Never knowingly undersolved
I found this hard going, mostly in the parsing department. If it had been a Saturday puzzle [which it could well have been] I might have got there in the end but I … Read more >>
This is well worth waiting an extra hour for. Nicely and fairly clued mini-theme of pretty ladies. Thank you, Paul for the morning’s entertainment. Thank you, the other Paul (Drury aka PeeDee) for … Read more >>
I found this Hectence puzzle a little disappointing. Some of the constructs were on the tough side for a crossord targetted at beginners and I have previously expressed my dislike for wordplay that … Read more >>
A typical Rufus, with the usual helpings of cryptic and double definitions, but also (I think) rather more anagrams than usual: these and others gave me a good start, letting the rest be … Read more >>
A fun prize puzzle from Araucaria, with a mini theme of writers. We found this quite doable and as enjoyable as ever, but got rather stuck on BELL TENT – our last clue. … Read more >>
I’m back in business – if only just; in the aftermath of Sandy, after getting power back on Monday, on Wednesday an early winter storm blew in, dumping four inches of wet snow, and I was without power for another nine hours.
I think there might be some cries of ‘obscurity’ this morning but the less familiar [or unknown] solutions were all very fairly and clearly clued, I think. For me, the difficulties lay more … Read more >>
A puzzle of varied styles from Philistine, with clues ranging from the conventional, almost banal (e.g. 9ac, 10ac, 19ac) to the devious 17dn and the bizarre 1dn. Fortunately the easy ones provided enough … Read more >>
Not quite a smooth solve today as there were a few hard-boiled eggs (obscurities). Just glad that I managed to unravel all for this blog. Phew! Hold cursor over any clue number to … Read more >>
Typically gentle and pleasant from Rufus. Favourite clues 16ac and 13dn. Across 1 IMPRECISE =”Approximate” (price semi)* 6 POOL double def. =”People available”; =”a game” 8 INSCRIBE =”Write letters” IN + CRIB=”bed” inside … Read more >>
In case you think I have been hogging the blog recently, I am standing in again today for Peter O, who as a New York resident has been affected by Sandy. He is … Read more >>
Wow – thank goodness we get a month to do these – I take my hat off to those mentioned in the Grauniad’s dispatches with entries submitted in the early hours of the … Read more >>
A harder than usual prize puzzle this week, I thought. A theme exploiting two meanings of an old chestnut which often crops up in cryptic crosswords. Thanks to Paul for a satisfying challenge. … Read more >>
A highly entertaining, characteristically Paul puzzle today, with lots of witty, clever and misleading surfaces and wordplay, so plenty of smiles and ‘aha’ moments to help the solving along. Many thanks, Paul, for … Read more >>
This somehow didn’t feel like a typical Orlando while I was solving it, especially with the long answer at 5,11,18, which is more the sort of thing one expects from Araucaria or Paul. … Read more >>