Guardian

Solving time: 11:08 A rare Saturday outing for Gordius, which I think was of about the same level of difficulty as his occasional weekday puzzles. Some clever stuff here with a good sprinkling … Read more >>

Mostly quite a straightforward puzzle today, with some extremely easy clues, though there are a few obscurities that could cause hold-ups. I also seem to have found quite a few nits to pick … Read more >>

Quite easy for a thursday I thought, but I was left with a couple of quibbles and uncertainties. These were balanced by the highly enjoyable 9ac, 11ac and 25ac. dd = double definition … Read more >>

A fun puzzle from Brendan with a theme of name changes. I’m afraid I’m not likely to be able to update this post with any corrections until much later today. Across 8. SIDE … Read more >>

dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram In another private crossword group that I … Read more >>

Another gentle start to the week from Rufus, with, typically, perhaps more cryptic [some rather more so than others!] and double definitions than some would like but some clever anagrams and nice surfaces. … Read more >>

Solving time: A couple of days (10dn and 14dn wrong). Not in one sitting, I ought to add. In fact two thirds of this came out pretty quickly, but I then hit a … Read more >>

Really struggled with this at first, but almost got there in the end – couldn’t get 7dn without cheating. Not sure I have time now to do all of the clues justice, but … Read more >>

Either this was a very difficult puzzle, or I just wasn’t on Paul’s wavelength today. It took me ages to get started, and things didn’t get much better even when I’d finally got … Read more >>

(x) = removed (X) = inserted * = anagram < = reversed Across 1. COMPREHENSIBLE. COM(mon) + PREHENSI(B.)LE. 9. LYRICAL. (ju)LI(an)CLARY*.  Fantastic. 10. DEBAUCH. (H CUBED + A)*.  I liked the use of … Read more >>

dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram What a glorious morning solving Taupi. Many … Read more >>

Apologies for the late posting – I forgot that I was supposed to be blogging today… Across 1. IN HOCK Double definition 5. EXTENDED Double definition 9. LIVE IT UP I’VE in LIT … Read more >>

Solving time: 7:17 When I first printed this off I thought I must be missing a preamble, but in fact the asterisks in some clues (those starred below) acted as definitions of ‘stars’ … Read more >>

Quite a few nice clues in this fairly easy puzzle from Auster. (I’m a bit disappointed there’s are no Australian words or phrases this time, though. :)) Across 1. MILDEWED MILD + EWE … Read more >>

This was far from straightforward with some quick tricky decoding.  Still not convinced by some of my efforts. Across 9 HOOVERING: (OVER + IN) in HOG (corner) 10 OUTDO: a kind of double … Read more >>