Private Eye/Cyclops

“So this is Christmas, and what have you done Another year over, a new one just begun” Tell you what we’ve done John, another massive Eye Crossword! As usual there is a giant … Read more >>

Only a week since the last blog, I know — but this one has a submission deadline only three days after the publication date (though of course, many of us buy the Eye … Read more >>

No major problems with this one… until I tried to parse 11a, which I had written in pretty much without thinking. Across 7 BRIEFS Shorts taken by defenders Double definition — underwear; instruction … Read more >>

This was certainly a topping crossword … …there were a variety of tops in it: Jersey, Poncho, Kimono. I must’ve been “on song” solving this, one lunchtime, as I had solved all but … Read more >>

I have had a couple of weeks of utterly manic work and have been meaning to do this blog for ages, but here we are, late Sunday and it’s not started and I’m … Read more >>

… and under us.  As this grid is topped and tailed with Kate and Wills on the top and bottom, and in the middle row.  All these had clues of the same kind … Read more >>

I solved this one before I realised I was going to blog it and haven’t made any contemporaneous notes. I can’t even remember which was the first clue answered, nor which was the … Read more >>

An enjoyable solve.  Although more than half fell in the first pass, the rest needed deconstruction of some interesting wordplay. Solving and blogging this took place at a time when there was a … Read more >>

With apologies to anyone who struggled, I thought this was a remarkably straightforward puzzles — a quick solve on a train. I don’t have much to say about it — entertaining and clever … Read more >>

If I say I only had 5 to go after the “first pass” (all clues attempted) that will make it seem it was a easy Eye crossword or else I was on fire. … Read more >>

With many apologies for lateness. Events conspired against me when it came to finding time to write this blog, though the puzzle itself was a relatively straightforward solve. I do hope you will … Read more >>

It may have passed you by, but the Olympics is on at the moment in London, and Cyclops chose to draw attention to it by including a couple of well-known Olympic mottoes in … Read more >>

I didn’t have too many problems with most of this, but had difficulty working out the wordplay in 4d, for which I had written STRIPED without really thinking about it. A few LOL … Read more >>

Back to a slightly tougher crossword this time.  At least that’s how I found it, both to get started and to find those last pesky couple of answers. I’ll admit after getting started, … Read more >>

A Cyclops of average difficulty this week (seems like I always say that!), with nothing that held me up for long. I will go for 9d as my fave clue, for its complete … Read more >>