Never knowingly undersolved
A week to Christmas, my first Philistine I believe. Some very terse cluing and some rather misleading to those used to Rufus’s style but not too difficult in hindsight. Hope to see some of you Saturday. … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26133. At first glance, the puzzle seemed decidedly weird, with improbable names scattered through the clues.Eventually the penny dropped – they are all characters in Roald Dahl’s … Read more >>
A typical Rufus medley of some nice anagrams, together with the usual sprinkling of double definitions, some of which I thought were rather close in meaning, and cryptic definitions – some more so … Read more >>
You don’t usually see me in these parts but scchua is away travelling so I am standing in for him. I found this to be a straightforward solve, with a variety of devices, which … Read more >>
I found this generally pretty straightforward for a Prize puzzle, the only problems arising through my own stupid obstinacy. There are quite a lot of anagrams and easy charades, the easiest of all … Read more >>
Friday the thirteenth but nothing sinister in this basket of fruit [nothing given away, I think – like Brendan’s ‘sense’, on Monday, ‘fruit’ appears throughout the clues] from Puck – just the playful … Read more >>
Found this very tricky, but lots of fun with a spooky theme. Favourites were 23a, 26a and 16d. Still not sure how to parse 3d. Across 1,15 Long odds of tango and cha-cha … Read more >>
This was one of those puzzles where I got almost nothing on my first pass through, but then everything suddenly started falling into place quite quickly. Plenty of good-quality clueing, with a clever … Read more >>
Quixote’s harder brother, struggled a bit with this to be honest, some rare words and some of the wordplay has me less than convinced. Thanks Pasquale. Oh and for folks using the mobile … Read more >>
Apart from the overly-creative use of abbreviations this was a very enjoyable puzzle. Most of the definitions given are from Chambers 12th Edition. Most of the standard abbreviations used in the wordplay are … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26126. I do not think I am giving anything away in awarding a title to the puzzle, since ‘sense’ is plastered all over the clues.
I think this is only the second Guardian puzzle from Otterden, who sets the New Statesman crossword. As prize crosswords go, this was on the easy side, we thought, apart from three crossing … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26124.
A pretty straightforward puzzle from Gordius, which, yet again, I have to describe as a fairly typical mixed bag of easy clues and some more obscure answers. I have, perhaps, fewer quibbles than … Read more >>
Enjoyable without being too tricky, with a nice mini-theme. Favourite clues were 11ac, 18ac and 9dn. Across 1 A sailor lacking refinement said to get some military training (7,6) ASSAULT COURSE =”some military … Read more >>