Posted by petebiddlecombe on 20th February 2009
In each row’s pair of answers, one letter moved from one clue to the other, the moving letters giving two words, thematically described by 4 down. There were four unclued downs also matching the theme, and then two more to bew found in the grid and highlighted. The moving letters gave MOHS, CHROMATIC and 4D turned out to be SLIDING SCALES, so the theme words were types of scale – Mohs is one of rock-hardness. The unclued downs were RICHTER (earthquakes), BEAUFORT (winds) , DIATONIC (musical) and MUNSELL (colours). The two two be found in the grid were BURNHAM (teachers’ pay in UK state schools) and CELSIUS (temperature).
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Posted in Inquisitor | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ali on 20th February 2009
A tougher Phi than usual, I thought. A nice easy hidden reversal to start, but I struggled with the rest of the across clues on my first run through. The down clues were a bit easier, so I finally got going. Had to cheat with 3D though!
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Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »
Posted by Simon Harris on 20th February 2009
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
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Posted in Beelzebub | 2 Comments »
Posted by Eileen on 20th February 2009
What a delight to see Pasquale back – fully recovered, I hope. There are several slightly unusual words but they are scrupulously well-clued and there are some lovely surface readings. A highly enjoyable puzzle.
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Posted in Guardian | 35 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 20th February 2009
An excellent themed puzzle for Valentine’s Day where the keyword – HEART – was unclued and appeared, appropriately, in the middle of the grid. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 20th February 2009
Minimal blog crammed in between a busy work week and a holiday. That also means I’ll be unable to comment on comments so mistakes and omissions will go uncorrected.
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Posted in Enigmatic Variations | No Comments »
Posted by smiffy on 20th February 2009
As usual, Alberich dishes up a healthy dollop of clues where the surfaces are uncannily natural (14A, 15D and 19D being today’s exemplars). However, overall, I couldn’t help but feel that this pudding was a tad over-egged with puns. Maybe it’s the abundance of homophone-type clues (especially the more subjective elements in 12A and 17D) which left me with that impression.
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Posted in FT | 2 Comments »