FT

Falcon is ideal for days when you want a smooth ride with the crossword without it getting dull. A pleasant puzzle with especially nice clue surfaces, and not much to hold one up … Read more >>

This is now two tricky ones in a row. Whereas yesterday’s puzzle was hard(ish) but fair, today’s was made more difficult by some decidedly dodgy clues. I may appear to be a little … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword on 26 April 2010 A gentle week opener with many different devices and mostly with lovely surface reading. Easy but enjoyable. ACROSS 1 STUBBORN Cha of STUB (dog-end, small piece … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 24 Here we have a few rather standard clues (6A, 25A) along with a few gems (10A, 11A and 21D). As usual, I found it … Read more >>

Some rather tricky wordplay from Aardvark today with quite a few answers being formed from a combination of an anagram and/or parts of words. On the first run through the clues I thought … Read more >>

A good puzzle from Armonie.  As alwyas, the clues are concise and generally have smooth, natural surface readings.  I wasn’t excited about any of the two-word anagrams but I particularly enjoyed 3, 10 and … Read more >>

This crossword of average difficulty from the master is a pleasant solve.  Many feel-good words in the clues: best, great, famous, prime, superb, chief, right, fresh, true, leading, successful, generous.  Across   1 COBBLER  – A … Read more >>

Plenty of gentle clues, including a slew of hidden answers and double definitions.  But there are also some admirable clue surfaces (I ticked 10A, 18A and 15D), plus the potentially mundane answer at 11D … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword on 19 April 2010 Another light and easy start to the week with Dante and his brand of crisp and slick clues always put together with smooth surfaces. Most solvers … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 17 This puzzle strikes me as a mixed bag. Mudd comes up with a clever cryptic definition for LIE DETECTOR (4D) and a cute 25A, … Read more >>

A themed puzzle from Cinephile in his customary Wednesday slot. The ‘leaving body’ indicated a ‘body with leaves’ or put more simply a tree. It helped that I tackled the down clues first so … Read more >>

Another collection of devious clues from Neo.  I am unfortunately stumped on two of them; I am sure help will be forthcoming shortly.  And it was, from Rishi (inside two minutes!) and Eileen.  … Read more >>

I am returning to 15sqd as a stand-in for Shuchi. A none-too-difficult crossword, though there are a couple of unusual words, which are easily obtainable from wordplay. Clueing mostly fits the bill, which … Read more >>

My second blogging encounter with Orense of late.  Not the most strenuous of workouts, but he’s always a pleasure/never a chore.  Am running late today, so please excuse the skimpy blog. Across 1 … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword on 12 April 2010 Another soft introduction to the FT week with a wide variety of cryptic devices ranging from the simple anagram to homophones to double definitions; none too … Read more >>