Beelzebub 1,211

This seemed a very tough week for me, though on blogging I’m not sure why, as everything seems to make sense. I suspect it was a combination of some tough vocabulary plus a … Read more >>

Azed 2137/’Spot the Theme’

Usually when I blog an Azed puzzle everything is straightforward enough — do the puzzle, do the blog by Monday evening and schedule it for appearance the following Sunday. This one was different: … Read more >>

Guardian 25,951 / Crucible

Not long after Araucaria’s Wagner / Verdi themed bank holiday special, we have a high quality Wagner / Poulenc themed puzzle from Crucible, timed close to the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth, which … Read more >>

Independent 8302 / Phi

We found this a fairly straightforward, but very enjoyable Phiday offering, with the expected smooth surfaces and some crafty misdirections. We hadn’t come across the French phrase at 24ac before but it was … Read more >>

Financial Times no.14,320 by Peto

A breeze of a puzzle, this one, really, but still, a pleasant diversion on a rather bleak morning in England. One or two clues didn’t quite satisfy, but all-in-all no real grumbles – … Read more >>

Categories FT

Guardian 25,955 / Bonxie

A marvellously misleading menagerie of clues from Bonxie! Every clue, across and down, contains the name of an animal but Bonxie has cleverly exploited the diversity of the English language to the full, … Read more >>

Financial Times 14,311 – Dante

Monday Prize Crossword/May 13 An enjoyable Dante puzzle which confirmed his love for cryptic (and double) definitions. About half of the clues fell into that category. And then there was 15ac.  Just two … Read more >>