Aardvark, but not at his best?
Independent 9084 by Quixote
Quixote’s monthly appearance as a sub for Dac and as usual not lowering the standard at all; everything elegantly and efficiently clued. I sped through this but spent twenty minutes on 12/14 before giving up. It’s a phrase I had never heard and I felt a bit guilty not knowing it as it’s probably quite well-known.
So, for me at any rate, the unusual word or phrase was there, a trademark of Quixote’s puzzles.
Guardian Cryptic 26738 by Paul
The puzzle amy be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26738.
Inquisitor 1412: The Great Divide by Wan
Seen Wan here a couple of times before, most recently on the Pennine Way (“Pub Crawl”). First noted the asymmetric grid … more often a positive indicator of a puzzle than a negative … Read more >>
Financial Times 15096 by NEO
(Not too) stormy weather
Guardian 26,737 / Nutmeg
Another fine puzzle from Nutmeg, with characteristically elegant cluing and some ingenious / well-hidden definitions and great surfaces throughout. Many thanks, Nutmeg – I enjoyed it a lot. Across 1 Pays attention to compliments … Read more >>
Independent 9083 / Quaiteaux
The 225 archive shows that this is only the sixth Quaiteaux Indy puzzle, and that is more than four years since this setter last appeared in the Indy – so long ago, in fact, that … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 836/Anto
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? This is Anto’s fifth Quiptic. The blogging score so far is Pierre 4-1 newmarketsausage. Personally I could call a halt to the game right now. I think it’s fair … Read more >>
Independent 9082/Kairos
I’m more used to solving and blogging Kairos in the Independent on Sunday, where he is usually gentle with us. Monday comes round … I found this hard, but that … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 26736 by Rufus
Quick and fun, with the usual Rufus mix of clues. Favourites were 10ac and 20dn – thanks, Rufus.
Cyclops 560: Looks bad for some
Alas, the dental abscess that is currently tormenting me was compounded by the fact that I woke with a migraine (and that is not a reference to my husband!) this morning. And I … Read more >>
Everyman 3606
A quick Everyman for me, a couple of smiles but hopefully more like the everyman of old.
Beelzebub 1341
A good mixture for me; some new words, some that had to be dragged out of the deeper recesses of my mind and a few easy entries to keep the grid fill ticking … Read more >>
Independent on Sunday 1,343 by Raich
Another enjoyable Sunday puzzle from Raich, and I’m not just saying that because I know he’ll be reading. Everything seemed to fall in very smoothly, with very few hold ups. I particularly appreciated … Read more >>
AZED No 2,267 Misprints
The instructions for this excellent puzzle state:
Each of the across clues contains a misprint of one letter, always occurring in the definition part. Answers should be entered correctly spelt. Down clues are normal but their answers are to be entered with a misprint of one letter only in each, always in a checked position. These misprints correspond to the misprints in the across clues, in clue order, i.e. 1 Across/1 Down, 6 Across/2 Down … 33 Across/28 Down. No more than one letter in any across answer forms the misprint in a down entry.