Crossword News September 2020

 

Crossword News September 2020

The August Prize Puzzle was In the Chair by Phylax. The theme of the puzzle was the BBC quiz show Mastermind. The eight modified entries must have a word meaning 'pass' removed:  SH(UTTER)ED, S(HAND)EAN, ER(EMIT)IC, SHE(CHIT)A, AR(GO)SY, S(WEAR)ING, S(COL)LOP and T(REACH)OURS. The eight unnumbered entries can all be prefixed to 'point': TRIG, VIEW, NEAR, STAND, POWER, COVER, SORE and NEEDLE. The five-word phrase is therefore EIGHT POINTS AND NO PASSES.

Here are some of the comments from solvers.

Great puzzle! Cleverly conceived theme and excellent clues, including some very amusing ones. Although I soon figured out how to modify the answers, the common thread "pass" eluded me for quite a while. Same thing with "point" from the narrative (an amazingly plausible narrative, given the words Phylax had to work with!). Then the whole thing fell into place all at once. Thank you, Phylax, for a most enjoyable mental workout.  

Was an extremely interesting puzzle and perhaps one of the toughest I've tackled here.  A great find for the catchphrase and theme, and a nicely constructed grid.  Quite a feat to include so many thematic entries, having as many passes as points, and all the more so because there were largely no unfamiliar words.  Not that it made getting the answers any easier, the delightfully tricky wordplay in many a clue required several rounds of reading before yielding.  Even with a fully filled grid (adjustments having been made with 'educated' guesses but with no idea why) I was left staring at it trying to figure out the theme.  Went on a wild goose chase, getting reacquainted with some trigonometry in the process, till fortuitously getting introduced to 'Dadstermind', and then everything clicked.  Excellent stuff, thanks for the entertainment.  Note: 26d had me confused for quite a while, not being sure whether the narrative covered it, since it was a 'numbered' entry.  Finally slotted that as the last one in after disposing of the others, and at the very end saw that it was also part of the thematic set. A 'stand out' puzzle!

When I saw the puzzle title, I immediately thought of Mastermind, but as I filled the grid, it was only on realising that AND NO PASSES would fit on the bottom line, that I saw I had been right, that the eight narrative words could precede POINT and the words removed in modified entries were all synonyms of PASS. I liked the rather whimsical nature of some of the clues, eg for DILATORY, DEICIDAL and HITLIST. Also, some difficult clues, in particular that for SHANDEAN caused me most bother. Many thanks to Phylax.

There were 48 entries, of which 8 were marked incorrect. The lucky winner, picked from the electronic hat was Mark Nichols from Rugby, who will soon be receiving a prize from the Chambers range.

A solution and explanation are available at https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/09/solution-to-in-chair-by-phylax.html

The September Prize Puzzle is Minor Variations by Phi and you still have lots of time to solve it and email your entry. https://crosswordcentre.blogspot.com/2020/08/crossword-centre-prize-puzzle-september.html

The October challenge will be Riddles by Gnomie.
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Steve Bartlett, editor of the Enigmatic Variations puzzles in the Sunday Telegraph has announced this on our message board.

For solvers who are interested in attempting barred puzzles, http://bigdave44.com/ is now providing a weekly hints post for the Enigmatic Variations series in The Sunday Telegraph. Solvers who are inexperienced with barred-grid puzzles can find valuable information about how to tackle these each week with information relevant to the current puzzle. The introduction of these posts runs alongside an offering of accessible puzzles for the first few EVs in September. Please do give it a try and leave a comment about your experience on the blog; it will also be good to see some new names among the entrants for the prize.
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One of the highlights of my year has been John Henderson’s York S & B meeting. However, with social distancing and the rule of six this has seemed unlikely this year. However, John thinks that there may be a chance of doing something puzzle-oriented related on that weekend and there are still rooms available at Stableside should anyone fancy a weekend in York on the 30/31 October. More details here http://www.fifteensquared.net/2020/09/14/sb-york-2020/#more-144140
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Scrabble fans who are interested in the statistics of the game might like to look at the Unscrambler site. You will find it at https://www.unscramblerer.com/scrabble-twl-dictionary-statistics/
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On the Clue-writing Competition the challenge for September is to write a Printers Devilry clue to SEVEN. The competition closes on 30 September. More details at http://www.andlit.org.uk/cccwc/main.php
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The BBC 2 quiz programme, Only Connect, will start a new season on Monday 21 September. I wonder if they have had to socially distance the teams!
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Having been in Portugal to see our family, we are now in quarantine. However, as Northumberland is now in special measures, I will have lots of time to solve more crosswords.

Best wishes
Derek