Beelzebub 1,095 (13/02/11)
Posted by Simon Harris on 20th February 2011
A pretty tough week for Beelzebub, I found, taking me several sessions over the course of the week to complete.
Posted in Beelzebub | No Comments »
Archive for February, 2011
Independent on Sunday 1,096 by Quixote
Posted by Simon Harris on 20th February 2011
I don’t know about you chaps, but I found this week’s Quixote a bit of a challenge. That was possibly due to there being several unfamiliar terms involved (11ac, 16ac and the conductor at 22ac, for example). Still, the more obscure ones were deducible from wordplay, as is customary for Quixote.
Posted in Independent | 7 Comments »
Everyman No. 3359 (13th February)
Posted by The Trafites on 20th February 2011
Lorraine: Good day to one and all. Big thank you to Everyman; this was much more the Everyman that we all know and love, with nothing to taxing.
Posted in Everyman | 11 Comments »
Azed 2020: Clear vision
Posted by jetdoc on 20th February 2011
A rather more tricky Azed than some recent ones, largely because it has more than the usual quota of obscure words. I needed to check quite a few answers. The first answer refers to the puzzle’s number.
My favourite clue is probably 35a, because I like the way ‘bike’ is used. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Independent Saturday Prize Puzzle 7590 / Scorpion – 12 February 2011
Posted by duncanshiell on 19th February 2011
A quick glance at the clues for this puzzle showed that the solution to 8 Across was going to be important as five other clues made reference to it. In fact, the five clues that referred to 8 Across as the town of birth of the names generated by the clues, could all be solved from the wordplay without really knowing that 8 Across was the hometown.
Posted in Independent | 13 Comments »
Guardian Prize 25,244 by Araucaria
Posted by PeeDee on 19th February 2011
A themed puzzle from Araucaria this week. The themed answers are all obvious once the theme is spotted, but some of the other clues are not nearly so easy.
Posted in Guardian | 42 Comments »
Enigmatic Variations No. 953 – Anniversary by Oxymoron
Posted by mc_rapper67 on 19th February 2011
Several of the classic components of an EV on display here – extra letters/words in clues building a thematic sentence (minus one key word), some entries (approximately half) reversed in the grid, and lines to be drawn joining 33 thematic letters, highlighting the ‘anniversary’ of the title…maybe enough to put off the faint-hearted and, if it wasn’t my turn to blog, who knows…
Posted in Enigmatic Variations | 3 Comments »
Independent 7,595/Phi
Posted by Ali on 18th February 2011
Great stuff as ever from Phi. Solid clueing with elegant surfaces and some lovely anagrams.
Posted in Independent | 16 Comments »
Financial Times 13,621 / Falcon
Posted by shuchi on 18th February 2011
A straightforward solve with some fine clues, my favourites being 26A and 5D.
Posted in FT | 13 Comments »
Guardian 25,249 – Orlando
Posted by Andrew on 18th February 2011
A momentous and (mostly) excellent week ends with this enjoyable and reasonably straightforward puzzle from Orlando. It’s all of a pretty high standard, so I won’t pick out any particular clues, though I do purse my lips slightly at 26ac, clever though it is. The excitement doesn’t end here, as I’m going to the celebratory lunch for Araucaria’s 90th birthday tomorrow in King’s College, Cambridge (fortunately just down the road from me this time..): I’ll report back in my next blog, and try to take some photos.
Posted in Guardian | 35 Comments »
Guardian 25,248 – Araucaria
Posted by manehi on 17th February 2011
Not a surprising choice of setter following yesterday’s rather special crossword – this puzzle looked a little daunting at first but wasn’t too tricky once the grid began to fill. Slightly unsure on a few of the explanations.
Posted in Guardian | 29 Comments »
Financial Times 13,620 / Styx
Posted by smiffy on 17th February 2011
A perfectly respectable crossword, with several particularly fine clues. Just a pity for Styx that that it’s hard to escape the inevitable sense of “After the Lord Mayor’s show..” still lingering from yesterday’s splendiferous offering.
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Independent 7594/Dac
Posted by John on 17th February 2011
After what seems to have been a succession of highly complicated and clever crosswords recently, it’s quite nice to get back to something vanilla. But what vanilla. The very best you can get. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Independent | 9 Comments »
Financial Times 13,611 / Dante
Posted by Agentzero on 17th February 2011
Posted in FT | 3 Comments »
Financial Times 13,610 by Cincinnus
Posted by Pete Maclean on 17th February 2011
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 5
Here’s another good puzzle from Cincinnus. My favourite clues are 9A (TITLE), 12A (WHOA), 20A (NICK) and 7D (BEECH). Three answers were terms I did not know 3D (CHEESE MITE), 18D (NAURUAN) (although I knew of Nauru itself) and 21D (CUTIS).
Posted in FT | 2 Comments »