Never knowingly undersolved
As usual, the Friday puzzle is set by Phi. There are a few culinary entries in the grid – VIAND, CAFE, GASTROPUB and CUISINE for example, but I don’t think … Read more >>
Filbert has given us a tricky puzzle, in more than one way . . .
Anto’s clueing has improved a lot since his early days on the Quiptic, but I’m still not his greatest fan. This puzzle was mostly fine, though I have a few quibbles, some of … Read more >>
Bradman steps up to the crease this morning.
As far as I can tell, this is Wan’s first EV since 2013 (although there have been a few IQs in between), so welcome back! Chambers has various chemical, nuclear-physical, biological and alchemical definitions for TRANSMUTATIONS…let us see what ‘trans’pires…
Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 20, 2021
This is a very good puzzle indeed, but be warned! It is definitely not an easy one. Following usual approach of looking for anagrams and charades will get you so far, but after that some serious lateral thinking is required. Thank you Io.
A treat for fans of poetry
Kairos fills the mid-week slot this week. Until last year, Kairos was only to be found in the Independent on Sunday. But he has now appeared six times in the weekday editions and this is our second Kairos blog.
Wire has set today’s puzzle on that day of the week when we are all expecting a theme. There are traces of this extra-terrestrial, paranormal and space-travel theme dotted through the clues and … Read more >>
Death Wish by Serpent The wordplay in 12 clues leads to an extra letter; solvers must use these letters to complete the unclued entries. Each of the remaining clues contains a string … Read more >>
A stiff-ish test for a Tuesday,
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28406.
I began my blog of Carpathian’s last cryptic offering with ‘It’s Carpathian starting the week with an elegant and well-clued puzzle.’ I could say the same today. There are suggestions on the Guardian … Read more >>
On checking, I find that this is only Angel’s second puzzle in the Indy, having made his/her debut just before Christmas last year. Tractable, with some succinct and precise cluing would be my … Read more >>