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.
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on 19th February 2009
A relatively gentle stroll today but a very pleasant one due to the excellent surface of the clues. I had to smile at some of the clues, for example 14a, 25a and 11d though I did think that 8d might have been better without ‘primarily’.
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.
.
Across
1 ANACONDA homophone of ‘anna’ (girl) ‘conned’ (took in) A
5 SWEARS S (lead in spectator) WEARS (sports)
9 ESTIMATE *(TEATIMES)
10 LESSEE LESS (smaller amount) EE (mid-week)
12 STEER dd
13 EDINBURGH B (born) in *(HIRED GUN)
14 DREAMY dd
16 SIDECAR [o]S[r]I[c] (Osric ignoring the odds) RACED (hurried) reversed
18 OPPOSED O (old) P (party leader) POSED (sat for artist)
20 CANOPY CA (California) OP (work) in NY (New York)
22 BUFFALOES BUFF (polish) ALOES (plants)
23 BRICK dd
24 ATHENS A (Albanian capital) THEN (followed by) S (Serbian capital)
25 MINISTRY MINIS (short skirts) TRY (test)
26 SATIRE R (end of summer) in SATIE (composer)
27 PREPARED dd
Posted in FT | No Comments »
Posted by Simon Harris on 19th February 2009
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
Posted in Independent | 16 Comments »
Posted by Andrew on 19th February 2009
As usual, good fun from Paul, with a couple of typically cheeky clues, and not too difficult. One or two minor quibbles, but nothing to complain too much about: in fact there are probably fewer liberties taken than average. I’m not sure about my parsing of 9/24 – perhaps others could put me right.
Posted in Guardian | 26 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 19th February 2009
Posted in Independent | No Comments »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 19th February 2009
Monday Prize Crossword on 9 February 2009
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
Posted in FT | 1 Comment »
Posted by Pete Maclean on 19th February 2009
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 7
A typically delicious Cincinnus this time with a few fine clues (20A, 26A, 1D).
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by John on 18th February 2009
As always, a high Dac standard, although today I found more to raise an eyebrow at than usual. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 6 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on 18th February 2009
A definite challenge from Cinephile today with only a few answers entered during my first pass through the clues. However, eventually everything fell into place and the result was an enjoyable solve, though I don’t understand the definition in 14d.
Posted in FT | 10 Comments »
Posted by mhl on 18th February 2009
A fun puzzle, which wasn’t too difficult – on the other hand, I have quite a few questions or quibbles below, which I’m sure people will be able to correct. 
Posted in Guardian | 40 Comments »
Posted by neildubya on 17th February 2009
There’s been some discussion over the last couple of days about off-topic chat: some of you like it, some don’t. In an attempt to accommodate both points of view, we have introduced a chat area containing two threads: one for general crossword discussion and another for everything else. When those two threads get too long and unwieldy, we’ll close them and start new ones.
Posted in Announcements | No Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 17th February 2009
I found this very hard, but got there in the end, solving time, 63 mins. There are a few that I do not fully understand, though.
Posted in Independent | 23 Comments »
Posted by C G Rishikesh on 17th February 2009
I had good time with this crossword, which I would assess as above average in difficulty. If I solve one-third of the clues in any puzzle quickly one after the other without entering any answers in the grid, I would call it easy. That didn’t happen here. I got top half first, then right bottom and finally left bottom – where two clues were yet to go at the end of the allotted half-hour.
Posted in FT | 4 Comments »
Posted by chatmeister on 17th February 2009
This post is now closed. Please use the ‘General Discussion’ page instead.
Posted in Archive | 427 Comments »
Posted by chatmeister on 17th February 2009
This post is now closed.
Posted in Archive | 278 Comments »