Never knowingly undersolved
An enjoyable challenge this week, with much of Paul’s characteristic wit on display. I had expected something of an Irish theme, for a puzzle published on St Patrick’s Day, but apart from a … Read more >>
A fair and challenging puzzle – 6a and 8d being trickiest ACROSS 1 HOT PANTS HOT powerful P games played (cricket) ANTS workers 6 BOTTOM bed (river, ocean) (MOTTO saw … Read more >>
After my comments on themed crosswords on Wednesday, the gods continue to smile on me and I get to blog another of Tramp’s puzzles and, once again, it’s one right up my street. … Read more >>
Plenty to get one’s teeth into this morning, since this grid, new to me, accommodates a large number of words, including a noticeably high proportion of short entries of 3-5 letters. There were … Read more >>
After last week’s live chat with Arachne/Anarche, this week it’s the turn of John Henderson (aka Enigmatist/Nimrod/Io/Elgar). The session will be from 1pm to 3pm tomorrow (23rd March). On Saturday, the Guardian Open … Read more >>
A new setter for me, I think – and he (if he is a he) gave me a real struggle this morning. A fair fight, mostly, although I felt that there were one … Read more >>
Sorry for the later-than-usual posting of this blog – I’ve just got back from a short holiday (thanks to Eileen for covering for me last Friday) and am trying to cope with the … Read more >>
The Independent provides a varied diet of crosswords with an interesting mix of difficulty, types of clues, themes and ninas. On the face of it, today’s offering was a good … Read more >>
Monday Prize Crossword/Mar 12 An enjoyable prize puzzle by Mudd which I didn’t find very hard. If I remember well, I found it even a bit blandish during solving – but that said, … Read more >>
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 10, 2012 There were a few tough clues in this puzzle, such as 9A (APTERYX) and 13D (AUDIOBOOK), but also such gems as 18A (ASSAM), … Read more >>
I got off to a quick start but then found it pretty difficult to finish. I got there in the end (just!). Thank you Monk. There were not many obscure words or meanings, … Read more >>
As always a smooth solving experience from Dac. His surfaces are quite outstanding: without apparently trying he manages one that is suited perfectly to the clue and he does this time and again. Across 1 PICNIC … Read more >>
This was not as difficult as I thought at first glance that it would be.
Answers to 16 clues have one letter removed (wherever it occurs) before entry; wordplay refers to the entry. The three unclued entries are of a kind with what these missing letters suggest. Ten … Read more >>
Thanks Phssthpok for an enjoyable puzzle with some clever disguises. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 What yacht salesman does in parade (8) SHOWBOAT : [SHOW BOAT](what a yacht salesman does … Read more >>