Never knowingly undersolved
John How Azed produces these grids I just don’t know. He doesn’t so far as I know use technology but compiles them neatly in an exercise book, something that I would find virtually impossible. He sticks comfortably to the Ximenean advice about unchecked letters in words and both grid and clues are full of words that require a close examination of Chambers. Amazing, week after week.
Definitions underlined.
When I saw that Phi was appearing on a Tuesday I expected a crossword in his slightly harder mode than usual, which we sometimes see in other places. But no, it seems his regular Friday crossword has simply been shunted to Tuesday.
Why this has happened is anyone’s guess. I won’t even think about what it might be. It’s probably the anniversary of some group’s first no. 1 or something.
As always almost everything seems to be immaculate, with the usual crop of excellent clues. The only problem is my failing to see a Nina. But that’s usual, especially with Phi.
Definitions underlined.
As usual of course. When is Dac ever anything but as usual? Such simply-constructed clues, nothing remotely tortuous.
Definitions underlined.
This is getting silly. Monk is a mathematician and so is no doubt well aware of the probabilities, but his last four Independent crosswords have all been blogged by me. How likely was that? He’s probably getting rather tired of this, but I’m not, for his crosswords are always good. Tough, though, especially this one, where I had to admit defeat on one clue.
The letters around the outside suggest a Nina of some sort, but I can find nothing except the word ‘orgy’ on the right, which is perhaps a coincidence. But I did find ‘Placebo’ in the second row of unches, then further down ‘Brian Molko’. I imagined that Monk had a friend called Brian Molko who was involved in medical research, but a little Googling quickly revealed my disgraceful ignorance. Evidently they are a group and BM is their lead vocalist and guitarist. No doubt their songs are placed around the answers, but I leave that to you since I can’t find any album names or singles there.
Definitions underlined (except for one of them (5dn, which is fortunately obvious) which I forgot when doing the blog and can’t now recover).
Phi’s usual sound and pleasant crossword. I found this slightly harder than usual for him, which explains the rather late posting. Also there were a few parsings which only became clear once I actually wrote up the blog.
All the loose ends round the outside suggest a Nina, but apparently not. No doubt there is something subtle and for me quite undiscoverable.
Definitions underlined. At least so far as I can see.
Despite the fact that I had to use Google to be sure of the various references to 1/18Ds, with the initial letter in lower case so as to become more general than that building to which tourists and black birds flock, I found this to be more straightforward than some of Morph’s crosswords. Which is not to say that it wasn’t good. It was.
Definitions in italics (although the 1/18D references are also definitions in a way, they are not in italics).
He keeps on doing it week after week. At no point in this crossword are there anything but super-smooth surfaces and utterly sound clueing. I once likened Dac to Mozart, which may be … Read more >>
The usual solid workout from Azed. In his clue-setting competitions, there is an extraordinary preponderance of comp. anags. but in his own crosswords he has apparently only had one or at most two. Until now, and I don’t remember three before.
Definitions underlined.
Poor old Monk must be getting quite tired of having his crosswords blogged by me —this seems to be his fourth since December that I’ve blogged — especially since I always go on so about CDs and less than 50% checking (as in five answers here). But these blemishes (?) apart I feel pretty positive about this. Monk is one of my favourite setters and many of these answers are very nice and can be explained simply and clearly in one line.
I found this on the hard side and by the time I’d finished was so relieved that I couldn’t bring myself to look for a Nina. This I will leave to you, dear reader.
Definitions in italics (but in the case of 21ac, where in any case I’m not certain of the definition, I’ll insert italics as in the clue, which refers I think to a book title that I haven’t been able to trace).
Phi is approaching Dac status: it is hard to find new things to say about him, because his crosswords are always so good and sound and there are hardly any points where you have any doubts.
I have looked for ages at the completed grid, and apart from the fact that at one point in the unches you can read “he did us”, which is probably just chance, I can see nothing. Unless this is some reference to the book and Conan Doyle, which doesn’t seem to be the case. But knowing Phi there will be something.
Definitions in italics.
A high-quality crossword from Radian which took me longer than it should have done in retrospect, since the clues are generally quite clear, as witness the fact that many of the explanations below have been explained without words.
The theme is 18ac words, of which we have examples in 11ac (probably), 25ac, 13dn, 15dn, 19dn and no doubt several others that I can’t immediately see. There are some words, like 4dn or 23dn, whose letters are formed in a certain way, but they are not so far as I know 18ac words.
Definitions in italics.
What can be said that hasn’t already been said? The usual perfect construction, with a personal slight dislike of the word ‘some’ as a hidden indicator.
Definitions in italics.
Monk is always good. There are some excellent clues here and one or two where I’d be grateful for a little explanation. We differ over the matter of CDs, but Monk isn’t the only setter who uses them. However, if there were no well-known setters who dislike them I’d keep quiet.
Surprise surprise — I’ve seen the Nina, or at any rate as much of it as I’m likely to see: look at the horizontal unchecked letters in the middle followed by the vertical unchecked letters in the middle, but quite where the climax of it all is I can’t see.
Definitions in italics.
The usual excellent crossword from Phi, who never seems to miss a Friday. Apparently there’s nothing about which I’m uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t misinterpreted something somewhere.
The unchecked letters at the top and bottom suggest a Nina, but evidently not. Anyway Phi’s Ninas are always far more obscure than this and will probably refer to some work of literature that I’ve never heard of, so there’s no point in looking. I’ll leave that to the hunters.
Definitions in italics.
The usual Azed, where the wordplay is so precise that you can often be pretty sure of the answers without knowing the words. I solved most of this when away for the weekend and came home with many unknown words written by the clues but not yet in the grid, ready for me to look them up in Chambers.
I thought that 19dn was very good, but my godson had a point when he opined that the ‘e.g.’ takes away from the surface reading. However, Azed (but not all setters, including some in The Times) clearly abhors a definition by example. And rightly so in my opinion.
Definitions in italics.