Having done the Private Eye crossword for many years, I am familiar with Brummie’s distinctive style, and attuned to some of his deviousness.
Guardian Cryptic 25794 Arachne
A puzzle with wonderfully crafted clues – I think everyone of them has a clever, meaningful, and often, racy surface, and with lots of wordplay intertwined with the definitions – too many for me to … Read more >>
Independent 8140 / Morph
Thanks Morph for another enjoyable puzzle. Some of the clues left us very puzzled but when the penny dropped we could see that the clues were fair (but very often mischievous!). A good … Read more >>
Financial Times no.14,162 by Jason
My commitments to a girlfriend in California and a Test Match in India mean that I’m either up late or up early, depending on your perspective. In any event, I’m here and blogging … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,153 – Crux
Monday Prize Crossword/Nov 5 Monday a week ago, I found Dante’s prize puzzle one of his more difficult crosswords. This time Crux made me work very hard. But let’s face it, what is … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,152 / Dogberry
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 3, 2012 I believe that Dogberry is new to Weekend crosswords and he is completely new to me although he is a well known compiler … Read more >>
Financial Times By IO
I am in the embarassing position of being unable to finish this one. All sorted now, thanks to all that chipped in. Very tough to finish! Maybe I have entered a mistake in the … Read more >>
Guardian 25,793 / Boatman
I found this hard going, mostly in the parsing department. If it had been a Saturday puzzle [which it could well have been] I might have got there in the end but I … Read more >>
Independent 8,139 / Dac
It’s Wednesday today and Dac is occupying his usual slot. Part of the joy of a Dac puzzle, for me at least, is that I know I can concentrate on simply solving the … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1254: ALIKE by Ferret
Ferret’s only previous crossword in this series was 1213 earlier this year – Twenty blocks and twenty bars – and the rubric mentioned 90 degree symmetry. This time it was the more conventional … Read more >>
Slow loading times and outages
You will have noticed recently that the site has become slow to load or is unavailable (FTTP500). When this occurred back in January the problem was due to a couple of other websites, … Read more >>
Financial Times 14160 Redshank
An enjoyable puzzle by Redshank, which might well have been compiled for a certain sporting event this year, but only now published. References abound in the clues and answers. Thank you, Redshank. Definitions … Read more >>
Independent 8138 / Nimrod
I thought this was a wonderful crossword with clever clues, a good deal of misdirection and a wide range of wordplay constructions. I got off to a good start with … Read more >>
Guardian 25,792 – Paul
This is well worth waiting an extra hour for. Nicely and fairly clued mini-theme of pretty ladies. Thank you, Paul for the morning’s entertainment. Thank you, the other Paul (Drury aka PeeDee) for … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 678 / Hectence
I found this Hectence puzzle a little disappointing. Some of the constructs were on the tough side for a crossord targetted at beginners and I have previously expressed my dislike for wordplay that … Read more >>