Never knowingly undersolved
In contrast to the tricky Enigmatist puzzle I blogged last week, this was all plain sailing. The usual straightforward clueing (with 22ac being perhaps a slightly more involved construction than usual) and smooth … Read more >>
An over-long pause between solving and blogging means that little of the solving experience remains in my memory. However, everything seems very clear and explicable. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. … Read more >>
A very rapid solve this week. Not much else to say, really. Across 1 DISASTERS Cop’s plants are flops DI’S = Detective Inspector’s; ASTERS = plants 6 DEBUG Pick off insects from budgie … Read more >>
Nick: Typical Azed competition crossword this week, being a tad more difficult than normal plain puzzles; 7½/10 on the Azedian hardness scale for me. I am not impressed (my own personal view, being a … Read more >>
Lorraine: Good morning to you all, I had real trouble starting this week. I got 26ac immediately but then that was it. I put the puzzle down for a while then asked Nick to … Read more >>
A Bonfire night themed crossword with enough horrible death by burning to satisfy the most extreme of sado-pyro-necro-philiacs. Indeed for people with a fear of fire or otherwise of a nervous disposition, like … Read more >>
So some clues with extra letters this week, these will reveal a quotation and an anagram of the author. Then the other clues must be modified before entry. What can be so difficult … Read more >>
This was a typically enjoyable prize crossword from Araucaria. We struggled with this for a while before guessing the theme, after which everything went very fast, apart from some troubles working out the … Read more >>
I’d expected to find some reference to today’s peculiar date, and perhaps also to Armistice etc. Instead, I was faced with this tour de force by the Master at his most convoluted. The … Read more >>
I have not solved many puzzles by Radian before, but I discover that he is one of the most prolific setters, in many guises – Crucible in The Guardian and Redshank in the … Read more >>
A gentle puzzle with Falcon’s elegant clues and references to a variety of knowledge domains. Smooth anagrams, natural surfaces, nothing too taxing. Across 1 EMBALM M (male) BA (graduate), in ELM (tree) 5 … Read more >>
Oops. Problems here. I’m not sure how it’s come out in the pink paper, but the PDF puzzle I’ve got from the FT website is all to cock: rogue white squares and clues … Read more >>
This time yesterday, I was thanking my lucky stars that I wasn’t blogging the Enigmatist. [Well done, Andrew – I was among those who had a busy day and had to come back … Read more >>
I am rather bleary-eyed after a long journey, so apologies in advance if my blog does not do justice to Nestor’s beautifully crafted and, in my view, highly enjoyable puzzle. The four 14-letter … Read more >>
Monday Prize Crossword/Oct 31 A Crux crossword full of clues that were really on my wavelength. When I showed this puzzle to my PinC (who has never tackled a Crux), she was very … Read more >>