Independent 7344 by Phi
Posted by nmsindy on 30th April 2010
I found this very much on the easy side, solving time 13 mins. As always with Phi, well-constructed, clear, clues with little scope for doubt.
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Archive for April, 2010
Financial Times 13,373 / Bradman
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 30th April 2010
This crossword of average difficulty from the master is a pleasant solve. Many feel-good words in the clues: best, great, famous, prime, superb, chief, right, fresh, true, leading, successful, generous.
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Guardian 24,998 – Araucaria
Posted by Andrew on 30th April 2010
I found this mostly pretty easy for a Friday Araucaria, especially after getting 1ac immediately. Lots of the usual Araucaria wit, and two very clever &lits (though both with minor flaws), and no particularly outrageous liberties that I noticed, except that I don’t fully understand 12ac. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Guardian | 54 Comments »
Independent 7,339 by Tees (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 24/04/10)
Posted by Simon Harris on 29th April 2010
A challenging ornithologically-themed Tees this week, which didn’t seem to get any easier once the theme was rumbled. A few of the thematic entries were quite obscure, and I half expected to have a couple of gaps in the blog. Some frantic dictionary-checking got me there in the end though, albeit with a couple that I can’t fully explain.
Posted in Independent | 15 Comments »
Financial Times 13,372 / Styx
Posted by smiffy on 29th April 2010
Plenty of gentle clues, including a slew of hidden answers and double definitions. But there are also some admirable clue surfaces (I ticked 10A, 18A and 15D), plus the potentially mundane answer at 11D was very imaginatively handled.
Posted in FT | 5 Comments »
Independent 7,343 by Eimi
Posted by Simon Harris on 29th April 2010
I enjoyed this one a lot, even though it was fairly easy for a Thursday, as Eimi intimated it might be. Some of the anagrams in particular are blinding. I did this on paper at the station, but on blogging I note that the online version contains an extra little message on completion. I guess this is a quote from one of the books that form the theme, but can’t claim to be terribly familiar with them I’m afraid.
Posted in Independent | 17 Comments »
Independent on Sunday 1054 by Quixote 25th April 2010
Posted by Handel on 29th April 2010
Once again we solved this while on a rail-replacement bus service. Plently of good surfaces and very enjoyable overall. We felt that 2dn was particularly good. One unresolved point at 25ac – suggestions welcome as always.
Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Guardian 24,997 / Paul
Posted by Eileen on 29th April 2010
A fairly typical Paul puzzle, with witty, cheeky, story-telling surfaces – but none of his really outrageous cluing. I hope the relatively new solvers whose confidence has been boosted in the last few days will enjoy it, along with those who have been missing something rather more meaty.
Posted in Guardian | 41 Comments »
Financial Times 13,363 – Dante
Posted by Uncle Yap on 29th April 2010
Monday Prize Crossword on 19 April 2010
Another light and easy start to the week with Dante and his brand of crisp and slick clues always put together with smooth surfaces.
Most solvers will smile at A Split Personality
Posted in FT | No Comments »
Financial Times 13,362 by Mudd
Posted by Pete Maclean on 29th April 2010
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 17
This puzzle strikes me as a mixed bag. Mudd comes up with a clever cryptic definition for LIE DETECTOR (4D) and a cute 25A, but I think that 10A and 14D are a bit weak.
Posted in FT | 8 Comments »
Guardian 24,996 / Gordius
Posted by Gaufrid on 28th April 2010
Apologies for the belated post, the scheduled blogger has been tied up with work commitments and I didn’t get in until a short while ago to see the email he sent when he realised he wasn’t going to have time to prepare a blog. In the interests of getting this posted as quickly as possible I may have missed some necessary explanations so please ask in a comment if you need further elucidation. I thought this was a better than usual for Gordius and actually enjoyed parts of it.
Posted in Guardian | 27 Comments »
Independent 7,342/Dac
Posted by Ali on 28th April 2010
My first blog for what seems like quite a while, and what better way to get back on the horse than with a Dac. Wonderful clueing as always, 2D being my pick of the bunch (and last entry)
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Inquisitor 1122: Last One Standing by Loda
Posted by HolyGhost on 28th April 2010
Not that tough a crossword – many normal clues could be solved cold on the first pass through, and the theme yielded fairly quickly. But enjoyable for all that. (Was the puzzle number – double-1 double-2 – a veiled hint?)
