Never knowingly undersolved
A good fun prize puzzle from Philistine … … with a theme of BOTTOMs. We were both a bit confused about the rubric, which says: Six 5 solutions are not further defined The … Read more >>
Kcit’s puzzles range from the relatively straightforward to the definitely difficult, and you don’t know which it will be until about 30 minutes into the solve. His recent Listener, A Bit Up in … Read more >>
A nice easy puzzle from GURNEY to reset the balance for FT puzzles this week. Good for beginners on cryptic grids. Thanks Gurney for the enjoyable distraction this Friday morning.
Pan seems to have a regular place in the cryptic slot now, while still supplying Monday quiptics. This is a well crafted puzzle with a good variety of clue types, presented with some … Read more >>
It’s Friday, it’s the Indy, it’s Phi – nothing ever changes (well, only very occasionally). This is the second time in recent weeks that I have been able to spot a Phi theme … Read more >>
Today’s puzzle has been supplied by Hob, a relative newcomer to the Indy fold. I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, with its ingenious but not overly demanding treatment of the theme of queens. The … Read more >>
A straightforward offering from Sleuth
Was grateful for the long answer going in almost immediately – a lot of parsing-after today. Nice use of a betting theme in so many of the surfaces. Favourite was 5dn, and I also liked 11ac, 21ac, and the definition [and eventually the wordplay] in 15/4/7/24. Thanks, Boatman
Monday Prize Crossword / Nov 21, 2016
With Falcon you know what to expect: mostly easy clues with smooth surfaces ….
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 19, 2016
I was clealry not on Chalmie’s wavelength this morning as it took me an age to solve and I struggled to explain many of my answers. Did anyone else find this a particularly opaque puzzle or am I just having an off day?
The brilliantly appropriate 1d is a stand-out here, but there’s lots of other good stuff too. 27a to Paul. Across 1. MONKEY BUSINESS Hanky-panky king breaking bank, … Read more >>
Tees appears about once a month and for the third puzzle in a row he is stuck with me as the blogger. I think it’s fair to say that Tees’ … Read more >>
I have blogged many Independent puzzles by Phi this year, but it’s nearly two and half years since I blogged one of his Inquisitors. The preamble read "Wordplay in a … Read more >>
A near-pangram from Picaroon