Guardian 23,991/Araucaria (Sat 3 Feb) – England’s Mountains Green
Solving time: 30 mins or so, plus about another 10 with Wikipedian assistance to solve 1dn, 10ac and 2dn in the top left and 22ac and 18dn in the bottom right. In stark … Read more >>
Everyman 3149/Feb 4 – don’t panic
All the long clues refer to something a bit intense: OVERBOARD, INTENSIVE CARE, PANIC STATIONS, GREAT SCOT (sic), SHOUTING MATCH, NAIL-BITER. Well, except for UPRIGHT PIANOS (uptight?). One unknown composer at 19D (COATES … Read more >>
Independent 6334/Phi – 4Ding
A trickier than usual puzzle from Phi, which is to be expected for a Saturday. A few words I didn’t know but the wordplay is as fair ever so they weren’t too tricky … Read more >>
Inquisitor #5 / Psyche – ON STAGE
Solving time: at least 4 hours – maybe 6 A theme with an echo of Phi’s Inquisitor #3 – can’t remember doing a Psyche puzzle before, and have no idea who it is. … Read more >>
Guardian 23996/Chifonie
Solving time – around 20 mins, but I had more than half an eye on the cricket! And what a great result for England! A typical Chifonie I suppose – a set of … Read more >>
Independent 6339/Phi
A nice puzzle from Mr Friday-but-also-occasionally-Saturday. Across 1 HR in COME – “on the contrary” here indicates that you should do the reverse of what is indicated by the wordplay. Nice clue, reads … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 886 by Quixote – Quite easy
Sometimes you can be lucky with a puzzle – the words are familiar or you quickly see how most things work and go through it fast. This happened me with this one to … Read more >>
Independent 6338 by Merlin – Fairly easy
No major problems with this, which had some clever ideas. Solving time: 12 mins (fast for me) * = anagram ACROSS 1 BUCK Double definition 11 SHAM (BL) E BL was British Leyland 12 Martin … Read more >>
Guardian 23995/Araucaria — Oh yes it is!
I don’t think I’ve blogged an Araucaria before so seeing the puzzle this morning worried me a bit. I like Araucaria, in fact my only published Listener puzzle was a tribute to him. … Read more >>
Azed 1809 – an easy one?
Solving time just 22:44 – I normally take at least twice that if not 3 times, so either I was on fire that day or it was a lot easier than usual…(but I … Read more >>
Independent 6,337/Dac
This was a gentle introduction to a Wednesday, mainly because I was able to solve the four longer entries very quickly, thus giving me lots of checked letters. Solving time – about 10 … Read more >>
Guardian 23994/Paul – heavyweight puzzle
Solving time: 45’ I found this enjoyable though slow going because Paul’s wordplay is often subtle and surprising and he certainly likes subtraction clues. I got the boxer theme first and then the … Read more >>
Independent 6336/Virgilius — It’s off to work I go.
Having just returned from a trip working away I thought I had remembered which puzzle I was meant to be blogging today. Once I got to the newsagent’s I had doubts and decided … Read more >>
Guardian 23,993/Shed – Am I homophonic?
If I was asked what type of clues I’d like to see outlawed, it would definitely be homophones. There is an outrageous (in my opinion at least) example of this at 8dn, unless … Read more >>
Guardian 23,992, Audreus: All your bases are ded
It’s more the Indy’s kind of thing, but I’ve started looking for a themed message, especially in these puzzles with unchecked squares around the perimeter. From the top left I came up with BASES … Read more >>