Monday Prize Crossword / Feb 20, 2017
Perhaps it’s just me but I found this Dante puzzle easy to start but difficult to finish.
Financial Times 15,477 by Mudd
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 18, 2017
Financial Times 15,486 by GAFF
Tough but all gettable with enough concentration. There is a lot going on in here and it took me a long time to sort it all out and get it written up into the blog. Thanks Gaff, super puzzle.
Guardian 27,133 / Picaroon
Seeing Picaroon’s name this morning made me, if possible, even more thankful that I was scheduled to blog today rather than yesterday. Another excellent and most enjoyable offering from Picaroon, with the usual … Read more >>
Independent 9,479 / Dac
Dac is where he belongs today, occupying the Wednesday slot. I found this one to be tougher than the average Dac crossword, not least because of the more unusual vocabulary chosen – both … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1478: Toppers by Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude usually means hard but fair and this was no exception. The rubric read: Initially 15 cells will contain 4 or more letters. They are to be replaced by 2 letters (XY) and the … Read more >>
Site Response Times & Display Errors
Update: I am now confident that the response time issue will be resolved before next Monday (the extended page loading times are most prevalent at the beginning of the week) because the hosting company has now accepted that other accounts on the shared server are affecting its performance.
A number of people have mentioned that, since Tuesday morning, they been unable to access the site or have needed to refresh a page before it displays correctly (i.e. the home page has all the latest post summaries and individual posts have all the comments). Some server modifications were made on Monday evening to try to rectify, or at least reduce, the response time issue but the hosting company has informed me that these should not have caused the access/display problems. If you continue to have access or display problems please let me know either via email (admin{at}fifteensquared{dot}net) or by adding a comment below. I would also be interested in receiving details of any problems experienced during the last couple of days.
Independent 9478 / Radian
Tuesday Independent crosswords tend to be quite challenging and often have a theme I think today’s puzzle from Radian fits the bill. There are references to Daniel DEFOE and his novel … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,485 by ARMONIE
Huzzah, a ‘normal’ Tuesday FT. After a brief run of absolute stinkers (which were fun but mucked up my modest life-schedule, and yours if you finished them), a straightforward and elegantly composed mid-week puzzle. Thanks to Armonie and the powers that be.
Guardian Cryptic 27,132 by Sphinx
The first Sphinx puzzle I’ve seen, and a bit of a mixed bag. Mostly clever with some obscure words and some awkward parsing. Favourites were 20ac and 8dn. Thanks, Sphinx
Edit: since blogging, the online version of the puzzle has added [italics mine]:
“Special instructions: Having solved this puzzle, tonight’s episode of ‘Inside No 9’ on BBC2 at 10pm would interest you”
The episode is titled ‘The Riddle of the Sphinx’, and involves a cryptic setter and a woman named Nina… [BBC link] [Fifteensquared post]
Second Edit: [Link to a separate post with spoilers for the TV episode]
Inside No 9 – 28/2/17
I have received the following from Alan Conner (the blue italics are my additions):
“A quick heads-up to say that there’s a programme on BBC Two tomorrow (28/2/17 at 10pm) which I suspect will be of interest to all people 225. It’s a one-off episode of Inside No 9 (a 30 minute dark comedy): the lead character is a cryptic setter (Professor Squires) who is visited by a woman called Nina, and the whole thing is based around a puzzle. (Disclosure: I feature briefly and needlessly in the credits as “crossword consultant” or similar.)”
Quiptic 902/Pan
I liked this Quiptic from Pan, but found it tricky in places. Abbreviations cd cryptic definition dd double definition (xxxx)* anagram anagrind = anagram indicator [x] letter(s) removed definitions are … Read more >>
Independent 9477/Hoskins
Body parts, body functions, bodily fluids exchange, beer and a bird. Harry Hoskins is in town. I was engaged by the puzzle, so have wittered on a bit. Abbreviations cd … Read more >>
Guardian 27,131 – Rufus
This was a puzzle of two halves for me today – the top half was pretty much a write-in, with the bottom taking a bit longer, probably because of the preponderance of cryptic … Read more >>