A rare treat to see Maskarade on a weekday…
Independent 11618 / Phi
Phi maintains his excellent standard as we move in to 2024. There are a number of font names or font variants in the grid. I have highlighted the ones that … Read more >>
Crossword Maestro on Countdown
Mark Goodliffe – twelve times Times Crossword champion – is set to become a Countdown Octochamp on today’s episode of Countdown on Channel 4 at 2.10pm. https://wiki.apterous.org/Mark_Goodliffe
Guardian Prize crossword No. 29,261 by Maskarade – solution
“Time flies when you’re having fun”, or so I’m lead to believe. It’s been a whole year since my first outing as a 225 blogger. And what a year it’s been! Thank you … Read more >>
Independent 11,617 by Raider
Welcome back to Raider, who doesn’t seem to have featured here for a while.
Financial Times 17,620 MOO
Moo is the setter of today’s FT puzzle.
Enigmatic Variations No.1622 – The Hater Who Had a Hater by proXimal
“In accordance with the state of the unclued HATER before and after a cryptic HATER, three down clues need a pair of consecutive letters omitted and 12 across clues need a letter to be added before solving; these letters give a source. Solvers must change the HATER to the source of scorn, making a word of a personal message to solvers. Finally, a cryptic HATER should be applied to four down entries to reveal the message (four across entries to be highlighted). All entries are real words or phrases at every stage.”
Independent 11,616 by Norman
A new setter today with a very impressive puzzle – we hope there are more in the pipeline.
Financial Times 17,619 by GUY
Thanks to GUY for a great first puzzle to blog this year.
Guardian 29,269 – Paul
My second Paul in a row, and this time it took me a while to start making any headway, but it all worked out in the end. Thanks to Paul and Happy New … Read more >>
Guardian Crossword stats – 2023
Posted on behalf of Mitz
Inquisitor 1835: Easy As … by Shark
Any Inquisitor published on 23rd December will be likely to have a theme …. We had a fairly standard length preamble this week which told us that “A letter, wherever … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 29,268 by Yank
A new Guardian setter?
Independent 11,615 / Filbert
Filbert is occupying the first Tuesday slot of 2024, with a puzzle that has provided me with a lot to get my teeth into. Tuesday is theme day, and many of the clues … Read more >>
Financial Times 17,618 by BOBCAT
Over the holiday period I have been overwhelmed trying to keep up with solving the blowout of special, extra, and jumbo crosswords, and here today we have a new Bobcat puzzle with some very inventive twists and turns . . .