Independent 7689 by DAC
Wednesday and it’s DAC again, lovely stuff as ever, great anagrams and surfaces abound No obvious theme although there is a few acting related answers Across 1 MOVIE M.O. + VIE 4 … Read more >>
Guardian 25,343 / Araucaria
There are lots of nice clues in this puzzle, but this was a typically problematic Araucaria for me, in that there were lots of references I didn’t know ….. (LAUD, HYDE, MECHLIN, NOCTULE, … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1179 – Five Characters in Search of an Author by Samuel
Unusually, I think, the title virtually gives away the theme. Certainly I wasn’t at all surprised when the theme revealed itself. Twelve of the clues lead to an extra letter which spell … Read more >>
Independent 7,688 / Raich
Not as detailed a blog as I would have liked to produce today, owing to unexpected personal commitments. However, an enjoyable puzzle with an entertaining theme that I didn’t spot for a long … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,713 / Loroso
When I agreed to stand in for scchua I was hoping that I would get a Loroso to blog and I have not been disappointed. As usual with this setter there are some excellent … Read more >>
Cyclops 444: Oddments and sodments
Many apologies for the late posting — I wrote this last week, when away from home, but didn’t quite have it ready to post. And the last few days have been absolutely chaotic, … Read more >>
Guardian 25,342 – Brummie
Brummie’s puzzles are always fun to solve and today’s selection of clues has its share of all kinds of devices. Best of all, it reminded me of carefree days of yore, playing board … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 95 / Lavatch
A very clever puzzle from Lavatch. Below I’ve set out the clues with the answers they directly lead to, and below that I’ll explain what has to be done to them to get … Read more >>
Independent 7687 by Morph
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism I found this quite tough going and it took me a long time to see how some of the clues worked. There were a … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 603 / Hectence
While I really enjoyed this puzzle, I thought that many of the constructs and indicators were a bit too difficult for a Quiptic. As with the previous Quiptic that I reviewed from this … Read more >>
Guardian 25,341 / Rufus
Monday morning and a fairly typical Rufus, I think, although the cryptic definitions are perhaps slightly less cryptic than usual and some double definitions are rather similar in meaning – but the surfaces … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1111 by Glow-worm
Number 1111 but no obvious link I could see. Across 1 LABOUR OF LOVE Labour (party) of (about) Love (nothing) 10 UNDATED Wallflowers don’t go on dates 11 NIGERIA [A(bo)rigine]* less … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1110
ACROSS 1 Court giving year to unscrupulous character CHANCERY CHANCER + Y 6 Pound snatched by poor, that’s clear BALD L in BAD 9 Religious adherent following two lines of St … Read more >>
Azed 2035
I started doing this on Sunday morning while looking after my nearly-3-year-old grandson, unsurprisingly making not much progress, and didn’t get around to finishing it off until Saturday, when in my less distracted … Read more >>
Everyman Nº 3,374 (29 May)
I found this distinctly easier than last week’s Everyman, with mostly simple wordplays, which should help if the range of your general knowledge does not coincide with the compiler’s. Across 1. Win and … Read more >>