Well I’m back from a land down under and first up is Imogen, not really the name you want whilst jet lagged.
Inquisitor 1361: Unsteady by Gila
Preamble: Ten entries, clued without definition, may be sorted into pairs to provide five names associated with a protagonist, X. In all remaining clues, single extra letters involved in wordplay spell a further … Read more >>
Independent 9,778 by Radian
Three checked letters in a seven-letter answer is bad enough; two in a five-letter answer is even worse. Unless, some say, Radian has been constrained by a Nina and has been forced to use answers of this type. If he has (and of course I can’t see it) then perhaps this is justified. And anyway it’s only my view (but also that of some eminent others, I might add).
Pity, because much of this crossword is good, and there are some excellent clues. I particularly enjoyed 1dn.
Definitions underlined.
Financial Times No. 14,794 by SAYANG
Typical Tuesday fare here…
Guardian 26,432 by Picaroon
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26432.
Quiptic 785 by Hectence
Hectence returns to the Quiptic slot with a puzzle that I thought had just the right amount of head-scratching required to get the sluggish Monday morning brain into gear.
Guardian 26,431 / Rufus
A fairly typical Rufus puzzle, with the accustomed mix of anagrams and double and cryptic definitions [a couple of which I found a bit puzzling]. Thanks to him for a genial start to … Read more >>
Independent 8777/Raich
Always a little smile when I see that it’s Raich for my Monday Indy blog. Enjoyed this one, but there were some that I struggled to see and parse. It yielded in the … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1,292 by eXternal
I found this one a whole lot harder than any other IoS puzzle I have blogged. There are still a couple I can’t completely explain. Good fun, but I am glad I had plenty of time to sole this one! Thanks eXternal.
Everyman 3555/23 November
I often find with Everyman that his references make me go and look up stuff that I kind of knew, but had forgotten. So once I’d finished solving the puzzle this morning I … Read more >>
AZED 2,216
Scots, Scots and more Scots. Nonetheless, with help from that well-known Scots dictionary, Chambers, managed the slog. Not the most easy of Azed’s but eventually I think I tamed it.
Guardian Prize 26,424 by Paul
Thanks, Paul for an enjoyable and topical prize puzzle that was characteristically witty (but no lavatory humour this week!).
Independent Crossword 8770 by Klingsor(22-11-2014)
Saturday and an offering from Klingsor! That should take my mind off my driving test I found this hard work – suspect my mind was on other things. But when I write it … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1148: Paradox by Kruger
The preamble for PARADOX tells us: “In clue order, the second or fifth letters of single extra words in 15 clues give a PARADOX that is epitomised by one of the unclued entries. … Read more >>