Posted by smiffy on 30th April 2008
A rare outing for the full-perimeter (4×15-letter answer) grid. Although that does mean that quickly solving either 1A or 1D offers generous checking and a flying start.
Posted in FT | 7 Comments »
Posted by John on 30th April 2008
Although there are one or two I’m not sure about, this was not one of Dac’s most difficult. Which doesn’t prevent it from being well up to his usual standard. Is there some kind of a cinematic theme? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 30th April 2008
So glad the luck of the draw gave me this benign but pleasant Araucaria to blog rather than yesterday’s Gordian nightmare.
Posted in Guardian | 10 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 29th April 2008
This was hard work – with some answers really belonging in an advanced weekend puzzle — I found myself pulling out Chambers more than zero times, which is too many for a daily. I only fully understood the pair of 19 and 24 once I’d completed the puzzle — probably since I didn’t grow up in England in the 80s.
Posted in Guardian | 33 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 29th April 2008
Another excellent themed puzzle from Virgilius, the theme becoming apparent to me only quite late on.
Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Posted by NealH on 29th April 2008
*=anag, []=dropped, <=rev.
Very tough puzzle by Scorpion, I thought. There were three I didn’t fully understand.
Posted in Independent | 14 Comments »
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 29th April 2008
After thirty minutes with the puzzle, I didn’t get 21ac and 24ac and 16dn. Any of my readers may please post the answers.
Posted in FT | 7 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 29th April 2008
Apologies for the problems you all experienced yesterday in trying to reach the blog – it was out of action for pretty much for the whole day. Unfortunately the problem was at the server end, that is, with the company that hosts the site rather than with the blog itself, so there was nothing I could do to fix things, which was somewhat frustrating. I’m now trying to find out from the hosting company what the problem actually was and if it was solved satisfactorily.
Posted in Announcements | 6 Comments »
Posted by tilsit on 28th April 2008
Solving time: 12 minutes
Pleasant thematic start to the week, reminiscent of Altair’s puzzles, for those of an age. A nice puzzle for those wanting to find their way into cryptics and themed puzzles. With my purist’s hat on, I have a few reservations.
Posted in Guardian | 5 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 28th April 2008
Last time I wondered if C had gone a step too far with his capitalisation.
This time I wonder if he has gone a C too far. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 1 Comment »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 27th April 2008
If you would like to write an Azed report about once a month, there’s a space going – one of our current bloggers wants to drop out. If you’d like to have a go, drop me a line – peter at biddlecombe dot demon dot co dot uk.
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 27th April 2008
Solving time: not recorded
I can’t remember how long this took or how much I used Chambers. But I made a wrong guess at the first letter of 17D, which suggests that the rest was solved without Chambers.
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 26th April 2008
For a blog of the puzzle see Duncan’s comment below. Many thanks Duncan.
Posted in Inquisitor | 4 Comments »
Posted by rightback on 26th April 2008
Solving time: 11:58
The clueing in this puzzle was more ‘down the line’ than normal for Araucaria, I thought. Nothing too obscure either, although a couple where the wordplay helped me out.
Posted in Guardian | 2 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 25th April 2008
As usual, an excellent puzzle from the ever-reliable Phi. Solving time, 21 mins.
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 25th April 2008
Great pangrammatic puzzle from the Bulletprooof one. Not sure about 2 and 3 though. I think they’re both right but I can’t say why.
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by michod on 25th April 2008
Hmm, well as today’s fifteensquared quality controller I have a few negative items to feedback here (OK, that’s enough of that – internal ed). Too many rather straightforward cryptic defs for my liking. Sorry if I seem over-critical – the clues I don’t mention are mostly ones I don’t have an issue with!
