Never knowingly undersolved
I thought that this puzzle was quite tough for a Tuesday morning, or maybe my brain is starting to wind down for the festive season. As usual. Paul demonstrated some clever wordplay, but … Read more >>
Virtually every clue is holiday related (xmas, parties, trees, pantos, carols…). I probably missed an allusion or two being of the other faith. I think this is the first of the Xmas-related themes … Read more >>
I really enjoyed this. Quite tricky in parts, with some subtle and genuinely inventive wordplay. I got one wrong (18D), confirmed one on the Interweb and filled in a couple without fully understanding … Read more >>
I did most of this on the tube, without Chambers, which is an interesting exercise – you have to make quite a few educated guesses and then corroborate them via the dictionary later … Read more >>
One of these days I’m going to miss a theme in an Everyman. I’ve stared at this one but no joy. Though I always enjoy solving Everyman – which typically takes about 1/2h … Read more >>
Like the last Scorpion puzzle a few weeks ago I found this very challenging but very enjoyable. I wish I could put my finger on exactly what made it difficult for me as … Read more >>
Solving time 21:35 when last answer (K) was looked up. I think this is the first “alphajig” since we started the blog. They’re an old favourite of mine – before I started doing … Read more >>
When I solve a clue and think I’m certain I won’t have to go back to verify it, I tick the clue number in the paper. This is usually the case if I … Read more >>
Solving time: 24 minutes If there were to be awards for consistent setting, I am sure Phi would in with a shout of the award. His puzzles are always entertaining and are just about … Read more >>
In keeping with Orlando’s divided personality, perhaps, there seemed to be an easy half and a difficult half to this puzzle – not that I’m assigning a specific gender to either! I got … Read more >>
Solving time – about 45 mins. This was a real brute of a puzzle from Araucaria. I struggled all the way with it, but there were some obscure words and a couple of … Read more >>
… unless you need to write up a blog entry, in which case you can often spot extra points while writing up these notes. it took me quite a while to identify the … Read more >>
Quality stuff. I can only repeat something a fellow blogger said about Dac, that aspiring setters should study his clues and learn from them. His puzzles aren’t particularly tough and they don’t have … Read more >>
(If I were clever enough, I’d write this entry using only one vowel, but I ain’t, so here goes.) Solving time – 7 mins Given the restriction that the setter has imposed upon … Read more >>
Giving away no secrets with that. “Poet” appears as full or partial definition in twelve clues, and another two as part of wordplay. Impressed that, despite these constraints, (a) the other words in the puzzle were normal … Read more >>