FT

Sorry  everybody from Octofem.  My blog will be late today – unexpected visitors!!

An interesting challenge today with some misleading clues and a few imaginative definitions. Whilst solving I thought that in one or two places the cluing was a little liberal but with hindsight I … Read more >>

Just my luck! Two offerings from Cinephile within three days and both on days when I am scheduled for the blog. However, it was again an enjoyable challenge and a thematic element emerged. The … Read more >>

From FT Monday Prize Crossword 28th July 2008 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = … Read more >>

A  twitcher-friendly theme today – and not one of my personal strong suits, so I was relieved that the thematic examples used were generally common or garden varieties.  I did have to confirm … Read more >>

We know the words ‘enunciate’ and ‘announce’ but not many of us may be familiar with the one at 6d. However, it’s obtainable easily from wordplay. Seasoned solvers will get all the other … Read more >>

At the risk of unintentionally damning with faint praise, I’d describe this as a pretty run-of-the-mill challenge today. A couple of clues stood out for me (e.g. 14A) and 25A was the only … Read more >>

A WEEDY PADDOCK This one gave me a few headaches, particularly the word play of 30a, and SATORI led me cleverly astray in a few clues. ACROSS 1.    RESIST  –   (‘rest’-  to include … Read more >>

Perhaps slightly harder to get into than some FT crosswords but once started there were no major difficulties, apart from 26a which took me a while to see the wordplay even though the answer … Read more >>

From FT Monday Prize Crossword 21st July 2008 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = … Read more >>

The on-line image was smaller than usual today and I couldn’t read some of the clues either on-screen or when printed out (normal size or enlarged) so I had to actually buy a … Read more >>

I solved Ac 7,10,12,15,18,20,24,25,29 when I had to move to the Dn set where I got 6,7,8,15,25,16,19,29 before all the others. The top left corner was the last to be completed. Last Tuesday … Read more >>

Not quite as difficult as Wednesday’s CINEPHILE but some slightly tricky wordplay in places particularly, for me, 16d. However, once I had worked this out I had to smile at its cleverness. . … Read more >>

DON’T SLEEP IN THE SUBWAY, BABY.    An easier puzzle after Gaufrid’s task yesterday with his Tiffany cats.  Rather a lot of anagrams again, but  some ingenious ways of signalling them. ACROSS 1.    … Read more >>

Not much to comment about in this one. A couple of relatively obscure words but not too difficult to determine from the wordplay. Some enjoyable clues, I particularly liked 3D.     Across … Read more >>