Archive for October, 2008
Posted by smiffy on 31st October 2008
With apologies for the tardy posting. Especially as I thought this was a really well-balanced and cohesive puzzle that merits plaudits or discussion. The surface readings in particular were what caught my eye. With just a quick glance at the page now, I can see 4A, 28A and 17D as examples of such. Here’s hoping Alberich becomes a more regular fixture in the FT firmament; he’s definitely more of a craftsman and more deserving than one or two of the incumbents.
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Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 31st October 2008
Apologies for the comparative lack of commentary – I’m a bit pushed for time today. Great puzzle, as always from Nestor. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | No Comments »
Posted by John on 31st October 2008
A typically nice crossword, but trickier than usual for Phi. Some long words were slow to come. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Posted by mhl on 31st October 2008
A remarkable grid with four 15 letter clues going down and lots of inventive and entertaining cluing… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Guardian | 21 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 31st October 2008
My initial reading of the preamble left me confused. Were the two word unclued entries spread over two lights each or just one? The other two entries clued by extra words, were they two of the six unclued lights or was there some overlap? No worries, just move on to the solving and think about the directly unclued lights later. Even that wasn’t so simple. Three clues with no definition, four clues with an extra word and all down clues with extra letters resulting from the word play. Could any of the first seven clues be down clues? That seems harsh so I’ll assume they are across clues and are distinct.
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Posted in Enigmatic Variations | 3 Comments »
Posted by Hihoba on 31st October 2008
Blimey, what a corker!
Several new words (including two of the dreaded Spenserian ones), a theme that was in code, answers to be both altered AND encoded. I almost gave up before starting!
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Posted in Inquisitor | 2 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on 30th October 2008
We seem to be without a Guardian blog today so here is a breakdown of the wordplay. I’ll leave it to regular Guardian solvers to provide comments on the clues.
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Posted in Guardian | 19 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 30th October 2008
Explanations and clarifications needed for 1a, 8, 12, 13, 19 and 26. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Posted by Octofem on 30th October 2008
Plenty to think about today. The answers came fairly quickly but not always the explanations. 30a misled
me for a few minutes – I trust I now have it right. Likewise 31a. No obvious theme but there is a fair amount of Eastern promise and a couple of animals.
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Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 30th October 2008
I found this quite easy, solving time, 14 mins.
* = anagram < = reversed
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Posted in Independent | No Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 30th October 2008
From Monday Prize Crossword on 20 Oct 2008
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
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Posted in FT | No Comments »
Posted by Pete Maclean on 30th October 2008
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of 18 October
Mudd’s puzzle was the most difficult I have done in a while. I cannot figure out how 11A works.
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Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on 29th October 2008
I cannot say I particularly enjoyed today’s puzzle, partly because there are two clues (1a and 3d) that I can’t fully explain. I will continue to work on these though I am not optimistic that I will get much further.
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Posted in FT | 14 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 29th October 2008
Excellent, accessible, puzzle by Dac, as ever. Solving time, 14 mins
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Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »
Posted by Ali on 29th October 2008
Hi all,
Apologies for the short notice, but I’m laid up with a bad cold and am unlikely to be fit for blogging today.
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Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »
Posted by Andrew on 29th October 2008
Quite a gentle one today after Brendan’s toughie on Monday, and maybe it suffers in comparison to Paul’s Beatlefest yesterday, but some nice clues here, though as ever I have a couple of nitpicks.
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Posted in Guardian | 18 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 28th October 2008
A puzzle in Eimi’s very individual style, which I found quite easy – solving time, 15 mins. Quite a few references in clues that I was not personally familiar with, but these did not prevent solving and I was able to verify most of them afterwards.
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Posted in Independent | 12 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 28th October 2008
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
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Posted in Guardian | 16 Comments »
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 28th October 2008
I had a slow start but managed to complete the puzzle in reasonable time. Last to fall was top right corner. Clue 17 ac is excellent but some clues (e.g., 4 ac) are not exciting by way of wordplay.
