An enjoyable crossword, so first, thanks to Sleuth. We had almost finished doing the blog when there was a power cut and we feared we’d have to re-enter the lot. We should have known better. Our thanks to PeeDee for yet another great feature of the utility.
Guardian 26,547 by Paul
Enjoyed this, getting stuck several times after a quick start. Particularly liked 21ac, 25ac, and 8dn. Thanks, Paul.
Financial Times 14,897 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword / Apr 6, 2015
Just as I thought the FT doesn’t see daylight on Easter Monday, there was a Monday Prize Crossword which only appeared at the very end of the day on the newspaper’s website. I don’t like stereotyping but this Dante puzzle was indeed full of cryptic and double definitions – no less than 8 of the latter!
Financial Times 14,896 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 4, 2015 I made my way well through this puzzle until I got stumped by 16d (SLAPHEAD). My clue of the week is 25a (EMBARGO) … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,905 / Redshank
Not for the first time, two rogue black squares have crept into the grid and messed up the numbering. However, once this was spotted progress could be made. An enjoyable challenge from Redshank … Read more >>
Independent 8,892 by Dac
The usual thing: every clue has a silky-smooth surface that never compromises the parsing. I thought this was on the hard side for a Dac and it took me some while to understand one or two, particularly 23ac, which I almost gave up on, but my parsing is I think what he intended, although perhaps it is on the edge compared with Dac’s usual.
Guardian 26,546 – Pasquale
This started off seeming quite a gentle ride by Pasquale standards, but I got a bit held up on the left-hand side by what I think is a rather unsatisfactory clue for 1d. … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1380: Serpent Is as Serpent Does by Serpent
Serpent slithers into view – venomous? We’ll see. Preamble: Solvers must determine how to enter the answers to across clues, listed in alphabetical order of their (equal-length) answers. Taken in clue order, … Read more >>
Guardian 26,545 by Nutmeg
A bright sunny morning brings Nutmeg, who can be quite a tricksy setter to unravel.
Independent 8891 / Crosophile
Crosophile appears once a month but doesn’t have a regular slot in the week, unlike other some other compilers. His last puzzle which we also blogged, seemed to divide opinion but we don’t … Read more >>
Financial Times 14904 Neo
(Work in progress: 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 Neo on … Read more >>
Financial Times 14904 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A Neo on the lenient side. Thanks to Neo. Definitions are underlined in the … Read more >>
Guardian 26,544 by Rufus
My apologies for the late arrival of this blog. The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26544
Guardian Quiptic 804/Hectence
I’m usually a big fan of her Quiptics, but Hectence has given us an over-complicated one here, I fancy. The grid didn’t help. Anyway, over to you. Abbreviations cd cryptic … Read more >>
Independent 8890 by Monk
*=anagram [] = removed e.g. char[m]=char ()=abbreviation e.g. A(mpere)=a Hom. = homophone I finished most of this quite quickly but then took a while winkling out the last few clues such as 14 … Read more >>