Jigsaw

Submitted to 1 Across 4/7/20

Clues are presented in alphabetical order of their solutions, which may assist solvers in placing them in the grid wherever they will fit.

Jigsaw

All across entries begin with A, all down entries with D

One, Two ...

 Appearing on the Indian 1ACross blog April 2021

One, Two ...

Seven across entries contain triple letters that spell TRIPLES

Feedback:-

1. Great effort
2. Sadly I didn’t enjoy the puzzle all that much. Too many obscure and/or British references with uninspired clueing. Nebbisher for instance, an arcane word clued using neb and bish with a surface that made no sense(to me atleast) is one among the lot. I plodded on awaiting a penny drop or a grand theme reveal which unfortunately never materialized. Maybe it’s just me being grumpy or dense.
3. Very enjoyable puzzle.
4. Unknown bonus answers
5. Interesting puzzle
6. Excellent puzzle, though a bit more straightforward than a barred puzzle with a twist I was expecting from Eclogue. Nice mix of clues, some crafty (Utensil and Sash in particular), but the long anagrams made solving rather less strenuous than one is used to. Very enjoyable. Theme word of course could easily be identified with the enumeration, but ‘What is the theme?’ gave me pause – could potentially be answered in a number of ways. Unless there is another theme that I’ve missed!
7. happy easter
8. Very well constructed with a good mix of well-known words and more obscure words. Very easy to get the theme after a couple of answers, but the theme word took some careful observation. Thank you for a fun puzzle!
9. Nice to have a quick solve after last month’s!
10. challenging but a lot of fun. Great grid. Kudos
11. good fun
12. A nice idea, though BRRRS and LEOIII were rather giveaways. 17D Italian is usually IT not IL. 19D surely SPEW and OOZE are not synonymous.
13. Neither too easy nor too difficult. Creative theme.
    “14. A lot of the surfaces just don’t make sense. 22a, 26a, 27a, 2d, 6d, 10d, 17d, 18d, 24d, to be specific.
    I also never thought I would see something like BRRRB in a crossword puzzle (assuming it is right). It’s understandable that it was done for the RRR, but I wonder if it’s kosher.
    The theme was evident after getting two of the triplets, and the word triples after the third. Save for the fact I knew there had to be an RRR sequence, I would never have considered BRRRB.
    To add to this, many definitions were vague. How are wasps malevolent ‘people’? Human interest = content of news story? AB = God? The connections once made are understandable, but they are either redundant or vague.
    I also have no idea how to annotate TYPHOON, SALT EEL, NEBBISHER, and UTENSIL either partially of completely, assuming of course that they are right.”
14. nice, simple theme. good fun
15. Many Obscure words, otherwise a nice grid with reasonable degree of difficulty
16. Couldn’t parse a couple of clues (10d and 17d), but otherwise found this fairly smooth. The theme is nice, but it did limit the kind of words that could be used, leading to some weird solution words like 9a and 11a. Overall – didn’t enjoy this one as much as I’ve enjoyed the last few puzzles on this site
17. Wonderful theme. Arrangement of themed words in the rows in a sequential order made it easy to spot the theme word. Brilliant idea.
18. Fun solving the puzzle.
19. Nice and simple grid.
20. Really enjoyable, clever use of the theme letters to spell a relevant word
21. Good fun…found some of the definitions a little vague..otherwise very entertaining
22. Nice Puzzle
23. Nice Puzzle
24. Not as fond of this one as some others. I feel like there may be some regional conventions that I’m missing in the word play because I’m Canadian.
25. Complicated by enjoyable.
26. A fun and inventive theme. Mostly good and challenging clues; a few seemed stretchy (25a WASPS=malevolent people? 2d HO=stop? 23d LANG is not a verb in Scots per an online dictionary, and the currency is actually Ban Liang). Clues for the 4 longest words were all anagrams; would have preferred more variety.
27. Tough puzzle but satisfying to solve
28. Superb
29. Easy theme to spot and fun solve.
30. Many surfaces are not plausible
31. Nice puzzle and theme! Found some of the clues difficult, especially the ones that use slang, and haven’t managed to anno a couple even after looking things up.
32. good one!
33. Good puzzle. Well constructed but some surfaces don’t mean much
34. Interesting
35. EXCELLENT

Back to the Future

Back to the Future

This puzzle celebrates the “one hit wonders”, ZAGER & EVANS (the unclued entries) who topped the UK singles chart in 1968 with “In the Year 2525” (hence, back to the future).  Solvers were required to highlight the central bars which read 2525.

