An excellent puzzle in the traditional style – good surface readings and precise wordplay. Thank you Jason.
Guardian Cryptic 27,917 by Nutmeg
An enjoyable puzzle with some very nice surfaces and cluing. Favourites were 14ac, 26ac, 3dn, 5dn, 16dn, and 20dn. Thanks to Nutmeg.
Independent 10263 / Eccles
Eccles is now the regular Wednesday setter for Independent weekday puzzles. Eccles usually produces crosswords without gimmicks or messages and this is the case today (unless I have missed something) … Read more >>
Financial Times 16,262 by PHSSTHPOK
Hard going but fair & fun, I thought, although not helped by an irritating mis-numeration.
Inquisitor 1609: Shifts in Character by Mynot
Mynot is seen more regularly on Fifteensquared as a setter of Enigmatic Variations puzzles. This is his first Inquisitor since June 2010 The preamble was fairly short and told us … Read more >>
Independent 10,262 by Wiglaf
An enjoyable crossword from Wiglaf: nothing very controversial so far as I can see, and it was neither too easy nor impossibly difficult. Some good clues.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Guardian 27,916 – Puck
This mostly slipped in very quickly, though there were a couple of parsings that took me a while.
Financial Times 16,261 by ORENSE
ORENSE, for a change, kicks off the week…
Quiptic 1,033 by Anto
Anto’s turn in the Quiptic slot this week.
Independent 10,261 by Tees
Tees provides yet another witty puzzle for a Monday. I took a bit longer than usual to finish it, but I think that’s just my post-holiday brain; everything was clear (eventually) and fairly clued.
Guardian Cryptic 27,915 by Vulcan
Vulcan starts the week off for us.
Cyclops 658 – Dumbed-Down Accord
As we approach the season-ending finale of ‘Deal or No-Deal’, with BoJo as NoEd, Cyclops may or may not be channelling the zeitgeist here… During the recent HEATWAVE the CHERUB-ic Boris – ‘he … Read more >>
Everyman 3,802/25 August
I enjoyed this Everyman offering. Getting used to his or her ‘trademarks’ – linked clues and a propensity for clue-as-definition devices – helped the solve along. What did you make of it? … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 194 – Boatman
As is often the case with Genius puzzles, the instructions were not particularly helpful at first glance, so it was just a case of trying to solve some clues, with or without the … Read more >>
AZED 2,463
An alphabetical jigsaw for this Bank Holiday weekend puzzle, but this time Azed has not provided word lengths.