Never knowingly undersolved
After the delightful Arachne yesterday, another welcome post-Christmas present to off-set the foul weather, in this quite challenging and entertaining puzzle from Puck. The characteristically witty and ingenious cluing provided a number of … Read more >>
It was my privilege this year to solve and blog this puzzle whose theme was hinted at in the introduction: “Many of the clues are of a kind and may not be further … Read more >>
A nice mixture of clueing devices in Arachne’s web today. Mostly not too difficult, but I was fooled by a hidden answer till right at the end, and there are a couple of … Read more >>
This is a quick and simple stroll through the park. Very straightforward and easy. ACROSS 1 SUPERB Ins of UP (riding) in SERB (European) 4 MAGNETIC Ins of NET (trap)in MAGIC 9 OVOID … Read more >>
A nice easy puzzle to start the week, and the year with. Rufus’s trademark cryptic and double definitions, anagrams, and clever surfaces are here, and some possibly nautical references also. Thanks Rufus. And … Read more >>
It took me a little while to get into Beale’s style of clue, but once I got used to it, things went quickly.
The preamble told us that “Each solution contains a two-letter symbol for a chemical element, which needs to be transmuted into another before it is entered in the grid. Each transmutation changes both … Read more >>
A pleasant Araucaria puzzle for my last blog of the year, which was less taxing than it first appeared, since the gateway clue at 5ac was pretty straightforward. There are a number of … Read more >>
Logodaedalus makes only rare appearances in the Guardian – his last puzzle was in July (he also appears as a setter of the Quiptic under his real name of Don Putnam). This one … Read more >>
This looked quite tricky at first but once the theme became clear it all began to fall into place. 11ac, 14ac, 18ac and 22ac are thematic instructions that are applied to the other … Read more >>
What a tour de force from Boatman today. His device (all twelve of them) may be second; but in my book, it is the top. Bravo Boatman! ACROSS 1 CUBIST Ins of S … Read more >>
A nicely constructed entry-level puzzle from Orlando for Boxing Day morning. Plenty of anagrams to get you going, but a good range of other devices too. cd cryptic definition dd … Read more >>
Christmas is over. The world returns to normal, and there are few things more normal for a Guardian solver than a Rufus crossword on a Monday morning. This puzzle has Rufus’s … Read more >>
Good stuff from Paul, I found this hard to get started and then quick to finish once I got going. Thank you to Paul, and a merry Christmas to everyone. The theme is children’s … Read more >>
A reasonably straightforward puzzle from Orlando (perhaps to soften us up for Araucaria’s Christmas special tomorrow), but with all his usual sound elegance and understated wit. Thanks, Orlando, and Merry Christmas to all … Read more >>