Independent 8136 by Tyrus (Saturday Prize Puzzle 10 November 2012)
It took me a while to get through the layers (strata?) of this puzzle, not helped by a school-boy error on 6D and a couple of holes in my 1970s TV-watching CV… Given … Read more >>
mc_rapper67
Guardian Genius 112 by Tramp
Wow – thank goodness we get a month to do these – I take my hat off to those mentioned in the Grauniad’s dispatches with entries submitted in the early hours of the … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1040: Two Seventeen Eighteen by Owzat
This puzzle certainly wasn’t a sprint…and I had to stop for a few ‘comfort breaks’ along the way…but it turned out to be a very enjoyable EV, with a quirky/off-the-wall denouement. Six unclued … Read more >>
Independent 8106 by Nimrod (Saturday Prize Puzzle 6 Oct 2012)
Nurse! My medication, please! This fiendishly clever and involved Saturday Prize puzzle from Nimrod almost reduced me to a gibbering wreck…or rather to more of one… Where to start? Several linked clues; some … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1036: Approximate & Appropriate by Moordon
‘And’, so it goes on – if you read last week’s rant from Mister Sting… This week’s preamble tells us to replace ‘parts of’ 14 clue answers – as ‘forms’ of 26A. All very … Read more >>
Independent 8076 by Jambazi (Saturday Prize Puzzle 1 Sept 2012)
I haven’t come across Jambazi as a setter before – but as a prize-puzzle obsessive I would have missed his midweek Indy debut puzzle, blogged back at the end of July by duncanshiell, and … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1032: 12 Down by Syd Lexis
This puzzle had what seemed a rather daunting preamble: across entries intersecting the unclued 12D had to lose ‘something’ which could be construed as a ‘mistake’, replaced by a letter to help form 12D, and … Read more >>
Independent 8046 by Phi (Saturday Prize Puzzle 28 July 2012)
Layers within layers – what seemed at first to be a nice fluffy topical thematic puzzle (I know, we aren’t supposed to give away too much in these first sentences, but there can’t … Read more >>
Everyman 3430 – 1 July 2012
The Trafites are on a well-earned holiday this week – I trust I can be a worthy substitute… The nice thing about blogging a puzzle is that one has to spend a bit more … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1024: Two Drifters by Nudd
Phew…this was enough to drive a man to drink…(well, this man, anyway)…fiendish preamble, tricky devices and tough clues – with maybe a modicum of encouragement in the definition part of 35A – ‘…this can be resolved‘. … Read more >>
Independent 8016 by Bannsider (Saturday Prize Puzzle 23 June 2012)
It’s Saturday, it’s my turn to blog…and it is yet another Bannsider! Not that I’m complaining – excellent clueing, as usual, although I would say this was possibly at the ‘easier’ end of … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1020: Loss by Samuel
There are several devices going on in LOSS – answers altered before entry; extra letters in wordplay; clashing across and down entries; and lines to be drawn in the completed grid. All probably … Read more >>
Independent 7986 by Bannsider (Saturday Prize Puzzle 19 May 2012)
This is the fourth Bannsider puzzle that the ‘once-every-five-weeks’ schedule has sent my way and, as usual, it presented a stiff but enjoyable challenge… …and, unless I am mistaken, not just a pangram, but … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1016: Sentry Duties by Mynot
A short preamble instructs solvers to consider ‘SENTRY DUTIES’ in ‘thematically treating’ 12 answers before entry, to create new words. So far so good. But then we are told: ‘How the remaining answers … Read more >>
Independent 7956 by Monk (Saturday Prize Puzzle 14 April 2012)
A nice ‘straightforward’ puzzle here from Monk, with no obvious thematic links or complications, but some lovely surface readings, especially the two long across clues. I originally found myself wondering if this was ‘difficult’ enough … Read more >>