Private Eye/Cyclops 412 – Nightmare
No real problem with this lot – except 18A – for bringing back unpleasant memories, thus the blog title. You know there are some similarities between her and me: School reports show “hard … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1,046 (07/03/10)
Blimey this was a tough one. That, plus most of the week spent at a conference means this week’s posting is a little late. *=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. Across … Read more >>
Azed 1971
The usual very satisfactory offering from Azed. I have learned not to look too far for wonderful surfaces, but to admire the faultless construction of his clues. Across 2 J ASS — one … Read more >>
Everyman 3310
Well, I for one think this one was a bit more challenging than the last few that I’ve blogged. A couple of nice cryptic definitions, and some slightly more obscure words both as … Read more >>
Guardian 24,951 [Sat. 6th March] / Araucaria
I’m a last-minute substitute for rightback, who, unfortunately, has internet problems, so, not having expected to blog this, I’m trying to remember my thought processes when I solved it a week ago and … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 904 – French Polish by Samson
Quite a complex preamble this week – additional letters in the wordplay of the across clues, additional words in the down clues and ten unclued entries, seven of which required modification. So what about … Read more >>
Guardian 24,956 – Araucaria
A struggle for me today, even for an Araucaria. Managed to fill in the grid thanks to checkers but still can’t figure out some of the clues. Favourite clues were 23ac, 7dn. Edits … Read more >>
Independent 7297, Sat 6 March – Nimrod
This was a fairly easy puzzle for Nimrod, solved in 12 minutes. My first instinct on sight of the grid, with two black corners and big T’s in the middle, was “there must … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,332 / Sleuth
Straightforward solve today with most answers entered on first pass through the clues. I had to look up a couple of wordplay components that involved people’s names, but this didn’t pose much difficulty. … Read more >>
Independent 7302/Phi
An unusually large number of words that I hadn’t really heard of in the usual nice Phi offering. The pairs of four-letter answers at top R and bottom L suggest something, but I … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1115 – Vanishing Scream by Dysart
I started quite slowly with this puzzle, but that turned out to be a good thing… The theme turned out to be one of the stock ones for barred-grid puzzles – Sherlock Holmes, … Read more >>
Independent 7301 by Punk
This was very good indeed. nmsindy has admitted to weaknesses esp films but is prepared to admit to a strength, football, which was v helpful here. Solving time, 50 mins. Thematic words 13 … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,331 / Alberich
I covered Alberich’s first FT puzzle eighteen months ago and my opening comment was “I don’t think I have ever completed an FT quite so quickly, the answers just seemed to enter themselves”. … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1047 by Quixote 7 March 2010
An in-bed solve, lasting perhaps 25 minutes. ACROSS 1. R(AD)OME 4. S POKE N 8. PALL OR 9. SOLSTICE (it’s close)* 10. CO M MAN DAN T 11. HANK dd Hank Marvin of … Read more >>
Guardian 24,955 / Brummie
A rather rushed post, I’m afraid, so apologies for errors and omissions, which I probably won’t be able to fix until much later. Overall, an enjoyable puzzle, with the odd bit of tough … Read more >>