A tough but satisfying challenge this month from a setter whose name is new to me.
Azed 2199
A plain competition Azed this week. I enjoyed this, especially the two clues where there were two sets of wordplay leading to the entry – SCANDAL SHEETS (34 across) and LIND … Read more >>
Saturday Prize Puzzle 8668 / Nimrod – 26/07/14
Wow!! Where to start? Nimrod threw everything at us in this puzzle – thematic entries, linked clues, some rather tenuous synonyms and some original and inventive wordplay. It was an extraordinary choice for … Read more >>
Guardian 26,322 / Paul (26/7/14)
I didn’t know when solving this puzzle that I was going to be blogging it otherwise I would have made some notes at the time. I only found out several days later that … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No.1131 – The Journey South by Gila
A puzzle by ‘Gila’ this week. Will it prove to be a monster? If it does, at least they’re ‘normally not fatal to adult humans’, which is a relief.
Guardian Cryptic 26327 Nutmeg
(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.) An early morning wake-up call didn’t … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 26327 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) An early morning wake-up call didn’t do much for me when solving this. But … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,689 / Redshank
This was an interesting challenge from Redshank and I am quite happy to get the chance to blog this puzzle. With quite a fair number of anagrams, progress was steady for most part. … Read more >>
Independent 8673 / Phi
I thought this was a fairly challenging puzzle from Phi today. When I say challenging, I am particularly referring to the parsing where I am unsure of a couple – OPAL … Read more >>
Independent 8672/Donk
As is always the case with Donk a wonderfully imaginative crossword. One often struggles to understand how a clue works (in some cases here I’m afraid without complete resolution) and then says “My goodness, … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,688 / Hamilton
Yes, it’s me again, covering for a scheduled blogger who is away from home. This puzzle was probably made easier by the themed perimeter entries which, provided one knew them, could be written … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic N° 26,326 by Enigmatist
THe puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26326.
Financial Times 14,679 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword/Jul 21 I do so many crosswords nowadays that I actually can’t remember anymore what I thought of this puzzle. When writing this blog, I didn’t see any real difficulties. Dante … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,678 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 19, 2014 I found this to be a splendid Mudd. My star clues are 1a (ON AND OFF), 13a (TURNABOUT), 24a (TACKIER), 16d (SCREWTOP) and … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,687 / Gozo
We were told that “S has the same meaning throughout the clues” so, as all the across clues started with an S, I looked at the down clues first and entered seven solutions, … Read more >>