Back to the Future by Eclogue - Solvers' Comments

 

I found a few of the 13-letter down answers early on which helped me get started with filling the grid, but it took me a little while to realise that the 5-letter down entries didn't end in the bottom row. I also made a little trouble for myself by entering INTERNAL ANGLE (not in Chambers). When I had solved most of the clues I thought the first unclued entry could be EVANS but I had no idea about the other one. I spent quite a while trying to make sense of the central column before I decided that I might as well insert all of the horizontal bars in that column and then the theme was immediately clear. I suppose Zager and Evans status as one-hit wonders means I am probably not alone in knowing nothing about them beyond this song.

An enjoyable puzzle about this strange one-hit wonder. It took quite a while to spot the 'central thematic material' after filling the grid - neatly concealed by Eclogue!

I'd never heard of any of this (I assume that puts me in the majority) but it was clear enough what to do. Highlighting bars isn't easy in a small submission grid; hope the marking is suitably lenient.

Zager & Evans jumped out pretty quickly. Good Lord. 51 years ago! I used to like that track. == For a welcome change, a theme I did not need to research, though not a fan of protest-type songs then in vogue. By 1969 pop was already in decline and has continued thus ever since.   ==   Does not seem like a B puzzle to me, though that may be because it has a very obvious theme that I have missed or am not familiar with. I solved all the clues, and searched for plausible themes with EVANS and LAGER, or reversals involving KNAVE and JAGER or REGAL. Seeing nothing sensible in the central area, I highlighted the central column and gave my best guess for the unclued entries.

I must have been a bit slow because the endgame for this puzzle took longer than the solve. I didn't enter the horizontal bars down the middle of the grid in case words appeared. Of course, no words appeared, so once I had entered the bars, the penny dropped and I remembered the song.

I find the absence of wordlengths makes a clue much harder to solve. Slow to start, therefore, but 1a and the four 13-letter words eventually locked everything into place. Then plain sailing to the end except for the unclued words and the theme. EVANS seems likely, or is it KNAVE (BACKwards) and maybe REGAL. Can't make any sense of the central letters. But stare at the grid long enough and 2525 eventually becomes so obvious that one wonders how one could possibly have missed it for so long. Google does the rest.

A very nice puzzle about the role of bars in a piece of music.

Oh dear - we remembered this! Fell into place quite easily once we realised that a lot of the down answers were the full length of the grid.

Clever to use the bars themselves as thematic objects! I'd never seen that before. Thanks for the puzzle.

One-hit wonders Zager and Evans required some recollecting..... In the year 2525, if man is still alive If woman can survive, they may find...... cheerful stuff!

Very enjoyable puzzle - a song I remember hearing in my youth. I’m hoping the reference to “central thematic material” means just the bar pattern and that I’ve not missed anything else!

One of two really neat B-grades this month. It took me an awfully long time to spot the 2525…

Filling the grid wasn’t too hard but I then spent most of the month trying to work out what to highlight before the penny dropped with an almighty clang. Cleverly done, even if I should have got there sooner. Favourite clues were those to nief and hili.

Although only a B grade, this took me a long time in sorting out the end game. I spent ages listening to that bloody song, hoping to find something that was buried in the grid. It might have been helpful to specify the number of cells involved and to make it clear that the thematic material was all part of a contiguous whole. I did wonder about also highlighting the word "in" a couple of rows above, but decided that it was included inside "decline".

Ah, good old Google - Evans was pretty obvious so typing in 26 -AGER's until, "Yes, of course, I really meant ZAGER" did the trick.

After much cold solving I was stuck, until I used an anagram solver from the internet for 3 of the down clues (which I am ashamed to admit) and then everything fell into place. Favourite clues: Stray remains... for MISGO and Understands that... for REMINERALISES.

Not quite as fiendish as it first appeared, but it did show me just how much I depend on answer lengths... Anyway, not too much grid-staring at the end, and I'll always enjoy a puzzle which uses the bars in an imaginative way. Thanks, Eclogue.

