Several answers, especially the longer ones, were written in very quickly, but this still took a long time with quite a few obscurities. Favourite 4dn – I’m unsure of my parsing of 12ac and 27ac.
Independent 9,215 / Quixote
It is the last Wednesday of the month, so Dac is having a well-earned break and Quixote is standing in for him. I found this puzzle to be a quick and enjoyable solve … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1434: Connect Four by Lato
I found this pretty taxing! (I originally used the word “challenging” but Duncan used it in his intro last week, and it is becoming overused, though apt.) The rubric read: Extra/missing single letters … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,224 by NEO
Standard fare from Neo
Guardian 26,868 – Nutmeg
I found this very hard to get started on, and not much easier after that, even after getting the crucial 15d, though as is often the case the explanations are mostly quite straightforward. … Read more >>
Independent 9214 / Hob
Hob takes us back in time with the offering today. The theme is clear, but solvers didn’t need to know anything about it to complete the puzzle. The down clues … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No. 1221: A Man of Letters by Harribobs
Firstly, apologies to bloggees and, especially, Harribobs for the late posting of this blog. I thought it was my turn this coming weekend. Wrong! (And I haven’t even solved it yet!) This was … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 858/Moley
Moley always produces a good Quiptic for us, because she’s a talented and generous soul. Just one or two in this one that I wasn’t that enamoured with. What did you think? … Read more >>
Independent 9213 by Rodriguez
This was a very good effort with a lot of work having gone into making the definitions none too obvious (as in 1 across and 10). There was a decent mix of clues … Read more >>
Guardian 26,867 / Rufus
A very gentle stroll today, even by Rufus standards, with the possible exception of 31ac which may be unknown by some … … and perhaps shouldn’t have been clued with a cryptic def. … Read more >>
Private Eye/Cyclops 571 Cursed Chicklit Star
Solving was fast enough here with most clues answered on the first pass – then only 9 left. So this counts as at the easier end of the Eye crossword spectrum. The bottom right … Read more >>
Everyman 3,628
Hello all, Apologies for the crude formatting today: I couldn’t get the usual tool to work, so have been inputting the clues by hand. I found this pretty tough to be honest, but … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1366/Peter
A puzzle by Peter blogged by Pierre? What’s occurring? What should occur is that if you haven’t already had a go at it, do so now by using the link at the top … Read more >>
Azed 2289
This was a typical plain Azed crossword. The clueing was precise and the vocabulary was a mix of modern and arcane. I solved about half of this without reference to … Read more >>
Independent 9212 by Phi (Saturday non-Prize Puzzle 23 April 2016)
A fairly 2D puzzle from Phi, with multiple cross-references to 5D and 24D in various clues… …which, respectively, turned out to be ‘SHAKE’ and ‘SPEAR’ – on the occasion of the 400th anniversary … Read more >>