Posted by nmsindy on 26th March 2008
Very tough today, and some excellent misdirection by Dac. Solving time, 39 mins. A little rushed today- one not fully understood yet, but verified using ‘Reveal’ that I got it right.
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 26th March 2008
<Insert my usual hero-worshipping gush about how great Araucaria is here>
Posted in Guardian | 16 Comments »
Posted by diagacht on 26th March 2008
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | VERBAL: hidden in oVERBALance |
| 5 | PERISHED: PERI + SHED |
| 9 | STRAIGHT: double definition |
| 10,29 | BREATHTAKING: &Lit |
| 12 | HONORARY: NOR (and not) in HOARY |
| 14 | WATER BUFFALO: anagram of WAFFLER ABOUT |
| 18 | TRANSMISSION: anagram of SINS IN A STORM |
| 22,28,27 | IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE: John Reid and Liam Fox are both MPs and also doctors |
| 25 | ANYWAY: double definition |
| Down | |
| 2 | ESTATE: double definition |
| 3 | BLACK SWAN: B + LACKS + WAN |
| 4 | LOGARITHM: GARI (the ginger served with sushi) in LOTH (alternative spelling for loath) + M (monsieur); John Napier the Scotsman ‘discovered’ logs |
| 5 | PITCHER: double definition |
| 6 | ROBIN: as in robing without the g |
| 8 | ENTIRELY: anagram of NET (network) + I RELY |
| 15 | UNIVALENT: VALE in UNIN (union without love) + T |
| 16 | FANCYWORK: &Lit |
| 17 | PROSPERO: PROS + PER + O |
| 19,13 | SEE OFF: SEE (diocese) OFF (office without the ice) |
| 20 | SPARTAN: ART in SPAN |
| 23 | HABIT: use in a convent |
| 24 | RIDER: double definition |
Posted in FT | No Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 26th March 2008
A year ago today I posted a message to this blog saying that my wife had just given birth to our first child. This was him then:
Posted in Announcements | No Comments »
Posted by John on 25th March 2008
I didn’t do this quickly, although looking at it now I bet some people did. One problem was that I wrote an answer in the wrong place, and when I transferred it to the right place wrote it in backwards, so there were some delays. Merlin makes use of the latitude afforded by The Indy to do things that a Times setter couldn’t do: to use “a” for one (3dn) and to refer to living people (2dn, 25 ac). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 25th March 2008
I took longer to solve this puzzle than the others that I have done here before. To tell the truth, I have all except 18dn (where, of course, I can guess the second word of the phrase); 29ac: I can guess the word from the crossings and also from “Destroy” part of the clue, but the full annotation/explanation eludes me at the moment of writing. While in the earlier FT crosswords I found full justification for every clue, here I am floundering.
Posted in FT | 1 Comment »
Posted by ilancaron on 25th March 2008
A mix of the easy and the hard. I had to trawl Google a bit here and there. Finding one of my answers on this very site (see 24A). Questions about some of the last downs … lots of useful comments have clarified things!
Posted in Guardian | 14 Comments »
Posted by linxit on 24th March 2008
Solving time 14:43
I raced through the top half in a couple of minutes, but then struggled with the bottom half and really struggled with the SE corner. Nothing particularly difficult and all seemed pretty straightforward once I got them, so it was just down to me losing the plot rather than the clues being tougher. Really good surface readings throughout, not a shaky one to be seen.
Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »
Posted by NealH on 24th March 2008
* = anag, < = reversed, () = dropped
The bird theme made this crossword the easiest Monday puzzle for some time, but the clues were all well-constructed and there were some good cryptic definitions. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 23rd March 2008
Solving time: about an hour
I solved a fair number of clues cold and then wondered what was going on, but then saw that all the answers with different lengths to the grid entries were one letter shorter and contained IT. Possibly with the help of some checking letters, the phrase RUN FOR IT was then a fairly obvious candidate to fit 20A. The double replacements in the centrally placed HOSPITALITY and CASSITERITE are a nice touch, as is the high proportion of answers with the transformation. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Inquisitor | 1 Comment »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 23rd March 2008
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Posted by rightback on 22nd March 2008
Solving time: lost.
A nice change from Araucaria, and a pretty standard Guardian puzzle with nothing too difficult, although a couple of harder words; 3dn held me up the most. There’s also a mini-theme in the perimeter (WASHING THE CAR, MOWING THE LAWN, WALKING THE DOG and finally GOING TO THE PUB).
Posted in Guardian | 4 Comments »
Posted by linxit on 21st March 2008
Solving time 9:09
A pretty straightforward puzzle from Chifonie today – I don’t often finish non-Rufus Guardian puzzles in under 10 minutes. Still, there were some good clues and a few less familiar words in there, along with a couple of old chestnuts. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Guardian | 6 Comments »
Posted by John on 21st March 2008
So now we see why Phi was on Tuesday: Eimi had ready a nice 28ac crossword. I hesitate to say that it was tough, but it took me ages, and some of the references were so obscure that I had to use Google. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 21st March 2008
I wonder if anyone will solve this without realising there’s a theme? There are a number of 6d 14a in the grid (highlighted in bold below) as well as in almost every clue, along with non-16d 14a and singers. In the Across clues the only ones without a thematic reference were: 1,5,12 and 18. In the Downs, the following all contained a band, singer or song: 2,3,5,7,13,16,19,20,23 and 25. Also, 6d 14a is To get all that thematic material into a 15 x 15 puzzle and yet still be accessible to every solver is quite a feat. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 5 Comments »