Independent 7879/Quixote
People were saying on last Friday’s Indy blog that Phi’s crossword was a bit harder than usual, and that was my experience with this Monday Quixote – a few less common words and … Read more >>
Guardian 25,533 / Rufus
It’s Monday, it’s Rufus and so we know what to expect – what’s often called a gentle start to the week, with the usual quota of double and cryptic definitions and some smiles … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1140
A wonderful selection of previously unknown words amongst the answers ACROSS 1 German certainly recalled China as source of purgative JALAP german yes JA + china PAL< 5 Mark … Read more >>
Azed 2066/hue
Another case of forgetting it was my turn. And then when I did start solving, I found out halfway through I was working on this week’s (2067). Oh well. Fortunately 2066 (and all … Read more >>
Everyman nº3405
A typical Sunday morning stroll. Thanks, Everyman. With a wink to scchua, I include a photo of the car I learnt to drive in – or one like it – I wrote ours … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1142/Hypnos
A puzzle from Hypnos that was in parts perhaps easier to solve than parse. It was certainly the hardest of the IoS puzzles I’ve blogged so far, with a number of clues that … Read more >>
Independent 7872 (Saturday Prize Puzzle 7th January 2012) by Nestor
Need some exercise for the new year – Nestor’s puzzle is certainly a good work out! As you would expect. So the first Saturday of 2012 brings us a Nestor puzzle, with some … Read more >>
Guardian Prize 25,526 / Araucaria
Looking back through the archives, I see that, lately, I [and others] in blogs of Araucaria Prize puzzles have commented that they were over rather too quickly. I remember a time when an … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No.999 – All Change by Loda
‘All Change’ seems appropriate for a puzzle published on 1st January. Will the theme at least be more apt than last week’s war-based Christmas offering? Once again, we’ve to resolve clashes by substitution … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,139
We’ve had rather a long time to complete Beelzebub 1,139 for several reasons. I must admit I needed it: this seemed a very challenging puzzle. Still here we are, and as the New … Read more >>
Independent7877/Phi
Unusually difficult for Phi today, I thought: on my first pass I solved far fewer clues than usual. Perhaps this was the result of my incompetence but one factor was the number of … Read more >>
Guardian 25,531, by Araucaria
A gentle Friday puzzle from Araucaria, in which for once ellipses between clues actually contribute to the solve. I went straight in at 5ac. and the rest was mostly plain sailing . Thanks … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,900 / Aardvark
It’s pretty unusual for Aardvark to make a Friday appearance and it made for a pleasant change. A gentle, enjoyable crossword with clever misdirections and natural clue surfaces. 1a isn’t fully explained, help … Read more >>
Financial Times no.13,899 by FALCON
Nothing too devious from Falcon this morning: a decent mix (though perhaps a few too many insertions), a handful of real dollies and only one or two quibble-worthy liberties… ACROSS 1. CHAPEL MASTER … Read more >>
Independent 7876 by Nimrod
Nimrod again, I’m sure I seem to get more than my fair share of his recently. I found bits of this tough and some clues I still can’t explain to myself properly so help … Read more >>