Posted by neildubya on 17th August 2007
A bit more challenging than the usual Phi, but not as satisfying. A lot of tenuous clueing in place of the usual witty word play. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 4 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 17th August 2007
I thought this was a cracking puzzle. It looked like it was going to be a lot harder than it turned out to be as my first pass over the across clues yielded nothing; but I got going with 2D and then it all fell into place fairly quickly. A lot of the words were unfamiliar to me but the wordplay was nothing less than bullet-proof; so much so that I’d filled in a two-thirds of the grid before feeling compelled to check Chambers (11D was the first word I looked up, even though there was at least half a dozen words before that that were new to me).
Posted in Beelzebub | No Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 17th August 2007
Absolutely brilliant puzzle from Nestor and very possibly the hardest blocked puzzle I’ve solved in recent memory (and there have been some tough Times puzzles over the last couple of weeks). To be sure, there are a few obscure answers and some fairly recondite knowledge is needed for some of the clues but the wordplay is exceptionally fair throughout and it’s a Saturday puzzle so it’s assumed you’ll have references to hand. In a way it’s a shame it was a Saturday because otherwise I’d be recommending everyone to get a copy of the Indie and have a go at this one. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Posted by ilancaron on 17th August 2007
Not a cross-reference in sight nor a long anagram. Was this really Araucaria? I can’t even detect a theme of sorts.
Posted in Guardian | 5 Comments »
Posted by tilsit on 17th August 2007
Solving time: 26 minutes
Terrific fun today from Monk with some real laugh-aloud clues including 1 across and 13 down. Nina hunters (those little hidden messages in puzzles) will be delighted to see one in the puzzle as well.
Posted in FT | 1 Comment »