A smart, enjoyable puzzle. The minor grumbles were easily outweighed, for me, by the clever clueing.
Guardian Cryptic N° 26,206 by Philistine
The crossword may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26206. Most of the left half fell in fairly readily; after that it was a struggle, culminating with the vicious 9D. The rain today has just got … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,560 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword/Mar 3 A Dante crossword with the usual mix of familiar devices but also a puzzle with some really nice surfaces. In that respect, I particularly liked 10ac but I wasn’t … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,559 by Cincinnus
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 1, 2014 It is good to have a Cincinnus again. This one struck me as a wee bit on the difficult side. My favourite clues … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,568 by Io
A mixed difficulty puzzle from Io, something for everyone. Things started off quite comfortably in the top left corner and then got progressively harder and harder as I moved through the grid. There are a couple that I still can’t fully explain, any help appreciated. Thanks Io.
Guardian 26,205 / Logodaedalus
Logodaedalus puzzles appear very rarely – the last one was August last year, which was over eighteen months after the previous one. The wordplay is, characteristically, very straightforward throughout, with a number of … Read more >>
Independent 8551 / Dac
As others have regularly said on a Wednesday, it is difficult to find something new to say about a puzzle set by Dac and today is no exception. The usual quality cluing with … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1323: Achieve Dead Boxer’s Struggle by Ifor
Preamble: A quotation suggests why a number of shorter words each forming part of an answer must be replaced by other words, not always of the same length. Numbers in brackets give entry lengths. Unchecked letters within these replacement words can be … Read more >>
Financial Times 14567 Phssthpok
(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 enjoyable puzzle from Tuesday regular Phssthpok, … Read more >>
Financial Times 14567 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) An enjoyable puzzle from Tuesday regular Phssthpok, with a couple at the end taking … Read more >>
Independent 8,550 / Radian
This morning saw my latest Tuesday tussle with Radian. This particular puzzle had a more obvious theme than some previous ones, in that many of the clues referred explicitly to languages. As such, … Read more >>
Guardian 26,204 by Orlando
I really enjoyed this, as is usual with Orlando. Lots of clever clues and surfaces – 9ac, 23ac, 4dn, 16dn and 21dn were my favourites.
Guardian Quiptic 747 Hectence
(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.) This was an enjoyable puzzle from … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 747 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) This was an enjoyable puzzle from Hectence, with bits of it reminiscent of a … Read more >>
Guardian 26,203 – Rufus
Once again a Rufus puzzle that is rather too heavy for my taste on the cryptic definitions (four of them, including a couple that seem barely cryptic) and double defintions (six, plus one … Read more >>