Some clues, 22 in all, have no length indications, and have to be entered with one or two elements of a set omitted. The answer to one normal clue representing the final element must be highlighted.
Posted in Inquisitor | 9 Comments »
Financial Times 13,370 / Neo
Posted by Agentzero on 27th April 2010
Another collection of devious clues from Neo. I am unfortunately stumped on two of them; I am sure help will be forthcoming shortly. And it was, from Rishi (inside two minutes!) and Eileen. Corrections are below. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FT | 23 Comments »
Guardian 24995 – Quantum
Posted by Uncle Yap on 27th April 2010
Quantum aka Quark (FT) aka the late Eric Burge who passed away in June 2008 … making today’s puzzle a blast from the past. Apart from a dictionary check to ensure there was such a fish (see 20D), the rest of the puzzle was a breezy walk in the park. A couple of definitions made me smile.
Posted in Guardian | 33 Comments »
Independent 7341/Virgilius
Posted by John on 27th April 2010
Virgilius amuses us with variations on the colours pink and blue, as always quite delightfully. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 18 Comments »
Guardian 24,994 / Rufus
Posted by Handel on 26th April 2010
Morning all!
Funnily enough, when we remembered that we were due to blog Rufus, H mentioned that this setter always uses a number of cryptic definitions and naval references, and this puzzle didn’t disappoint on those counts!
Posted in Guardian | 34 Comments »
Independent 7340 by Glowworm
Posted by NealH on 26th April 2010
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 16 Comments »
Private Eye/Cyclops 415 – Bill and two Bens
Posted by beermagnet on 26th April 2010
I made hard work for myself with this puzzle by writing in several incorrect answers. I guess I was hurrying and didn’t read the clues properly, and sometimes wrote in what I didn’t even intend (I think my pencil can’t spell). All that stopped me getting some later crossing answers until I realised what was going on.
Anyway, got there in the end taking much longer than normal. In retrospect there was nothing terribly hard here. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 4 Comments »
Beelzebub 1,052 (18/04/10)
Posted by Simon Harris on 25th April 2010
This seemed a very hard one to get in to, with six twelve-letter entries and a good handful of eights and nines. Solving time was therefore spent mostly on the first half of the clues. I may have been making unnecessarily heavy weather of things though, as of course everything seems quite clear with the benefit of hindsight!
Posted in Beelzebub | 3 Comments »
Azed 1977
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 25th April 2010
A mostly straightforward puzzle, which I think took me around 40 minutes, with Chambers just used at the end to find the answer to 16D and correct my daft mistake at 23A. This meant that I failed to spot an overconfident wrong answer at 26 down until I wrote this report.
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Everyman 3316
Posted by Arthur on 25th April 2010
Pretty nice this week. 10ac I am not sure of the exact correct parsing (I have 2 options which both seem equally likely) but I’m sure someone will clarify. Also I think 6dn is pretty mean as the answer is a town which (according to Wikipedia) has a population of fewer than 2000 people and so not somewhere that everyone would necessarily have heard of (I know I hadn’t). It is clued as an anagram which is easy to spot but does mean that you can never work out the answer for sure from the wordplay and I must admit that I ended up googling a few possibilities until hitting on the right one. However, 17/20ac is lovely and there’s a pleasant triple definition in there too at 19dn. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Everyman | 9 Comments »
Enigmatic Variations 910: All the Initials by Oxymoron
Posted by Dave Hennings on 24th April 2010
A fairly straightforward puzzle from Oxymoron this week. Each clue requires a letter or a word to be removed before solving. These spell out a quotation which reflects the clues and suggests how some answers are modified before entry. The originator’s initials must be highlighted.
Posted in Enigmatic Variations | 2 Comments »
Guardian 24,987 (Sat 17 Apr)/Araucaria – Plane sailing
Posted by rightback on 24th April 2010
Solving time: 13 mins
The theme here was British World War II aircraft, not really my forte although I had heard of most of these (apart from the Vickers Wellington at 27ac); of the others, the Avro Anson at 8ac across was the only one to cause difficulty. The Typhoon at 17ac is not the Eurofighter of today which is so named but the Hawker variant of the 1940s.
Posted in Guardian | 29 Comments »