Inquisitor

Unusually, I think, the title virtually gives away the theme.   Certainly I wasn’t at all surprised when the theme revealed itself. Twelve of the clues lead to an extra letter which spell … Read more >>

Having failed even to start the blank grid in 1177 by Phi, my heart sank when I saw another blank grid for this week’s puzzle. I find these difficult to do, but even harder to blog! … Read more >>

Another puzzle, another preamble that has me wondering ‘What?’ on the first run through.  In the end though it all made sense.  This was a wonderful puzzle which took a couple of days … Read more >>

I must admit to having a soft spot for Samuel’s puzzles, so I was quite looking forward to this.  Seventeen clues have a misprint in the definition, correct letters spelling an instruction about … Read more >>

The perimeter is clued thematically while the numbered clues (to the remainder of the grid) have a redundant letter in the wordplay, which spells out a message indicating what to do with the … Read more >>

The title told us that we were in the weddings arena, though the proximity of the forthcoming royal nuptials seemed to be less of a help than I expected. My first solution was … Read more >>

This puzzle had a preamble that I had to read a few times before I really understood it, and even then the whole thing didn’t make complete sense until I had completed the … Read more >>

Back from a week’s walking north of Alnwick, and after the ‘moorland treks’ provided by the previous two puzzles, this one was more of ‘a stroll on the beach’.  Across clues have a … Read more >>

What rotten luck, to have to blog a reasonably difficult Inquisitor in a week where I had to drive to both Galway and Dublin for “all day” appointments.  When I finally got time … Read more >>

A new Setter! I haven’t come across Rasputin before, and a very tricky crossword it was too! There was an error in the rubric, which was a bad start, but it was pretty … Read more >>

The preamble told us that just over half of the clues contain a superfluous word.  The first letters of these, in clue order, spell out a tribute.  The subject of this, its creators … Read more >>

A bit more difficult than some recent puzzles … not made easier by my going away for a weekend’s walking with no Chambers and only a rather dated Collins that I found in … Read more >>

With apologies to Kea, I have to say that I didn’t really enjoy this puzzle 🙁 but I’ll try not to let it influence my blog too much. The preamble tells us that we’re looking … Read more >>

I found this offering by Loda pretty tricky. Due to my lack of knowledge of statistics and statistical modelling, the clue in the title utterly passed me by, and I had completed the … Read more >>

The preamble stated that the puzzle is based on of Phi’s favourite poems.  The poem features a recurrent phrase, which explains the entry of one normally clued answser.  The phrase is connected in … Read more >>