Guardian 24,227, Brummie: Rhine whine
Brummie seems to be becoming more regular, which is generally to be welcomed, though I don’t think this is one of his best, and several long clues seem to me to fall into the NCD (not cryptic … Read more >>
Guardian 24226 – Rufus / Easy start to the week
Solving Time: 10 minutes Nice, pleasant start to the week. Nothing too challenging. 5 down being my last entry. ACROSS (* = ANAGRAM; (CD) = Cryptic definition; (R) REVERSAL 1 REVEAL A … Read more >>
Now we are one
It’s just occurred to me that this blog is one year old this week (I can’t remember our exact birthday; it might be the 7th). I’d like to thank bloggers and readers alike … Read more >>
Independent 6569/Glow-worm – Remember, remember…
Across 1 K in (PEARLS)*,R – SPARKLER. Got this straight off, and all of the other thematic answers followed soon after. 10/5 (LAND)* in ROMANCE – ROMAN CANDLE. The last thematic answer I … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 52: Lavatch — Here know weevil
When I first downloaded this one, it lacked a preamble. Having solved it without one (not boasting or anything!), I returned to the website, where a brief preamble had been added. The principle, … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 351 – Up or down
There are occasions when the answer to a clue is a word or its reverse, and there is nothing in the clue to indicate which. So you end up relying on crossing checking … Read more >>
Guardian 24,219 (Sat 27 Oct)/Araucaria – Dusty answers
Solving time: 25 mins, two missing (26ac and 8dn). The ‘cloth hats’ referred to in the preamble were all reptiles (REP = ‘cloth’, TILES = ‘hats’), though unless KOMODO DRAGON at 19dn/29ac (my … Read more >>
Azed 1848 – never did the pogo
I was bamboozled by the NW corner and had to resort to an email friend (in this case, PeterB) largely because I fell into the trap of RUMBA for our Cuban dance at … Read more >>
Independent 6567/Phi
Across 1 hidden reversed in “BritiSH CASt” – Hans SACHS is a character in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and, I was surprised to discover, an actual real life person. 4 KEW,IS in … Read more >>
Guardian Friday 2.11.07/Chifonie
Solving time : 22 minutes. This is a fairly quick time for me, which is probably why I quite enjoyed this. I wonder about some of the assessments under the tab “Setters” above. Tees the … Read more >>
Independent 6562/Nimrod
Across 8 PEN,PUS,HER – I don’t understand what “Caribbean estate” is and how it links to PEN, if at all. 9 NO,TED – “observed” is the definition, the rest of the clue is … Read more >>
Inquisitor 43 – NAIRO by Loda
Solving time: 1.5 – 2 hours – Chambers used for 25D only There was early mention of this puzzle on Derek Harrison’s message board, which indicated that one of the green squares was … Read more >>
FT 12,604/Aardvark
Was relieved to avoid an overly-taxing puzzle today, as I think recent sleep deprivation is catching up on me. A couple of good though-provoking devices nestled away in here, though. My parsing of … Read more >>
Independent 6566 / Nimrod – Clever Stuff
Solving Time: 20 minutes The usual clever puzzle from Nimrod that was ejoyable to solve with some good laugh-out-loud clues. ACROSS (* = ANAG / (cd) = Cryptic definition / (R) = Reversal) … Read more >>
Guardian 24223/Orlando
Solving time – about half an hour in two sessions. I started off quite quickly and had half of it done within 5 minutes, but then ground to a halt and had to … Read more >>