Never knowingly undersolved
Solving Time: 19 minutes Another reliable enjoyable puzzle from Phi. Nothing too taxing today, although 4 across held me up for a little while. Not too many anagrams today, either. ACROSS * = ANAGRAM … Read more >>
The first thing you noticed about this puzzle was that some of the clues were prefixed and suffixed with “(see [another clue number])…” – one clue referred to another and that one to … Read more >>
There aren’t many things more satisfying than that moment when solvers of the Inquisitor or The Listener experience when the device the setter has used to complicate the puzzle reveals itself. A light-bulb … Read more >>
I think the theme might be music since 26 clues out of 26 are related to music. Typical fine Brendanian surfaces: sensible and consistent. In order to understand themes, PeterB always recommends taking … Read more >>
No two ways about it, Scorpion’s tricky. Thursday is also the day of the week I have least time for solving and blogging so apologies that this is a little late. I cracked … Read more >>
Across 1. OTT,A(W)A 9. PRO FIT 12. PLAYGOER 13. STANCE – A golf ref. 16. SCARECROWS (soccer wars)* 19. SPRING ROLL 20. FETA – fate* 23. MEADOW (a mowed)* 25. RE(LAPSE)D 27. TIDEMARK … Read more >>
(Finally showed up on the FT site — couldn’t find paper copy). In his FT persona, Araucaria is hardly less… um… what’s the word? Challenging? Anyway, the usual breathtaking surfaces (one or two … Read more >>
Some difficulties, with this – any help appreciated – all covered below. (thanks Neildubya for explaining it) Solving time (if I’m right about the doubtful one): 24 mins * = anagram ACROSS 1 … Read more >>
Across 5 CREW in SS – I hesitated about filling this one in because I couldn’t see how “props” could be a definition for SCREWS. I’ve just looked it up and found there … Read more >>
A typical Araucaria crossword, which hinges on being able to solve one key clue. In this case the key answer was the one at 19ac. Once you have that worked out, the rest … Read more >>
Has anyone else notice that the FT bloggers are always first to post, bright and early and reliable as a Swiss train, followed by the Indyites, while the Guardianistas (myself included) roll up haphazardly … Read more >>
Across 1. BACKFIRE – BACK + FIRE 5. ARCTIC – C in ARTIC (artic being an abbreviation of articulated lorry) 9. PECTORAL – anagram of CLEOPATR. One of the breast anagram indicators I’ve … Read more >>
Solving time approx. 20 mins. Another excellent offering from Orlando, with some very subtle definitions that had me struggling in places. I particularly liked 6A (a subject close to my heart) and 7D. … Read more >>
A really good puzzle from Dac today with skilful misdirection, great variety and invention, and all clear in the end. Solving time: 27 mins * = anagram < =reversal ACROSS 5 B(AY R)UM … Read more >>
An unusual balance of clue types here, I thought. Not often that you see double definitions and homophones (x6 and x2 respectively, by my tally) account for over a quarter of the clues … Read more >>