FT

A paddle in the shallow-end today, with the waters only getting above knee-depth with the slightly obscure – but readily deducible – answer at 17D.  Puns and cryptic standalones seem to feature more … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword on 15 February 2010 I solved this puzzle while ushering in the Year of the Tiger and hope that the year ahead will be as smooth as the puzzle; nothing … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 13 Yet another excellent puzzle from Cincinnus. My favourite clues in this one are 19A, 28A and 2D. Across 9. BON VOYAGE – anagram of … Read more >>

A pleasant, gentle stroll today with nothing too 13ing, but I think there is an error in one of the clues (20dn) unless my parsing is incorrect. It became clear quite quickly that … Read more >>

A good offering from one of the less frequent FT setters.  Apologies for the late posting; I had solved this last night but didn’t have a chance to fill in the explanations until … Read more >>

Quite straightforward except a few clues in the top-right. Clues for compound words/phrases in this puzzle (1A, 10A, 28A, 5D, for example) split the answer along its natural join. Some of these clues … Read more >>

Something of a class reunion for a lot of old friends here today (10A, 12A, 23A, 1D, 15D, 19D). On a related note,  I did feel an unexpected twinge of childhood nostalgia courtesy … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword on 8 February 2010 Dante returns with another gentle week-opener full of smooth clues and slick definitions. ACROSS 1 SPRANG Ins of RANG (telephoned) in SP (starting prices, the odds) … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 6 Mudd gives us some jolly good double definitions here (notably 5A, 21A, 29A, 20D and 21D) but my choice for best clue is the … Read more >>

Overall I didn’t think this was as difficult as some Dogberry puzzles. It seemed to be something of a mixture, some very easy clues, some more tricky ones, some good surfaces and some … Read more >>

A good one from Neo, with some creative dissections of words in the charades (e.g., 25 and 29 ac). Across 9 OVERHEARD *(HAVE ORDER) 10 PLANT dd 11 MERCURY CU (copper) in MERRY … Read more >>

After a series of easy Fridays, a tough one from Viking with some fine clues. The bottom-right corner was the last to fall, with 21a/21d causing much perplexity before the ‘aha’ moments came. … Read more >>

My first encounter with Hamilton, although our search archive suggests that he/she has appeared at least a couple of times before in previous months (perhaps Gaufrid can induct Hamilton into our setters’ Roll … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword on 1 February 2010 Interesting week-opener from Crux; simple yet varied. I learn a new word at 14 Across plus a new fact (aren’t we cruciverbalists all full of trivia?) … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 30 Another beauty from Cincinnus and one that I found easy. 2D should be a classic while 23A, 26A, 29A and 3D are also gems … Read more >>