Guardian

A fun puzzle with a subtle theme of misdirections. I probably wouldn’t have noticed the theme here, except that I managed to join the first 20 minutes of John Halpern’s zoom call last … Read more >>

A nice challenge. Thank you to Picaroon. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 Act weakly to have debts seized by creditor (5) COWER : OWE(to have debts outstanding) contained in(seized by) … Read more >>

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28181. It takes me a while to get onto Nutmeg’s wavelength, so this was a slow but steady solve, but ultimately very satisfying. ACROSS 9 LAGER LOUT … Read more >>

Brendan provides the midweek challenge in a clever puzzle with a theme that, especially with time on one’s hands, is not hard to spot. Too much cross-referencing in clues can be irritating but … Read more >>

A tricky set of clues after what felt like a very quick start. I particularly liked the four outer clues, as well as 5dn, 17dn, and 19dn. Thanks to Imogen. Getting ELBOW ROOM, … Read more >>

I initially thought this was Carpathian’s debut in the Cryptic slot, but a little research showed me that I had in fact blogged her first such effort a few weeks ago. I can … Read more >>

A themed puzzle from Philistine for this week’s puzzle in the prize slot. I had the pleasure of blogging Philistine’s puzzles four times last year, but this is the first time this year … Read more >>

After a brief slow start everything suddenly fell into place, and this ended up as a pretty quick solve. Good fun though: thanks to Tramp             Across 1. … Read more >>

Thanks to Vlad for the challenge. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 Crazy house internally a big let-down (6) BATHOS : BATS(crazy/nuts, as in “bats in the belfry”) containing(… internally) HO(abbrev. … Read more >>

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28174. That slipped down fairly easily. Brummie often has a theme, but I do not see one here. ACROSS 1 UNDERHAND Labourer’s assistant could be so devious … Read more >>

I’m always pleased to see Crucible’s name on a puzzle and it seems a long time since I blogged one of his. I enjoyed solving this – there are some nice clues here … Read more >>

A nice start to the week with a lot of neat cluing – my favourites were 14ac, 25ac, 27ac, 8dn, and 20dn. Thanks to Vulcan.   ACROSS 9 ONE-LEGGED Needing support, being half … Read more >>