Financial Times 13,064 / Adamant
Posted by smiffy on 30th April 2009
I couldn’t spot anything here that required more than a cursory explanation, but please leave a message after the tone if you disagree…..beep….
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Archive for April, 2009
Independent 7032 by Nimrod
Posted by nmsindy on 30th April 2009
Hard as Nimrod usually is, solving time, 58 mins. Very hard to break into, but seeing 1 down was a breakthrough helping with the LHS of the grid.
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Guardian 24687 / Araucaria
Posted by mhl on 30th April 2009
A typically difficult puzzle from Araucaria, but with some very pleasing clues.
Posted in Guardian | 26 Comments »
Independent on Sunday 1002 by Quixote (26 Apr 2009)
Posted by nmsindy on 30th April 2009
Great minds are still puzzling as to how Quixote has crossword 1002 in the 1000th issue of the paper which contained many articles and reminiscences to mark that occasion. The puzzle itself was very easy , I found, solving time 12 mins.
Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »
Financial Times 13,055 – Dante
Posted by Uncle Yap on 30th April 2009
Monday Prize Crossword on 20 April 2009
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Posted in FT | 7 Comments »
Financial Times 13,054 by Cinephile
Posted by Pete Maclean on 30th April 2009
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 18
A nice, moderately difficult puzzle from Cinephile with a memorable clue in 3D. I was stumped on 10A for a while as I was unfamiliar with the term “pack drill”.
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Guardian 24686 / Auster
Posted by mhl on 29th April 2009
I really enjoyed this one; quite easy on the whole and only a few quibbles.
Posted in Guardian | 26 Comments »
Independent 7031/Phi
Posted by John on 29th April 2009
What’s Phi doing on a Wednesday? There must be something devious lined up for Mayday on Friday, and no doubt we’ll be seeing Dac on Saturday. Or perhaps he just needs a holiday, for he certainly deserves one. In any case his sub today has maintained the usual Wednesday high standard with a good crossword that I found fairly easy, but which every now and then I perhaps didn’t fully appreciate. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Financial Times 13,063 / Cinephile
Posted by Gaufrid on 29th April 2009
Another grid that is effectively four separate crosswords, loosely linked. I found the NE and SE quadrants reasonably straightforward but took a little longer over the other two. With hindsight, most of the answers are obvious but they didn’t seem that way when I was trying to solve some of the clues.
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Financial Times 13,062 / Neo
Posted by Agentzero on 28th April 2009
Another good puzzle from Neo. Some good cryptic definitions in this one. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FT | 5 Comments »
Independent 7,030/Radian
Posted by Ali on 28th April 2009
Radian’s certainly developed a fairly unique and often fairly tricky style in his short time as an Indy setter, but I’m a fan. There’s some nice stuff here. There’s a kinda theme too I think, with the word AND (or a variation on A N and D appearing in an awful lot in the answers. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 11 Comments »
Guardian 24,685 – Chifonie
Posted by Uncle Yap on 28th April 2009
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Posted in Guardian | 38 Comments »
Independent 7029 by Punk
Posted by NealH on 27th April 2009
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Guardian 24,684/Arachne
Posted by Andrew on 27th April 2009
A non-Rufus Monday with a puzzle from Arachne that I found quite hard going, with some very involved wordplay. There are a couple of clues that I still don’t understand, but I’m sure commenters will soon point out how obvious they are..
Posted in Guardian | 38 Comments »
Private Eye/Cyclops 389 – Mock election
Posted by beermagnet on 27th April 2009
One of those where I couldn’t get the last couple for days. 22D was the bugbear. The eureka moment when I finally thought of RAG for “mock” was nice, but I’m glad I didn’t have to blog this as a daily because there’s no way I could’ve got this without coming back to it fresh. I suspect that’s where I differ from the fast or competitive solvers – sometimes when I get stuck on a clue and can’t see it what it’s saying from the right perspective, I need a big long break in order to look at it anew without going down the same train of thought yet again.
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 3 Comments »
Everyman 3264
Posted by Arthur on 26th April 2009
As always, a well-clued easy puzzle particularly suited to newcomers to cryptic crosswords. I have reservations with 6dn in that it makes very little/no sense in its surface reading. As far as i can tell it requres you to read “mounts” as a plural noun as in “I bought two mounts yesterday.” and “jumps racetrack” as a compound noun as in “I prefer the jumps racetrack to the flat racetrack”. The wordplay works fine but there’s no point if the clue doesn’t make sense as a sentence.
Posted in Everyman | 4 Comments »
Azed 1925: a generous offering
Posted by bridgesong on 26th April 2009
I found this puzzle even easier than the previous week’s, mainly thanks to the grid. Although there are several words where the initial letter is unchecked, the overall checking is so generous that it would be churlish to complain. There are two four letter words at 16 and 31 across which are fully checked, and seven letter words at 12 and 35 across with only one unchecked letter. I suspect that there is little in the wording of this week’s clues to cause controversy (unlike some recent puzzles) but we shall see. Solving time : about two hours
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Beelzebub 1,000 (19/04/2009)
Posted by Simon Harris on 25th April 2009
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
Posted in Beelzebub | 3 Comments »
Guardian 24,677 (Sat 18 Apr)/Paul – Marathon battle
Posted by rightback on 25th April 2009
Solving time: 6 minutes for most of the puzzle and the same again on 19dn.
Posted in Guardian | 7 Comments »
Independent 7,027 by Phi
Posted by Simon Harris on 24th April 2009
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »
Financial Times 13,059 / Mudd
Posted by shuchi on 24th April 2009
Pleasing puzzle from Mudd as usual.
Some nifty definitions (especially liked 2D, 21D) and more than one define-by-example style of clue (23A, 3D, 8D). I have two small questions about the wordplay (1A, 5D). (Updates to 1A, 5D, 6D based on comments below. Thanks!)
Posted in FT | 11 Comments »
Guardian 24,682/Paul – On the run
Posted by Andrew on 24th April 2009
A very enjoyable and typically witty puzzle from Paul, based around his participation in the London Marathon this weekend. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Guardian | 27 Comments »
Independent 7022/Scorpion (Prize puzzle 18-04-09)
Posted by neildubya on 24th April 2009
Tough but fair, as always with this setter. The NW corner gave me lots of problems but I got there in the end with just one answer I’m not completely sure about at 4d. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Inquisitor 120 — 1 Across by Schadenfreude
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 24th April 2009
Despite some initial misgivings this turned out to be a straightforward puzzle from Schadenfreude. Quite a few answers seemed to fit and a couple were too short but their first and last letters always fitted. Luckily I managed to get several of the first few down answers and worked out the theme word. It was then just a matter of finding the birds and the remaining theme words.
Posted in Inquisitor | 1 Comment »
Enigmatic Variations 858 — Twenty-two by MynoT
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 24th April 2009
Lots of jumbles make me nervous. What’s more all the down answers, and there are lots of them, are jumbled. And…there are only six across clues, the remaining entries make up 21 thematic terms…to be guessed! However, this puzzle comes with the all new SOLVING STRATEGIES and that tells me to crack two or three across entries and nine down entries.
Posted in Enigmatic Variations | No Comments »