Never knowingly undersolved
Quixote’s monthly appearance as a sub for Dac and as usual not lowering the standard at all; everything elegantly and efficiently clued. I sped through this but spent twenty minutes on 12/14 before giving up. It’s a phrase I had never heard and I felt a bit guilty not knowing it as it’s probably quite well-known.
So, for me at any rate, the unusual word or phrase was there, a trademark of Quixote’s puzzles.
The 225 archive shows that this is only the sixth Quaiteaux Indy puzzle, and that is more than four years since this setter last appeared in the Indy – so long ago, in fact, that … Read more >>
I’m more used to solving and blogging Kairos in the Independent on Sunday, where he is usually gentle with us. Monday comes round … I found this hard, but that … Read more >>
Another enjoyable Sunday puzzle from Raich, and I’m not just saying that because I know he’ll be reading. Everything seemed to fall in very smoothly, with very few hold ups. I particularly appreciated … Read more >>
I was thankful when I saw a Nestor arrive for my turn blogging. Always a pleasure and there were some very nice surface readings in these clues I had 13 in after the “first … Read more >>
As usual, a Phi puzzle for Friday There are a few cartoon and fictional characters about – PLUTO, EASTER BUNNY, SANTA and XENA, but I don’t think they are enough to … Read more >>
A tour de force from Morph today: many of the clues have clever wordplay and cunningly-disguised definitions. I found it all on the hard side, but absolutely worth it. And Morph’s clues have become pleasantly pithy, something that at one time it was not always possible to say.
Another Wednesday, another excellent Dac puzzle. As always, excellent surfaces and very fair clueing. This puzzle includes three proper names – not what we have come to expect from Dac. No criticism, just … Read more >>
Radian’s latest puzzle lay in store for us this morning, although only in the afternoon is my blog of it being posted, for which I apologise. This was a medium-difficulty puzzle, in my … Read more >>
RatkojaRiku is away on business and may not be able to publish his blog until mid/late afternoon.
Once again the Indy’s web site isn’t showing today’s puzzle, the puzzle wasn’t as hard as eXternal sometimes produces fortunately.
Hoskins made his debut in the Monday Indy slot in September, so this is his second outing. Like my fellow blogger Neal, who covered that debut puzzle, I found this a bit of … Read more >>
I write this as an atrocity unfolds in Paris. Sometimes there are more important things in life than crosswords. So this week’s report is brief I did enjoy this puzzle with some typically … Read more >>
This was I thought one of Phi’s harder crosswords. The simplicity of the parsing in many cases doesn’t reflect the ease of solving.
But as always and as we have come to expect he has set a fair challenge full of good clues.
This is the third Knut puzzle that we have blogged. We have enjoyed the others with their topical themes but for some reason or other this did not hit the spot today. Maybe … Read more >>