2248: In the stars
In the clues, the 9 stars represent omitted words (one of which is a dialect variant of another). Those 9…
To 2245: Fair and square
Corrections of misprints give A GRECIAN URN. The POET (23) reporting its message (perimeter + 4 30) is KEATS (42). First…
2223: Clerihew
29 6 (4 words) is 1 24 (3 words). 24 11 10 (4 words), but 6 11 36 (4 words).…
To 2220: Poem II
The Poem was ‘Kubla Khan’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 3A, 23, 42, 43, 3D, 4, 10 and 16 are words…
2207: An unusual angle
In six answers the wordplay ignores an item. These items (two of them identical) are not listed as specific 27…
To 2204: Security
Five perimeter entries, and 29 and 30, are types of BODYGUARD. First prize Amanda Spielman, London SW4 Runners-up Dr S.M.…
2199: TV Comedy
Fourteen solutions begin with the same letter as their clues. These letters in order are the initial letters of the…
To 2196: Diverse
The quotation around the perimeter is from 25 — varieties of French cheese are highlighted. First prize Hugh Aplin,…
2191: Bunk
The other unclued entries, in pairs around 3D, provide the key words in a definition of 11D. Across …
To 2188: Pieces of eight
The eight unclued lights are anagrams of eight clued solutions: 2/12, 3/13, 8/35, 16/40, 18/28, 19/30, 24/27 and 26/38. First…
2171: 31 Across
Seven identical two-by-two squares in the completed grid must be highlighted to depict the unclued entries, each of two words.…
to 2168: History exam
Initial letters of superfluous words in clues give nightingale, quail and cuckoo, specimens of AVIFAUNA (5) represented by FLUTE (43),…
2147: Amazing performance
Each of the 22 across solutions, in clue order, contributes one unchecked letter to a two-word phrase (13,9) in Chambers…
to 2144: Leonids
The work was ‘THE TAMING OF THE (1D) Shrew’. ‘Shrew’ is suggested by 15, 27 and 33. The ‘Shrew’ of…
Cold Comfort
Five Christmas carols (5, 6, 5, 3 and 4 words respectively) have been re-arranged, and re-titled at 23/38 (4 words),…
2136: Howdunit
Six of the unclued entries (one of three words, three of two words and one hyphened; all in Chambers apart…
To 2133: FM
Initial letters of superfluous words in clues give titles of ALBUMS (29D) by FLEETWOOD MAC (39). 8A, 25, 33 and…
2121: Take care
The unclued lights, two of two words, are of a kind. Elsewhere, ignore an apostrophe. Across 1 We hear…
to 2118: Unreliable
Eight unclued lights are EXPERTS (24), whom — according to the words of LORD SALISBURY (9) supplied by superfluous and…
