Independent 6,768/Dac
Posted by Ali on 25th June 2008
Definitely harder than the average Dac I thought, with some lesser known words here and there. Good clues as ever though.
Posted in Independent | 10 Comments »
Archive for June, 2008
Financial Times 12,803 – Cinephile
Posted by Uncle Yap on 25th June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
Posted in FT | 6 Comments »
Guardian 24,424 – Audreus
Posted by Uncle Yap on 25th June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
Posted in Guardian | 10 Comments »
Independent 6767/Virgilius
Posted by neildubya on 24th June 2008
Great puzzle as usual from Virgilius but if there’s something going on here connected with 1/29 then it’s passed me by completely. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 12 Comments »
Guardian 24,423 – Gordius
Posted by Uncle Yap on 24th June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
Posted in Guardian | 2 Comments »
Financial Times 12,795 – Armonie
Posted by Uncle Yap on 24th June 2008
From FT Monday 16 June 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Financial Times 12,802 / Courtier
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 24th June 2008
Two surprises. The puzzle was uploaded much earlier than usual. The setter appears to be new, for I have not encountered the person before. The setter’s psudonym does not figure in the list somewhere on this site.
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Independent 6766 by Punk
Posted by NealH on 23rd June 2008
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed
An excellent mix of clues from Punk as usual, with some relatively easy and some quite difficult. I had a couple of goes at completing it – got most of the way through this morning but had to come back and finish it this evening. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »
Guardian 24422 Rufus
Posted by neildubya on 23rd June 2008
A typically pleasant Monday puzzle from Rufus with at least two classy clues (15d and 24a). I still don’t understand why we must always get an easy puzzle on Monday. There’s always the simpler crossword in the Guardian supplement and you can always borrow or steal a copy of “The Telegraph” if all else fails.
Posted in Guardian | 16 Comments »
Private Eye/Cyclops Crossword 367 – Heroes and Villains
Posted by beermagnet on 23rd June 2008
Another crossword where the last answer (correctly) written in is the first clue you look at, i.e. 1A or equivalent. This seems to have been happening to me a lot recently. Is it just that these instances and more memorable? Are setters purposely making 1A clues harder than the rest? Or is it simply that my brain is less in tune with cryptic thinking, more easily misled or fixated, early on in a solving session? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | 1 Comment »
Inquisitor 76 — Up, Up and Away by Phi
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 21st June 2008
The clue is in the title, “Up, up and away” …in my beautiful balloon. A song probably known to many of my contemporaries as the music from the Nimble advert. Nimble was a brand of bread aimed at those hoping to lose weight. The cunning trick was to get more air in and then make the slices smaller and thinner than standard loaves. You really were eating less.
Posted in Inquisitor | 3 Comments »
Guardian 24,415/Brendan: element-ary?
Posted by bridgesong on 21st June 2008
I hadn’t planned to blog this puzzle, but if nobody else wants to, here’s my contribution. The theme involves eight elements from the perodic table, and in each case the clue starts with the symbol for the element.
Posted in Guardian | 9 Comments »
Guardian 24.420/Auster: Down under
Posted by bridgesong on 20th June 2008
Auster is Australian by origin, which may explain some Antipodean references in her puzzle today. Unusually, there is only one full anagram, and only a few partial ones. I’ve left out one or two of the more straightforward clues. With two clues unsolved (19 across and down) it took me about an hour and a half.
Posted in Guardian | 16 Comments »
Independent 6764/Phi
Posted by neildubya on 20th June 2008
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | (MATERIAL SNAG)* – MARGINAL SEAT. |
| 9 | ORPHANAGE – I think this is a reference to Wilde’s line from The Importance of Being Earnest: “to lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness”. |
| 11 | S in THIRTY |
| 12 | SQUARED – 12 SQUARED is 144, which is a gross. |
| 15 | A,FOR,E S,AID |
| 17 | PS in PIQUE,A,K – I knew the word but didn’t know it could mean “minor functionary”. |
| 18 | TWINS – don’t get this one: “Women apparently preserved offspring”. |
| 19 | EIRE< in QU,D |
| 23 | T,(LUCK)* in ROAD |
| 24 | I,N,TELL,GEN in ICE |
| Down | |
| 1 | PHI in (HELPS ONE MATE)* – MEPHISTOPHELEAN.”Setter of Beelzebub” is a nice touch, although something of an in-joke, as Phi does actually set the Beelzebub crossword (along with ex-Indy compiler Columba). |
| 4 | R in AYES,ROCK |
| 5 | US (going up),CU,L in CENT – SUCCULENT. I think this is a great clue, with a very well hidden definition. |
| 6 | ALTERNATIVE VOTE – another way of saying (VETO)*. |
| 8 | B[-arel]Y,R[ecorde]D |
| 14 | AC,QUIESCE[-nt] |
| 15 | (ONCE DATA)*,L |
| 16 | A D in D,ISSUE |
| 20 | W,RUNG – W for “weak” is not in the COED or Chambers Online but it may well be in proper version of C but I don’t currently have access to it so I can’t check. |
| 21 | TO,KEN |
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Independent 6759/Phi (14-06-08)
Posted by neildubya on 20th June 2008
I’ve always had something of a fascination with the 7 for 28 (maybe because I did my degree in English Lit) so this was fairly easy for me as I’d heard of all of the authors. Some are definitely more obscure than others (12, 16 and the author in 23 spring to mind) but a list of all the winners is just a Google search away so I expect this wouldn’t have held up most people for too long. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »