Guardian

A fair but rather tricky puzzle for a week day, largely due to a few obscure or archaic words. There’s a nice set of “reversed clues” where the answer might clue some words … Read more >>

Quite a heavy-going and stodgy offering from Gordius with some strange words and weird constructions; some which escaped me. The one shining and lustrous pearl of the morning was  that superb cryptic definition, … Read more >>

I found this more straightforward than last week’s Rufus but, I thought, rather  lacking in the expected sparkle. There are the usual fine surfaces but some rather tired wordplay, including AD = notice … Read more >>

Solving time: 65 mins, 4 missing (DUNCIAD, CINERARIA, LEDUM, JONQUIL) This was hard, and time constraints forced me to give up with four gaps although for a long time I thought it would … Read more >>

It’s been a good while since I last tackled an Audreus. Sped through without too much difficulty. Edits thanks to Brian and Gaufrid Across 8 DINOSAUR (around is)* 9 OPENER double def: “First … Read more >>

Annoyingly, I had to write this post without any internet access or reference books, so there are lots of guesses here that normally I would be able to quickly confirm. I may not … Read more >>

If there had been no name on this puzzle, I think it would not have taken regular solvers long to supply one. All the Pauline hallmarks are here: cheeky surfaces and / or … Read more >>

I found this puzzle very much like last week’s Gordius. Challenging and interspersed with some witty and humorous definition. Definitely an enjoyable and delightful solve. ACROSS 1 BOLIVIA B (bachelor) Olivia (girl) 5 … Read more >>

Somehow I found parts of this harder than usual with Rufus, though on looking back there’s nothing particularly tricky. Unusually there are only two pure cryptic definitions here; less unusually a smattering of … Read more >>

Solving time: 14 mins The eight answers referred to in the preamble as being clued without definition are all poets, and as suggested by 8dn they appear in the ‘corners’ of the puzzle. … Read more >>

An enjoyable puzzle, with an easy ways in through some obvious anagrams. I have a few quibbles or questions, mentioned below, however. (Apologies for the late post – I’d forgotten I was meant … Read more >>

I was rather apprehensive at being down to blog today, especially when I saw Paul’s name on the puzzle. After completing the grid, I stared at it but, apart from CLOT leaping out … Read more >>

As is often the case with Enigmatist, I found it quite hard to get started on this one. Getting the long linked answers helped a lot, but even then there were some tricky … Read more >>

Quite an enjoyable set of clues. I like it when compilers consciously try to inject some humour into their clues as we see in 1A, 21A, 26A and 14D. ACROSS 1 FORWARDER He … Read more >>