Guardian Cryptic 25913 Araucaria
As with all Araucaria puzzles, I had to keep plugging away at it, and even then had to use the cheat button for the last one in. There is an unusual construction for … Read more >>
Independent 8259 / Nestor
Bert looked at this puzzle and immediately solved two clues. He knew that Joyce would not be too pleased if he carried on looking and solved further answers as quickly! As it happened, … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,270 – Falcon
Monday Prize Crossword/Mar 25 Enjoyable crossword by Falcon which, for some reason, I found slightly harder than usual. Good variety of devices (but no cryptic definitions!) and – as always – care for the surface, … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,269 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 23, 2013 While this puzzle has a couple of excellent clues, I think it also has a couple of slightly weak ones. My favourites are … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,277 by Monk
A really tough puzzle from Monk, as hard as you will find in any of the UK daily papers. I got there in the end. Many thanks Monk for yet another super mental workout. … Read more >>
Guardian 25,912 / Bonxie
It’s a while since we saw a Bonxie puzzle, so I was glad to see his name today. Some interesting cluing, including one [8dn] where I thought I was going to have to … Read more >>
Independent 8,258 / Dac
It is Wednesday today, and not the last in the month, so it must be time for my regular blogging appointment with Dac. I made swifter than normal progress through this Dac puzzle, … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1274: MODESTY by Kruger
An artistic and musical offering this week from Kruger. The rubric said “Wordplay in the majority of clues yields an extra letter. In order, these spell out a phrase which provide a clue … Read more >>
Financial Times 14276 Jason
Another enjoyable offering from Jason; thanks to him. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have inidentified links to the puzzle.]] Across 1 Drink in guide finally is looking … Read more >>
Independent 8257 /Tees
I haven’t blogged a Tees puzzle for some time, so it was a pleasure to see his name on this one Many of Tees clues have quite complex wordplay, constructed … Read more >>
Guardian 25,911 – Gordius
Quite a fair to middling kind of puzzle with the expected Gordian obscurities thrown in here and there. Across 1 SKINFLINT Mean injunction after non-U plenitude of drink (9) SKINFUL (plenitude of drink) … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 698 / Pan
Another good Quiptic from Pan. Most of the definitions given are from Chambers 12th Edition. Most of the standard abbreviations used in the wordplay are shown with the unused letters in brackets e.g. … Read more >>
Independent 8256/Quixote
A puzzle from Quixote that was full of non-Ximenean constructions, loose cluing and obscure definitions. What’s the world coming to? What’s the date again? There is a nod to it across the top … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 117 / Brummie
The Genius lulls you into a false sense of security. You know you have a month to complete it so you keep putting off starting it. Then when you do you start, you realise … Read more >>
Guardian 25,910 – Rufus
No April foolery here (unless I’ve been fooled..), just the usual type of puzzle we expect from Rufus; if anything rather easy even by his standards, apart from one possibly obscure word that … Read more >>