An apparently anonymous puzzle for July, offering an unusual twist on a familiar device. As Gaufrid pointed out to me, the identity of the setter was in fact available by doing an archive search, but not on the page where the puzzle itself was to be found.
AZED 2,251
After the complications of the milestone crossword last week Azed returns to something more straightforward. His grids are really outstanding: nearly every time he has words that straddle the grid — in this case four of them — and that must be hard enough before he even starts to fit in the shorter words. And he does it all by hand, which is quite amazing.
Definitions in italics.
Independent Crossword 8979 by Tees (25-07-2015)
As the rain falls in July a puzzle from Tees to dispel the gloom. Some marvellous clues this week certainly. 7 dn was my pick of the bunch with 18ac a close second. … Read more >>
Enigmatic Variations No.1183 – Reinstate by Wiglaf
“A sentence (now obsolete) that could help memorise a well-known series of objects (in the correct order) appears in the perimeter starting in the top left hand corner.”
Any ideas?
Guardian Prize 26,633 by Picaroon
I enjoyed this one, thanks Picaroon.
I will be on holiday cycling up the Western Isles by the time this post is published. I will probably be able to read the comments and maybe even reply, but corrections to the blog will have to wait until I get home.
Financial Times 14,997 by GAFF
A really tricky one from Gaff that had me go from making steady progress to grinding to a halt five clues away from a complete solve. I tried to search for a Nina somewhere as is common with Gaff’s puzzles but without much success. All in all , a good work out – and a well-deserved thanks to Gaff for stretching me out today.
Guardian 26,638 / Brummie
For some reason, I found this puzzle in some parts more challenging than any this week but it was hard to see why at the end. Brummie is not known for the smoothness … Read more >>
Independent 8984 / Phi
Phi has provided us with a good Friday workout. I wondered if there was a bit of a food and drink theme in here, but I’m not really sure. I … Read more >>
Independent 8,983 by Donk
This was extraordinarily hard. In several places I’m not really sure what is happening and it seems to me that Donk has been less than accurate, but he has in the past produced quite excellent crosswords; perhaps he has done so this time: it may just be going over my head.
Guardian 26,637 by Tramp
Took me a while to get into this…
Financial Times 14,996 by REDSHANK
A straightforward, but clever and elegant crossword. Thanks, Redshank.
Financial Times 14,987 – Dante
Monday Prize Crossword / Jul 20, 2015
Dante as Dante can be. Meaning: mostly easy but then he’ll have you to start thinking about how to fully complete the puzzle.
Financial Times 14,986 by Dogberry
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 18, 2015
Financial Times 14,995 by MONK
I started off quite easily in the top-left, which made me double check that it was actually by Monk. Things soon got back to normal and there followed a satisfying struggle to finish. My apologies for the late posting, the morning has been an endless sequence of interruptions. There is certainly a Nina in here somewhere, I will start hunting for it now and update the post when I find it. Thank you Monk, excellent as always.
Guardian 26,636 – Nutmeg
After yesterday’s expert duffing-up by Vlad I was expecting (or hoping for?) something a little gentler today, but I found this one pretty hard too. However, it was soundly and accurately clued (apart … Read more >>