FT

A pleasurable solve today despite the limited interconnection between the four corners of the grid. Hard in places and a few uncommon words, for which I have given the Chambers’ definitions below. . … Read more >>

Another smooth, cleanly-clued puzzle from Armonie.  I am a big fan of concise clues, and the brevity of these clues is impressive; I make it an average of exactly five words. Across 1 REPRESENT … Read more >>

I got off to a breezing start with this puzzle, filled in 90% of the grid without pause but then unravelling the wordplay for a few of them took some thinking. Not sure … Read more >>

I found a few of the clues in this either flirted with verbosity and/or led to quite clunky wordplay. By way of redemption, we do have a couple of laudable clues (e.g. 12 … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword on 6 April 2009 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 3 Usually I find Cinephile’s strongly themed puzzles to be fairly easy; this one was more challenging for me than most. Took me a while … Read more >>

A themed Cinephile for our entertainment today in which we were told that BP had the same meaning throughout. Once the theme had been determined (in my case from solving 7,8) the remaining … Read more >>

A collection of flowers, three of each kind.  Fairly easy, as is normal for a Tuesday FT.  I had one question (the definition of CRYOSTAT) and one minor complaint (repeating the use of LORE). Across … Read more >>

Probably for some, but today’s theme is certainly not a strong suit for me. I had to resort to online verification for two answers (15/21 and 29A) and outright cheating on another (12A), … Read more >>

Monday Prize Crossword on 30 March 2009 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram … Read more >>

FT Weekend prize puzzle from March 28 Another beauty from Cincinnus. I especially liked 1A, 14A, 28A, 5D and 7D. Across 1. BUDGIE – I (one) in BUDGE (stir) 4. DIASPORA – A[i]R[c]O[r]P[s] … Read more >>

Well, this one was different! Some very liberal cluing of definitions in places and a lot of cds. Some of the surfaces seemed a little odd on first reading but with hindsight I … Read more >>

Definitely a puzzle at the ‘easy’ end of the FT spectrum with many obvious and simple anagrams, charades, reversals etc. However, I am not particularly happy with the clue for 14d. As worded … Read more >>

Some well-concealed hidden words (21A, 26A) and amusing wordplay (1A, 12A, 17D) in this one. I was very entertained with the puzzle overall. A couple of clues look a little questionable to me … Read more >>

Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 21 It took me a while to complete the top right corner of this puzzle, not being familiar with ABBACY and finding 9A, 12A and … Read more >>