Posted by John on 30th September 2008
I have only recently become aware of Radian, which suggests that he hasn’t been around for long. But with this crossword I had no feeling that he was in any way a novice: there were some excellent clues, two of which I can’t explain.
Posted in Independent | 16 Comments »
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 30th September 2008
The puzzle didn’t pose much difficulty. For me the bottom left corner was the last to fall.
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 30th September 2008
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Posted in Guardian | 17 Comments »
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 29th September 2008
Not much to say about today’s, fairly straightforward with a couple of niggles.
Posted in Guardian | 11 Comments »
Posted by NealH on 29th September 2008
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed
A neat, not too difficult puzzle by Math with some good surface meanings. The borders of the grid were formed by 4 fifteen letter anagrams, which is quite an impressive effort on its own.
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »
Posted by beermagnet on 29th September 2008
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 6 | EURO-MP [th]E U (socially superior) ROMP (junket) |
| 9 | HEADWIND HEAD (sexual practice), WIND (bollocks) |
| 10 | UNSHAKEN (SUN)* Anagrind: misplaced, HA (exclamation), KEN (one coming before Boris) |
| 11 | LUNACY (AN)* Anagrind: accident inside LUCY |
| 12 | RUNNING MATE Managing , get a shag. Full clue: Managing to get a shag – not Clinton in 2008! (7,4) Not Clinton indeed, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. has the US Dem Vice ticket – only announced a couple of weeks ago. |
| 15 | SOD OFF Def: Leave. Charade: SOD (Earth), OFF (creating a stink) |
| 16 | VACUUM VA (Virginia) (MUCU[s])* Anagrind: shifting |
| 19 | BROWN-NOSING CD |
| 22 | STILTS Last solved here. Full clue: Poles (a pair) sticking tip in two Poles (6) Def: Poles (a pair). TILT (sticking tip – in the “tilting at windmills” sense) inside SS (two Poles) Or the “two Poles” and “Poles (a pair)” could be swapped … |
| 24 | SCANTIES SCAN (examine) TIES (couples) |
| 25 | UNLAWFUL [s]UN L[abour] AWFUL |
| 26 | OUTCRY OUT (Openly gay), CRY (keen) |
| Down | |
| 1 | LOTHARIO (H AIR)* Anagrind: forced, inside (TOOL)* Anagrind: doctored |
| 2 | SHINDIG SHIN (scramble) DIG (jibe) |
| 4 | RWANDA [ministe]R WAND A (exam marking? – if you’re lucky) |
| 5 | KNOCKED UP DD: Roused from slumber, in the club. Does it really need “in the old-fashioned way”? |
| 7 | ULNA L[arge] inside UNA. Typical Eye crossy def: Hard part of member. Thus it gets my favouruite clue gong |
| 8 | POKING FUN POKING (screwing) FUN (Joy) I put MAKING fun first which held me up with 6A |
| 13 | GIVE IT A GO GIVE (Grant) IT (sex) A GO[at] |
| 14 | TOMBSTONE (MOB)* Anagrind: ugly, and ST[reet] inside TONE (Matey Blair) |
| 17 | COGITATE (ACT TO GET I -T)* Anagrind: pissed |
| 18 | FOSSIL Hidden: uFO’S SILly |
| 20 | OILCAN OIL painting, CAN prison |
| 21 | PEER PEE-R Poss, [poo]R |
| 23/3 | SOFTBALL SO (Well over), FT (12 in.), BALL (testicle) |
Posted in Private Eye/Cyclops | No Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 28th September 2008
I found this a relatively easy Azed. The four long answers on each of the edges provided a good lever to open up the grid. All were anagrams or near complete partial anagrams and, I felt, clearly indicated so. A little bit of juggling of letters and three of the four could be guessed even if the answer was unfamiliar. 36a was less guessable but also less helpful than 1a and 11d. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Azed | 1 Comment »
Posted by rightback on 27th September 2008
Solving time: 28:59
My times this week have been dreadful, and this was no exception – I really don’t think this was particularly harder than normal, but after 5 minutes I’d solved only two clues. I’m going to put it down to tiredness and see how next week goes before I start worrying. Some very good clues, as ever from Paul.
Posted in Guardian | 8 Comments »
Posted by smiffy on 26th September 2008
Across
1 WIN,NIP,E.G. – “nip”=arrest is new to me. I guess it’s a tamer version of “nab”
6 GORGON – (no grog)<
9 C[-h]AMBER
10 LOO(S)E,NED
12 SCEPTICISM – (MEP’s critics)* – r
14 GUNSMITH – cryptic def’n
16 [-c]ARGO – first of today’s old chestnuts.
18 JUD[-e],O – ref Jude the Obscure
19 NAVI,GATE – “Russian” is a somewhat presumptive indicator for Ivan. I suspect that Mr Lendl (the tennis playing cyborg from the 1980s) would take issue.
21 FU(LL)N,ELSON – (Noel’s)*. A wrestling “hold”, although I doubt you’d see it much in evidence at a WWE event. Its heyday probably coincided with the World of Sport televisual era.
22 SURF – homophone of “serf”
24 S(LOV)AKI,A – Saki is the “writer” in question
26 AGEN,DA – The town of Agen seems to ring quite familiar with me, but god knows why.
27 OYSTER – hidden
28 E(VICTI)ON
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by Ciaran McNulty on 26th September 2008
Later than normal, due to me spending an hour or so on the Genius before realising I’d clicked on the wrong puzzle!
Posted in Guardian | 12 Comments »
Posted by John on 26th September 2008
The usual excellence from Phi. I suspect there’s a Nina that I can’t see, since 8dn is only mentioned in two clues, and if that’s all there is then it seems a bit thin. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 26th September 2008
Entertaining and very-tough-in-places puzzle from Nimrod. There’s a nicely-worked theme and Nina too. In the middle of the grid is SEPARATES and SORTS and elsewhere we have THE MEN and THE BOYS. Also, WHEAT and CHAFF appears in the top and bottom rows, and SHEEP and GOATS in the left and right hand columns. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 2 Comments »
Posted by duncanshiell on 26th September 2008
We were presented with three sets of clues – 16 Thematic, 17 Across and 14 Down. There was no indication where the answer or , more correctly, the amended answer to each unnumbered thematic clue was to be entered.
Posted in Inquisitor | 1 Comment »
Posted by nmsindy on 25th September 2008
Extremely difficult and I failed with it, guessing two answers at the end which turned out to be wrong. There are a few others I do not understand either. As a late stand-in, please forgive a less fully-considered blog, and happy to have those I missed explained.
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 25th September 2008
I’m supposed to be blogging today but it doesn’t look like I’m going to get the opportunity. If one of the other bloggers can step in for me I would be very grateful.
Posted in Independent | 1 Comment »