WordPlodder has asked me to publicise the following:
Inquisitor 1608: Advice to Solvers from Serpent
Serpent is one of a bunch of Inquisitor setters that I like more often than not. Preamble: The wordplay in 32 clues generates an extra letter. Taken in clue order, these letters … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 27,910 by Tramp
A quick solve, followed by some head-scratching over several bits of parsing. I liked 1ac, 18ac, 1dn, 6dn, and especially 17dn. Thanks to Tramp for the puzzle.
Independent 10,256 by Crosophile
It’s Tuesday so what are we looking for?
Financial Times 16256 Crux
Thanks Crux for an enjoyable puzzle. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 A minor embarrassment for the French? (6,8) ENFANT TERRIBLE : Cryptic defn: French for a spoiled child/an embarrassing minor, … Read more >>
Financial Times 16,255 by VELIA
An enjoyable puzzle from Velia.
Guardian Quiptic 1,032/Pan
Pan never disappoints in the Quiptic slot. Here’s a tractable, carefully constructed cryptic for a lazy Bank Holiday morning (where I live, at least). Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition … Read more >>
Guardian 27,909 – Chifonie
A bank holiday in some parts of the UK, and a typically gentle puzzle from Chifonie to accompany it, slightly spoiled for me by some inaccuracies in the clueing, as noted below. Thanks … Read more >>
Everyman 3,801
An excellent and enjoyable example of what the new Everyman can do.
Azed 2462
A standard puzzle from Azed this week There aren’t many words beginning PC and we had one of the few at 1 across. Perhaps not surprisingly, that wasn’t my first … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1,539 by Dill
A nicely varied mix. Thank you Dill.
Independent 10,254 by Tyrus
We hope we weren’t the only ones to find this very tough. At one point we were quite worried that we would not be able to provide a comprehensive blog. We ended up completing the bottom half first, hoping that this would open up the top half which only had 9ac, 10ac & 11ac written in.
Enigmatic Variations No. 1395: Differences by Dysart
This was nearly a DNF (did not finish) for me – in fact it still may be – and it was certainly an MSD (missed submission deadline), as I didn’t crack the final … Read more >>
Guardian Prize 27,902 by Vlad
This was one of those where I guessed most of the solutions from the definitions and then figured out the parsing later. Thank you Vlad.