Posted by ilancaron on 17th December 2006
One of these days I’m going to miss a theme in an Everyman. I’ve stared at this one but no joy. Though I always enjoy solving Everyman – which typically takes about 1/2h to 45’ for me.
Across Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Guardian | No Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 16th December 2006
Like the last Scorpion puzzle a few weeks ago I found this very challenging but very enjoyable. I wish I could put my finger on exactly what made it difficult for me as each time I filled in an answer it seemed so straightfoward and obvious (apart from one or two) it made me wonder why I’d taken so long. I think it was simply because I had trouble parsing many of the clues – that is, sorting out the definition from the rest and then working out exactly what the clue was telling me to do. Once I’d done that, getting all the wordplay elements seemed to happen fairly quickly. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 16th December 2006
Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 15th December 2006
When I solve a clue and think I’m certain I won’t have to go back to verify it, I tick the clue number in the paper.
Posted in Independent | No Comments »
Posted by tilsit on 15th December 2006
Solving time: 24 minutes
If there were to be awards for consistent setting, I am sure Phi would in with a shout of the award. His puzzles are always entertaining and are just about right for their target audience, be it Listener, Beelzebub or Indy Magazine.
Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »
Posted by michod on 15th December 2006
In keeping with Orlando’s divided personality, perhaps, there seemed to be an easy half and a difficult half to this puzzle – not that I’m assigning a specific gender to either! I got most of the top half and part of the bottom done in 5-10 minutes, then stewed over the fag-end for another 15-20. Two Shakespeare references, both plays I did at ‘A’ level… I wonder if Orlando did A levels in 1981 as well?
Posted in Guardian | 6 Comments »
Posted by linxit on 14th December 2006
Solving time – about 45 mins.
This was a real brute of a puzzle from Araucaria. I struggled all the way with it, but there were some obscure words and a couple of very dodgy clues. Just what I’ve come to expect from him, but a lot harder today for some reason.
Posted in Guardian | 8 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 14th December 2006
… unless you need to write up a blog entry, in which case you can often spot extra points while writing up these notes. it took me quite a while to identify the “one” in these clues – 22D was the penny-dropper, when it became clear that you had to lose the 7 in 007. Another good puzzle from Math, who gave us a chess lesson last time I think.
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 13th December 2006
Quality stuff. I can only repeat something a fellow blogger said about Dac, that aspiring setters should study his clues and learn from them. His puzzles aren’t particularly tough and they don’t have any themes or grid gimmicks but his clue-writing is absolutely spot-on. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »
Posted by loonapick on 13th December 2006
(If I were clever enough, I’d write this entry using only one vowel, but I ain’t, so here goes.) Solving time – 7 mins
Posted in Guardian | 6 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 12th December 2006
Giving away no secrets with that. “Poet” appears as full or partial definition in twelve clues, and another two as part of wordplay.
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 12th December 2006
Quite a bit of complex wordplay in this puzzle. A couple of obscure allusions but nonetheless accessible.
Posted in Guardian | 6 Comments »
Posted by rightback on 11th December 2006
Solving time: 12:37, held up by two pairs at the end; one mistake (1dn), or perhaps two (19dn).
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 11th December 2006
Standard fair Rufus. A couple of containment issues below. Curious what people think about their soundness.
Posted in Guardian | 10 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 10th December 2006
Solved this when it was published last week, wrote up my notes and then promptly misplaced them which I just discovered. Turns out that solving a puzzle the 2nd time round, when you know you’ve already solved it, is surprisingly hard. Interestingly I’m pretty sure that the last clue I solved was the same in both cases (1D).
Posted in Guardian | 3 Comments »