Posted by NealH on 30th June 2008
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed
Eimi crosswords tend to send me scurrying for the reference books and there were quite a few words in this that were new to me (13 across being particularly obscure, I thought). Overall though, it was an enjoyable puzzle with some good surface meanings (21 across, 4 and 5 being excellent). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 30th June 2008
Apologies – I wrote this up last week and then forgot to publish it. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »
Posted by ilancaron on 30th June 2008
Pretty good offering from Rufus: quite a few clues with a surprising twist in the surface. And not a cryptic definition in sight (OK, not many).
Posted in Guardian | 9 Comments »
Posted by tilsit on 29th June 2008
This was probably Azed at his toughest and I am grateful to Peter B and the Cryptonuts for helping fill-in my gaps.
Posted in Azed | 16 Comments »
Posted by Octofem on 28th June 2008
Sorry for the delay – the crossword was only accessible to me this morning.
Rather a lot of anagrams, I thought.
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by rightback on 28th June 2008
Solving time: 15:55
Don’t take too much notice of my time – I was at least three-quarters asleep when solving this. Reasonably straightforward for Paul, I think.
Posted in Guardian | No Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 27th June 2008
Each of the Indy setters has their own distinctive talent – with Phi it’s immaculately constructed clues that I always find I can understand. This was a typical example, where I was able to work out from the wordplay two words that were completely new to me, verifying them after. These were both in the lower half of the grid which I found much trickier than the top half. Solving time, 19 mins.
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 27th June 2008
Some tough stuff here that had me using Chambers (not something I like to do on a Friday morning getting ready for work but I tend to have a bit more time). Bit of a disheartening experience discovering I didn’t know what SPINNERET (Arachne spinning her web?), BREADHEADS and CAVATINA meant — nor a couple of unusual meanings for ALSO and GRAM. Good clues though with surfaces that held together nicely. And I feel a barrage of explanations about to descend for all the things I didn’t understand.
Posted in Guardian | 14 Comments »
Posted by Hihoba on 27th June 2008
Easy to solve the grid (with some rather underwhelming clues), much harder to find the phrase made up of the extra letters.
Posted in Inquisitor | 6 Comments »
Posted by smiffy on 26th June 2008
In the interests of timely publication, I’ve kept annotations to a minimum today. Nothing too untoward here, although the repeated use of “shock”=hair seems a touch gratuitous, and a couple of the single letter/abbreviation indicators are in questionable territory.
Posted in FT | No Comments »
Posted by John on 26th June 2008
My goodness me. What a mountain to climb. Well, at least I’ve filled everything in, but one or two I don’t quite understand; when they are explained no doubt I’ll be full of admiration, but in some cases I think I do understand and am a bit sceptical. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 26th June 2008
Posted in Independent | No Comments »
Posted by diagacht on 26th June 2008
Apologies for a rather brief blog today.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DEVILS ADVOCATE: DEVIATE around anagram of CALVADOS (without an ‘A’) |
| 9 | UKRAINIAN: UK RAIN + IAN |
| 10 | PROMO: PRO + MO |
| 13 | DIASTOLE: AID (reversed) + STOLE (liturgical garment) |
| 14 | CAVEAT: AVE in CAT |
| 19,12 | CABERNET SAUVIGNON: anagram of SOT CRAVING BEAUNE + N (drop of Niersteiner) |
| 22 | UPPERMOST: PERM in anagram of POUTS |
| 25 | CALVE: L in CAVE |
| 26 | BASTINADO: T (turnip top) in BASIN + ADO |
| 27 | O TEMPORA O MORES: anagram of ROOM ROOM (double room) A STEEP. A quotation from Cicero’s First Speech against Catiline. It means ‘Oh what a time! Oh what customs!’ |
| Down | |
| 1 | DOUBLE DECLUTCH: DOUBLE DUTCH around CE (backwards) + L |
| 2 | VERBENA: VERA around BEN |
| 3 | LEICESTER: ICE in LESTER |
| 4 | ACID SALT: anagram of CAST LAID |
| 6 | CAPRI: half CAPRIcious |
| 8 | GOING TO THE DOGS: &Lit |
| 15 | AVERROISM: AVER + IS in ROM. Reference is to the 12C philosopher Ibn Rushd |
| 16 | FANTASIA: U in CAPLET. Reference to Romeo and Juliet |
| 18 | CAPULET: A DIG in PARM(a) (Italian city lacking a) |
| 20 | NOT FAIR: IR (one river) + AFTON (Scottish river) all reversed |
| 21 | BOOBOO: BOO BOO (repeatedly voice disapproval) |
| 24 | RHEUM: HE (explosives) in RUM |
Posted in Guardian | 9 Comments »
Posted by Pete Maclean on 26th June 2008
So, I am getting to know Falcon now. This was a little more difficult than the few of his I have done before. Clue 5A in particular took me a while.
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by bridgesong on 25th June 2008
I offered to do this blog, then discovered that I had thrown out my copy of the solution, which doesn’t yet appear to be available on the Guardian/Observer website, so I had to solve it for a second time, but without an up to date Chambers. This time it took about half an hour, but it was much longer the first time. Quite a lot of unfamiliar words this week.
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ali on 25th June 2008
Definitely harder than the average Dac I thought, with some lesser known words here and there. Good clues as ever though.
Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 25th June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
Posted in FT | 6 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 25th June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
Posted in Guardian | 10 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 24th June 2008
Great puzzle as usual from Virgilius but if there’s something going on here connected with 1/29 then it’s passed me by completely. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 12 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 24th June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
Posted in Guardian | 2 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 24th June 2008
From FT Monday 16 June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 24th June 2008
Two surprises. The puzzle was uploaded much earlier than usual. The setter appears to be new, for I have not encountered the person before. The setter’s psudonym does not figure in the list somewhere on this site.
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by NealH on 23rd June 2008
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed
An excellent mix of clues from Punk as usual, with some relatively easy and some quite difficult. I had a couple of goes at completing it – got most of the way through this morning but had to come back and finish it this evening. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »
Posted by neildubya on 23rd June 2008
A typically pleasant Monday puzzle from Rufus with at least two classy clues (15d and 24a). I still don’t understand why we must always get an easy puzzle on Monday. There’s always the simpler crossword in the Guardian supplement and you can always borrow or steal a copy of “The Telegraph” if all else fails.
Posted in Guardian | 16 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 23rd June 2008
Another crossword where the last answer (correctly) written in is the first clue you look at, i.e. 1A or equivalent. This seems to have been happening to me a lot recently. Is it just that these instances and more memorable? Are setters purposely making 1A clues harder than the rest? Or is it simply that my brain is less in tune with cryptic thinking, more easily misled or fixated, early on in a solving session? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 1 Comment »