I hadn't heard this song before, and now I can't get it out of my head. That's a shame, because I don't think the song is particularly great, but I can see why it was a huge hit. If they didn't have those super melodramatic slow parts, I'd actually really like it. Maybe I can leave those bits out when I sing it. I'm confused by the "central thematic material" in the preamble. I THINK this means the bars spelling 2525, but I spent a while looking for "exodium" or "terminus" somewhere. And I wasn't sure how to highlight bars, so I just highlighted the whole central area. If the thematic material _is_ the bars, then I don't see why we'd need to highlight it. So most likely I've just missed something. After solving, I wondered whether additional bars in the outer columns might have helped reduce obscurities in the fill, at the expense of worsening the visual effect. Since I've never set a crossword and you've set, I think, hundreds or thousands, I must defer to your judgment :)

This had a wonderful PDM. I kept staring at the center column of letters, as well as the letters around the center of the grid, but when I finally just pulled back a bit and looked at the grid as a whole, there it was. Beautiful payoff.

Looked like a very tricky C grade at first glance but then saw GREENFINGERED and realised there must be a whole host of long down answers and then it came together quite quickly. Nice construction using all those 13 letter answers.

Another straightforward fill followed by a bit of a struggle at the death. I did manage to twig Zager and Evans but then spent ages carving the whole grid into quarters ans trying to represent a number in each quarter. Of course the various letter combos I tried made no sense. I finally remembered that I had not added the grid lines to that central column and immediately realised what was going to happen. A nice teaser, thank you

Not often you see six thirteen-letter words in a 13x9 grid! Such a cute construction. I was originally reluctant to put the central bars in, thinking the middle column might spell something out. When I did, it all fell into place. Very cute. (By happy coincidence, this came out on the same day as Phi's '8x8' with another numerical sixties song. They were fun to do together.)

 

Excusez-Moi

Published in the Sunday Telegraph as Enigmatic Variations no 1478, Excusez-moi.

 In EXCUSEZ-MOI the correct letters of misprints in definitions, in clue order, provide a French version (ignoring one accent) of a common English idiom and some additional assistance, which together will explain how some undefined, but otherwise plain clue solutions should be entered.  Enumerations refer to grid entries.  Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.

The corrections to misprints spell “à chacun vient sa chance” which (per COLLINS ROBERT) is one possible French equivalent of the English idiom, “every dog has its day”, along with “days in French”.  The undefined entries provided seven dogs, which surround the seven different days in French. 

One solver's comment:

A mid-range puzzle rendering a nice pdm when the thematic entry requirements emerged about mid solve later confirmed by all the corrected misprints. This gimmick can lend itself to assisting finding "missing" corrections when enough to realise what's required have been uncovered but with the equivalent idiom being in French; only to those much more fluent than myself - a nice change, enhanced with the weekdays also being in French. My thanks to Eclogue.

Neil  

Nearly Ten to Four

 Appearing in the i Newspaper as Inquisitor 1686, Nearly Ten to Four on 13th February 2021.

A 43 accompanied by 34 set off on a journey which is approximately mapped in the grid.  Dots should be entered in the two cells containing clashes which represent the departure point and a possible destination (after 12 intervened).  Solvers must highlight the 43’s contiguous path and appropriately shade 11 cells (in two contiguous blocks) which illustrate the final destination (one cell shares both colours).  Finally, a four digit number linked with 47 should be written beneath the grid.

1549

This puzzle celebrates the “Miracle on the Hudson” which took place on 15 January 2009. TEXAN Chesley SULLENBERGER (“Sully”) and Jeffrey SKILES were the US Airways pilots of an Airbus A320 (call sign CACTUS 1549) which was scheduled to go from LA GUARDIA airport in New York to Charlotte Douglas.  The plane was struck by GEESE shortly after take-off, taking out both plane engines.  Sully dismissed the option to return to LA GUARDIA or divert to TETERBORO and instead ‘landed’ the Airbus A320 on the HUDSON RIVER, saving all 155 souls on board.  These events were cinematically recreated in the film, “Sully” directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks in the title role.

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

Consumption

COOL HAND LUKE starring Paul NEWMAN and George KENNEDY includes the famous scene of egg CONSUMPTION, which affects ten entries. Extraneous letters from the wordplay in clues provide two quotations from the film, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate” and “No man can eat L (fifty)”, the latter completed by EGGs.

George Kennedy and Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke