Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 25, 2018
Financial Times 15,955 by AARDVARK
An entertaining puzzle from Aardvark as usual. Thank you.
Independent 9952 / Eccles
Eccles has given us a crossword today free from words I didn’t know. My wife has SUMAC in the spice cupboard so that was an early entry reversing Monsieur CAMUS, a … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 27,606 by Crucible
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27606
Inquisitor 1557: Wall of Sound by Nimrod
We have a puzzle from the Inquisitor series editor this week. The preamble told us that "An Only Connect Wall consists of 16 arbitrarily arranged words, phrases or names that must … Read more >>
Independent 9,951 by Punk
I enjoyed this. A pleasant and gentle (?) workout from one of the Indy’s top setters. Perhaps one could criticise the fact that there are rather a lot of single letters clued by things like ‘ultimately’ and ‘initially’, but it is done so smoothly that this is hardly a blemish.
Definitions in maroon, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
Guardian 27,605 / Nutmeg
A welcome appearance from Nutmeg this Tuesday morning. There’s a distinct parliamentary flavour in the long answers [and perhaps elsewhere] in today’s puzzle. In my 17dn to the last Nutmeg puzzle … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,954 by FALCON
Light excercise from Falcon today, with one rogue clue…
Financial Times 15,953 by CRUX
A somewhat trickier than usual start to the work week from CRUX…
Independent 9,950 by Gila
A well constructed and efficient crossword with some unusual uses of some of the standard fodder items.
Quiptic 981 by Moley
Moley’s turn in the Quiptic slot this week.
Guardian Cryptic 27,604 by Pan
Fun and a little tricky for a Monday. Favourites were 11ac, 27ac, 2dn, and 22dn. Thanks to Pan.
Private Eye (Cyclops/632) Diplomatic First Lady
Another fairly routine Eye puzzle this time. Nothing hugely topical or interesting to call out. Solving was easy enough for the first pass which ended with much more than half the grid filled: … Read more >>
Guardian Genius 182 – Puck
This didn’t take me as long as some Geniuses, but it was nevertheless a puzzling experience. It soon became obvious that “the clues to the other solutions have an unwanted 22, either in … Read more >>
Azed 2411
Quite a high proportion of obscure words in this one, I think, but even so I managed to finish it quite quickly, and almost entirely without aids, thanks to educated guesswork resulting from … Read more >>