Never knowingly undersolved
It’s the first Monday in May and up comes a most enjoyable tussle with Vlad. We were told that: Twelve thematic solutions are to be entered in the grid incompletely. Their clues contain … Read more >>
An entertaining and a varied mix as usual. Thank you Paul. Paul’s puzzles put a smile on my face. ACROSS 1 SHAMMY Leather, fake I say (6) SHAM (fake) and MY (I say, … Read more >>
A nice chewy puzzle from Tramp today, where everything is completely clear if you only read the clues in the right way. Very enjoyable: thanks to Tramp … Read more >>
Thank you to Picaroon for the challenge. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 Society tries wrong random number generators (11) SONGWRITERS : Anagram of(… random) [S(abbrev. for “Society”) + TRIES WRONG]. … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28144. A satisfyingly witty crossword from Philistine. Just from the way it seems as I solved it, I found 2D SARI a favorite. ACROSS 1 ASLEEP Please … Read more >>
Brummie provides an enjoyable challenge today, all fairly clued, with just a couple of less familiar words. Brummie’s puzzles often have a theme. All I can see here is a mini-thread at 1ac, … Read more >>
A tricky and fun start to the week, with neat wordplay and surfaces, and with quite a bit of general knowledge required. Favourites were 14ac, 16ac, 26ac, 29ac, and 22dn. Thanks to Pan
Thanks to Beale, who returns after a long absence of over 3 years. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 Accessories worn with kind of shirt — striking on first sight (9) … Read more >>
Having blogged a Paul puzzle the day before, I assumed that the fairly regular pattern of my monthly Saturday blog coinciding with Paul’s usually regular fortnightly appearance in that slot had been temporarily … Read more >>
A quicker solve than expected from a Friday Nutmeg, with some very neat cluing and a few trickier bits of parsing. Favourites were 10ac, 15ac, 26ac, 5dn, and 20dn.
Quite a tricky one, as usual with Boatman, not helped by the unfriendly grid, with its almost isolated four sub-grids. There seems to be a bit of a theme of modern (usually business-related) … Read more >>
A gentle puzzle with an “aard” to spot theme?
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28137. The keystone clue is 17A RHINO, used in other clues in the slang sense of money. At times, the puzzle seemed to be an exercise in … Read more >>
Vulcan starts the week with a typical Monday medley of charades, anagrams and double and cryptic [some more so than others] definitions. There are a couple of old favourites at 27ac and 7dn, … Read more >>
A delightful Quiptic from Carpathian, just right for new and improving solvers, in my opinion. To that end, I have tried to give full explanations of all the clues, but if you are … Read more >>