A quick solve for me this week with the SE holding me up the longest.
Year: 2014
AZED 2,203
Although the structure of most of these clues is fairly straightforward, as witness the number of them that can be parsed in one bit, I found this one of Azed’s harder crosswords, with many difficult words and shades of meaning. Coomassie blue and makunouchi aren’t things I talk about every day. Indeed there are red squiggly lines under two of these words and they won’t go away.
As usual I’m not going to explain all these difficult words. I don’t want to be up all night.
Definitions underlined.
Guardian Genius 134 – Enigmatist
A Genius puzzle by Enigmatist – words to strike fear in a blogger’s heart. Fortunately this turned out to be one of his slightly more merciful offerings, though in traditional style it started … Read more >>
Independent 8,692 by Klingsor (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 23/08/14)
Classic Klingsor really, and very enjoyable. I seemed to get through this fairly swiftly, though the crossing pair of 10 across and 7 down beat me completely, and I had to go online … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No.1135 – The Seminal Moment by Gaston
Many EVs have marked moments of one kind or another. Will this be an historical occasion, a moment in a process, or something else entirely. (Excellent! I’ve written an introduction that doesn’t mention semen.)
Guardian August Bank Holiday Puzzle 26,346 by Maskarade
An truly epic puzzle – epic to set, epic to solve and an epic to blog. Thanks Maskarade!
Guardian 26,351 – Qaos
I didn’t enjoy this as much as some other Qaos puzzles, as I think there are some dodgy constructions, and a couple of rather weak CDs. However, there are are some great clues … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,713 by PETO
What an interesting challenge from a setter I havent had the pleasure of blogging before! Thanks Peto for a terrific and refreshing challenge. Some of the parsings took longer than the time it took to solve the clue based on cross-refs. I was left, at my wit’s end on 26 ac which I couldnt quite figure out.
Independent 8697 / Phi
A standard Friday crossword from Phi today If there is an overt theme or message in today’s crossword it has eluded me. It looks just like a good commuter crossword … Read more >>
Independent 8,696 by Hob
For a long time — in fact until I actually did the blog — I thought that this was themed around 14ac 21dn and was prepared to apologise for my ignorance of his works. but it became clear that in fact the theme was more general. Hob has fitted in many answers with a link to the theme and I have probably missed some of them.
All very cleverly done and apart from my very occasional doubts, which are probably unjustified anyway, a pleasant crossword.
Financial Times no.14,712 by Gurney
I ran through this a bit hastily, but I don’t feel too bad about that as it didn’t feel like the setter had gone to any great trouble either. Sound but workaday.
Guardian Cryptic 26350 Pasquale
(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) A devilishly difficult one, thanks to … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 26350 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A devilishly difficult one, thanks to Pasquale. Had to use electronic aids, including the … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,703 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword/Aug 18 Familiar territory for a Monday. While Dante kept the number of cryptic definitions to a minimum, our beloved setter did his best to conceal a couple of definitions in such a … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,702 by Cincinnus
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 16, 2014 A Cincinnus puzzle is a rarer treat than it used to be, and a very welcome one. My favourite clues here are 1a … Read more >>