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Posted in FT | 7 Comments »
Posted by NealH on 27th October 2008
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone
An enjoyable puzzle with nothing very controversial. Only one clue I didn’t entirely follow (19 down). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 27th October 2008
Quite tricky for a Monday, in my opinion. A minor theme of -ee suffixes (9A, 12A, 30A, 17D, 18D) and the little square of three-letter words around the centre was quite interesting.
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Posted in Guardian | 40 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 27th October 2008
Some particularly nice anagram clues this time.
| Across |
| 7 |
ROOST ROO,ST |
| 9 |
SCAPEGOAT S,CAPE,GOAT |
| 10 |
MASTER-KEY (MEERKAT’S)* Y AInd: screwed Favourite clue:
Penetrator of more than one hole, meerkat’s screwed an unknown quantity (6-3) |
| 11 |
RAKED RAKE,D |
| 12/13 |
DMITRY MEDVEDEV (MID-TERM DVD EVERY – R)* AInd: crappy I needed several crossing letters before spotting this anagram. Nice clue I thought
So-called leader’s crappy mid-term DVD every leader of Republicans ignored (6,8) |
| 16 |
NEMESIS (SEMEN)< 1S |
| 18 |
SLAPPER CD-ish kind of DD |
| 20 |
ANNOTATE O,TAT inside ANNE |
| 22 |
ALUMNI A,LUM (scottish smoker), (IN)* AInd: pissed. I prefer to think of pissed as an AInd rather than a reverse ind. |
| 26 |
ELBOW ROOM ELBOW (MOOR)< |
| 27 |
TENT-POLES CD Couldn’t make a clue for tent-poles without mentioning erections really, could we
Camp types erection aids (4-5) |
| 28 |
DONOR CD |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
PRIMA DONNA PRI[nce] MADONNA Is Cyclops linking Madonna with Prince now? I suppose stranger things have happened in the world of the unbelievably egotistical. |
| 2 |
BONSAI BROWN without R[esistence] and W[ith] then (IS A)* AInd: hit |
| 3 |
EASY-PEASY (PAYEES SAY)* AInd: aroused |
| 4 |
HENRY V HENRY [Fonda] V[ery] letter count was a bit of a give-away |
| 5 |
COCKED UP ED (Balls) inside COCK-UP At first I thought it was some kind of double-def.
Balls possibly getting in an erect state, handled badly (6,2) |
| 6/25 |
STUD POKER Boss, “one who stuffs” |
| 8 |
THE ARTS HE inside TARTS |
| 9 |
SAKE SA[c]K,E I found the use of wine in the wordplay and just “drink” for the definition somewhat confusing |
| 14 |
VIRGIN MARY Airline, (ARMY)* AInd: out |
| 15 |
TSETSE FLY (FELT TESS [dal]Y)* AInd: Dicky Do tsetse flies suck? I thought they bit. |
| 17 |
MONOKINI (NO)< OK (very well) inside MINI |
| 19 |
ALLOWED [h]ALLOWED |
| 21 |
THRIPS THRI[bb] PS Ref E.J.Thribb (17½) “our versifier” famous for his “So. Farewell then…” poems in the Eye. Surely it’s thrips that are the suckers? |
| 23 |
MOOING MO (woman), [d]OING (acting head off) |
| 24 |
IBIS BI inside IS |
| 25 |
PITT PIT,T |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 5 Comments »
Posted by rightback on 26th October 2008
Solving time: 12:56
I probably found this a little easier than usual for Araucaria, until I came to the last three clues (EMBRYO, MULCT and STEEL [BLUE]) which took a fair chunk of the time.
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Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »
Posted by John on 26th October 2008
A nice crossword from Azed, with several good clues. His grids are always excellent: how he manages to fit in so many long words and avoid using three-letter-words I don’t know. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Azed | 4 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on 24th October 2008
It doesn’t look as if Smiffy is going to be able to join us today. He must be otherwise occupied, or his pc has crashed, so here is a brief analysis of today’s puzzle. In the interest of saving time (I want to get on with the Listener) there is no elaboration but if anything is unclear raise it in a comment and I will respond.
.
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Posted in FT | 3 Comments »