Never knowingly undersolved
Poins normally appears once a month in the IoS. In August we met on the windswept street corner on the rough side of town that is the Fifteensquared blog, and we meet again … Read more >>
A competition puzzle this week, but it is just a plain one. After I got ALPHABET SOUP at 1 across, a lot of the down entries that fed off it … Read more >>
This was a absolutely beautiful puzzle to solve. Not only does it have a highly interesting “chain” of 4 answers, but it is also a pangram! I suspected it was a pangram early … Read more >>
A cryptic preamble this week and no word lengths shown. Though the letters in the ringed cells of the final grid will help to fill in the grid. A real chicken and egg … Read more >>
We found this quite a tricky puzzle; it took a few sittings to complete. Some really excellent clues here, though… … e.g I especially liked 22a (DISMAY), 24a (ROYAL OPERA HOUSE) and (with … Read more >>
A lovely treat to end the weekday series – a Puck puzzle! Lots of well-constructed clues with sparklingly witty surfaces, as ever from this setter. Spurred by the references to the PM, I’ve … Read more >>
A superb challenge from JULIUS , which did much to enliven my day. Several refreshingly innovative clues resulted in many a-ha moments both in solving and parsing. Thanks JULIUS!
It’s very rare that we don’t enjoy a Phi-day puzzle at the end of the week and this was no exception. We are convinced that there must be a theme as there … Read more >>
A diamond of a puzzle; brilliant, and very hard.
Enigmatist is always challenging, and this took me ages to finish, with the theme indicated in the Special Instructions…
Wiglaf is occupying the Thursday slot this week, and it is a while since it has fallen to me to blog one of his puzzles. That said, I found this one probably easier … Read more >>
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 26, 2017
The puzzle has not appeared on the FT’s website today. Here is a basic explanation of the solutions. Thank you to Aardvark and to Stephen for posting a scan of the printed version … Read more >>
A good commuter’s puzzle from Eccles today Well, what I mean is that it’s a puzzle that many solvers will be able to finish in under an hour. There aren’t … Read more >>