FT

This was mostly straightforward, but there were some creative elements here, noted below.  Across 1 REPORT REP (salesman) OR T (“agent”‘s conclusion) 4 SCREWS UP CREW (ship’s company) in PUSS (cat) reversed 10 … Read more >>

Straightforward solve today with most answers entered on first pass through the clues. I had to look up a couple of wordplay components that involved people’s names, but this didn’t pose much difficulty. … Read more >>

I covered Alberich’s first FT puzzle eighteen months ago and my opening comment was “I don’t think I have ever completed an FT quite so quickly, the answers just seemed to enter themselves”. … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword from 1 March 2010 A not-too-difficult week-opening puzzle from Crux …  the Monday FT series is  eminently suitable for beginners to cryptic crosswords to cut their teeth on. On my … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 27 The nominees for best charade are 17A, 18A, 21A and 8D. And the winner is 8D! For best anagram or anagram-combination, the nominees are … Read more >>

A pretty challenging puzzle, with a rather curiously chosen mini-theme.  My own personal recommendation from the menu would be a No. 5, a No. 11 and a No. 25. Across 1 CAPITALLY – … Read more >>

I breezed through three-quarters of this puzzle in five or ten minutes, then got stuck for a while on the last four or five clues.  I am still not sure of 25 down. … Read more >>

As always, an entertaining, challenging puzzle from Bradman. Required plenty of research/help to get this finished. Some lovely clues in here, and one that I cannot fully explain (24A). Across 1 MADAME ME … Read more >>

A well-crafted tour through a variety of avenues of general knowledge today.  We seem to cover everything from military history to folklore and geology, by way of a healthy dose of geography along … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword from 22 February 2010 Another smooth offering from the slick Dante. Very suitable for beginners to this delightful pastime of solving cryptic crosswords. ACROSS 1 NUDISM *(undies minus E) + … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 20 The top-left corner of this puzzle took me a while. I especially like 21D. Across 1. HECUBA – HE-CUB (young male) + A (a) … Read more >>

The preamble states that five answers have something in common but by my count it could be six. These are: Little Red Riding Hood (2,3dn) and wolf (6dn) Pied Piper (8dn) and rats … Read more >>

One could say this was a gift of a puzzle because by and large most answers were easily obtainable, though I have minor reservations about 7, 18, 19 and 23dn. The parsing for 14dn … Read more >>

The usual from Falcon, elegant and not too taxing. One new word for me, at 24A, nothing too obscure otherwise. The parsing for 27A is foggy still, help invited. // 27A updated. Across … Read more >>