Posted by Andrew on May 11th, 2012
It took me quite a while to make any headway at all on this one, but once I’d got in the swing it eventually yielded with just the right amount of struggle.
Posted in Guardian | 24 Comments »
Posted by duncanshiell on May 11th, 2012
Posted in Independent | 19 Comments »
Posted by manehi on May 10th, 2012
Enjoyable crossword with lots of nice surfaces and a clever little theme. Favourite clues: 2,21,22, 14 and 24.
Posted in Guardian | 60 Comments »
Posted by Ringo on May 10th, 2012
Always a privilege to blog a landmark: 14,000 is not only a nice round number, it’s also almost exactly half of Don Bradman’s career first-class run total…
Posted in FT | 5 Comments »
Posted by John on May 10th, 2012
I didn’t enjoy this. The two long phrases were hardly known to me, certainly one of them at any rate, and I couldn’t find either of them in Chambers. Which isn’t to say that they can’t be found somewhere, but in cases like this it seems only fair that the long expressions should be bona fide phrases, otherwise a whole lot of the crossword is inaccessible.
Posted in Independent | 25 Comments »
Posted by Sil van den Hoek on May 10th, 2012
Monday Prize Crossword/Apr 30
Another charmer by Crux, a compiler who is high on my List B of Favourite Setters [B only referring to the grade of difficulty] because of (a) the splendid – albeit mostly non-topical – surfaces (5ac, 1d, 6d, 8d, 18d, 21d being some of the very best ‘today’), (b) the lightness of touch and (c) – not unimportant – the precision of his clueing. A big Thank You to Crux for this puzzle .
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by Pete Maclean on May 10th, 2012
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by PeeDee on May 9th, 2012
I have not seen Loroso before, so it was nice to get something new. Not too difficult, but elegant. I liked his clueing style, no stray words or dodgy definitions here.
Posted in FT | 7 Comments »
Posted by Bertandjoyce on May 9th, 2012
Excellent surface readings as usual in this enjoyable puzzle from Dac. As avid filmgoers, we thought 15d read extremely well (even though we are not fans of the Rocky films!) as there really was a Director’s cut of Rocky V that was released online. Our COD is perhaps 4d which brought a smile to our faces but there was a fair amount of competition!
Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »
Posted by PeterO on May 9th, 2012
I put this mostly at the easier end of the spectrum, but none the less pleasing for that; but in reviewing the writeup, I see that I found quite a number of the answers required special comment or explanatory link .
Posted in Guardian | 41 Comments »
Posted by kenmac on May 9th, 2012
The rubric reads: In several cases the answers to across and down clues clash as to the presence or absence of a letter – lengths in brackets refer to the number of spaces in the grid. Solvers should choose one of two overall options for the final grid (even the theme can’t be in two places at once); either way every entry (allowing for spaces) is a real word or a proper noun. Most clues contain a word not needed for solving; initial and final letters of these words form a pair – in clue order, one letter in each pair contributes to something that isn’t a question, while the other identifies the theme. (No, you won’t need 1 across; trust me…)
Posted in Inquisitor | 2 Comments »
Posted by scchua on May 8th, 2012
This is Peto’s second FT puzzle. The first was also blogged by me, and this is in the same calibre, a not difficult, enjoyable start to the week. Thanks Peto. Having said that, I do have a few little niggles here and there about the indicators used. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Each picture at the bottom has an unidentified link to the crossword, including one setter’s device. Though most of them are 13As, that is not the link.
Posted in FT | 5 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on May 8th, 2012
I have been unable to contact the scheduled blogger to find out why a blog for this puzzle hasn’t been posted so here is an analysis of the clues (I can’t remember the solving process, it was over a month ago!).
Posted in Guardian Genius | 6 Comments »
Posted by RatkojaRiku on May 8th, 2012
You can never be sure whose puzzle you’ll get as the Tuesday blogger, and I knew I was in for a challenge, and a lot of fun, when I saw it was Anax today.
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on May 8th, 2012
Quite a stroll in the park for me with nothing seriously amiss nor spectacular. Neat and concise clueing style adopted today with great economy of words with most clues, short, simple and sweet. A good morning’s ramble.
Posted in Guardian | 26 Comments »
Posted by Eileen on May 7th, 2012
There are some clever clues here, mixed in with some rather tired ones. Nothing too taxing for a Bank Holiday and several to raise a smile. Thank you, Rufus.
Posted in Guardian | 50 Comments »
Posted by NealH on May 7th, 2012
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 22 Comments »
Posted by scchua on May 7th, 2012
The only Moley Quiptic I have blogged was also my first on 15sq. I don’t recall the details of the first, except that it was quite straightforward, and today’s is the same. Thanks Moley. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Each of the pictures at the bottom has an unidentified connection to the crossword.
Posted in Guardian Quiptic | 9 Comments »
Posted by PeterO on May 6th, 2012
I have not been able to polish this blog as intended, as I am coming off a bout of flu, but I think its is all there.
Posted in Everyman | 6 Comments »
Posted by Pierre on May 6th, 2012
My sense is that the Independent on Sunday puzzle is one that’s pitched at a reasonably accessible level so that ‘lesser mortals’ (and I have deliberately used the inverted commas) can have a crack at winning the prize. Of the ones that I’ve blogged so far, however, I would say that this is the hardest I’ve come across. Which means I need help to pin down the parsing on a couple, please.
Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Posted by Andrew on May 6th, 2012
This was very much a puzzle of two halves for me. I rattled off the left-hand side very quickly, helped by the easy anagram-based clues at 1ac and 1dn, but then stalled somewhat and took much longer to finish the rest. I have doubts about the accuracy of the definitions in 22dn and 26dn – perhaps experts in the subjects concerned could comment.
Posted in Azed | 7 Comments »
Posted by Mister Sting on May 5th, 2012
There’s a lot going on in the preamble: a partial quotation, CLASHes ‘contributing to’ a further CLASH, those involved in the CLASH and – just for good measure – a final CLASH to be written below the grid. Unusually, all but the last clue yield a superfluous letter in the subsidiary indication. Why might that be? Well, I have a theory.
Posted in Enigmatic Variations | No Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on May 5th, 2012
Nimrod has been lurking around the restricted section of the etymological library again and half-inched the special dictionary of obscure words.
Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Posted by Eileen on May 4th, 2012
A rather more straightforward puzzle than usual from Shed, I thought, particularly for a Prize, although there seems to be a consensus that the Saturday puzzles are generally less of a challenge these days. The anagrams seemed to leap out fairly obviously for me – I’m not sure why – and there were some rather obvious charades but there was the inventive cluing we expect from this setter and lots to enjoy and smile at. Thank you, Shed, for the entertainment!
Posted in Guardian | 10 Comments »
