Private Eye/Cyclops) 468 – Frottage Special
Seemed to me Cyclops was making a particular theme of solitary sexual gratification this week. No? Just me then. I expect he didn’t really mean to milk it. You have to be to … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,157
This seemed to be about average difficulty for Beelzebub, though with plenty of long anagrams and a relatively high number of forays north of the border. I made life difficult for myself by … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1,159 by Crosophile
It’s been a little while since I’ve drawn a Sunday Crosophile, and this one seemed to be in keeping with those I’ve encountered before: generally medium difficulty with a few curveballs thrown in … Read more >>
Everyman No. 3422 (6th May)
Lorraine: Good morning one and all, lovely puzzle this week, I enjoyed it tremendously. Lots of favourites, 4, 14, 26 and 27ac and 1, 5,6, and 19dn. Big thank you to Everyman, this was … Read more >>
Azed 2083
The usual Azed solve: excellent sound clueing and a large number of words that you never knew existed. Across 1 BEWITCH — the competition clue-word 7 ASTI{r} 10 ATHAPASCAN — (Apach{e} Satan)* although … Read more >>
Independent 7,974 by Monk (Saturday Prize Puzzle, 05/05/12)
Monk’s puzzles are always challenging and inventive, and this was no exception. I honestly want to be able to enjoy them, as he seems like an awfully nice chap, but for me this … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1016: Sentry Duties by Mynot
A short preamble instructs solvers to consider ‘SENTRY DUTIES’ in ‘thematically treating’ 12 answers before entry, to create new words. So far so good. But then we are told: ‘How the remaining answers … Read more >>
Guardian Prize Puzzle 25,628 by Araucaria
As it was a bank holiday weekend I was really looking forward to another Araucaria special, but sadly it was not to be. This offering was enjoyable enough, though took up rather less … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,001 / Io
We apologise for the late appearance of this blog. This was due to the wrong person having to write it. We were told in the preamble that this was ‘An anniversary puzzle’ and … Read more >>
Guardian 25,633 – Araucaria
It took me quite a while to make any headway at all on this one, but once I’d got in the swing it eventually yielded with just the right amount of struggle. There’s … Read more >>
Independent 7979 / Phi
This was a puzzle that made me think I would struggle. The theme is not one of my strong points, but it was probably the most obscure example that I … Read more >>
Guardian 25,632 – Qaos
Enjoyable crossword with lots of nice surfaces and a clever little theme. Favourite clues: 2,21,22, 14 and 24. Across 9 TREACHERY =”infidelity” (Terry)* around ACHE=”desire” 10 NAMES =”Calls” rev(SE[a]MAN)=”sailor”, with an ‘a’=”one” docked … Read more >>
Financial Times no.14,000 by BRADMAN
Always a privilege to blog a landmark: 14,000 is not only a nice round number, it’s also almost exactly half of Don Bradman’s career first-class run total… So the cricket mini-theme is appropriate, … Read more >>
Independent 7978/Punk
I didn’t enjoy this. The two long phrases were hardly known to me, certainly one of them at any rate, and I couldn’t find either of them in Chambers. Which isn’t to say that … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,991 – Crux
Monday Prize Crossword/Apr 30 Another charmer by Crux, a compiler who is high on my List B of Favourite Setters [B only referring to the grade of difficulty] because of (a) the splendid … Read more >>