Guardian 24,864 – Rufus
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 23rd November 2009
A decent Monday puzzle with a couple of weakish cryptic definitions. I guess it’s hard to come up with ‘easy’ CDs!
Posted in Guardian | 19 Comments »
Author Archive
Guardian 24,860 – Araucaria
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 18th November 2009
I found this a bit of a slog today, though admittedly that may be due to the work Christmas party I was at last night. Aracuaria managed to work in a few little sets of connected clues, but unfortunately I wasn’t familiar with the main one and had to resort to Wikipedia a few times to check my answers.
Posted in Guardian | 60 Comments »
Guardian 24,855 – Araucaria
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 12th November 2009
I’ve had a run of Araucaria recently, and was hit by a pang of fear when I saw how many clues referred to 11ac today. However, once that clue fell I relaxed as it became apparent the rest would be straightforward herb definitions.
Posted in Guardian | 35 Comments »
Guardian 24,848 – Araucaria
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 4th November 2009
A cracking effort from Araucaria, that left me scratching my head for most of my lunchtime today.
Posted in Guardian | 43 Comments »
Guardian 24,840 – Rufus
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 26th October 2009
Perhaps aided by a bit more sleep than normal, I found this fairly quick-going but with a few unsatisfying clues.
Posted in Guardian | 27 Comments »
Guardian 24,836 – Paul
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 21st October 2009
Across
8. MAKE LOVE. M(AKEL(a))OVE.
9. PRISE. “PRIZE”.
10. FISH. (thie)FISH(opeless).
11. BANANA SKIN. BA(NANA)SKIN. Baskin Robbins is a chain of ice cream sellers.
12. STABLE. double def.
14. CHIPMUNK. CHIP + “MONK”. Chip as ‘not the fish’ is terrible.
15. COLONIC IRRIGATION. COLONCAIROTIRINGI*. I like the use of ‘colon’.
17. AGONISE. AG(SINO<)E.
20. WATCH OUT. WAT(CHOU(x))T.
22. BUTT. double def.
25. FRIAR. FRI + AR(my).
26. EVENSONG. (st)EVENSON + G.
Posted in Guardian | 20 Comments »
Guardian 24,831 – Araucaria
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 15th October 2009
An interesting theme today, I quite like having unclued elements when it’s clear which clues they apply to! The old crossword staple of flower=river is used to good effect too.
Posted in Guardian | 27 Comments »
Guardian 24,826 – Paul
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 9th October 2009
Posted in Guardian | 28 Comments »
Guardian 24,816 – Rufus
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 28th September 2009
An exemplary Monday puzzle – no odd constructions but still enough to exercise the grey matter on the commute.
Posted in Guardian | 13 Comments »
Guardian 24,812 – Araucaria
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 23rd September 2009
An interesting Araucaria today, the clues not being particularly fiendish in their construction but requiring a fairly wide vocabulary (or perhaps today just happened to hit the weak spots in my knowledge).
Posted in Guardian | 22 Comments »
Guardian 24,807 – Araucaria
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 17th September 2009
Quite a challenge today, mainly due to the problems with getting started in such an interlocking grid. Once 15dn was cracked the rest became easier, however.
Posted in Guardian | 41 Comments »
Guardian 24,792 – Rufus
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 31st August 2009
A well constructed puzzle but sadly not enough meat to keep one occupied for the whole bank holiday – good job I’d not yet tackled the Observer.
Posted in Guardian | 20 Comments »
Guardian 24,785 – Paul
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 29th August 2009
A very entertaining theme for this prize crossword, and nicely hidden in the relevant surface(s).
Posted in Guardian | 21 Comments »
Guardian 24,788 – Enigmatist
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 26th August 2009
OK I have to admit defeat today – I really enjoyed the novelty of the elaborately long down clues but ended up unable to explain 16ac or completely nail 7dn.
Posted in Guardian | 45 Comments »
Guardian 24,783 – Shed
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 20th August 2009
This is just the level of difficulty I like on a Thursday – hard to crack into, but ultimately yielding its solutions with some persistence and nothing feeling ‘unfair’.
Posted in Guardian | 38 Comments »
Guardian 24,768 – Rufus
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 3rd August 2009
Posted in Guardian | 11 Comments »
Guardian, 24,764 – Enigmatist
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 29th July 2009
I found it quite challenging today, but that may be a reflection on my own circumstances having started a new job! Managed it all in the end, although 22dn and 5ac felt a little unfinished. I thought 24ac was pretty good once the penny dropped, although 7dn tries a similar trick which fell a bit flatter for me.
Posted in Guardian | 32 Comments »
Guardian 24,759 – Paul
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 23rd July 2009
Maybe not as fiendish as some Thursday puzzles, but still tricky – I’m still in the dark about 10ac. Some lovely clues today, especially 13dn and 11ac.
Posted in Guardian | 30 Comments »
Guardian 24,754 – Bonxie
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 17th July 2009
An unusual grid and an unusual theme, today. I don’t think the answers ere particularly linked to the theme, mind you.
Posted in Guardian | 33 Comments »
Guardian 24,744 / Rufus
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 6th July 2009
Posted in Guardian | 36 Comments »
Guardian 24,740 – Brendan
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 1st July 2009
I’d like to dedicate this blog to the beginners who sometimes comment about their dismay at how easy us bloggers say certain puzzles are.
Posted in Guardian | 37 Comments »
Guardian 24,735 – Paul
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 25th June 2009
A really enjoyable grid today, with a couple of royal references. There are some very clever clues in here, with distinctively misleading surfaces – I nearly stood up to applaud 20dn, it was so clever.
Posted in Guardian | 32 Comments »
Guardian 24,720 – Brendan
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 8th June 2009
A very fun crossword today, themed around today’s 60th anniversary of the publication of 1984. I particularly like how the puzzle takes in the book, Orwell himself, and the actual year.
Posted in Guardian | 24 Comments »
Guardian 24,716 – Brummie
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 3rd June 2009
* = anagram
< = reversed
“” = homophone
d.d. = double definition
c.d. = cryptic definition
Posted in Guardian | 36 Comments »
Guardian 24,711 – Quantum
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 28th May 2009
A nice straightforward puzzle today, perhaps a bit more straightforward than most Thursdays. Quite a lot of anagram and straightforward charades.
Posted in Guardian | 31 Comments »