Guardian

Solving time: 32:36 This was really hard, but with some excellent clueing. After 10 minutes I had solved 3 clues (MASCARA, LAND AHOY and NEOLOGISM). Eventually I just wrestled with the anagram at … Read more >>

Pleasant mid/easy puzzle – certainly much less work than the Don-Monster yesterday. 1 CA-LI-GULA 5 BOXCAR : Didn’t quite get the Spoonerism – “Rocks Cab ?” 9 PO-CHARD-S : had to look this … Read more >>

Always a pleasure to encounter Pasquale in The Guardian. One of the reasons is that you know that his wordplay will always be (eventually!) justifiable and sensible — with just the right touch … Read more >>

Solving time 22:30 A bit of a mix of good and bad clues, easy and hard, and one made-up word at 5D (not in any of my dictionaries anyway, which include the latest … Read more >>

A few surprisingly easy clues from Paul (9a, 19a and 26a especially, all omitted below) started me off on an otherwise enjoyable puzzle with some excellent surface readings. Solving time: 26 minutes, one … Read more >>

I always find it difficult to blog Rufus puzzles without sounding churlish. Rufus produces some cracking clues and his puzzles are usually at the easier end of the scale. However, I’m not a … Read more >>

Solving time: 16:08, one mistake The fourteen solutions “of a kind” were rivers hidden in clues, with no other indications. GANGES for the first one I spotted, but I wasn’t quite sure of … Read more >>

I thought this was a terrific crossword, witty, entertaining and erudite. The bad news was that though I solved it I feel that sometimes I had answers without full understanding. So, more than … Read more >>

… the Hispanic Welshman who would have been insulted by both 9a and 4d. The only bad thing about Shed crosswords are that they don’t come along often enough for my liking. Clever, … Read more >>

Many clues with the parts of speech and/or meanings in the wordplay and surface surprisingly different which made this quite an enjoyable puzzle. Quite a few single letter abbrevs as well — not … Read more >>

Solving time 16:22 Another feast of libertarianism from Paul, but I thought the long answer starting at 17 was just brilliant. Some rather whimsical answers too today – 21D had me scratching my … Read more >>

Across 1 TESTAMENT: the male organ is presumably STAMEN but I can’t get offensive from TET 9 THE BEGGARS OPERA: anagram of A BERG’S GREAT HOPE 10 ROUT: gROUT firing German (g) 14 … Read more >>

Solving time: 10 mins, one missing (13dn), one wrong (18ac) I love rhyming slang but was caught out today by one I didn’t know. 18ac is possibly my favourite clue so far this … Read more >>

I ended up feeling slightly deflated by this puzzle. There were a couple of clues which I really liked, and several that I thought were a bit pedestrian. Maybe it was me that … Read more >>

Across 1 JETSAM: SAM (American) after JET 8 ITCHIER: anagram of RICH TEa + I; you need to replace the “a” with an “i” (one for a) 9 HACKSAW: HACK (reporter) + SAW … Read more >>