A pleasant diversion from Flimsy, with some witty flourishes
Cineraria
Financial Times 17,826 by NEO
After breezing through half this puzzle, I needed to engage with a bit more attention to work out the other half, with Neo offering several truly ingenious clues, with quite a few witty surfaces.
Financial Times 17,813 by SLORMGORM
I had several false starts on this puzzle from Slormgorm, but having completed it now, I cannot pinpoint any reason for my difficulty.
Financial Times 17,807 by AARDVARK
Just when I think I am really getting the hang of these puzzles, I run headlong into a workout like today’s offering from Aardvark, which required quite a bit of GK and lateral thinking before I finally struggled through the final clue.
Guardian Prize 29,446 by Soup
A payoff awaits at the end of Soup’s tour-de-force series of innovative (unorthodox?!?) clues in this week’s Prize slot . . .
Financial Times 17,801 by SOLOMON
Solomon is a recent addition to the FT stable, and is definitely a setter with his own style, as demonstrated by a number of today’s clues. By no means an easy solve.
Azed No. 2,718 Plain
Apart from a couple of quibbles noted below, I found this pretty straightforward.
Financial Times 17,789 by GURNEY
A pleasant diversion today from Gurney, with a couple of uncommon wordplay devices appearing.
Financial Times 17,783 by AARDVARK
Well, I breathed a sigh of relief after having completed this very challenging puzzle from Aardvark, having started off with ten solid minutes of blank stares.
Financial Times 17,777 by SLORMGORM
It feels like ages since I have written up a post, so this puzzle from Slormgorm was a pleasant reentry, . . .
Financial Times 17,765 by GURNEY
It took me a few minutes of blank stares to get on Gurney’s wavelength today, but this eventually turned out to be an enjoyable solve.
Azed No. 2,712 Plain
The four long clues around the perimeter of the grid provided immediate lift-off for the solution of this week’s Azed.
Financial Times 17,759 by BOBCAT
Whew, this challenging offering from Bobcat really had my neurons firing, not simply to complete the grid but also to figure out how to explain the parsing . . .
Guardian Prize 29,398 by Kite
Although I filled in this grid rather quickly, I (somewhat paradoxically) assess this set of clues overall as challenging and sophisticated. Nothing too exotic, but on clue after clue, I would write in an answer, then go back to puzzle out how I arrived at that solution. I would be interested to hear others’ experience.
Financial Times 17,753 by ARTEXLEN
As usual, Artexlen employs a wide variety of cryptic devices–nothing too exotic, but hardly a walk in the park, either.