Never knowingly undersolved
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism A fairly standard Quixote, mostly easy but with a couple of clues that held me up a little. Across 1 Castor: Cast + Or … Read more >>
A typical Rufus, with the usual helpings of cryptic and double definitions, but also (I think) rather more anagrams than usual: these and others gave me a good start, letting the rest be … Read more >>
I have had a couple of weeks of utterly manic work and have been meaning to do this blog for ages, but here we are, late Sunday and it’s not started and I’m … Read more >>
Sorry I couldn’t be with you in Derby, everyone. I hear it was an excellent day. I have also created this thread by request, so that thanks from people who were there can … Read more >>
A fairly tough week here, I think. I made a reasonably sprightly start, but soon had to reach for the dictionary. There are some cracking words in there, all the same. 14dn has … Read more >>
Lorraine: Good morning one and all, I really struggled this week, I certainly didn’t have my crossword head on at all, so Nick came to the rescue. Below, the analysis and comments are from … Read more >>
This was a standard Azed competition puzzle in that all the clues were normal, except for the one entry that has to be clued by competitiors withm their submissions. I … Read more >>
A new setter for me. Some ingenious, tricky and innovative definitions, eg. “He”, “someone in bed”, “emissions”, “it’s”, and so on, and some interesting and misdirecting surfaces. I found this more difficult than the … Read more >>
A good challenge both in the initial solve and then again a few days later when we came to write up the blog! We like Klingsor’s puzzles so were very pleased to see … Read more >>
Seven unclued entries, 18 with extra letters in the wordplay, one clued without definition and quite a convoluted preamble as to how the unclued entries are derived. Would I be tempting fate by saying … Read more >>
A fun prize puzzle from Araucaria, with a mini theme of writers. We found this quite doable and as enjoyable as ever, but got rather stuck on BELL TENT – our last clue. … Read more >>
Typical high quality Across 1 LOGISTICAL (organisational) ITS< in LOGICAL (rational) 7 SHED (outside building) SHE (that woman) D (died) 9 INKY (very dark) IN Kentucky 10 LATENT HEAT dd … Read more >>
Another enjoyable puzzle from Phi to end the week. We always like the smooth reading in Phi’s clues and 2d was an absolute delight! We’ve searched for a theme or nina but haven’t … Read more >>
I’m back in business – if only just; in the aftermath of Sandy, after getting power back on Monday, on Wednesday an early winter storm blew in, dumping four inches of wet snow, and I was without power for another nine hours.
I think there might be some cries of ‘obscurity’ this morning but the less familiar [or unknown] solutions were all very fairly and clearly clued, I think. For me, the difficulties lay more … Read more >>