Andrew

A nice challenge from Araucaria today, with almost entirely Ximenean clueing. I was particularly pleased to be able get the Shakespearian references in 1ac and 9ac without assistance. Key: * = anagram dd … Read more >>

Back to traditional Monday fare with Rufus. Ernjoyable and pretty easy going, though with a couple of words that are perhaps slightly obscure. I have one or two minor quibbles, noted below. Key: … Read more >>

I found this mostly very easy, with just a few clues preventing a complete walkover. I have quibbles about 12ac, 18ac and 3dn, but generally it was all pretty sound, if not terribly … Read more >>

I’ve been a bit unkind about Rover in the past, and I was hoping to be proved wrong in this one, but unfortunately there are a few rather weak definitions and a bad … Read more >>

A devilish theme from Araucaria today, and a puzzle of mixed difficulty, I found, with some rather obscure references. Key: * = anagram dd = double definition < = reverse Across 1. IRREMEDIABLE … Read more >>

After yesterday’s struggles with Enigmatist, I found this one mostly quite easy, except that 7dn stumped me for ages, and caused some problems with its crossing words too. Some tricky wordplay here, and … Read more >>

I’m standing in on this puzzle for Rightback, who is away. The 40th anniversary that was celebrated was the Woostock festival, which opened on 15 August 1969. There were also some links to … Read more >>

A delightful tribute to the late Albie Fiore by the double-act of Enigmatist and Paul. Naturally I was able to fill in 18ac immediately, but some of the other clues held me up … Read more >>

Tough going with Araucaria today. I got 22/21 quickly, which led immediately to 15/14 and a couple of others, but still struggled to finish it. There were a few references that I had … Read more >>

Pressure of work has meant that this blog has been written in rather a rush, so apologies for any errors or typos. This seemed quite tough, but with Pasquale’s usual combination of fairness, … Read more >>

It’s Monday, it’s Rufus, you know what to expect. Perhaps even more of his characteristic cryptic definitions than usual, but most of them are good fun. In any case, if I did have … Read more >>

A very enjoyable romp round theatre-land from Brendan, but also quite an easy one, for me anyway: it must have been one of my quickest solves for a while. The strange grid, with … Read more >>