Azed 2000
We all knew this puzzle would be some kind of special, but I doubt many guessed the exact kind correctly. It turned out that two letters had to be removed from the answers … Read more >>
Independent 7471 – Saturday Prize Puzzle (25 September 2010) by Nestor
I’m sorry that you are stuck with two Saturday puzzle blogs in a row from me, but thanks to the other Saturday Independent bloggers for letting me do some swaps to overcome periods when … Read more >>
Guardian 25,125 / Araucaria (25 Sept)
I do enjoy Araucaria’s alphabetical jigsaws and this was no exception. I don’t remember one previously where the answers could be entered into the grid in two possible ways but the completed grid … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 933 – Grackles by Oxymoron
I ‘missed the boat’ at first on this one – thinking it was referring to ‘grockles’, a mildly derogatory term for incomer, or tourist, in some parts of the UK, so I was … Read more >>
Independent 7,476/Phi
The usual excellent puzzle from Phi. Definitely some tough words in here I thought and I needed a bit of help to finish it off. Lovely clueing as always though. Across 1 SCHEDULE … Read more >>
Guardian 25,130 – Arachne
The kiss of the spiderwoman turned out to be not too severe today, with help from easy clues to the long answers at 1ac and 7dn. There’s some quite devious wordplay, though, that … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,505 / Mudd
Mudd’s puzzle brims with wit and laugh-out-loud moments. The top-right gave me with some moments of anxiety with words for Portmouth and Ireland that I didn’t know, and 4A took a long time … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,504 / Flimsy
Plenty of Flimsy whimsy in evidence today, although I thought that a couple of clues (12A, 19A) were, in part, too lazily self-referential. On the plus side, I learned a geographic factoid courtesy … Read more >>
Independent 7475/Morph
An excellent crossword from Morph today. There are still some that I can’t see but I’m sure they will be explained by someone. As for a Nina, I suspect there is one since … Read more >>
Guardian 25,129 / Araucaria
We’re both rather bleary-eyed today, so apologies for any typos. This was about as easy as Araucaria gets, but had lots of nice touches which made for a light, enjoyable solve. A few … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,495 – Crux
Monday Prize Crossword on 20 September 2010 Another light and easy week-opener from Crux. ACROSS 1 TEHRAN *(the) + RAN (fled) for the capital of Iran (Persia) 4 IN CLOVER Cha of INC … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,494 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of September 18 This puzzle took me longer than most. In particular, 24A (TOILET ROLL) and 6D (APOSTROPHE) stumped me for a while. At first I did … Read more >>
Independent – 7474 by DAC
A lot of double definitions today it seems. Usual good stuff from Dac but I don’t get the wordplay for 21d Across 1 Booth – DD 4 Maquisard – QUI in (DRAMAS)* ; … Read more >>
Guardian 25128 / Pasquale
This was a very high quality puzzle from Pasquale, but unfortunately too tough for me complete in the time I have available on a weekday. There are several new words or phrases for … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,503 / Cinephile
An easy (by Cinephile standards) but enjoyable solve today. No particularly outstanding clues but equally none of the customary liberties, though I rather liked the definition in 17dn. Across 1 BOBCAT BC (former … Read more >>