Never knowingly undersolved
Andrew The instruction “the wordplay in each clue leads to a solution where two letters require an elementary substitution before entry in the grid” may have been intended as cryptic , but I guessed … Read more >>
It’s a Brummie, so…
A timely puzzle from Boatman, which I found rather easier than some of his offerings. The word “time” occurs in over half the clues: often it gives us a T, but sometimes it … Read more >>
A tough challenge from the impaler today, with a political flavour to many of the clues. I see ACE across the middle row – I don’t know if that’s significant. Despite the tricky … Read more >>
Quite a tricky one this week I thought, with a lot of unfamiliar words in both answers and wordplay. Everything worked out soundly in the end, of course, with just a slight niggle … Read more >>
A very Monday-ish puzzle from Vulcan today; though light on the cryptic definitions, unusually. A quick but pleasant solve: thanks to Vulcan. Across 1. BESIDE THE POINT Behind … Read more >>
A typical Paul puzzle that was not easy but gave up its secrets at a satisfying rate, with a couple of bits of schoolboy humour in the mix. As usual Paul is hosting … Read more >>
Phew, that was hard, made harder by the rather unfriendly grid, though the split answer at 1,13 and the cross-reference between 6 and 17 helped a bit. I wasn’t sure of some parsings … Read more >>
Mostly very straightforward clueing from Brummie today, and a quick solve for me, though I was held up by the parsing of 11a. I was almost immediately tipped off to the theme by … Read more >>
Pasquale in gentle mood today, with almost no obscurities (for me, anyway: others may disagree). Mostly very straightforward clueing, with a couple of devices that have been round the block a few times. … Read more >>
I initially thought this was Carpathian’s debut in the Cryptic slot, but a little research showed me that I had in fact blogged her first such effort a few weeks ago. I can … Read more >>
A quick start on this: after my first pass through the clues I found I’d solved 18. This would normally have been exactly half, but unusually this grid has 18 acrosses and 20 … Read more >>
After a brief slow start everything suddenly fell into place, and this ended up as a pretty quick solve. Good fun though: thanks to Tramp Across 1. … Read more >>
Another top-quality puzzle from Nutmeg: a good range of difficulty in the clues, with some of the six double definitions (perhaps verging on the excessive side?) causing me the most trouble. There are … Read more >>
I think this is Matilda’s second appearance in the Cryptic slot, after a distinguished career as a Quiptic setter. I was the blogger of her first Cryptic, and remarked then that I found … Read more >>