Guardian Quiptic

I really enjoyed today’s offering from Spiderwoman (the original Arachne in Greek Mythology was changed by Athene into a spider). All definitions given are from Chambers 11th Edition. Most of the standard abbreviations … Read more >>

Called off the bench by Gaufrid as substitute blogger.  I suspect the difficulty is that the Guardian website is still showing last week’s puzzle.  Anyway, if anyone does access the crossword, then this … Read more >>

A well-clued and straightforward puzzle from Hectence today, with only a couple of clues falling into the more difficult category. dd  double definition cd  cryptic definition (xxxx)*  anagram anagrind = anagram indicator Across … Read more >>

Once I got going, it was quite smooth.  Some nice clues.  Thanks Orlando, enjoyed this. Across 9 Going out to Chile in old age (9) NEOLITHIC :  Anagram(Going out) of TO CHILE IN.  … Read more >>

A puzzle well-suited to the Quiptic genre.  A few nice clues but nothing out of the ordinary. All definitions given are from Chambers 11th Edition. Most of the standard abbreviations used in the … Read more >>

An amusing offering from the Spider Woman, notable for some fine surfaces. Across 1. Exclusive property, often used in films (7,7) SPECIAL EFFECTS Charade of SPECIAL (‘exclusive’) + EFFECTS (‘property’). 8. A month … Read more >>

Apart from a couple of niggles, I enjoyed this puzzle.  There was an interesting variety of clues and of subject matter. Football fans will be familiar with the term ‘nutmeg’, where a player … Read more >>

(Prologue) This is my maiden blog.  I could say “be gentle with me” but I won’t.  All comments are welcome – part and parcel of the learning curve for me.  Commenters during the … Read more >>

I found nothing particularly noteworthy in this workmanlike puzzle.  As 10 of the 28 clues involved anagrams it was easy to solve but lacked variety. All definitions given are from Chambers 11th Edition. … Read more >>

Together with the Rufus, we have a veritable blizzard of double definitions today. Across 1. Where Marco Polo went in a yacht, wandering (6) CATHAY Anagram (‘wandering’) of ‘a yacht’. Cathay is an … Read more >>

I thought this was a super puzzle from Pan – just right for a Quiptic, with everything clearly clued and some smooth surface readings.  It’s been mentioned several times since we started the … Read more >>

I cannot comment as to how this puzzle compares with other Quiptics with regard to degree of difficulty because I haven’t solved one since my original blog, published when we first started covering … Read more >>

While I enjoyed this puzzle, I thought it was a bit on the hard side for a Quiptic. All definitions given are from Chambers 11th Edition. Most of the standard abbreviations used in … Read more >>

I was feeling particularly leaden, and made heavy weather of solving this, but in writing it up there does not seem to be anything to struggle over: mostly straightforward charades and envelopes. Across … Read more >>