Monday Prize Crossword / Mar 7, 2016
Falcon crosswords keep on coming nowadays.
It looks that he’s slowly taking over from Crux as a Monday regular.
Financial Times 15,181 by Magwitch
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 5, 2016
Independent 9179/Dac
My apologies to everyone; this is very late. I had computer problems and, having done the blog once but failed to post it, started all over again and used the old system, which … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,190 by MONK
I made a flying start on this one but eventually ground to a halt in the bottom-right corner. Got there in the end though! Thanks Monk.
Guardian 26,833 / Boatman
Boatman is not on my long list of top favourite setters and early spotting of the theme did not cause my heart to leap. As often, detailed knowledge of the theme was not … Read more >>
Inquisitor 1428: Small-coal by Phi
A long & seemingly complicated preamble for this puzzle from Phi, his second of the year. (No offence was intended when I omitted to count the ones he set prior to the renaming … Read more >>
Financial Times 15189 Gaff – Ageless!
This initially daunted me until I caught on to the theme. Still, the last themed answer escaped me, together with its cross-checker, until only just now (cue – I think he’s got it!) … Read more >>
Financial Times 15,189 by GAFF
A themed offering from GAFF
Guardian Cryptic 26,832 by Screw
Very tricky in places, with several clues that I couldn’t parse until well after starting to blog. Favourites were 2dn, 3dn, 4dn and 20dn.
Christmas crossword solution
I have just been reminded that I didn’t post the solution, which I promised to do. Here it is… and sorry for the untimely reminder of Christmas.
Independent 9178 / Hob
Well, Hob puzzles seem to be a bit like buses for us – we waited for nearly a year and then two come along within a few weeks of each other. As we … Read more >>
Independent 9177 by Anax
I don’t often attempt Anax puzzles because I find them a little too time-consuming and usually end up with three or four clues that I can’t complete. However, as I was blogging this … Read more >>
Guardian 26,831 – Rufus
Only two “pure” cryptic definitions from Rufus today, but a couple of double defs that only just count as double. Quite a few anagrams too, which helped to make this a very quick … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 852/Moley
I enjoyed this Quiptic from Moley. One or two double definitions that didn’t quite hit the spot for me, but otherwise an excellent puzzle for those just getting used to the world of … Read more >>
Cyclops 568: AB de Villiers bats like a genius…
… and FRUIT BATS, of course, like a banana. After already being late with this, I could not find my solved copy, so had to solve it again this morning. Fortunately, that didn’t … Read more >>