Spectator 1832 (Menagerie by Lavatch)

[cruciverbali]

http://www.spectator.co.uk/crossword/2007-09-15.pdf

[Christiana]

Thanks for posting the crossword. Haven't tried this one before. Do they accept entries downloaded from the internet?

[cruciverbali]

Good Morning Christiana !

They certainly used to - it might be worth an e-mail to the Editor to check the current situation.

Cruciverbalist

[Christiana]

Have now e-mailed the editor. I'll have a go at it anyway. It looks interesting.

[kettledrum]

Christiana - Ulysses introduced me to this puzzle quite some time ago, and together with Inquisitor in Saturday's Independent they are my 2 favourite puzzles of the week. I'm very tempted to have a go at EV, but I simply don't have the time for 3 challenging crosswords and am loath to give up either of the 2 I do now.

[cruciverbali]

It looks very good this week, doesn't it ?

The Spectator always has the same 14x14 barred format, and invariably has a group of unclued entries with a common theme (hence the larger format to allow their inclusion)

This week's device of definition and hidden jumble plus an extra letter (always inside the jumble) for some clues is also a favourite in this series.

Enjoy !!

C

[cruciverbali]

P.S. Watch out for 1 across - it's an American spelling !!

[cruciverbali]

P.P.S. As Kettledrum has mentioned the excellent Enigmatic Variations series, here is a link to this week's puzzle - this is now becoming the most challenging weekly barred puzzle along with the aforementioned Inquisitor, matched now by only the occasional Listener (the Times they are a changin'):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/09/09/enigmatic09.xml

C

[kettledrum]

Cruciverbali - Are you saying that The Listener is no more difficult (? easier) than the other puzzles we've mentioned?

[Christiana]

Thanks for all the info. I doubt I have time for more than two challenging puzzles either, so this will go well with EV. Living here, where newspapers are much more expensive, I can't take on the cost of too many so I'm always glad to be able to get the on-line versions.

[cruciverbali]

I would say that, over the past 12 months, 3 out of 4 EVs have been more challenging than the previous day's Listener. The new Editor of the Inquisitor series has also deliberately sought more challenging puzzles than his predecessor did, though only about 1 in 4 of these comes close to Listener difficulty. This is obviously a subjective viewpoint, though I know it has been echoed recently by other regular solvers.

Cruciverbalist

[kettledrum]

Thanks for that information Cruciverbalist. If I ever have any extra time on my hands I might have a look at The Listener. Meanwhile, I have noticed that the Inquisitor is considerably more demanding than its predecessor was.

[ulysses100]

I've been doing The Spectator for years and is one of my favourites (look out for the Christmas special). The Inquisitor is in there at the top as well, though as already pointed out it is harder than its predecessor (by the way has anybody made any headway with this week's one, number 37 ?) --- and you have a couple of weeks to solve it unlike the EV (which used to have a three week grace period). The EV can be very challenging although the last one was I thought very easy.. But I disagree with Cruciverbalist, I think that most Listener crosswords are very challenging indeed. At least I manage to complete 99% of the others listed above but not so with the Listener !

[ichkeria]

I'll be surprised if many EVs come close in difficulty to the Listener of 1 September, which took several days of solid effort.
However, harder does not always mean better or more enjoyable

[cruciverbali]

It certainly used to be the case that most Listener puzzles were very challenging, but the tide has turned in recent years, and there is a general concensus that more 'easier' puzzles are appearing to encourage greater participation. That said, everything is relative, and I agree there have been one otr two 'easy' EVs of late.

The other thing to bear in mind is that, as Ulysses points out, you have just 3 or 4 days to solve EV for submission, compared to 12 for The Listener, which can be downloaded on Friday evening(http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/games_and_puzzles/article2406813.ece)
In other words, have a go ............. it's not always as hard as you might think !

C

[ichkeria]

I don't agree that there are more "easier" Listener puzzles than there used to be, unless you go back to the very early days.
Many Listener puzzles from a few years ago were comparatively easy. It's just that fewer people attempted them, partly through fear or ignorance (esp in the days of the Listener magazine) . Also, solving aids are now more sophisticated, and we now have Google of course, although Google does need to be used intelligently (!)

3 or 4 days to submit an EV? Are you sure? I've not done the puzzle for a while, but it used to be longer than that. Not much wonder they seem tricky!

[cruciverbali]

I think this is a significant factor ichkeria, as the entry must arrive the Friday after Sunday publication. Certainly the Internet has helped greatly with solving all advanced thematic puzzles, and I feel it has probably helped proportionately more with The Listener. I did once see some statistics on the percentage of each week's Listener entry with mistakes - this , along with the size of each week's entry, would make a comparison of recent trends in difficulty possible. I shall try to dig out some figures.

C

[cruciverbali]

Speaking of which, here is this afternoon's link to The Listener:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/games_and_puzzles/article2454416.ece

C

[cruciverbali]

To illustrate my point re Listener vs EV relative difficulties, compare the latest puzzles in each series, published last weekend. King by Rebel is tough, but The sin of the Beast by Mango is no less challenging. Two brilliant puzzles, with very different styles and 'gimmicks' - we are spoilt for choice at the moment !

I agree that Late Hit Boxer was also fairly tricky - took me ages to spot tike !

Cruciverbalist