This was tough – I needed two sittings to finish it, and another to nail the parsing. Some lovely cluing – I especially liked 12ac, 2dn and 23dn.
Independent 8527 / Dac
Another Wednesday, another Dac and we’re not complaining. As RatkojaRiku said in the blog last week, it is always very difficult to pick a favourite with Dac’s puzzles. Last time we blogged a … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1319: What are you Doing? by Kruger
Preamble: Each answer must have a letter removed, wherever it occurs, before entry in the grid. Definitions refer to the original answers; wordplay and letter-counts refer to the mutilated forms entered in the … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,543 / Hamilton
As I often do, I started at the end and worked backwards through the clues which meant that I didn’t see the key 1ac until it was referenced in one of the other … Read more >>
Guardian 26,180 – Chifonie
I see it’s been corrected now, but when I went to the Guardian crossword page earlier this morning it said that today’s puzzle was by Philistine (though the puzzle itself had Chifonie’s name … Read more >>
Independent 8,526 / Radian
It is the third time in recent months that I have blogged a Tuesday puzzle by Radian, but I am certainly not complaining! I suppose there simply had to be a puzzle during … Read more >>
Independent 8525/Tees
Indy regulars will know that there were no Tees in last Thursday’s Nestor puzzle; but there was a good helping of Tees today. A delightful crossword, which I really enjoyed solving and blogging. … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 743 / Pan
The crossword was there all along, but mislabelled! It is now correctly placed at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/quiptic/743. When I finally got to solve the puzzle, it was not the easiest of Quiptics, with quite a … Read more >>
Guardian 26,179 – Rufus
It used to be fairly predictable that there would be a non-Rufus Monday every 4 or 5 weeks, but this one marks his ninth consecutive Monday. This one is very heavy on cryptic … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,248
A two-sitting solve this week, with the Chambers app getting a thorough workout towards the end. Lots of nice long anagrams to work through, which can always be quite satisfying. Of those, the … Read more >>
Azed 2174/Setter’s devilry
Not my forte. In fact I think this is the first time I’ve tried to solve a PD puzzle (so you really do have to ask yourself, why am I “the official blogger?”). … Read more >>
Everyman N° 3,513 (2 February 2014)
The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3513.
Independent on Sunday 1250/Hypnos
Another very pleasing Sunday puzzle from Hypnos in the usual IoS style. All clearly and elegantly clued, with a good range of subject matter in the answers to enjoy. Abbreviations cd … Read more >>
Independent Saturday Prize Puzzle 8518 – Monk – 1st Feb 2014
This was an enjoyable solve – thanks Monk! As usual, there were some lovely surfaces and a few tricky ones to parse including 17ac, if we have sorted it out correctly. Strangely, there … Read more >>
Guardian Prize 26,172 / Philistine
I’m a great fan of Philistine’s puzzles, so was delighted to see his name on this one and really enjoyed the solve. The key ‘before 9’ was intriguing while working my way through … Read more >>