Posted in Guardian | 8 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 24th April 2008
Posted in Independent | No Comments »
Posted by Ali on 24th April 2008
Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »
Posted by diagacht on 24th April 2008
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | COPPER: double definition |
| 4 | CLEMATIS: M in CLEAT IS. Clematis Vitalba is a wild flower, also known as Old Man’s Beard |
| 9 | NORMA: hidden in londoN OR MAnchester. It’s a 19th Century opera by Bellini |
| 10 | WOMANKIND: WOMAN + KIND As Eileen points out this is an anagram of MAID KNOWN (kicking myself!) |
| 11,15 | TENNESSEE WILLIAMS: US State + Archbishop of Canterbury (Rowan Williams) |
| 12,6 | GLASS MENAGERIE: G LASS (good girl) + MEN + AG + ERIE. A play by Tennessee Williams |
| 13 | PEARL FISHERS: PERISHERS (the lost) containing A (adult) and LF (low frequency). An opera by Bizet. |
| 17 | GOOD BREEDING: &Lit |
| 18 | ADULT: AD (poster) + ULT (last month) |
| 21 | ANDROCLES: AND + anagram of CLOSER. This was the chap who fixed up a wounded lion and domesticated the wild beast |
| 23 | STORM CONE: (MC (compere) + ON (performing)) in STORE |
| 25 | MANDRAKE: MAN + DRAKE |
| Down | |
| 1 | CENOTAPH: anagram of NOT CHEAP |
| 2 | PARENTAL: AREN’T (don’t exist) in PAL |
| 3 | ERASE: ERAS + E (entirely to start with) |
| 5 | LAMBETH BRIDGE: an actual bridge but also a reference to the Archbishop of Canterbury who living in Lambeth Palace is seen as a bridge to the various member churches of the Anglican Communion |
| 7 | TAIWAN: anagram of AIT + WAN |
| 8 | SADIST: hidden in iS A DISTinguishing |
| 10 | WEST INDIA DOCK: WE + STINK around (AID (reversed) + DOC) |
| 14 | LION TAMER: &Lit, although I may have missed something here. |
| 16 | EGGSHELL:an EGG’S HELL but also a very thin form of pottery china |
| 18 | RANSOM: ROM (read only memory) around ANS |
| 19 | SUBORN: attributes, according to the nursery rhyme, of the child born on a Sunday |
| 22 | OCHRE: CHORE rewritten so that it is led by the heart! An interesting break with the rules, but I like it. |
Posted in Guardian | 17 Comments »
Posted by Pete Maclean on 24th April 2008
This puzzle has no fewer than three clues that I lack a complete understanding of: 26A, 5D and 21D. My copy of the paper did not include the clue for 23D and I retrieved it from the FT web site.
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 23rd April 2008
Talk amongst yourselves…
Posted in Guardian | 22 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 23rd April 2008
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PET,RA – an archeological site in Jordan and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Would “old city” been a fairer definition? |
| 4 | (GERMAN IS T)* – great clue, smoothly worded. |
| 10 | A in CHIC,NO |
| 11 | T,READ,MILL – that’s John Stuart MILL (“of his own free will, on half a pint of shandy was particularly ill”). I think I might have got this a bit quicker had I not thought the definition was “becomes routine”. |
| 14 | IN,NY in (TALKS)*,TE – nothing wrong with the clue but I bet there are a few complaints about this phrase. For the non-coffee drinkers, something is SKINNY if it has skimmed milk in it instead of the full-fat version. |
| 17 | SAX (“sacks”),OP,(NO THIS)* – SAXOPHONIST. Another top-drawer clue. |
| 19 | “mullED WIN” |
| 21 | (WHOSE PAST)* – SWEATSHOP. I thought this was great too, especially as “whose past” doesn’t sound like anagram fodder at first. |
| 26 | WAKE,FIELD – a novel by Oliver Goldsmith. |
| Down | |
| 1 | PROS,T |
| 2 | THE,W in REITH |
| 4 | PIT (“raised”) in MULL,EXES – another fine clue although at the time of solving I couldn’t see where EXES came from. Looking it up, I see that it’s a colloquialism for “expenses”. Not sure why this is “further costs” though rather than just “costs”. |
| 5 | SIC – “sick”. “So” is the definition. |
| 8 | OD in GOSPORT – I filled this in without really getting the wordplay and it was only later that I saw GOSPORT, which for some reason I thought was up North. |
| 14 | CORED in WARS (going up) |
| 15 | RIGHT in BEST – some very subtle &lit wording here which makes the clue sound like a straight definition. |
| 17 | (FOR US NO)* – SUNROOF. |
| 20 | H in WACK – I didn’t know that “wack” was a scouse word but with W?A?K filled in this wasn’t a problem. |
| 24 | SHE – a novel by Rider Haggard. |
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by John on 22nd April 2008
Well not really; rather good, as I have come to expect from Punk. At first he seemed rather difficult and unsatisfactory, but increasingly nowadays I enjoy his well-constructed crosswords. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 22nd April 2008
Between a SNAFU with my contract and a chest cold, I actually had some leisure to look at this properly this morning. Just as well – Pasquale is one of the compilers who has in the past beaten me rather badly. Today’s puzzle fortunately had some easier clues that gave you an “in”. A first-rate puzzle with some groan-out-loud puns and a couple of real stinkers.
Posted in Guardian | 13 Comments »
