A benign offering from Chifonie this morning.
Beelzebub 1,294
Followers of Phi’s blog will have known to expect a slightly Christmas-themed Beelzebub this week. The extra challenge was that we have six unclued entries which could be arranged to form a seasonal … Read more >>
Financial Times No. 14,816 by ARMONIE
New year wishes in advance to all solvers and setters.
Quiptic 789 by Orlando
Just what the doctor ordered. Orlando in the Quiptic slot with his trademark precision, elegance and wit.
Independent 8800 by Punk
An unusually restrained puzzle from Punk, surprisingly free of any salacious references (even with an open goal like 24d). There was however the usual range of pop culture references, including some football and … Read more >>
Guardian 26,454 by Rufus
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26454.
Independent on Sunday 1,296 by Hypnos
I have only hazy memories about this one, solved and blogged in a lull between various Christmas activities.
Everyman 3559
Another excellent entry-level puzzle from Everyman, but with a few unusual features, none of which were Christmas-related. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1152: Resurrection Man by Charybdis
A fairly complex preamble for RESURRECTION MAN, with clashing letters in seven cells representing a ‘dissected body’, thirty-six clues containing redundant word whose first letters spell out further useful information and an instruction, … Read more >>
Independent 8,798 / Anax
For once, I wasn’t overly enamoured at the prospect of dragging myself out of bed to solve and blog a puzzle today, after all yesterday’s excesses and the prospect of a much-needed lie-in. … Read more >>
Guardian 26,452 by Picaroon
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26452.
Independent 8,797 by Hieroglyph
All the time that I was doing this the answers seemed to be clear enough, all of a piece with 9ac, and I was telling myself that the meaning of CA would eventually appear. But it wasn’t until quite long after finishing that I realised that CA was 100 Acres, 100 Acre Wood, the place where Pooh and his friends live. I’m not an expert on W-the-P, having unfortunately missed out on it in my childhood, but over the years all the names have become familiar — except for 6dn.
I’ve only just realised (after writing a long paragraph saying that I couldn’t understand ‘would say’) that ‘CA would, say’ is a homophone of ‘CA wood’. Why 6dn has commas but the others don’t is a mystery, though.
But I still can’t see the connection with today. It doesn’t seem to be any significant Pooh anniversary. Is it a non-Christmas crossword? Or, which is far more likely, am I missing something?
A nice crossword from Hieroglyph. Perhaps there are rather a lot of letters indicated by the first or last letters of words, but then perhaps that is the devilish intention.
Definitions underlined.
Guardian 26,451 by Pasquale
Lots to like here – my favourites were 1dn, 6dn and 14dn…
Financial Times 14,805 – Crux
Monday Prize Crossword/Dec 15 Crux was clearly in a double and, to a lesser extent, cryptic definition mood. As ever, elegant surfaces and medium level of difficulty. Merry Christmas everyone! Definitions are underlined … Read more >>