I don’t think I’ve ever seen a compiler appear so soon after their previous appearance (we saw Phi just last Friday). Not that I’m complaining. I’ll add my name to list of Phi’s admirers and point out that a crossword at the easier end of the scale can still be fresh and interesting and does not have to rely on worn-out wordplay and definitions. What I really liked about this (and every Phi puzzle in fact) is that everywhere the balance is just right: not too hard but by no means a pushover, a good spread of clue types and a nice mix of familiar and contemporary language and references. Read the rest of this entry »

Solving time: 20’

I stared at this puzzle for a few minutes, scanning clues, until one of the long ones clicked: ALL OVER THE PLACE. From that point on things went rather more quickly. Like last week’s intersecting uses of DOWN in different phrases, Rufus has done it again with intersecting phrasal uses of ALL (5D, 9A). Who knows? Maybe there’s a theme here somewhere that I’m blind to.

Read the rest of this entry »