Cyclical

Published by 1ACross crossword club, 16 Feb 2020.

The introduction states:

Solutions to clues are entered cyclically in their respective rows and columns.  For example, if 8 across started in column 4, it would proceed across to the right hand side for the first eight letters and then continue from the left hand side of the same row for the last seven letters.  Solvers must insert the solutions where they will fit together using this method throughout.  It may help to know that no entry starts at its numbered square.  When complete, solvers must discover the hidden NINA within.

Solution Grid

I ACROSS (highlighted) = 1 ACROSS

Grid Rating: The puzzle got a superb score of 9.03. It got 15 perfect 10s. The minimum score was 5.

Top 3 Clues:  The most favorite clues were “AIR CONDITIONERS” with 16 votes, “RECONCILIATIONS” with 12 votes and “COUNTERVAILABLE” with 11 votes each.

Comments from solvers:

1. Pretty good stuff, mostly requiring cold solving, but the bunch of anagrams helped. Appreciated the grid construction and variation technique used. Nice clues, good wordplay, but a couple of surfaces looked strange. Good workout all told, interesting. The grid was so crowded that my eyes were getting strained trying to figure out the NINA, in the end, just popped in something which seemed to pop out, but can’t figure any connection, so probably not quite what is required
2. It was a delightful puzzle. An absolute treat to solve. Kudos to the setter & 1Across.
3. Loved the challenge of knowing some of the answers but then figuring out how they fit
4. Good
5. Excellent and unique !
6. “ACROCAT was the only thing that looks like a word for the NINA, but I’m not sure about it.. It must have taken some effort in construction – well done.
7. Very clever idea. Loved it.
8. Makes you tear your hair out but rewarding in the end
9. Loved the puzzle! I couldn’t find the nina, though.
10. The grid construction is mind-boggling, hence a full score!
11. Good fun. There are a couple other places where one can see 1ACROSS partially 1ACROSS. Curious to know if they were inadvertent or aborted nina attempts!
12. “Great idea for a puzzle. Amazing to have found fourteen 15-letter words that fit together like this, not to mention the Nina! I assume it was an automated search.
13. The Exolve rotation feature was a huge help for solving.”
14. Loved it
15. Too complicated !
16. SIMPLY GREAT. A COMBINATION OF PROGRAMMING AND CROSSWORD SKILLS AT WORK.
17. Loved it! Seemed daunting at first but it was fun to figure out the logic behind fitting the clues together.
18. Lovely. How does one compose such a grid?
19. who has time to think up such stuff. good job
20. Brilliant
21. 1. FAIR CHALLENGE 2. FUN AND EXCITING 3. CREATIVE
22. Very innovative and entertaining
23. very nice
24. Got 13 of the 14 solutions to properly fit. Was looking if there is another combination to fit all 14, but couldn’t find. Submitting knowingly that solution no.11 is wrong
25. Wonderful grid. Enjoyed solving it
26. Nice!
27. Amazing stuff!
28. Excellent and Challenging
29. Lovely Puzzle!
30. Excellent puzzle. Tough one to solve. But really well constructed.
31. Excellent

Trisector

In the completed grid, solvers must highlight a writer and their thematic pseudonym, the derivation of which explains the changes required to every answer prior to entry.   All entries, one of which is two words, are real words or proper nouns.

Solution grid

Trisector

The poet and librettist ARRIGO BOITO, wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym TOBIA GORRIO.  All entries are therefore entered as one word anagrams of their solutions. TRISECTOR is an anagram of SCRITTORE, the Italian for writer.

A Solver's Comments:

Hi Eclogue,
A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle, with an excellent set of tidy and concise clues. My favourite clue was 6A for PARSEC. The one that held me up most was the equally compact 15A for STELE as I had my mind set on SET for the TV. Of the anagrams I thought STENOTROPIC > PROTECTIONS the most interesting, with the potential for a puzzle idea sprouting from that.
It was definitely on the easy side of medium difficulty, which seems to be where EV has been recently, with the simplicity of most of the clues and limited unching offsetting the need to anagram. Of course, the use of the anagram device gave some extra information in its own right.
Well done on finding a fair grid fill with an interesting selection of anagrammed words. I’m especially impressed that you managed to do this with the limitation of the two names using up most of the unches in the grid. I assume that TRISECTOR is an anagram of something I’ve so far missed, possibly in Italian (I could only find TORTICES in English and SCORE or SCORER does not seem to fit with anything useful). I’m not sure why but letter jumbles and anagrams seem to be a relative blind spot for me.

Across the Divide

Compiled specially for the 1 Across publication as part of our commitment to supply puzzles there. It appeared in the December 2019 issue.

This puzzle is a pangram plus it features long phrases visible in Rows 1, 3, 13 and 15 and also in Columns 1, 3 13 and 15.

Solver feedback:

Eclogue's was probably the easiest in this issue but I always like it if there is one puzzle in the magazien which is'nt too taxing. 

All done except 19a - I await the solution! 

I haven't quite finished Eclogue's yet but well on the way and really enjoying it. Very clever surfaces, with many doing double duty as both definition and cryptic clue eg 13D, 26/7A and 7/20D. I haven't managed to parse some of the answers so this one is definitely more of a stretch for me.

Sounds Familiar

Tailored for CrOZworld and published there in January 2020.

Preamble

Seventeen answers require a familiar modification prior to entry.  Enumeration refers to entry lengths.

Solution

In accordance with the title of monthly publication CROZWORLD, every instance of OSS must be replaced by OZ in order for the solutions to fit the grid.  This puzzle is also a pangram.

Unfortunately, many solvers solvers missed the gimmick and merely replaced OSS with OS.  Therefore the adjudicator for CrOZworld decided that it would be unfair to mark these as incorrect.

Feedback

Theme was exposed early; actually helping with the subsequent solving. A pity about the obsolete words and uncommon abbreviations; but still good fun. Len Colgan

Tricky theme. Shakespearean; Scottish; obsolete and obscure words. Difficult clues. Little relief in this one but still a great puzzle. Andrew Patterson

What a challenge. Not sure what the title had to do with removing an S though. Lots of old/obsolete references made the task even more difficult. Very enjoyable. Ulla Axelsen

Excellent puzzle. I produced a lot of Zs but was wide awake throughout. Ian Thompson

You have slot 6 but it should be slot 7!! Marian Procter

I thoroughly enjoyed this one; many thanks. Julie Crowe

Well; that was different! Bit hard to check the spelling as well. Some tough clues didn't help but we got there in the end. We got a bit croz on occassions though. Richard Skinner

No use putting this one through the spell-checker! What a feat of compilation to find 17 words where OZ replaces OSS - on some cases with the Z a checked letter. Nea Storey