Guardian

Took me about 20 minutes, except for the last two clues, which I feel could take another week. Offers welcomed for 13 across and 22 down. What with these, and several dictionary words … Read more >>

Solving time about 10-12 minutes altogether in 3 short sessions. I was trying to look at it while on a conference call at work, but somebody asked me a question and I didn’t … Read more >>

Solving time: 22:12 I made heavy weather of this, especially the key long answer (16ac) and the top left corner, and I can’t explain 4dn. No main theme that I could spot, but … Read more >>

Solving time: 33:07 I found this tough going, and in the end had to resort to the dictionary to finish it as there were a couple of words I’d never heard of. Also … Read more >>

I have to admit that Chifonie is not by favourite setter, and in my opinion, this puzzle has too many loose definitions/wordplay, and at least one clue I can’t parse (see below). Sorry … Read more >>

Solving time: 42’ Well, if you know your William Cowper, you’ll have no problem with this puzzle. I don’t. Had to go off and read “The Diverting History of John Gilpin” to make … Read more >>

Solving Time: 20 mins (although aone explanation baffles me) Gosh, it seems such a long time that I’ve been here, after stays in and out of hospital. I was dreading getting a real … Read more >>

Reasonably easy Monday morning fare. At a rough count, one third cryptic definitions, generally pretty straightforward but several pithy and apposite enough to be quite satisfying even if they don’t take a lot … Read more >>

Solving time: Got out Chambers and my A-Z after about 1hr 15min. The double puzzle was based on the name ‘Leon’. Grid A contained pairs of answers which when joined with ‘le’ gave … Read more >>

An averagely-hard  Friday puzzle, I’d say – took 25 minutes or so of a somewhat stop-start tube journey. A couple I had to guess in the absence of reference works, including 8 Across, which … Read more >>

Solving time: approx. 25 mins Araucaria’s outdone himself with this one – bit of a nightmare to solve with the number of clues referring to others, obscure wordplay, plain cheating and general skulduggery. … Read more >>

Apologies for the tardiness and brevity of this post, but I have been at a full-day seminar in sunny Perth all day, so have not been able to get online until now. When … Read more >>

Solving time: 35’ I stared at this for a long time post-solving convinced there was a theme (after all, the competition in The Independent is Virgilius) but I can’t tease anything to the … Read more >>

When you see that the compiler is Rufus, you know you are in for a glut of cryptic defintions, some more cryptic than others, and today’s puzzle had seven or eight of them, … Read more >>

Solving time: Resorted to references after 30 mins with five clues left (starred below), and a mistake. Following hot on the heels of Paul’s Beethoven-themed crossword last week comes a homage to Mozart … Read more >>