“Boxing Day” by HEX — WSJ, 12/17/22
- ChrisKochmanski
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“Boxing Day” by HEX — WSJ, 12/17/22
Once I got going on this one, it rolled, BUT … it took me a while, with some looking up of synonyms, to get the foothold I needed.
Fun!
Fun!
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That was a fun solve! I also took awhile to get a foothold but finally got it in the bottom right.
- oldjudge
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I agree with Chris. The toughest part, which wasn’t very tough, was filling in the first few answers. It wasn’t that the clues were a lot easier after that, but with a cross or two they became pretty simple. Fun puzzle though. I miss the Cox and Rathvon Saturday CNP cryptics. Hopefully, they start a Patreon site.
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- KayW
- Moderator
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When I first looked at this, I thought "There's NO WAY I'll get a foothold here!" since you pretty much have to get a solid start at either end. But lo and behold - it all fell into place fairly quickly. My start was in bottom right as well.
Another amazing one from HEX.
Another amazing one from HEX.
Contest Crosswords Combating Cancer (CCCC) is a bundle of 16 metapuzzles created to help raise money for cancer-related charities. It is available at CrosswordsForCancer.com.
- ChrisKochmanski
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Do you think that HEX intentionally made the beginning and ending clues and answers more obscure than usual (for them) to make the foothold harder to get? Because once I got the foothold, things rolled pretty smoothly from there.
- Guffman
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A much longer than usual solve for me. Getting enough early entries was the challenge. Finding the "gift" about 2/3 of the way through helped me fill in the SE quadrant. Also got a bit dizzy from the back-and-forth lines. Not complaining, though. A completely fair and interesting cryptic as always.
- oldjudge
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I’m not sure they did. I found the end clues easy and, although there were some tougher middle ones, having crosses makes your life a LOT easier.ChrisKochmanski wrote: ↑Sun Dec 18, 2022 10:52 am Do you think that HEX intentionally made the beginning and ending clues and answers more obscure than usual (for them) to make the foothold harder to get? Because once I got the foothold, things rolled pretty smoothly from there.
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- Bird Lives
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I forgot to look at this till someone on the Zoom mentioned it last night. Like others, I got stumped by the opening. But once I started going backwards from the end, there were no bumps.
I'm unfamiliar with the term HEX. Is it for Henry and Elizabeth CoX?
I'm unfamiliar with the term HEX. Is it for Henry and Elizabeth CoX?
Jay
- iggystan
- Posts: 310
- Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2021 5:39 pm
That was my foothold as well. Once I started there, everything fell into place pretty quickly. Always love a good HEX cryptic.