Monday Prize Crossword / May 4, 2015
One of Dante’s easier crosswords, I thought. Still not easy to finish it without obstacles. The combi 11ac/9d almost defeated me. Almost!
Financial Times 14,920 by Goliath
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 2, 2015 This was another tough one for me but it has a few sparkling clues topped by the brilliant &lit of 18d (LITERATO). Other … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,929 by Io
Cracking puzzle from Io. There were many of WTF? moments in this puzzle where I had no idea at all about what was going on. Thankfully it (mostly) became clear in the end. Overall this was pretty tough! Thanks Io .
There are still a a couple that I can’t quite get to the bottom of. Any help with the finishing touches appreciated.
Guardian 26,570 by Brummie
Enjoyable but not too tough, with the left hand side going in very quickly. Favourites 3dn and 17dn. Thanks Brummie.
Independent 8,916 by Dac
I am usually trying to write a clue in some clue-writing competition or other; and it is nearly always tortuous. In Dac’s case none of his clues are tortuous: they all seem to be perfectly natural, and they always have a simple and strong surface. Why it should be that the words Dac clues are so different from those that I try to clue is beyond me. Actually they’re not: it’s just that he is rather better at it than I am.
Definitions underlined.
Inquisitor 1384: Blowing by Chalicea
One week she’s the Listener setter, next Chalicea‘s providing the Inquisitor puzzle. Preamble: Groups of cells (49 in all), identified by corrections to misprints in the definition parts of 26 clues read … Read more >>
Guardian 26569 – Otterden
A few nice clues here, including some ingenious “subtractive anagrams”, and a mini-theme around the answer to 25d … … but in general I’m afraid this confirms my opinion of Otterden’s puzzles as … Read more >>
Financial Times 14928 Neo
(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.) A little tricky, with a nina … Read more >>
Financial Times 14928 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A little tricky, with a nina that did help me with the last one … Read more >>
Independent 8915 / Scorpion
As soon as we saw that it was Scorpion today, we thought there might be a hidden theme. When we started looking at the clues, it was clear that there was a … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 808/Anto
A new Quiptic setter today, to whom welcome. However, he or she is not going to welcome my thoughts on the puzzle that appeared as a Quiptic today. This can be a brutal … Read more >>
Guardian 26,568 by Rufus
My third blog here in two days and second today.
Cyclops 546: Post-electoral tristesse
It felt strange to be solving this knowing that, by the time I finalised the blog, the election results would be known and some of the political references within the puzzle would be … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1,315 by Poins
There’s a consistency to Poins’ puzzles that makes this setter seem very much at home in the IoS, but which does make it very difficult to find a great deal new to say … Read more >>