Never knowingly undersolved
We found this quite hard – generally inventive and enjoyable, although there were a few clues that let it down for me. I’ve mentioned those below, but there were some stand-out excellent clues … Read more >>
I found this to be a tough nut to crack from Wanderer. Progress was slow and steady .. and I still couldnt nail a couple of clues in the end without some help.
Well what a ‘tease’ we have had this week. We wondered what was going on when Phi disappeared from his normal Phiday slot and appeared on TEESday instead – sorry TUESday!! There is … Read more >>
Not easy, even with the (excellent) long clues falling quite early on, and a lot to like. I could mention almost every clue – lots of deceptive surfaces and definitions, and clever little tricks. Top three favourites: 27ac, 4dn and possibly 20dn…
I found this a mixed bag of the easy-peasy, the puzzling, the hackneyed and the really rather clever. With a couple of movie-stars thrown in. Good stuff.
A strange mixture of clues from Boatman today – some very obvious from either defintion or wordplay, some a lot trickier, an outrageous lift-and-separate that I’m not at all keen on but I’m … Read more >>
It has fallen to Morph to occupy the Thursday compiling slot this week and to me to occupy the associated blogging slot. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, which provided a moderate-to-difficult challenge and … Read more >>
Monday Prize Crossword/Jul 7 When this crossword was published, it was the 7th of July. The day Le Tour missed my house by less than 100 metres, also an event that was over before I could even … Read more >>
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 5, 2014 I found this a thoroughly decent puzzle. My favourite clue is 29a (PREGNANT) and I also like 23a (AIR MARSHAL) and 6d (UZBEKISTAN). … Read more >>
For the second time I have been unable to complete an Io puzzle. Any help with the remaining two solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Well its Paul so we expect a bit of rudeness and lots of playful word play.
It’s Wednesday – it’s Dac This puzzle is a good puzzle for the less experienced solver. I think solvers with long experience of Dac will have found this towards the … Read more >>
Ferret is a fairly regular setter in the Inquisitor series these days. The puzzle had a preamble that stated "Some cells contain more than one letter, making four objects appear … Read more >>
When I saw that Phi was appearing on a Tuesday I expected a crossword in his slightly harder mode than usual, which we sometimes see in other places. But no, it seems his regular Friday crossword has simply been shunted to Tuesday.
Why this has happened is anyone’s guess. I won’t even think about what it might be. It’s probably the anniversary of some group’s first no. 1 or something.
As always almost everything seems to be immaculate, with the usual crop of excellent clues. The only problem is my failing to see a Nina. But that’s usual, especially with Phi.
Definitions underlined.
This was a puzzle of two parts. Some answers went in straight after reading the clues and for others I had to spend time parsing the wordplay after getting the answers. Thanks to NEO for the welcome workout.