Quite an easy puzzle from Phi, I thought, getting quite a bit from definitions, verifying wordplay later.    Solving time, 15 mins.

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A fitting theme for a puzzle that appeared the day before 4. A couple of clues make reference to “ladies of tomorrow”, or “ladies celebrated on Sunday”, and there are a number of MUMs, MAs and MAMs scattered through the grid. Finally, the unchecked letters in the first and last columns of the grid spell out PATRICIA MARGARET. If I was to guess, I’d say that may be the name of Math’s Mum. Bless.

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I found this puzzle tough to start with but it got better when then the anagrams fell into place. 9A and 21A were my favourites, also enjoyed the reversals at 28A and 31A.

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*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.

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Mostly quite a straightforward puzzle today, with some extremely easy clues, though there are a few obscurities that could cause hold-ups. I also seem to have found quite a few nits to pick about some of the clueing. Read the rest of this entry »

A very enjoyable journey from Salamander I was well chuffed with it! The theme turned out to the the SETTLE-CARLISLE LINE, a beautiful and dramatic railway line linking the two towns and travelling along the edge of the Yorkshire Dales passing some of the National Park’s most glorious scenery.

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I think Ploy must have a fetish for anagrams, or at least that’s the way it seemed to me when I was solving this puzzle. However, having said that, there were some pleasing surfaces, my favourite being 28d. An easy EV which took over twice as long to blog as it did to solve.

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