Another Christmas cracker from Rufus.
Independent 7544 by Radian
A themed puzzle from Radian as was clear from a first look at the clues with a lot of them referring to the answer at 13. Will leave a gap so as readers … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 579 / Moley
There are a few seasonal answers in this otherwise very ordinary crossword. As with the previous Moley puzzle that I reviewed, there are several extra words thrown in purely for the surface reading. … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 432 – Bitchy
My subscription copy of this issue did turn up – a week late. A little bit of snow and the world stops round here. And with much more snow on the ground as … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,086 (12/12/10)
Perhaps a shade tougher than last week, but things fell into place relatively smoothly. There are a couple (5dn and 23dn) where I can see roughly what’s going on, but haven’t quite nailed … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,085 (05/12/10)
A rather overdue blog, I’m afraid, though I’ve no excuses as this was one of the easier Beelzebubs in some time. I managed all but three of four squares unaided, before reaching for … Read more >>
Everyman No 3,350
Apart from one (or perhaps two) less well-known personages, there seems to be little to complain about. ACROSS 1 CORDON BLEU Anagram (‘somehow’) of ‘old bouncer’. The definition refers to a graduate of … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1087 by Quixote
Well I found this harder than a usual Quixote, got there in the end. Didn’t help myself by tentatively putting in Peri for 1ac. Thank you Quixote Across: 1 Puck – not Peri … Read more >>
Azed 2011
I thought I was off to a good start on this one when I got 1ac straight away, but things got a bit tougher after that, and it took me a couple of … Read more >>
Independent 7537 (Saturday 11 December) – Nimrod
Solving time: just over 30 minutes – I struggled wth this, as I do with many of Nimrod’s grid stunts – this time, just 10 down answers. I guess the slight under-checking in … Read more >>
Guardian 25,191 (Sat 11 Dec)/Paul – Lizstless
Solving time: 9 mins I got in a right tangle with this thanks to 3/18dn: with ???M?? AND ????? in place and ‘drunk’ the last word of the clue, the answer was clearly … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No.944 – Standard by Samuel
A tricky one this week, or could it just be that I’m out of practice? (You should take this with a grain of salt. You might find it cheesy. But then again, you … Read more >>
Guardian 25,196 – Brendan
Enjoyable as ever from Brendan with a nice theme around a recent anniversary [spoiler]. Solved pretty quickly after the theme fell, then had to stare at 10a for a good while before the … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,571 / Aardvark
A challenging puzzle at many levels for me: words I didn’t know, devious wordplay. The SW corner was specially tricky, I have a couple of explanations pending and your inputs are very welcome. … Read more >>
Independent 7542/Phi
The usual high quality crossword from Phi. I found this a little harder than usual, but have no excuse for doing so: all the answers were perfectly obvious once you had them. I … Read more >>