Well it’s Monday, it’s Rufus, what do you think you’ll be getting?
Independent 8974/eXternal
A sound, workmanlike puzzle from eXternal. And I don’t mean to damn with faint praise when I say that. It was hard, though. The idea of the Monday Indy being the ‘easy’ one … Read more >>
Guardian Quiptic 818/Moley
Moley has produced a fine Quiptic for us this morning. Plenty of Easy Annies to get us going, then the rest clearly clued with some lovely surfaces. And as we have remarked many … Read more >>
Private Eye / Cyclops 551 – Brandish spider
Well over half this puzzle was filled-in by the end of the first pass. I got going again with DISGRACED at 10 which I considered earlier but couldn’t see where the S came from, but … Read more >>
Beelzebub 1323
I could very easily copy and paste my preamble from a fortnight ago and simply change the ‘four weeks’ in the second paragraph to ‘six weeks’. Across 1 Actual tact not using force … Read more >>
Everyman 3,588
Good crossword, that had me stumped in several places.
Independent on Sunday 1325 Hypnos
Perhaps not as difficult (for an IoS puzzle) as in recent weeks. Thanks to Hypnos. Definitions are underlined in the clues. Across 1 Local left in charge of a community (6) PUBLIC : PUB(one … Read more >>
AZED 2,249
I learned some interesting new words this week. Thank you AZED.
Enigmatic Variations No. 1181: Connection by Glow-worm
This week, we were greeted with five unclued answers thematically related, plus 15 and 22 hinting at how a “20” should be taken from thirteen clues. A 3×3 block would need highlighting together … Read more >>
Independent 8967 by Radian (Saturday Prize Puzzle 11/07/15)
A joint effort this week on the blog during a very busy week so if there are errors or omissions we won’t know who to blame. Joyce’s elderly father has not been well and … Read more >>
Guardian 26,621 / Paul
A very enjoyable prize puzzle from Paul … … with a theme of Presidents of the USA. Here are the references I spotted: Obama in 9 across Carter in 10 across Eisenhower in … Read more >>
Financial Times 14,985 by CHALMIE
Nearly forgot to get the blog out as today is a holiday in Singapore and I was going about my day in Saturday mode before it struck me late evening that I am not a time traveler. I really wish I had taken this on, on time so that I could have done justice to Chalmie. In my unnecessary haste to solve this quickly and put it up, I had to use google sooner than I would have liked to for some of the answers. I do think that this puzzle from Chalmie only goes to reinforce the opinion that he is one setter guaranteed to serve up a stunner of a crossword. Thanks a ton to him.
Independent 8972 / Phi
Another Friday, another Phi-day. It took us a little longer to get started on this one. No idea why – perhaps it was just one of those days. There’s one (4d) which we … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 26626 Crucible
(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) As is quite normal for a … Read more >>
Guardian Cryptic 26626 with Picture Quiz
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) As is quite normal for a Friday, a puzzle where the answers require to be … Read more >>