Posted by Pete Maclean on 28th January 2010
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 16
I found this puzzle a good bit harder than the average Cincinnus, especially the top-right corner. I got 5A and 7D quickly but the rest of that section took a while. I particularly like 1D, 5D and 21D.
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »
Posted by manehi on 27th January 2010
Got through this one fairly quickly. Noticed on writing it up that the charade pieces for 11ac were all recycled from other clues…
Posted in Guardian | 35 Comments »
Posted by Gaufrid on 27th January 2010
An enjoyable solve today. We were told that the answers to asterisked clues had something in common. Fortunately I had come across 13dn in a previous puzzle otherwise I might have had a problem with this particular asterisked clue.
Posted in FT | 11 Comments »
Posted by John on 27th January 2010
The usual lovely thing from Dac. There’s really very little to say because everything fits so well and the clues are almost all clearly-constructed and faultless. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 14 Comments »
Posted by Simon Harris on 26th January 2010
This was fun – a very thoroughly-themed and enjoyable puzzle from Virgilius. Whilst not unduly taxing on the whole, I imagine this one will be popular with readers. For my own part, I’ll admit to stumbling in the NE corner.
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Posted by Agentzero on 26th January 2010
I enjoyed solving this puzzle but when it came to writing the blog I realized there were several clues that I wasn’t quite happy with, as noted below. That said, I thought there were also a number of deft clues in the puzzle.
Posted in FT | 1 Comment »
Posted by Uncle Yap on 26th January 2010
A fair-to-middling kind of offering from Paul with some challenging clues as well as some that raised a smile or two especially those cheeky descriptions such as item containing white in 20D. My favourite device was call reception in 8D. Paul never fails to amuse and titillate.
Posted in Guardian | 36 Comments »
Posted by mhl on 25th January 2010
A very quick post today, so please accept my apologies for any errors or omissions. It probably goes without saying, given the setter, but this is great stuff – lovely surface readings, fair clues IMO and there’s a nice theme. Quite a few hidden answers compared to normal, but I’m not sure if there’s any pattern there.
Posted in Guardian | 39 Comments »
Posted by NealH on 25th January 2010
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, CD=cryptic def, DD=double def, sp=spoonerism
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 8 Comments »
Posted by The Trafites on 24th January 2010
Lorraine: Had trouble getting going on this one as I was poorly with flu, good old Nick jumped in to save the day though.
Posted in Everyman | 4 Comments »
Posted by John on 24th January 2010
It can hardly be that I am suddenly becoming quicker at these, but I found this unusually easy. Apart from the strangeness of some of the words, it presented no more problems than an average Times cryptic. It would be interesting to hear how others got on. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Azed | 6 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 23rd January 2010
The first few answers I got were an across answer that was normal and 4dn for which I though STOP was a satisfactory answer. So it took a few minutes to work out what was going on. Seeing that KEEMA fitted 35dn and checking ESTOP in Chambers soon confirmed a possible un-preambled method for entering down answers. It was then a matter of solving more across clues to find some misquote emerging. So there was no last second penny-drop but there was an enjoyable well-clued puzzle to entertain for an hour or so.
Posted in Enigmatic Variations | No Comments »
Posted by rightback on 23rd January 2010
Solving time: 10 mins
Not too difficult this week but there were several dubious clues in this (e.g. 11ac, 20ac, 1dn, 3dn, 16dn); not Araucaria’s finest, I thought.
Posted in Guardian | 18 Comments »
Posted by Ali on 22nd January 2010
It’s been a good week of puzzles in the Indy and a pretty tough one too. I got on fine with this one as Phi rarely puts a foot wrong with his clueing, but there are one or two where my brain can’t quite piece them together. The fairly obscure words at 12A and 10D also got the better of me.
Posted in Independent | 17 Comments »
Posted by Simon Harris on 22nd January 2010
One of my fastest Beelzebub solves of recent times, as witnessed by me blogging this on the Sunday, for once. There is just one – at 29ac – for which I can find no reference. Some interesting, Azed-like clueing today.
Posted in Beelzebub | 1 Comment »