Never knowingly undersolved
This looked small after the gigantic Christmas grid. Thanks to Mike for a spectacluar blog for that last time. This one was a gentle start to the year, only 7 to go after … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27412.
Plenty of charades, anagrams and insertions. Everyman is in town. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) removed abbreviations are underlined … Read more >>
A reasonably straightforward puzzle to solve: but blogging it proved much more challenging.
A relaxing Sunday puzzle. Thanks to Silvanus. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 Sweet smell attracts insect (6) HUMBUG : HUM(to smell unpleasant) plus(attracts) BUG(an insect, in general). Defn: A boiled … Read more >>
Lots of black space in the grid – Maybe something is hiding? Well something was, but not in the obvious place of the perimeter. Kate Bush pointed me towards Wuthering Heights – Emily … Read more >>
Lots of clever wordplay to admire in this week’s prize puzzle, but we took issue with a couple of the definitions.
A fairly simple preamble greeted us this week: In RANTING, eight answers must be altered thematically on entry; clues to these answers consist of a definition for the answer, and wordplay leading to … Read more >>
Phi has provided today’s cruciverbal challenge from his usual Friday home. I found this to be the toughest Phi crossword that I have solved in many a month. I think that I have … Read more >>
An excellent challenge from REDSHANK who brings up yet another delectable Friday offering. A couple of strange words I learnt today but others might have had a faster solving experience given the precise nature of the clues.
THe puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27410.
Continental Drift
Generally speaking, when a new email correspondent writes to say “After years of doing cryptic crosswords, I’m now having a go at compiling them”, experience tells me that this is not a good omen. When this is rapidly followed by the submission of – horror of horrors – a puzzle with three consecutive unchecked letters across the middle of its grid and six unchecked letter pairs elsewhere, I mean, what is an editor to think?
There was a strong whiff of déjà vu about solving and blogging this puzzle. It’s just four weeks since I blogged a Paul puzzle on the theme of ‘scorers’ – on that occasion … Read more >>
Phew! That was tough….
It’s a while since I blogged a Klingsor puzzle I think, so it was good to get one today. Klingsor doesn’t do messages or Ninas very often but he does … Read more >>