Guardian

Solving time: 17:58 About the last 10 minutes were spent on two pairs: 16ac/18dn and 19ac/20dn. The first I sorted out once I accepted that 16ac was an &lit (and realised that 24ac … Read more >>

ACROSS: 4. JAM PAN. A guess now confirmed – it’s a kind of sedan chair. 9. BRIE(f). More familiar as a cheese than a place. 11. STATIN (patients* – pe). Complicated wordplay here, … Read more >>

A pretty straightforward daily cryptic, though you did need to know a few single-letter and two-letter abbreviations (like three ‘meanings’ of D). There were several obvious, as it seemed to me, anagrams; if … Read more >>

A very pleasant and reasonably humane puzzle from Paul. The best strategy with his puzzles I find is to pick off the rare easy ones, hope they give you letters for the multi-word solutions he … Read more >>

I see that a lot of you took advantage of the chance to comment on this beforehand, so I’m glad I left the placeholder message this morning. As it turned out, I was … Read more >>

I felt this was Rufus at his worst to be honest. There were too many long anagrams and too many unconvincing cryptic defs (yes, I realize this judgement is in the eye of … Read more >>

Solving time: 25 mins, one missing (18dn) This puzzle was largely a tribute to Enid Blyton who would have been 110 this year (see 24ac). The bottom half of the puzzle fell out … Read more >>

A few manly answers: TESTOSTERONE (which figured in a Times puzzle today or yesterday as well), and an ARTILLERYMAN wearing an EPAULETTE. I did this in fits and starts throughout the day so … Read more >>

Not for the first time, I did the crossword, checked the site for the blog, then remembered it was my day! Volcanoes the theme here, six of them, all in the acrosses. Good … Read more >>

This will be my last regular blog for Fifteensquared as I can’t find the time to write blogs, compile puzzles, find time for my family and my other hobbies, oh! and work, of … Read more >>

… “To get to the same side!”   Across   1 MOB-I(US)S-TRIP – a Mobius Strip only has one side   9 PR-OS-AIC – PR is “spin” with “CIA” and “SO” reversed 10 A(TLAS)ES … Read more >>

Solving time 13:10 9 across and most of the top right-hand corner held me up today, also putting GREEN BEAN in for 28 across at first didn’t help. Across 7 POLICEMAN (Cop in … Read more >>

Solving time: 18:07 Today’s theme is WASHINGTON (14ac), DISTRICT (1ac) of COLUMBIA (16dn). President GEORGE (21dn) is said to have told his FATHER (5ac) “[I] CANNOT TELL A LIE” (10/27ac) when asked if … Read more >>

I thought I’d made a mistake and printed out the TLS Crossword instead today! At least there were no unfinished quotations, and actually the only answer I wasn’t familiar with was 5dn. Amazing … Read more >>

Sorry for the delay in getting this to you, but at the time I had planned to write this blog, I was sitting in a cold train in snowy Aviemore because the windscreen … Read more >>