Never knowingly undersolved
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28084. Forgive me if this sounds like damning with faint praise, but after yesterday’s Puck, what would not be anticlimactic? My real gripe is not with Qaos, … Read more >>
I’m always delighted to see Puck’s name on a puzzle, particularly when I’m blogging – and he’s on top form today. I was a bit daunted at the beginning, seeing two clues containing … Read more >>
Another enjoyable Quiptic from Matilda this morning. (Or last Thursday, for those who noticed it was erroneously published early under the Cryptic heading on the Guardian website.) The wordplay in 11a and the … Read more >>
A nice difficulty for a Monday, and several clues that raised a smile – I particularly liked 1ac, 9ac, 22ac, 6dn, and 20dn. Thanks to Chifonie
A classic prize puzzle from Paul with some lovely surfaces. I have commented before on how inventive Paul is. Here he comes up with a fresh way of clueing PINAFORE and finds a … Read more >>
A slow solve with some tricky parsing. I especially liked 13ac, 27ac, and 1dn – other favourites were 25ac, 31ac, and 21dn. Thanks to Paul.
Good entertainment from Crucible this morning, with one outrageously parochial/dated reference, and one clue I can’t fully parse at 11a. Thanks to Crucible.
An elegant, but not iverly challenging, puzzle from Nutmeg in today’s Guardian.
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28077. A quick solve here, with what seemed more envelopes than I could shake a stick at, and basic clue types throughout. I do not have the … Read more >>
Pan always provides ‘beginners and those in a hurry’ with a well-constructed and entertaining Quiptic. The NW corner took a bit of teasing out, but the whole puzzle fell out nicely in the … Read more >>
Vulcan settles into the Monday slot again. We have the usual Monday medley of anagrams and double and cryptic [some less so than others] definitions. I quite liked 9 and 24 across and … Read more >>
A timely puzzle, thank you Brendan. It took far too long to catch on to the theme. Probably because I had no idea what the date was. ACROSS 8, 22 down EIGHTEEN TWELVE … Read more >>
It’s Qaos ending the week with a relatively gentle puzzle. Qaos’ puzzles always have a theme and, again, he’s being kind, as this one would be hard to miss. [The comment on his … Read more >>
An enjoyable solve, with some particularly satisfying constructions that raised a smile. Favourites 1ac, 12ac, 14ac, 22ac, 1dn, 4dn, 7dn, and 9dn. Thanks to Imogen.
I made a slow start on this, and didn’t get much quicker as I eventually progressed. A few tricky parsings too, even when the answer was (reasonably) clear. There’s an obvious Houdini theme … Read more >>