Posted by Eileen on March 10th, 2010
I haven’t much to say about this puzzle. There is nothing contentious, I think, but, for me, no ‘ahas’ or smiles, either, and too many charades, my least favourite type of clue.
Posted in Guardian | 38 Comments »
Posted by Simon Harris on March 10th, 2010
A mixed one for me, having raced through all but three clues in mere minutes, to find myself completely stumped on 10, 25 and 28. I’ll blame the fact that today’s post has necessarily been prepared in quite a hasty fashion. As a curious side-note, it seems my blogging days have so far coincided with Independent cryptic puzzle numbers 7,000, 7,100, 7,200 and now 7,300.
Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Posted by smiffy on March 10th, 2010
A pretty challenging puzzle, with a rather curiously chosen mini-theme. My own personal recommendation from the menu would be a No. 5, a No. 11 and a No. 25.
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by Agentzero on March 9th, 2010
I breezed through three-quarters of this puzzle in five or ten minutes, then got stuck for a while on the last four or five clues. I am still not sure of 25 down. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in FT | 5 Comments »
Posted by Ali on March 9th, 2010
Seems to have been a while since I blogged a Radian puzzle, so nice of him to pop up.
Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on March 9th, 2010
Another mixed bag of goodies from Gordius with many standard devices and some not-so-standard devices like 10A and 19D. Quite challenging overall and entertaining in parts – don’t we all snicker after solving a Spooner clue?
Posted in Guardian | 27 Comments »
Posted by NealH on March 8th, 2010
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Posted by Andrew on March 8th, 2010
The usual gentle start to the week with Rufus. There are only five cryptic definitions in this puzzle, which I think is less than the average, though I was fooled for a while by thinking there was another one at 23dn. As always, lots of nice clues with smooth surfaces, though I have a couple of grammatical quibbles at 16dn and 21dn.
Posted in Guardian | 36 Comments »
Posted by The Trafites on March 7th, 2010
Lorraine: Loved this weeks crossword as I did it really fast, which gives me the illusion that I am highly intelligent (Hee Hee) 
Hope you all like the new format of including the clues.
BTW, this is the Trafites last blog as singletons, we are getting married on the 17th March
Posted in Everyman | 9 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on March 7th, 2010
A reasonably difficult puzzle for me, taking about an hour, with Chambers used a lot. I think part of the difficulty was not getting 1A or 13D quickly. Azed seems to have errred slightly at 35A.
Posted in Azed | 20 Comments »
Posted by Dave Hennings on March 6th, 2010
Piccadilly has set puzzles for all the series, although the last five years has seen him (Mick Willey) setting for Enigmatic Variations. He is also that rare beast, someone who sets both word and numerical puzzles.
Posted in Enigmatic Variations | 3 Comments »
Posted by rightback on March 6th, 2010
Solving time: Fail.
The theme here was American states, of which there are an impressive 12 in the grid (plus references to more in the clues), but this was easy to spot and the thematic clues would have been largely wasted on any solvers (and I’m sure there are plenty) who could reel off at least the majority of the 50 states. As a result three quarters of this fell out very quickly, but I stalled in the bottom right. Eventually I spotted ECSTASY but drew a blank on 16dn (BIDENTATE) and 24dn (ETONS?), and I still don’t understand the latter or the wordplay to 14dn.
Posted in Guardian | 22 Comments »
Posted by mhl on March 5th, 2010
Lots to enjoy in this crossword, I thought – in particular some good anagrams. I think it should have all been pretty straightforward, except for perhaps 19 across (which I really liked, though)
Posted in Guardian | 39 Comments »
Posted by Simon Harris on March 5th, 2010
A tough week, I found, so no danger of getting far without Chambers. Still an enjoyable challenge as always.
Posted in Beelzebub | No Comments »
Posted by shuchi on March 5th, 2010
As always, an entertaining, challenging puzzle from Bradman. Required plenty of research/help to get this finished.
Posted in FT | 11 Comments »
Posted by Hihoba on March 5th, 2010
We found this a very interesting and entertaining crossword. I (Hi) found it easy to start, but difficult to finish – the opposite of my normal experience! Twelve across clues had to be “treated” before entry, as did twelve down clues. The methods of treatment were different and to be discovered from the misprints in the other ten clues in each case.
Posted in Inquisitor | 7 Comments »
Posted by smiffy on March 4th, 2010
A well-crafted tour through a variety of avenues of general knowledge today. We seem to cover everything from military history to folklore and geology, by way of a healthy dose of geography along the way.
Posted in FT | 6 Comments »
Posted by Simon Harris on March 4th, 2010
I seem to have got off lightly after some of the toughies we’ve had on recent Saturdays, which I’ve really struggled with. This, by stark contrast, didn’t put up much of a fight at all, probably taking less time than a typical Friday Phi to complete. Still, no question over the quality of the clueing, and no danger of a late blog posting!
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by Eileen on March 4th, 2010
I consider myself very fortunate in drawing this one, as I blogged the last Brendan. There’s the usual witty and clever cluing and enough cross-reference to add interest, without making it too easy. I enjoyed it a lot. [There’s one clue I haven’t solved and another I can’t explain. I’m sure help is at hand!
Posted in Guardian | 62 Comments »
Posted by Handel on March 4th, 2010
We polished this one off in the Bridge in Topsham, with pints of Branoc and hot pasties. What a wonderful afternoon. Found this easier than the previous puzzle, the vocab in this puzzle was more up our street.
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »
Posted by Simon Harris on March 4th, 2010
An interesting one this, I think – neither too hard nor too easy, though for several the answer came more easily than the explanation.
Posted in Independent | 14 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on March 4th, 2010
Monday Prize Crossword from 22 February 2010
Another smooth offering from the slick Dante. Very suitable for beginners to this delightful pastime of solving cryptic crosswords.
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Posted by Pete Maclean on March 4th, 2010
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 20
The top-left corner of this puzzle took me a while. I especially like 21D.
Posted in FT | 5 Comments »
Posted by Ali on March 3rd, 2010
It’s been a tough week so far in the Indy, but a good one. Dac’s puzzles are generally on the easier side, but never anything less than brilliant. I found the right hand side quite tricky in parts here. There are some great clues as always, 5A being my particular favourite. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
