More geographically based cruciverbal fun. Find it to solve online or download and print at ft.com/crossword, or via the FT smartphone app.
Guardian Quiptic 1,311/Picaroon
Picaroon has become quite the regular across all the Guardian crossword offerings, and it’s always a pleasure to blog one of his Quiptics. This one is well-judged as always, I think. Abbreviations cd … Read more >>
Azed No. 2,741 Plain
Sorry this blog's a few hours later than normal.
Independent on Sunday 1,819 by Filbert
Filbert gets our new year of Sunday puzzles going
Everyman 4,080 by Everyman
A nice crossword from Everyman. The clues are neat, often imaginative, and not tortuous, as they have sometimes been.
Azed 2740 – ‘Christmas Playfair’
Several Azed bloggers, myself included, have commented that the appearance of a Playfair puzzle is a scary prospect, as it involved both cold-solving the italicised clues, and deducing the codeword from the answers and the crossing letters.
Genius 258 set by Kite
Kite sets the last Genius challenge of 2024.
The preamble says:
Related features are omitted from wordplay in half the clues. Wordplay in other clues indicates an extra letter in each. The additional letters can be arranged to identify the related features.
Independent 11,931 by Twin
Twin makes his first appearance of 2025 today.
Quick Cryptic 40 by Carpathian
This is the fortieth Guardian Quick Cryptic, a series of 11 x 11 crosswords designed to support beginners learning cryptic crosswords. The whole point of these crosswords is support and encouragement of new solvers, so special rules for these crosswords apply – see here – those rules include not posting solving times. This puzzle can be found here.
Private Eye (Cyclops/794) Xmas Monster
This was a Pseuds Corner special. An event that recurs every leap year.
I’m sure there is a very good reason.
Pseuds Corner is one of the several longstanding mini sections in the Eye (link) and it deserves it longevity.
Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,577 by Kite (28 December 2024)
What could be more traditional than doing a jigsaw over the Xmas/New Year period?! Kite provides an alphabetical one for us here, and also provides me with the opportunity for my 500th blog on this site…
The Guardian year in crosswords 2024
Posted on behalf of Mitz
Listener No 4846, “Malined Work” by Hypnos
Today sees the migration of Listen With Others to fifteensquared under the category Listener. I have been setting blogs over at LWO for the best part of fifteen years although there has been … Read more >>
Listener 4846 Malined Work by Hypnos
A welcome return to the Listener by Hypnos, aka Slueth and Shamus and indeed Phlip Marlow in the Church Times under his own name (spot the references to his near-namesake investigator) … I … Read more >>
Guardian 29,582 – Yank
A few American terms and references in this one, as befits the setter’s pseudonym, but nothing too outrageous. I enjoyed this, though there’s one parsing I’m not sure of. Thanks to Yank. … Read more >>