER. Not keen on uncommon abbreviations

even if they are in Chambers. Len Colgan

• I learnt a lot about the planets from this! Tony Dobele

• For a long time this crossword made no sense. It was not until I

worked out 'Holst' and then looked him up on the internet that it all

clicked into place. This was a worthy Slot 7. Ulla Axelsen

• Liked EUROS, RAPTURE, SASSENACH. Max Roddick

• I found this very diffi cult and still don't understand parts of it.

Fingers crossed! Ann Millard

• I was feeling very frustrated with this puzzle, until a good friend

pointed me in the right direction. It all made sense then, thank

you. Joan Smith

• A very clever puzzle. I wasn’t familiar with Holst’s Planets Suite, so

it took a while to twig to the theme. I had trouble parsing a couple

of the clues, so am not totally optimistic. Thoroughly enjoyed the

process though. Julie Crowe

• Great theme, great clues I really enjoyed solving this crossword

puzzle! Bev Cockburn

• When I couldn't solve 10across, and the only word that would fi t

was JUPITER, I decided to write the name of a planet for every clue

that didn't make sense to me. It seemed to work, and led me to Holst

..... So at least I know those answers are right. But, looking back, I

don't see the point of writing a clue only to ignore it!?? Nea Storey

• Most of the clues made no sense to me. When in doubt I entered a

planet, as JUPITER was the only answer I could see for 10ac!!

Anne Simons

• I found this one very hard and send it in with fi ngers crossed!

Robyn McKenzie

• Great puzzle, and a great orchestral work! James Leaver

• Excellent fi rst class puzzle. Doreen Jones

• Thank you for a Magical Mystery tour of the PLANETS. Ron Jarman