Everyman Blogs
As from this week, the Everyman will be blogged again. A blog will be published each Sunday covering the previous weekend’s puzzle. The first post will appear tomorrow (19/4/2009).
Beelzebub 999 (12/04/09)
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition. This was a very enjoyable puzzle indeed. The bank holiday weekend and an auspicious puzzle number seem to have contributed to something of a change … Read more >>
Guardian 24,671 (Sat 11 Apr)/Araucaria – Pork Fest
Solving time: 32:30 (1dn and 9dn wrong) This Bank Holiday special from Araucaria had a special feature in the across clues: the wordplay indicated the answer using a subsidiary word which ended in … Read more >>
Independent 7021/Phi
Pleasant fare from Phi, with one clue that defeats me but which will I’m sure be quickly explained. I wonder if the clueing style used in 10ac and 13ac is consciously Azedian. Across 1 … Read more >>
Financial Times 13053 / Phssthpok
I got off to a breezing start with this puzzle, filled in 90% of the grid without pause but then unravelling the wordplay for a few of them took some thinking. Not sure … Read more >>
Guardian 24,676 / Gordius
I’ve nothing much to say about this puzzle. I quite liked 9ac but there are several clues I’m not happy with, particularly some ‘cryptic’ definitions. [ ]* anagram [ ] < reversal cd … Read more >>
Independent 7016/Mass (Prize puzzle 11-04-09)
A chess inspired puzzle from Mass, where every clue makes reference to the game and/or some its famous players. Like all puzzles from this setter I found this pretty tough but got there … Read more >>
Inquisitor 119 – Offcut by Hypnos
This started as a placeholder post. This was a pretty straightforward puzzle – I managed to see through the trick of making the source of the quote much longer than the quote itself, … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 857 – Exactly by Lato
The preamble indicated that ten clues had an extra word each of which defined ten otherwise unclued entries. A further unclued entry (of three words) was said to explain ‘exactly’ where these entries … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,052/Aardvark
I found a few of the clues in this either flirted with verbosity and/or led to quite clunky wordplay. By way of redemption, we do have a couple of laudable clues (e.g. 12 … Read more >>
Independent 7020 by Merlin
A puzzle in the quirky and individual Merlin style. Some gems. I found it ranged from very easy indeed to extremely difficult, with the SW corner taking me much longer than the rest … Read more >>
Guardian 24,675/Brendan – Make a note of this
A typically clever Brendan puzzle where every clue contains (in fact ends with – thanks Colin) the word “note”, used in various senses. With almost no obscure words or references (I’d vaguely heard … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday by Quixote (12 Apr 2009)
Solving time, 19 mins. * = anagram < = reversed ACROSS 1 DA (GO) B A (a bad)< A type of Buddhist shrine found in Sri Lanka 4 OBJECT ED 9 RE MARKS … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,044 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword on 6 April 2009 dd = double definition cd = cryptic definition rev = reversed or reversal ins = insertion cha = charade ha = hidden answer *(fodder) = anagram … Read more >>
Financial Times 13,043 by Cinephile (meaty but puzzling)
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 3 Usually I find Cinephile’s strongly themed puzzles to be fairly easy; this one was more challenging for me than most. Took me a while … Read more >>