manehi

I only have a slight knowledge of the theme and twigged it late leaving me struggling with some of the across clues, several of which I guessed from the wordplay and had to … Read more >>

The usual gentle but pleasant start to the week from Rufus. Favourite was 15 Across 1 GRATIFY =Please. (Ray gift)* 5 APOSTLE = a missionary who may appear on a spoon handle 10 … Read more >>

Found this on the easy side for an Araucaria, which still meant a pleasant challenge. Favourite clue probably 14dn. Across 1 ANNE FINE 2001-2003 Children’s Laureate. [ch]ANNE[l] + FINE=excellent 5 GLIDER =aircraft. LID=cover … Read more >>

Not too difficult, a fun theme and some great cluing – my favourites were 1a, 18a, 3d and 13d. Across 1 FLAVOUR L[amb] in FAVOUR=”something curried” 5 MAMMOTH MAM + MOTHer are the … Read more >>

Challenging but enjoyable with a lot of clever surface cluing. Across 1 CLEAVE C[hop] + LEAVE=”up sticks” 4 ETCHINGS ETC=”and more of the same” + [t]HINGS=”items needing no introduction” 9 MOSES Grandma MOSES … Read more >>

Found this very tough but enjoyable, especially 16a, 7d and 21,3. Still unsure on a couple of clues. Across 9 EXTENSION =Annexe. “ex-tension” might be a state of relief 10 SLO-MO [O]SLO is … Read more >>

Very gentle Monday puzzle from Rufus with plenty of anagrams, double and cryptic definitions. I liked 5d and 13d. Across 1 BENEFIT double def 5 EXCERPT EXCEPT=”but” around R[ight] 9 NORSE (reason)* minus … Read more >>

Apologies for the late blog of an entertaining puzzle, especially 2dn. Across 7 NUMERATE (true name)* 9 BENGAL BEN + GAL 10 ECHO =Reflection. Hidden in “for thE CHOp” 11 TWIST DRILL A … Read more >>

Not a surprising choice of setter following yesterday’s rather special crossword – this puzzle looked a little daunting at first but wasn’t too tricky once the grid began to fill. Slightly unsure on … Read more >>

Solved most of this quickly but couldn’t get a foothold in the NW for a good while. Some nice clues (26d my favourite), but some (6d, 14d) were a bit shaky. Across 1 … Read more >>

A fairly gentle start to the year from Rufus – I quite liked 13 and 21. Across 5 REAPED P[hysical] E[ducation] in READ=study 6 RECENT CE=church in RENT=schism 9 STRAYS STAYS with R[ight] … Read more >>

Enjoyable as ever from Brendan with a nice theme around a recent anniversary [spoiler]. Solved pretty quickly after the theme fell, then had to stare at 10a for a good while before the … Read more >>

Enjoyable puzzle today with nothing too difficult and a cute mini-theme. Across 1 TIEBACK TIE=”match” + BACK=”second” 5,8 NUCLEAR REACTION “He commonly”=>’E + EQUALS EMCEE SQUARED, which describes the mass-energy equivalence demonstrated by … Read more >>

Due to the earlier site access problems, manehi sent me a copy of his analysis but without a preamble. As I have been too busy getting the site back on-line to do this … Read more >>

A pleasant challenge from Orlando with a cute mini-theme around “11”. 14a, 16 and 17 were especially nice. Across 9 HINDEMITH HIND=back + EMI=record company + TH[e] 10 OPRAH rev(HARPO) Marx 11 LATERAL … Read more >>