Never knowingly undersolved
Wow!! Where to start? Nimrod threw everything at us in this puzzle – thematic entries, linked clues, some rather tenuous synonyms and some original and inventive wordplay. It was an extraordinary choice for … Read more >>
I thought this was a fairly challenging puzzle from Phi today. When I say challenging, I am particularly referring to the parsing where I am unsure of a couple – OPAL … Read more >>
As is always the case with Donk a wonderfully imaginative crossword. One often struggles to understand how a clue works (in some cases here I’m afraid without complete resolution) and then says “My goodness, … Read more >>
So, it’s the Don filling Dac’s last Wednesday of the month slot this time. We found this trickier than the average Quixote, with several head-scratching moments, particularly over the parsing of 1d. However, … Read more >>
It is Tuesday today, the slot being occupied by Monk this week. It is a long time since it has fallen to me to blog a puzzle by Monk. I made steady, rather … Read more >>
Flipping heck, I only put my hand up to blog the Monday Indy on the grounds that it was ‘easy’. Easy this wasn’t. I got really stuck on two or three occasions, and … Read more >>
I think the kindest thing I can say about this puzzle is that it was not my favourite ever IoS crossword. But much more importantly, what did you think? And can someone explain … Read more >>
This Saturday’s puzzle seemed very difficult at first, though I kept coming back and nibbling away at it and finally managed to finish it unaided by Wednesday or Thursday. Well, I say unaided, … Read more >>
As always, a neat and pleasant crossword from Phi, with not a superfluous word so far as I can see (except perhaps in 4dn). I can’t quite see 16dn, but no doubt there will be plenty of suggestions.
Yesterday’s plea for fewer Ninas and more vanilla crosswords seems to have been answered very quickly. But a) if it is Nina-free then this is obviously a coincidence and b) I expect it isn’t really Nina-free. It seldom is with Phi.
Definitions underlined.
We should have looked more closely at the number of the puzzle before we started – the last three digits would have warned us of how ‘beastly’ this crossword was to solve (and … Read more >>
Dac is occupying his traditional Wednesday slot, while this blogger is exceptionally late with his blog for technical reasons beyond his control, alas. Finding a wi-fi network strong enough to upload this blog … Read more >>
Radian has produced a very enjoyable crossword today An interesting crossword with a WELL worked use of the anwer to 8 across [WELL WELL] using it as WELL [half of … Read more >>
So it’s Crosophile to start our week here, he has a history of including extra treats in the grid but at first sight there appears to be no Nina…
(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) I made things difficult for myself, … Read more >>
It’s about a year since eXternal and I first crossed swords over a pencil and a pint, and since then I try to have a go the puzzle when I hear it’s been set … Read more >>