Never knowingly undersolved
It’s Chifonie filling the Monday slot again with a typically pleasant and elegant puzzle, with some beautifully smooth surfaces. Mostly straightforward but, unusually for this setter, there are a couple of places where … Read more >>
The nutty Filbert seems to have hit rock bottom today.
A relatively quick/easy Cyclops, from a pure solving/timing perspective, but the usual level of quality in surface readings and sarcastic/satirical digs, as one would expect from Private Eye… …only one mention of the … Read more >>
A 13 x 11 grid for this week’s puzzle, which was carelessly printed in the paper as an 11 x 11 grid, with the two right hand columns omitted. Fortunately, the pdf was correct.
“Six of the 11 clues marked * contain only wordplay, their solutions being 21. The solutions to the other five clues marked * should be entered in the grid 21 (Roman or otherwise), … Read more >>
Classic Sunday Hoskins stuff with plenty to enjoy, as always. Perhaps a little tougher than usual, or was it just me? I certainly had to work for a few, perhaps due to some … Read more >>
The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3724.
Very happy to see a Quaiteaux on a Saturday slot and for me to get to blog it. Though there are only a few puzzles by this setter, I remember them. Typically they … Read more >>
“The perimeter contains the surnames of SIX AUTHORS, reading clockwise from top left and referred to as 1 to 6 in that order in the six blocks. Solvers IN SEARCH OF A CHARACTER (or pair of characters) to be written in the vacant cell in each block will find them appearing in no particular order in the six shaded cells. Each BLOCK RECIPE DIFFERS, as the unchecked perimeter letters spell out. All clues contain an extra letter, to be removed before solving and always leaving a real word; when read in clue order these will assist. Numbers in brackets give cells available; the Chambers Dictionary (2016) is recommended.”
Another enjoyable – and pretty clean – Prize puzzle from Paul. Many thanks to him. Because I blog the Prize puzzle every four weeks and Paul seems to occupy the Prize slot every … Read more >>
Usual Friday fare from Bradman, thanks to whom for a good workout.
Quite a challenge from Puck this morning – and a most enjoyable one, too. Many thanks to him for the fun. [I do hope there’s not a ghost theme or Nina as well.] … Read more >>
This was probably on the slightly easier end of the Phi spectrum of difficulty, not that it fell all that comfortably. Apart from one or two slight doubts, indicated below, I found this as usual to be pleasant and accessible.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in italics.
Those who prefer to solve online may be interested to know that the FT now has an (experimental) interactive version of its cryptic puzzles. A link to the relevant page can be found … Read more >>
The puzzle can be found here.