Derek Arthur (aka Viking) RIP
I have received the following unfortunate news from Derek’s son, Michael: “I have some sad news, my dad, Derek Arthur, aka Viking passed away from a pulmonary embolism on Saturday. It was very … Read more >>
Month: October 2010
Beelzebub 1,076 (03/10/10)
Almost caught up with these now. This was a nice, tough one including lots of hard words that were satisfyingly solveable from wordplay. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Across 1 … Read more >>
Independent 7484 by Mordred
Quite a tough and enjoyable puzzle from Mordred, some quite easy clues to start with but then it got much harder with the lower half of the grid especially quite difficult. Solving time, … Read more >>
Guardian 25,138 / Rufus
Morning all. This was largely very straightforward, but took us quite a while as we’re never really on Rufus’ wavelength. Still, there were some enjoyable flashes here, 10ac and 8dn being our picks. … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 569, by Arachne
I found the bottom half of this puzzle went smoothly, but the top half was more challenging. Most of the clues are of exemplary Ximenean form, with clear dictionary definitions; the relatively few … Read more >>
Private Eye 427 – Super sniper
If there is a theme to this crossword it is that several clues refer to the male member, some in ways that I, as a sensitive soul, find difficult to contemplate. Jacqui Smith … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,075 (26/09/10)
I’ve fallen behind with blogging these, due to various other commitments and tribulations, so I’m going to try to catch up properly this week. 23dn escapes me at the moment: I think I … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1077 by Quixote – 3rd October 2010
The usual collection from Quixote here, with the three long answers all anagrams, as often seems to be the case. 14 and 18 down were both new words to us. ACROSS 5. VEGETABLE … Read more >>
Everyman 3340
Once I got going this was a pretty quick and enjoyable solve, but a few film names and references that may have thrown you if you’d never heard of them before. Across 1 … Read more >>
Azed 2001
After the challenge of last week, a pretty gentle Azed. This was mostly solvable from the wordplay alone, though I needed Chambers to check a few things. Blogged rather in haste, as I … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations 934: Origin by Samuel
I normally leave the occasional rant to my other blogging duties at Listen With Others, but I’m feeling a bit mischievous as I write this. What I want to know is why do … Read more >>
Guardian 25,131 (Sat 2 Oct)/Puck – Arrogate-gate
Solving time: 10½ minutes. The two central answers this week combined to yield ‘British resort’ (’15 19′ in several clues), and there were several such hidden in the grid. Usually when there’s a … Read more >>
Independent 7477 (Sat 2-Oct) Punk
Punk (Paul really) is promised at a gathering in a few weeks: Nov 30: Secrets of the setters. In this crossword I felt he did not push the boundaries of his “libertarian” tag. … Read more >>
Independent 7,482 by Phi
Another excellent puzzle from Phi. I seemed to get through this fairly swiftly, despite a few unfamiliar terms. One or two in the SW corner held me up a little though. *=anag, []=dropped, … Read more >>
Guardian 25,136 / Bonxie
Bonxie has given us a very entertaining and ingeniously constructed puzzle, in which all the across clues pick up the last word[s] in the preceding one. Some clever clues and nice misdirection. Across … Read more >>